The ninth episode of Season 10 of Hell's Kitchen aired on FOX on July 2, 2012. In that episode, steak was the main ingredient, a friendship turned into a rivalry, and one chef suffered a serious injury before service began.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Christina received a rare compliment from Chef Ramsay, rating her three stars while urging her to keep going. While that surprised Christina, she felt good to get some recognition. Then, Robyn claimed it would be an all-red final, with the women agreeing as Kimmie felt their confidence was high as they murdered the men that night. Clemenza felt his team was afraid of his talent, and that was why he always went up for elimination but was still standing strong with Brian.
Meanwhile, Patrick felt on bad terms with Royce, saying he was sneaky, leading to the latter reminding the former that he messed up the lobster until Patrick called him a prick and saying someone would mess him up. The next day, Kimmie revealed to Tiffany, Justin, Royce, and Robyn that she was bored the previous day and wrote a rap, before saying she had a passion for food and rapping, before performing it. In it, she claims that it started with eighteen chefs, and they had eleven left, before saying soon there would only be seven, challenged Clemenza, Patrick, Royce, Justin, and Brian, said the red team always won challenges, the men would eventually feel powerless, said the red team would make history as the first full-girl black jackets, and telling them wisely not to argue with Chef. Royce later said he wouldn't put a nickel into Kimmie's rap investment.
Team challenge[]
When the chefs walk into the dining room, they are greeted with a big gold sheet. While Clemenza claimed it was a new car, he retracted it before admitting he had no idea what it was. After Ramsay asked the chefs if they were feeling lucky, they all reply yes as he reminded them about the head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas, a city where luck must be on your side. Dana did not care for this statement as she wanted to know what was behind the sheet. It was revealed to be a slot machine, much to everybody’s enjoyment. For the Creative Steak Challenge, one member from each team would face off against the other. One of them pulling the slots machine to reveal their ingredients, which included a cut of steak they were cooking. As Royce yelled out for beef as he loved steak, Ramsay informed the red team that with an extra person, one of them would not do the slots and asked them to decide now. As Christina knew that nobody wanted to sit out, Barbie wanted to cook as Ramsay was opening a steakhouse. Dana knew that nobody wanted their dish to be sat out. Ultimately, Kimmie volunteered to sit out as she knew it was pointless to speak out when her teammates bickered a lot and dismissively told Dana and Christina to show off after the former bragged how the two performed strongly in the past challenges.
Dana and Patrick were the first chefs from their teams to play the slots, and after the former pulled the lever, they got flat iron, potatoes, mushroom, spinach, and blue cheese. While Dana did not like the flat iron as she never bought that cut back home, Robyn was jealous of the former’s perfect ingredient selection but believed she had it. Royce and Christina were up next. Rocye wanted to redeem himself after his poor performance against her during the previous challenge and wanted to keep going against the latter until he beat her. Their ingredients were hanger steak, yams, eggplant, asparagus, and crab, leaving Royce more confident as he boasted he was not done with Christina yet. The third pair was Barbie and Brian. Their ingredients were New York striploin, celery root, tomatoes, cauliflower, and shrimp. Then, Justin and Tiffany received filet, beets, carrots, zucchini, and chorizo, dismaying the former has he had terrible luck due to having two sweet vegetables, a boring vegetable, and asked what he was going to do. The final pair-up was Clemenza and Robyn. They landed on rib eye, parsnips, sweet corn, broccoli, and bacon, leaving Clemenza very happy as he feared about getting a curveball ingredient like blueberries. After, Ramsay told Kimmie that she was still cooking a dish for the challenge while she did not have the opportunity to spin. Ramsay asked Kimmie to pair up on one of her teammate’s ingredients and informed the women that they would be picking one of the two dishes for judging. Immediately, Kimmie said Robyn as she felt confident on the rib eye as they cooked it in the south. Still, Robyn did not like the fact they were competing against each other due to their friendship and did not care.
Each chef had 30 minutes to cook their steak dishes. While Christina already knew how to cook a hanger steak, she never did so with the choice of ingredients she received before asking what she would do with them. In the blue kitchen, Royce boasted that he was bringing his A-game and that even his mother would tell them that none f them could cook like himself. However, Justin had no idea what he was doing with his ingredients but wanted to show Ramsay what he could do. In the red kitchen, Kimmie decided to fry both her parsnip and bacon. In the blue kitchen, Patrick wanted to outshine Dana. Still, his problem was having traditional steakhouse ingredients, and he tried to twist them up for creativity. In the red kitchen, a cocky Robyn felt she could cook circles around Kimmie. While Clemenza knew he would be the last chef to plate his rib eye, due to the thickness of the steak, he knew his timing would be perfect and called himself fast for a fat guy. Meanwhile, Tiffany decided to do a stuffing for her filet and was confident about something she never did before. Ramsay suggested that they all start plating with a minute and a half left, but Justin felt Clemenza was moving too slow to his liking and feared that the rib eye was raw. Clemenza himself was growing nervous as he also felt his rib eye was raw, and there was nothing he could do about it. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time, but Clemenza hoped for the best on his dish. After, Ramsay gave the women one minute to decide on either Robyn or Kimmie’s dish. While Kimmie tried to describe her dish, the women were more focused on Robyn’s dish. Eventually, the women picked Robyn’s dish due to the sauce component, and Kimmie was pissed as she believed they made up their minds before and that she worked her ass off for her dish. When Ramsay noticed an upset Kimmie, the latter claimed she was okay, but a rude Robyn felt she was dealing with a child.
Before the judging, Ramsay reminded the chefs how critical this challenge was for him as he was opening a steakhouse in Vegas before calling up Justin and Tiffany for the filet round. Justin presented his filet with truffle smashed beets, glazed carrots, chorizo cream sauce, and a chorizo zucchini cake before expressing nervousness over the choice of ingredients and hoped Ramsay liked his creativity. The dish was praised for having the smokiness of the chorizo coming through and having the beets taste very good, with the only problem being that Ramsay wanted to eat more. After, Tiffany’s chorizo-zucchini stuffed filet immediately rose a red flag for Ramsay as it was dangerous to stuff a Rolls Royce cut, and Robyn asked if Tiffany was joking. Then, it was praised for tasting good but criticized for being overcooked, and as a result, Justin scored that round, giving the men a 1-0 lead. Before heading back, Ramsay told Justin that it was the best dish he tasted from him so far. Justin felt good to receive a compliment from a chef of Ramsay’s caliber. On the hanger steak challenge, Christina knew that she just went up against Royce in the previous challenge and was ready for a rematch. Christina’s hanger steak marinated in wine jue and red pepper flakes, with panko parmesan crusted pan-fried eggplant wrapped around grilled asparagus was praised for tasting delicious, the temperature of the steak was nailed, and Ramsay loved the crispness of the eggplant. Still, he criticized the under-seasoned yams for being dumped on the plate like a dull mess. After, Royce’s medium-rare hanger steak with a pan-seared crab cake in port wine Berblanc, demi glass sauce, and fresh grilled vegetable was praised for looking fantastic but criticized for an undercooked eggplant which was spongy and bitter to taste. After a tough decision, Ramsay awarded Christina the point, and the score was a 1-point tie. Royce was pissed that he lost to Christina again as the latter felt bad for him before shaking her head in a “yeah right” way. Dana’s grilled flat iron with sautéed spinach with cabernet mushrooms was criticized for a messy presentation on the flat iron round as Ramsay drained the sauce out as he refused to eat food swimming in liquids. That dismayed Dana, but while she hoped the flavors were good, it was criticized for having ragged meat, being overcooked. Ramsay deemed it her worst dish so far. After, Patrick presented his seared flat iron with a roasted wild mushroom potato hash and blue cheese cream sauce. Still, it was criticized for tasting overly salty and ill-conceived as the blue cheese was naturally salty. In the end, neither Dana nor Patrick scored that round, leaving it a 1-point tie, and the latter knew his wife would ridicule him back home for his dish. Afterwards, Barbie and Brian were up with their New York striploin dishes, and the latter said that if the former beat him, he would slam his head onto the first blunt object he could find. Then, Barbie’s grilled New York strip surf and turf with celery mash, roasted cauliflower, and heirloom tomato salad were praised for a delicious steak and perfectly cooked shrimp. In contrast, Brian’s New York strip tagliatta with celery root frite and warm salad was praised for a nailed temperature and a brilliant combination of cauliflower and shrimp. Afterwards, Ramsay awarded both the point, the score was a 2-point tie, and Brian thanked god for winning. Clemenza was nervous about his dish on the final round as he did not have a lot of time to finish it before presenting his pan-seared rib eye with glazed charred corn relish and fried parsnip. While Ramsay felt the steak was slightly undercooked, he praised it for tasting delicious and felt Clemenza did the dish justice despite missing two more minutes of cooking. Then, Robyn presented her coffee and flour-crusted rib eye with bacon, corn, and broccoli frittata and felt the pressure going up instead of Kimmie. While Ramsay loved the frittata, the rib eye was overcooked, the rub was disgusting, and the whole dish felt wet, soggy, and overcooked while also calling it dreadful. So, Clemenza scored that round. The men won the challenge 3-2, and Clemenza called himself the Mack daddy. While Robyn felt down by her defeat, she felt Kimmie was upset that her dish was not chosen but argued that it was the women’s decision before telling the latter to get over it. Then, Ramsay wanted to taste Kimmie’s dish as he was curious about the women's thought process. After Kimmie presented it, Ramsay deemed it delicious as it almost tasted like a short barbecue rib, with Robyn knowing he would say that before he had the women taste the dish. While Robyn admitted Kimmie’s dish was delicious, she rudely felt it looked like a plate of poop despite Christina admitting they made the wrong choice. Kimmie felt redeemed and that she proved to her teammates that she could cook steaks. After, Ramsay condemned the women for their poor decision as Kimmie’s dish could have challenge Clemenza’s dish more seriously.
Scoring[]
Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Justin | 1 | 1 | Tiffany | 0 | 0 |
Royce | 0 | 1 | Christina | 1 | 1 |
Patrick | 0 | 1 | Dana | 0 | 1 |
Brian | 1 | 2 | Barbie | 1 | 2 |
Clemenza | 1 | 3 | Robyn | 0 | 2 |
Results | 3-2 |
Reward[]
The men were rewarded with a shopping spree at Sur la Table and lunch at Comme Ca. After hearing that, Clemenza felt he was in a chef’s dream. When the men left for their reward, they were shocked at the size of beef the women were struggling to carry, and Clemenza felt it was funny as it was the women’s turn to get the bad punishments. During the reward, Brian called Sur la Table Disneyland for chefs. Clemenza called himself a kid in the candy store and bought a lot of stuff, with Justin taking notice. At Comme Ca, David Meyer welcomed the men, Clemenza was stoked to have a nice lunch, and the men joked around. At the same time, Patrick tried to act as the father due to being the oldest of the men. After, Clemenza felt the men bonded.
Punishment[]
After the men left, Ramsay told the women that the next day was Steak Night, and their punishment was to take in delivery of a side of beef and prep it for the following service. Kimmie was pissed that if her dish was chosen, they could have won before grimacing how long their day would be. During the punishment, the women were shocked by the size of the beef in the truck. Kimmie claimed that even she and Clemenza lying together would not have matched the size of the beef. As the women struggled to get the beef out of the truck, Dana called it ridiculous and said this should have been a punishment for the men as she had no idea how the women were supposed to get it in the kitchen. When the men came by for their reward, a pissed Tiffany called it unfair as they get to go on another shopping spree. As the women tried to get the beef side into the restaurant, Kimmie felt she was carrying 250 lbs. from the ass alone and struggled to breathe as she wheezed, much to Dana’s concern. Eventually, the women got the beef into the red kitchen and onto the counter.
Later, the women were prepping the beef up. Christina called their defeat disappointing before blaming Robyn for their loss and telling Kimmie to sell her dish better. While Kimmie argued that she tried, she accused Robyn of talking over her. That led Robyn to feel they were turning against each other and was tired of the women. Later, Robyn accused Barbie of stealing her knife kit. Still, when Kimmie felt Robyn said it too aggressively, Robyn bitterly said she would not change her ways. That led Kimmie to think that Robyn was angry she outshined her. At the same time, Robyn refused to have Kimmie talk to people due to her size before refusing the believe she was a bitch. While Kimmie was not arguing, she was close to bitch slapping Robyn as the two continued to trade insults with each other. Despite Christina ordering Kimmie to stop arguing with Robyn, she was done arguing in the kitchen as it was a recipe for disaster.
Before service[]
Later that day, the men came back from their reward, but Patrick felt the tension the women were showing. After the women completed their punishment, Kimmie did not understand how she and Robyn went from friends to enemies but wanted to let it go and kick ass in dinner service as she was done with childish games. Then, Robyn felt she was constantly stressed being with the women due to the lack of sleep and arguments but hoped she could get at least 2–3 hours of sleep. However, at 5:20 AM, Kimmie’s loud snoring kept Robyn up, and the latter decided to go into the other bedroom for some peace and quiet. The next day, at 7:35 AM, Christina and Barbie were surprised to see Robyn in their room. Barbie initially thought it was a hobbit before calling it creepy. However, Dana did not like Robyn sleeping over and told her to sleep on the sofa next time. That pissed Robyn off before saying she did not trust the red team any longer before venting to Tiffany, Justin, and Royce at the patio. As Robyn called the women catty and backstabbers, Tiffany felt they should go away as they did not own the room. Meanwhile, Patrick talked to pictures of his kids, calling it very emotional to be away from his family while also knowing they knew he was there for a reason before refusing to go anywhere.
Later that day, both teams began prepping for Steak Night, and while Kimmie was pumped about service, nobody else from the red team was. Meanwhile, Justin was nervous as Ramsay was opening a steakhouse and wanted Steak Night to be on point. So, Justin tried to take the lead for the men on prep. Still, Brian felt that Justin needed to relax. Clemenza felt Justin was micromanaging everybody before telling him to shut up unless he needed help. Tiffany half-assed on prepping the onions in the red kitchen, with Barbie calling her out on her lack of standards, and told Sous Chef Andi about the former’s thick onion slices. After being called out, Tiffany accused Barbie of being a kiss ass and sarcastically wished the latter luck in winning. At the same time, a bitchy Robyn agreed with Tiffany. Then, Tiffany called Barbie the head bitch in charge and wanted to break something over the latter’s head, but Kimmie told her they had no time to argue, and Christina agreed. While Barbie had no idea why Tiffany hated her, she did not care and let the bickering get to her as she was here for a job. Then, Dana noted both the Tiffany-Barbie and Kimmie-Robyn conflicts, and while she knew they might not end up as friends, they had to drop all their drama at the dorms to win service.
After prep was finished, Ramsay had both teams lined, reminded them about the steakhouse he was opening in Las Vegas, and he would be studying every little detail for Steak Night. Because Justin’s dish was the best of the last challenge, his filet mignon dish was added to the menu, making the former feel honored. Also, Ramsay revealed that it was also Family Night, with a kid’s menu added to that night’s service, and reminded them that nothing was worst than having little kids grow anxious over waiting for food. Once the chefs went back to their stations, Patrick planned to earn Ramsay’s praise that night and to get back on track and felt amped. In the red kitchen, Kimmie felt the pressure as she was on meat for Steak Night but wanted to show Ramsay she was there to win. However, Kimmie accidentally burned her hand after touching a hot pan and getting splattered with grease. After Ramsay ordered Clemenza to take Kimmie to the medic, they treated both her fingers and arm. As the medic worked on Kimmie, she flatly told her that she could not return to the kitchen with her condition. While Kimmie tearfully feared that it would mark the end of her time in the competition, the episode ended in a cliffhanger.