The thirteenth episode of Season 10 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on July 17, 2012. In that episode, the teams put their menus to the test, and one chef's poor attitude got them in trouble with their Sous Chef, leading to a very satisfying elimination.
Before service[]
Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay was nearly about to eliminate Clemenza on the spot for leaving the bones in the quail, but the latter promised to fix the dish up. With only thirty minutes until service began, Ramsay urged the blue team to step up a gear as it was their menu. Justin was worried about fixing up most of their items. After prep was finished, Ramsay had both teams lined up, reminded them it was the battle of the menus. Barbie hoped for the red team to kill it as they set themselves for success. However, Justin refused to believe the red team was better than them, and the only way they would lose was if they could not get it together. After, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
For dinner service, the red team’s menu featured Christina’s flatbread and Kimmie’s rib eye with Tiffany’s potato gratin. In contrast, the blue team’s menu featured Justin’s scallop stuffed squash blossom, his steak and fried onions, and Brian’s sea bass. Also, Ramsay was using customer cards to help decide on the winning team. As the red team received their first orders, Christina was hit with a wave of her flatbread dish, said she already had eight fired when more were called in and asked for some love from Ramsay, who was growing impatient with her slow performance. With some help from Barbie, Christina’s flatbreads were accepted, even though the former felt the latter was floundering despite talking a big game. In the blue kitchen, Robyn sent up raw and mushy blossoms. However, she argued who wanted to eat a flower with mousse piped in. A pissed Ramsay berated the blue team for leaving him hanging despite it being their menu. While Robyn accused Justin of never telling her how long to cook the blossoms, he argued that she should have touched them for a temperature and asked where the thought process was. However, Robyn still blamed Justin as he told her what to do, and she was still screwing up before sending an overcooked refire that was boiled. While Robyn asked Justin to help her make some new blossoms, he refused to as it was her station, and Ramsay accused Robyn of being all over the place. The red team was blazing through appetizers in the red kitchen, serving nearly half their tables, and were now moving onto entrées. While Barbie offered to help Kimmie out, the latter refused, so she decided to step back. While Kimmie felt she could handle it, her duck was overcooked. Ramsay handed the red team pieces to taste, which Dana knew was never a good sign before calling it dry and disgusting. While Kimmie did not want Barbie to eat her food to tell her what was wrong, the latter said that she offered to help. Robyn finally got the squash blossom out in the blue kitchen but revealed that she had no more scallops to use for the dish before blaming Justin for not making enough for service. However, Justin argued that he prepped at least 20 orders for that night and blamed Robyn for messing them up, while the latter went into the dining room and told the affected table what happened. When Robyn offered some replacements, she called it both mortifying, embarrassing, and humiliating before wanting to curl into a ball and die. After Robyn came back with carpaccio replacements on order, Brian said out of no personal feeling that she sucked at cooking, but she got the last table of appetizers out, allowing the blue team to move onto entrées.
Forty-five minutes into dinner service, Kimmie’s refire was accepted as she knew if meat failed, then the rest of the stations failed before promising to be on point. However, her ribeye was overcooked, and Tiffany felt that Kimmie should not be here if she failed at cooking easy food. Ramsay accused Kimmie of not caring as Dana yelled she hated losing dinner services. While Ramsay accused her of giving up, Kimmie refused as Ramsay retorted that he did not care if the entire red team went home. As Kimmie tried to boost her confidence back, she responded flatly to Ramsay’s callback but managed to get the refire accepted. In the blue kitchen, the blue team sent up their first order of entrées. Still, Brian forgot the onions for the garnishes as he forgot them. Ramsay yelled that it was not good enough before accusing him of leaving his brain on a slide. When Brian did send up the onions, they were a hard clump to the point Ramsay compared it to a golf ball and accused him of not caring. Despite that, Brian got the refire accepted. In the red kitchen, Dana’s leadership allowed the women to push out entrées. Unfortunately, James discovered that two of Dana’s lobsters on her halibut were raw and sent it back to the pass. Ramsay disappointingly said he trusted her with the main fish and called the lobster pinker than Paris Hilton’s lipstick. Still, Dana thought the lobster claws were already cooked before service. At the same time, Christina knew that was not Dana was capable of. Fortunately, Dana’s refire was accepted, and in the blue kitchen, Justin was more vocal than ever. Still, Clemenza did not respond to Justin's timings. That made Justin very nervous, along with Clemenza’s slow movement, but the latter said he did not need to be talked at as he got his halibut accepted. In the red kitchen, it seemed the red team was bouncing back, but Ramsay caught Tiffany about to cook fish garnish on a dirty pan after scraping it clean, and Dana called her gross. Then, Ramsay said it told him something when a chef could not be bothered to grab a fresh pan for new garnishes. Barbie called it gross that Tiffany used a dirty pan when there were two million pans in the restaurant.
One hour and a half into dinner service, Clemenza got confused about what was coming out next just when Justin told him. While Justin was annoyed by that, Clemenza argued that it was hard to listen due to the former's yelling. Then, Clemenza brought up one sea bass when two were on order, much to his confusion. After Ramsay accused him of stop and starting due to not having the balls to admit to dragging a bass, Clemenza argued that he had another sea bass cooking. However, no other fish was being fired, and Ramsay called Clemenza a lying bastard. As Justin refused to lose, he ordered Clemenza to help Robyn with desserts and have Brian cook the fish. In the red kitchen, the women were on a great momentum. Still, one red customer complained her potatoes were raw, and James sent them back. As Ramsay called it a first in his career by having the women touch them, a fed-up Tiffany asked if they could get service done without getting yelled at. Then, Ramsay accused Kimmie of giving up and Tiffany of not caring. Still, Tiffany argued that she cared for food more than her family. At the same time, Dana reminded Tiffany about the crunchy potatoes five hours ago. As Tiffany’s attitude started to sour, a dismayed Christina felt there was no way to get around the potato problem. Justin continued to lead the blue team in the blue kitchen, but one of his steaks was medium-well, pissing himself off as he did not want to make a mistake. Then, Robyn said that while Justin called himself a big fancy head honcho, he failed that night as the latter had a meltdown on timings. That led Clemenza to tell Justin to take responsibility for his actions throughout the night. While the blue diners grew hungry, the red team was on their final two orders. Still, Tiffany had no idea how long the potatoes could take to reheat, frustrating Christina as they were her item. Then, Sous Chef Andi called out Tiffany on her poor attitude and being the sloppiest cook she has ever seen in her life. When Tiffany falsely apologized, Sous Chef Andi kicked her out of service and put Dana on garnish. While going back to the dorms, Tiffany was upset that her teammates made her look like an idiot. Dana tried to salvage the gratins to no avail in the red kitchen and was pissed at Tiffany for not listening to her.
Despite struggling all night, two hours into dinner service, the blue team was on their final ticket. Still, Brian sent up only one sea bass when two were ordered as he did not like the color of the other one. Fed up with the disorganized performance and seeing Clemenza eat some of the desserts, Ramsay saw the raw sea bass, and it was the final straw before kicking the blue team out of the kitchen. While going back to the dorms, Clemenza was baffled that they got kicked out for their own menu before arguing with Justin over the fish problem as the latter felt he did nothing wrong. As Ramsay and Sous Chef Scott completed the blue team’s final order, the red team finally got the potato problem completed, and they managed to complete the service. Dana was relieved that they did not get kicked out like the blue team, as it meant they were not the losing team that night.
Post-mortem[]
Gathering both teams to the pass, Ramsay showed them the comment cards he planned on using to decide the winning team. However, Ramsay instead tore the cards up, called it the most shocking night yet, and deemed the biggest sad news that it was both team’s menus, their creativity, their execution, and their supposed teamwork. Ramsay berated the blue team for their embarrassing performance before accusing them of not caring while reminding the red team of mistakes such as the raw potatoes and Dana’s raw lobster. After calling it one of their worst services yet, Ramsay deemed both team’s joint losers, shocking and confusing both Dana and Kimmie as they thought the red team won that night. Ramsay tasked them with naming two people each.
During deliberation, a hurt Clemenza said they all busted their asses to get so close to the finish line only to fall flat on their faces. Then, both Justin and Brian considered Robyn for elimination. Still, she nominated Justin due to setting her up for failure despite it being his dish. However, Justin argued that it was Robyn’s fault for failing on the squash blossoms and accused her of not taking responsibility for her mistakes. Then, the argument became about the size of the blossoms, which only intensified when Justin accused Robyn and Clemenza of not caring. After, a conflicted Clemenza debated between Robyn, who he did not want to work with, and Justin, who he feared, before picking the former as he did not want to nominate himself.
Meanwhile, Dana considered Tiffany for the potato fiasco. While Tiffany argued that she was set up, Dana knew that nobody sabotaged her as it was her fault before naming Barbie her second, surprising the latter. Then, Christina went with Tiffany, while Kimmie went with Barbie due to her poor attitude at prep and putting them behind. While Barbie argued she was not bad-mouthing people, Dana felt it was on her looks towards them, angering Barbie as it meant the red team was nominating her on her facial structure. After Barbie nominated Tiffany and Kimmie, the former said there was no point before picking Kimmie and Barbie as she felt the latter’s attitude sucked and had no place competing. After, Christina struggled on her second nominee as she knew Barbie did not talk and had an attitude problem, while Kimmie needed some direction.
Elsewhere, Justin named Clemenza his second nominee. Robyn nominated Brian for messing up on many aspects that night and knew he and Justin would never nominate each other due to being bro’s even accusing the two of sleeping on top of each other. Then, Brian considered Clemenza for elimination, but the latter argued he did not deserve to be nominated.
Elimination[]
Before asking for the nominees, Ramsay reminded the chefs that they each had moments that they could cook at a phenomenal level, making that night frustrating. Brian announced Robyn as the blue team’s first nominee for elimination. Still, Robyn found it funny as she asked Justin for help. Still, Justin argued he would not spoon-feed Robyn, which led to a short argument as he did not want the turmoil in the blue team anymore. Then, Brian announced Clemenza as their second nominee. Still, when Brian mentioned how Clemenza got beaten during prep, the latter found it ridiculous. After, Christina announced Tiffany as the red team’s first nominee and Barbie as their second. While Ramsay questioned Barbie over Kimmie, he accepted the nominees. During their pleas, Tiffany felt she was a valuable teammate and had no problems helping her team out before tearing up that she wanted to stay despite messing up on the potatoes. However, Ramsay questioned Tiffany’s natural desire and passion, warning her she was not standing out. Then, Barbie said she was a team player, but when Ramsay told her that the red team wanted her out 100%, she argued they wanted her gone since the beginning and that the only person she cared for was him. After, Ramsay reminded Clemenza about lying to him and throwing the entire blue team under the bus for the final two tickets. Still, Clemenza argued that he did not lie and felt he had the least problems on the blue team that night. Finally, Ramsay felt Robyn was not a team player, but she argued she was and fought through that night. However, Ramsay angrily reminded Robyn that it was not working in the blue team, just like the red team, reminded her about screwing up one appetizer all night, and there was nowhere else he could place her, despite arguing she was not ready to go home yet. In the end, Tiffany was eliminated for her poor performance, poor attitude, and lack of passion. During her exit interview, Tiffany did not believe she would be eliminated that early, underestimated how hard Hell’s Kitchen was, and felt she would have made the final two before apologizing to Ramsay for not being the leader he wanted her to be.
After Tiffany left, Ramsay sent the nominees back in line. He warned the chefs that if they did not show him their best, he would be getting rid of them quicker as he was not waiting any longer for them. While being dismissed, Justin said that Robyn’s presence was causing more fights to occur in the blue team and wanted her gone. Kimmie was going to fight for Tiffany and get Barbie gone. Barbie refused to give up as the red team could not stop her.
Ramsay's comment: "The most passionate I ever saw Tiffany was moments ago when she was already on her way out. That was just too late."
Trivia[]
- This marks the second time where there are five joint-losses in this season, following Season 9.
- With this episode, this season's blue team has officially broken the record for the most consecutive losses in dinner service. This was their seventh loss.