The seventeenth episode of Season 10 of Hell's Kitchen aired on FOX on August 20, 2012. In that episode, the final five taught beauty pageant models how to cook, Italian Night dinner service was painful, and one of the most inconsistent chefs was eliminated.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Dana admitted that while walking back after elimination was depressing, they were all happy to see Robyn go home. Justin said he had never been happier to see somebody go home. However, when Justin added he did not want to work with Robyn for a while, Dana pointed out the men now knew what the red team had to go through with Robyn. At the same time, Christina was glad Clemenza was still around. Clemenza claimed being nominated again lit a spark in his ass and warned the rest of the chefs he was going back with a vengeance. At the same time, Justin felt some strong competition in the final five, and he had to step it up.
Individual challenge[]
The next day, the final five came down to the kitchen, where Ramsay decided to cook them chicken parmesan, which Clemenza liked. As Ramsay cooked the dish for the chefs, Dana watched closely as there was no reason he would cook them chicken parmesan before wondering if it was a test. At the same time, Justin asked what Ramsay had in store. After, Ramsay gave the chefs the dish to taste, but Clemenza felt he could cook a better chicken parmesan than Ramsay could. Then, Ramsay announced that the final five had to recreate the dish for their next challenge, which Justin got amped for. Still, because Ramsay felt the challenge would be too easy, he added that they had to teach somebody how to cook, revealing the Cooking School Challenge in the process. However, Dana said she loved teaching as Ramsay introduced them to their students, Ms. Teen USA winners. Kamie Crawford of 2010, Stevi Perry of 2008, Hilary Cruz of 2007, Katie Blair of 2006, and Allie Laforce of 2005. While Barbie immediately pushed her patience button, Justin called the Ms. Teen USA winners stunning before claiming he was not thinking anything wrong. Dana felt the women were not dressed to cook. After Ramsay told the final five that their student was the Ms. Teen USA across of them, they had to teach them how to recreate his chicken parmesan without touching any of the ingredients. The pair that was the closest to his original dish was the winner.
Each pair had 30 minutes to cook, but Barbie’s student Cruz did not know how to mince an onion, even asking if there was a machine to use. For Justin and Crawford, the former had no idea the latter had an entire chicken to break down, even fearing she would cut her finger off. At the same time, Christina was impressed by how Blair was cutting her chicken down. While most of the pairs were cooking the marinara sauce and getting the chicken cooked, the pair of Barbie and Cruz struggled to dice the onion, which Dana took notice of. With only ten minutes left, Barbie was getting anxious as it was Ramsay’s dish they were cooking but was not ready to give up, while Crawford spat out a piece of greens. Cruz was starting to panic near the end of the cooking, but everybody got their dishes cooked and plated on time, thanks to Barbie.
Christina and Blair were the first pair to have their dish judged, and immediately, the former noticed that their chicken breast was larger than Ramsay’s dish. After tasting the dish, Ramsay praised the chicken for being cooked perfectly, moist, and delicious but wanted more marinara over mozzarella. Despite that, he deemed it a great start. For Justin and Crawford, their dish was praised for an impactful presentation and a delicious sauce but criticized for having a thick chicken. Then, Dana and Laforce’s attempt was praised for a beautiful presentation and a delicious sauce but criticized for an overabundance of mozzarella. However, Dana argued that the cheese was the best part, and there was no such thing as too much cheese. After, Barbie and Cruz went up, and their dish was praised for a near-perfect marinara sauce. Still, while Barbie was left confident in her chances, Clemenza was the final person up, and he was Italian. As Clemenza and Perry walked their dish up, the latter called him a great teacher, and Clemenza claimed that he had marinara sauce flowing through his vein. However, while Ramsay praised the chicken, he felt the marinara sauce needed to be blended down further as it tasted very clunky, although Clemenza argued that it was a classical attempt on marinara. After admitting how hard the decision was, Ramsay asked Cruz and Laforce to bring up their dishes again. Dana wondered who he would pick and hoped for a tie with Barbie. However, Ramsay named Cruz’s dish the best; therefore, Barbie won the challenge. She was extremely proud of Cruz for doing well, as the latter wanted to win a Hell’s Kitchen challenge on her resume. After the challenge, Ramsay praised Barbie for starting to shine more. When Barbie claimed that patience was a virtue, Dana bitterly asked if being mediocre throughout the competition was her strategy. Then, Ramsay announced that tomorrow night was Italian Night, exciting Clemenza.
Reward[]
Barbie was rewarded with an Italian-inspired day which included lunch at Ado Ristorante and kayaking along the Venice canal. Ramsay allowed her to pick one person to join. After Clemenza admitted that he did not want to spend time with Barbie on either a reward or a punishment, she picked Justin. Before leaving, Ramsay revealed that he was lending the two his brand-new Maserati convertible and asked the two to bring it back in one piece. While Justin was surprised Barbie picked him for the reward, he felt they have bonded over the last couple of days.
During the reward, Justin called Ramsay’s convertible sick. During lunch, Antonio Mure presented the two with the restaurant’s signature pasta dish, thoroughly enjoying it. Barbie and Justin looked at the houses on the canal during the kayaking trip, with the latter feeling very relaxed and said that it was better than making pasta.
Punishment[]
The remaining chefs were punished by prepping for Italian Night. During the punishment, an upset Christina hoped she could win a challenge soon. At the same time, Clemenza could not envision Barbie and Justin hanging out, and Dana bitterly mocked Barbie’s comments from earlier. When Barbie and Justin walked by for their reward, Christina wondered if it was Barbie’s strategy all along. While Dana felt Barbie and Justin were falling in love, Christina thought it was more of an alliance.
Later, Clemenza claimed that a true Italian artist could make great pasta but got annoyed when Christina and Dana struggled to roll out their dough, telling the two to crank harder. Dana complained that she did not want to do prep work anymore as her whole body was hurting, with Clemenza starting to feel fatigued well and wondering if it would be an all-nighter. After, Dana yelled that she wanted it to end.
Before service[]
When Justin and Barbie came back from their reward, they irked the chefs with their description of their reward. Then, the two announced they would make dinner for everybody as Justin felt bad for them and ended up making spaghetti. However, Dana and Christina were not thrilled about what they made pasta for the last six hours. Clemenza spat out his bite, and Justin got insulted as he hoped they would have at least enjoyed it.
The next day, the final five began prepping for Italian Night. Not only did they have a brand-new menu to work with, but it would also be the first time that season where one kitchen was serving the entire dining room. Clemenza said that this service was more important than any other as he claimed the Italian Stallion was coming. However, Dana was concerned that Clemenza was pounding the chicken too thin. However, Clemenza ignored Dana’s warnings, frustrating her as Mr. Italiano made the chicken breasts too big of portions, even telling Sous Chef Scott about them. That shocked Sous Chef Scott as none of the chicken was like that the day before, and angrily showed Clemenza his mess and announced that half of their chicken was ruined. Dana was left angry as now she had barely any orders of chicken for that night and whined that it was not cool. While Clemenza admitted to messing up prep, he felt he would kick ass during dinner service.
After prep, Ramsay had the final five lined up. After reminding them about Italian Night, he warned them that there was nowhere to hide. After telling them to show him the heart of a champion, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
The menu featured crab capellini, butternut squash risotto, and a filet of beef with handmade cavatelli pasta for Italian Night. As service began, Ramsay urged Clemenza to shine the most that night, and the latter confidently told him to bring it the fuck on. Unfortunately, Clemenza could not recall the first order of appetizers as he did not pay attention. An annoyed Christina told him to pull it together before telling him the order, two risottos and two flatbreads. When Christina noticed that Clemenza needed help on the flatbreads and was utterly disorganized, she grabbed a cutting board to help, even warning him to step up or step off. Despite that, Clemenza got his flatbreads accepted, even though Ramsay had no idea how he could work disorganized and produce perfect food. Barbie produced a delicious risotto with her making it her goal to make orders perfect.
Forty minutes into service, Clemenza once again did not hear the callout due to speaking. After Ramsay accused him of not being interested, Barbie got frustrated as Ramsay ordered Clemenza to call out the order himself. Then, Barbie sent up a risotto that had raw wine, no salt, and hard as a rock, with Justin calling it inexcusable as she cooked risottos in her life. After Ramsay accused Barbie of switching off and Clemenza of being in the shit, a frustrated Dana yelled that they should get a risotto right by their fourteenth service. When Barbie sent up the refire, Ramsay ordered the chefs to taste it again as it had no salt and was raw, which Dana deemed disgusting as it looked like rice soup. Deciding to help, Clemenza jumped in to help Barbie on the risotto. Still, the two argued over when to send it up as she wanted it gone, but he felt it was too watery. Afterwards, Clemenza decided to let Barbie sink herself and sent up the liquid risotto with an over-cheese taste. Ramsay called it an insult to Italy and asked Barbie if she wanted to go home before warning her that she would be sent home if she made one more mistake. Barbie refused to go home, but Christina had no idea what the former was doing, even hearing the bombs go off. After, Barbie finally got the fourth attempt accepted, and a stream of appetizers left the kitchen. Now moving onto entrées, Dana was worried about searing off the filets for the number of orders. Still, Ramsay discovered that one pan had burnt filet due to being on a high temperature, and Barbie called them black as night. While Dana admitted she should have thrown those filets out, Ramsay asked if she wanted to go home due to being out of control before warning her to a grip. Then, Justin decided to take the lead in the kitchen as he refused to have Ramsay shut the service down, and their first order of entrées was accepted. As Clemenza and Barbie continue to push out appetizers, Christina sent up burnt and bland spinach, which Justin knew Ramsay was big on. Ramsay asked the final five what was happening with them. Deciding to regain focus, Christina got her refire accepted, even though Ramsay was sarcastically surprised to see her taste her food.
One hour and a half into service, entrées were leaving for their appreciative diners, and there was only one order of appetizers left. Despite both Barbie and Clemenza confident they could do it, Ramsay wagered a hundred dollars that they would not get it correct. As predicted, Barbie was slow on cooking her final risotto, and Clemenza picked the shrimp slowly. Justin called it the most difficult thing he ever saw as there was a table waiting for food for a long time. After Barbie sent up her dishes, Ramsay discovered that she made capellini for two instead of one with little crab, accused her of not knowing what she was doing anymore, and begged her to go home as he could not understand what was going on. Barbie promised to get the refire done in three minutes, but when Ramsay asked her to say something motivational, she let out a flat sorry, frustrating Dana as they had to wait for the appetizers to finish. While the refire was accepted, Christina was embarrassed that this was the best the final five could do. After serving their final entrée, Ramsay commented that it was not the night he expected before ordering them to clear down.
Post-mortem[]
When the final five were lined up, Ramsay said that although they had been on a long journey together, he did not expect a service where they were all off the mark that night on the verge of embarrassment. After admitting to being bitterly disappointed, Ramsay asked them to name one person for elimination.
During deliberation, Christina was disappointed with her performance. Still, Dana told her to relax as she only made one mistake that night. At the dorms, Clemenza told Justin that Barbie was the worst performer of that night as she had to instruct her on the risottos every time and was not being heard. While Justin admitted that he had a point, he still wanted Clemenza gone as he was sick of cleaning up his messes. In the bedroom, Christina wanted to vote for Clemenza. Still, Dana leaned more to Barbie as she disliked her, felt that she sucked that night, and reminded Christina of all the times they wanted her gone from the red team. Justin asked Barbie what happened in the living room, but while the latter admitted to having a poor night, she felt Clemenza was in her way that night. Once everybody regrouped, Barbie voted for Clemenza, while the latter voted for the former. Then, the two argued about their poor risottos and Clemenza not being listened to. Clemenza felt that he was in danger of going home on the one night he should have excelled on Italian Night. Then, Justin felt that calling Barbie out was very petty even though she bombed that night, but he called Clemenza a mess as Dana and Christina struggled on a final decision.
Elimination[]
When the final five came downstairs, Ramsay still expressed disappointment in that night’s service as he expected the best from them and was further disappointed when Justin revealed that they failed to reach a consensus. After frustratingly asking for somebody to have the balls to have the truth, Dana revealed that it was between Barbie and Clemenza before they ran out of time. Deciding to hear from both, Barbie felt that she did not lose her passion, but Ramsay reminded her that she did not call back, showed no leadership, had no inspiration, and was in the weeds all night. While Barbie argued that she did not give up, Ramsay felt otherwise. Then, Ramsay said it was the seventh time Clemenza was nominated, and out of his 50% of his stay, he was always out in front of him. While Clemenza knew he had shining moments throughout the competition, he knew his performance that night was not great but added that he kept fighting. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay asked about the lack of synergy between the two. While Barbie said that she could not trust Clemenza due to his disorganization, he reminded her about the risotto incident as the two continued to plead their cases. In the end, Clemenza was eliminated for his string of inconsistent performances, but Ramsay praised him for his effort. During his exit interview, Clemenza received a retrospective montage.
After Clemenza left, Ramsay reminded the final four that they had a one in four chance of winning and urged them to visualize themselves as the head chef in Las Vegas with a salary of $250,000 as there was a lot at stake. While being dismissed, Justin said there were only three people in his way, and he was focused. Back at the dorms, the final four found champagne waiting for them, and Dana felt the cash prize was in her reach as they toasted to their victory. Then, Dana noticed a note, and Justin read it out as Ramsay told the four that the best was yet to come. After mysterious people came to them, much to everyone, especially Christina’s shock and excitement, and the episode ended in a cliffhanger.
Ramsay gave no comment on Clemenza’s elimination, and he did not receive the coat hanging and portrait burning sequence.
Trivia[]
- Because this was the final normal elimination ceremony to feature nominees (the following one does not count as the eliminated chefs were not nominated), this makes Season 10 the only season to date to have every eliminated chef eliminated through nomination.
- With this episode, Clemenza becomes the first male chef to be nominated seven times in a single season, tying him with Season 7's Autumn Lewis, Season 8's Sabrina Brimhall, and Season 9's Elise Harris.