The fifth episode of Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on June 27, 2005. In that episode, there was the first theme night and double booking in Hell's Kitchen, and an unexpected elimination took place thanks to one chef's strategic nomination.
Intro[]
Following Mary Ellen 's elimination, Jessica was heartbroken back in the dorms and started crying as she thought Andrew was going home. Jessica was comforted by Elsie, who agreed that Andrew should have gone home instead, but Jessica did not feel safe without Mary Ellen. However, Chris hugged Jessica and reassured her that it was not her fault. Meanwhile, Andrew got back in his room for some alone time, reflecting how he was misunderstood in a hostile environment. In the kitchen, Ralph noticed that Andrew was not around but knew that there was only so much he could do for him before stating that Andrew had to work hard by himself. Back in the bedroom, Andrew kept telling himself how he was doing something right if he was still around before the camera revealed a sign on his bed that read "Shut Your Mouth."
Team challenge[]
The next day, both teams came downstairs around 8 AM, and while Ramsay noticed how they were bonding by now, he stated that a team was only as strong as their weakest. Then, Ramsay asked Ralph who was the strongest link on the blue team, and he named himself in that position as he worked hard. He also named Andrew as the weakest, which infuriated the latter as he called that crap. When Ramsay asked Chris who was the strongest link on the red team, he considered Michael's talent and ability but named himself in that position due to being around the block longer. Ramsay answered that he was loving how Chris was putting himself forward on that executive platform, referring to his executive chef position. Chris also named Jimmy as the weakest, who saw that as an additional motivation and claimed that the weakest could go from bottom to top.
With the most successful dinner service behind them, Ramsay threw away the existing menu and declared that for the next service, Hell's Kitchen would become a pasta restaurant. When both teams went to the kitchen, Andrew felt that the blue team would rock it because there were two Italian chefs. In the kitchen, Ramsay gave a quick demonstration on making pasta and using Chris as a holder for the pasta, even pouring flour all over his face before calling him handsome. For the Pasta Making Challenge, each team had 20 minutes to make as much pasta as possible, and Ramsay would only accept pasta that met his standards. To even the teams, Chris was forced to sit out.
As the challenge began, Andrew and Jimmy were named the pasta holders for their respective teams. Elsie was trying to keep the pasta machine floured to work properly, but she called the experience incredible. Three minutes left, Michael felt the pressure as he spun the machine hard to the point he could not feel his arms, while Ramsay joked to Jimmy that he was looking delicious as a blonde with the pasta on himself. Meanwhile, Andrew wished he could have helped his team out more as his mouth was free, while Jimmy felt the pasta was weighing down on him, and it hurt like hell. Eventually, time was up.
The blue team was up first for judging, and although Ramsay rejected a few for looking crinkled and looking like a blob, they finished with 2.41 lbs. The red team was up next, and after three accepted portions, they were at 2.32 lbs. However, Ramsay rejected some pasta for being uncookable, but in the end, the red team won the challenge with 2.45 lbs. Ralph and Jessica tried to protest the decision as they felt the red team's pasta looked unappealing, but Ramsay ignored them.
Scoring[]
| Blue Team | Red Team |
| 2.41lbs | 2.45lbs |
| Results | 2.45lbs-2.41lbs |
Reward[]
The red team was awarded a nice tour on a gondola with wine and cheese. During the reward, Michael felt their victory was made sweet based on how close the results were, and after seeing the blue team called them out on it. On the gondola, Michael said it was his first time on one and could not wait to spend time the Italian way before the red team toasted to not making pasta. Then, Jimmy poked fun at Ralph's complaints. Later, Michael and Chris joked about Ralph being covered in flour by now.
Punishment[]
The blue team was punished by making all the remaining pasta for the Pasta Night dinner service. A pissed Andrew felt that the blue team's pasta looked a lot better than the red team's, with Ralph and Jessica claiming that their grandmothers would not serve that pasta. However, Ramsay told the blue team to act like good losers, but Ralph was very upset as he still had not gotten out of the restaurant since the beginning of the competition. When the red team left for their reward, Jessica and Ralph felt they were getting the shaft every time.
During the punishment, Ralph was very aggravated by their loss, how they lost multiple challenges, and felt they could be working until 3 AM.
Before service[]
Later that night, the blue team made all the pasta for the following night's Pasta Night dinner service, and the red team came back from their reward. Michael began to apply his strategy by manipulating the other contestants, like Jessica, when he tried to get her to say things about how the blue team feels after their loss. However, Jessica spotted his plans as, despite his sweet boy appearance, he was one of the most manipulative chefs in the group and would lie, cheat and kill to win. At 11:03 PM, Michael talked with Chris before the latter would get to sleep. He told him he was his friend and would love to get to the finals against him. After that, Michael went outside to talk with himself and the billboard showing Ramsay's face, saying he had to be more concerned about himself and win it for Ramsay.
The next day, both teams were up and ready at 7 AM, and Ramsay announced they were double booked for Pasta Night. That meant the restaurant was hosting a double seating, with one team cooking and the other team would serve during the first seating, and then the opposite at the second seating. Since the red team won the challenge, they had to decide if they would cook or serve first, and Ramsay told them to announce their decision an hour before service began. As both teams prepped for service, Ralph was determined to see a red chef go home, while Ramsay showed them more pasta techniques. Chris knew there was more pressure when cooking an entire seating alone and knew it would not be easy, but he had a lot of faith in the red team. Michael was confident that the red team had no weak links, and in the blue kitchen, Andrew could not wait as he cooked enough pasta in his life for another.
An hour before service, Ramsay had both teams lined up and asked the red team for their decision. Elsie announced that the red team would cook first, so Ramsay asked the blue team to get in the dining room with Jean-Philippe. As the blue team set the tables and got lessons from the wait staff and Jean-Philippe, Jessica was very insecure because she never waited tables before.
Dinner service[]
First seating[]
As the first seating began, Ralph charmed his first table by noticing how they had no menus and called the Maître D' lousy, much to Jean-Philippe's annoyance. Ralph said he liked making people smile, and in the red kitchen, the first bowl of soup that Jimmy sent to the plate was dirty, so Ramsay asked him to clean it, even accusing him of doing it on purpose. On Jimmy's second attempt, the plate was dirty again, much to Ramsay's annoyance.
One hour into the first seating, the red team have served most of their appetizers and were moving onto entrées. However, Elsie was confused over the ordered items, and after giving a bad timing, she was corrected by Chris. Then, Ramsay asked Elsie the status of the lasagnas before commenting on how she was doing more prep work than actual cooking and reminded the red team that nothing was coming out. After, Ralph handed Ramsay his next few tickets, but Chris was schooled by Ramsay for his pretentious behavior when he responded, "Oui chef". That led Chris to feel he was only getting targeted because of his Executive Chef position as Ramsay continued to rag on him.
Thirty minutes left in the first seating, Elsie and Chris were slowly pushing out entrées. At the same time, Michael, who was at the dessert station, did not help his teammates, thinking it would be a hindrance for him to win the prize, and focused his attention on his desserts. However, the desserts were accepted.
Ten minutes left in the first seating, the customers were getting tired of waiting for their food, so Jessica tried to offer a table a random dish of entrées to make them happy. Meanwhile, Ramsay called Jean-Philippe over, upset that the latter was taking too long for his arrival, and ordered him to bring the blue team over. Once there, Ramsay warned them that the kitchen would close soon, and in an hour, it would be their turn in the second seating. Then, Ramsay called the red team out for their slow performance on entrées and shut them down as time was up, making it clear he was not happy to Elsie. As the patrons of the first seating left, one customer told Andrew how shocked he was to see him still working.
Second seating[]
While the blue team worked on last-minute prep for the second seating, Michael gathered the red team and told them he would run them out on lasagna as he knew they were low on it, and it was a pain in the ass to make. In the blue kitchen, Ralph and Andrew argued over the dishes and the latter giving him lip, but Jessica told the two to stop. However, Ralph felt Andrew was too thick-headed and refused to seek answers to questions he asked.
As the second seating began, the red team's plan began as orders of lasagna were piling in the blue kitchen. Once the blue team heard the orders, Jessica realized the red team's plan and felt it was a dirty move. Ralph's tortellini was rejected for having splashes of tomato sauce on the plate, and Ramsay told him not to fry the pasta. Despite that hiccup, Ralph's appetizers were being sent out.
Forty minutes into the second seating, Jimmy was trying to push himself as a waiter by running up the stairs, and some of his customers noticed he was sweating a lot. Ramsay called Jimmy over for the order, but the latter was confused on orders and sent the wrong order at one table. When Jimmy returned to the pass, he told Ramsay he needed another order of tortellini due to his mistake, and Ramsay called him pathetic. Moments later, Jean-Philippe told Jimmy to stop touching himself because he was touching his hair and his face a lot.
Twenty minutes left in the second seating, the blue team was dragging on their tickets due to the multiple orders of lasagna, and Andrew had trouble communicating by giving out improper timings. Then, Ramsay asked Andrew for the short ribs but got no answer and ordered him and Jessica to come together before comparing his dish to a dog's dinner. Ten minutes left, the blue team has sent out very few entrées, and the customers were getting anxious. When a customer went to the kitchen for some feedback, Ramsay apologized and told him he could not do much for the moment because they were so far in the shit. Then, Andrew's short ribs were once again compared to a dog's dinner, and after forcing a redo on the ticket, Ramsay showed him and Jessica that they only had 17 tickets left. At 11 PM, Ramsay told the blue team to shut the kitchen down as they were out of time.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay said it was a difficult decision to make as they made a lot of hard work on very simple pasta dishes. Going off the comment cards, the red team got more food out than the blue team, as the latter left 42 of their customers without entrées. However, the blue team's food was rated as higher quality than the red teams. The blue team's service was good, while the red team's service was dismal, despite having one more team member. Therefore, Ramsay declared the red team losers, and while he reminded Jimmy about getting 80 appetizers out, every plate was dirty. Then, Ramsay named Michael "Best of the Worst" because of his strong performance on desserts and asked him to nominate two of his teammates for elimination.
In the dorms, Jimmy pleaded his case to Michael but knew that his dirty plates would probably weigh heavily in the latter's decision. Meanwhile, Jessica and Andrew comforted Elsie, who started to wonder if she could keep up with the pressure any longer. Meanwhile, Michael admitted to Chris that he was stuck on who to nominate, and Chris suggested putting Jimmy and Elsie up for elimination due to their poor performances that night. However, Michael knew that he had to nominate people that would get him further in the competition.
Elimination[]
Michael named Elsie as his first nominee, and Chris as his second, saying that Jimmy had a wonderful night and worked hard. That led Ramsay to congratulate Jimmy for being a bullet dodger. During their pleas, Elsie wanted to stay despite little knowledge of running a restaurant as she put her best foot forward for her team, while Chris felt his work ethic and devotion to the red team would payout in the long run. Ramsay eliminated Chris for failing to live up to his position as an Executive Chef. During his exit interview, Chris believed that as an Executive Chef, he deserved to still be around and felt Michael took the easy way out.
After Chris left, Ramsay had a message for the other contestants: the people who were always telling how good they are and self-promote but not deliver the goods was what annoyed him the most. While being dismissed, Elsie said she had never been through a stressful experience like Hell's Kitchen, even claiming that birthing kids were easier. Then, Michael said that Chris was his biggest competition on the red team, which was why he nominated him, while Ralph knew that Michael's nomination was strategic and knew he had to do what he could to survive.
Ramsay's comment: "When you come to the kitchen and announce that you're an executive chef, you expect a little bit more than what I've got from Chris. He's been telling the world that he has that amount of knowledge, then he should have been 10 times better."
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the first themed dinner service and the first double-booked service.
| Hell's Kitchen Season 1 Episodes |
|---|
| Day 1 • Day 2 • Day 3 • Day 4 • Day 5 • Day 6 • Day 7 • Day 8 • Day 9 • Day 10 |