The eighth episode of Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on July 18, 2005. In that episode, there was some backstabbing involved, a total meltdown during service, and for the first time, nobody was safe from elimination.
Intro[]
After escaping elimination, Jessica felt relieved as she had already packed her bags before coming downstairs and told Ralph she did not hate him for nominating her. Jessica knew she was nominated for a reason, and because she survived elimination, she had to prove why she stayed now that she had a one-in-four shot of winning. Meanwhile, Elsie knew from the start she was not confident in her chance of winning, but now, she believed she became a solid contender to win the prize. Ralph thought the game officially began for him as there were three people against him and felt highly of his hopes. Finally, Michael, despite acknowledging that he made good friends, thought his friendships were not worth his desire to win the restaurant.
Individual challenge[]
The next day, the final four came downstairs. Although Ramsay noticed how serious they were, he realized that with only four of them left, the grand prize was coming closer and announced that not only was the bar risen, it would get more challenging. Then, Ramsay told them that their next challenge was one he gave to new chefs at his restaurants, the Leftovers Challenge, as it’s a true test on how well they could maximize their food waste. Each chef had fifteen leftovers to work with, and Ramsay said that this would separate the average from the talented.
Each contestant had 15 minutes to create a dish and to spread out the originality, Michael and Jessica cooked in the blue kitchen, while Elsie and Ralph cooked in the red kitchen. Elsie deemed herself the leftover queen as she learned how to utilize leftovers very well thanks to being a mother of six and decided to make chicken soup. Ralph decided to utilize the flavors to their max. Jessica decided to use her mother as an inspiration, and Michael tried to understand Ramsay's lesson. Seven minutes left, Elsie noticed Ralph having a lot of pans while she was throwing stuff in her pot. Ralph made sautéed chicken drumstick and felt he had it, and when there was only one minute left, Michael was forced to scrap his idea of taking the bone off his chicken. Eventually, time was up, and everybody had their dishes cooked and plated.
Jessica was up first and presented her beef stew and a dessert of strawberry and raspberry cake. Although Ramsay liked the taste of the beef stew and the dessert, he found both dishes to look a mess. That made Jessica feel she did well. Michael’s pasta dish with chicken wings was deemed the opposite of Jessica as it looked good but did not taste good, and Ramsay mentioned the fact that he left the bones on the chicken, which could be dangerous. That dismayed Michael as he knew his last-minute decision would come back to haunt him. Ralph’s sauté of chicken drumsticks with thyme sauce was praised for a spot-on presentation as it looked like it came from a restaurant, but the fact that he had raw onions spoiled the dish. Finally, Elsie presented her traditional chicken soup, and while Ramsay was worried about the color as it looked like something found from a sewer’s canal, he found it to be a delicious and whole hearty soup. After deliberating his decision, Ramsay named Elsie the winner and told her she would be doing something special the following day.
After the challenge[]
As the chefs were clearing down, Jessica wanted to taste Elsie’s soup but felt jealous over the latter winning. Ralph also tasted Elsie’s soup, but that annoyed the latter as she knew they were jealous of her winning. Ralph was frustrated as he knew his dish looked the best, but despite trying to calm down as nobody liked a sore loser, he ended up throwing dishes into the sink out of frustration.
Later that night, Elsie said she had to be up by 7 AM for her reward but still had no idea what it was. However, when Elsie said that it was better than prepping, it caused a sore spot for Ralph as he had yet to win a challenge since he’s been there.
Reward[]
The next day, Elsie woke up, got changed, and met Ramsay outside, where they got in a limo. Ramsay told Elsie that her reward was an appearance on the morning show "Good Day Live" in the FOX Studios, where she showed how to cook a risotto. A shocked Elsie asked for a drink and begged Ramsay not to yell at her, and he playfully said he would not as long she did not burn the risotto as she did on opening night.
During the reward, Elsie and Ramsay went to make up, and the former felt like a movie star with her five minutes of fame. On the set, Elsie was approached by Arthel Neville and claimed she was not nervous. Once the show was on the air, Elsie did the demonstration with no problems. After the show ended, Elsie knew that if she were in the other chef’s shoes, she would be jealous, but she got her few moments of fame on national television without cracking.
Punishment[]
The remaining chefs were punished by prepping the kitchen for that night's service. During the punishment, Sous Chef Mary-Ann asked them if they were still in the dark about Elsie’s reward, and Jessica said she had some guesses. Ralph thought Elsie was cooking for the governor, but Sous Chef Mary-Ann said that was not it, as they did not have a good schnitzel recipe. Later, Sous Chef Scott pulled the chefs away to show them something, took them to the bar area where the TV was, and they watched Elsie's appearance on "Good Day Live." That infuriated both Ralph and Michael, the latter claiming that seeing Elsie win every time was creating a lot of bitterness.
Once the segment ended, the three chefs went back to prepping, and Michael bitterly said that they should all make chicken soup for the next challenge. As they were all pissed off by doing prep work with three instead of five, Ralph refused to carry her for that night. Although Michael liked to joke around with Ralph on that, he knew that everybody is responsible for the station they were on and said it was put up or shut up for Elsie. Jessica still felt she deserved to win and told Ralph that she would not help Elsie out if the latter were in the weeds.
Before service[]
Later that day, Elsie came back from her reward, and Ralph gave a fake smile when he said they watched her. When Ramsay asked them what they learned, Michael and Ralph smartly said not to lose challenges if they wanted television action. After, Ramsay told Elsie that for her second reward, she had the privilege to choose who would be at which station during the next service.
When Elsie joined the others in prep, she tried to read the vibes on them but did not care as it would have bugged her. Michael told Elsie that nobody was resenting her for winning and that Ramsay had different expectations for all of them based on their skills, but Elsie did not take kindly to his passive-aggressive remark. Later that evening, five minutes before service opened, Ramsay had the final four lined up and reminded them about completing an entire dining room. When Ramsay asked Elsie where she was placing everybody, she put Jessica on appetizers, Michael on garnish, Ralph on meat, and herself on fish. Then, Ramsay reminded them that although they were individuals, they must complete service as a team as they would be tested more that night than ever.
Dinner service[]
When Ramsay called out the first order, everybody gave him frantic answers, leaving him nervous about the lack of communication on their first order. Trying to redeem herself from the previous service, Jessica sent up her salad but was called shit by Ramsay, and she was asked to redo it. Jessica needed Michael’s help on plating the refires, and after an hour into dinner service, many appetizers coming out. However, Ramsay deemed that hour pathetic as Jessica was clamming up on him and made the contestants switch stations for the first time. So, Michael was sent to appetizers, Jessica on meat, Ralph on fish, and Elsie on garnish. Ralph found it a brilliant play on Ramsay as it would test them even further and had his first halibut dish accepted.
One hour and a half into dinner service, the final four slowly got their entrées out, but Elsie struggled to make the penne dish as she never made it before. So, Michael reached over to do the dish for her, but Elsie told him not to bring it to his station as she wanted to see how it was done. That dismayed Ramsay as he was tired of seeing them as idiots and deemed it a joke. So, he made another switch, putting Jessica on fish, Ralph on garnish, Elsie on appetizers, and Michael on meat. Jessica felt it was a big wrench to her night and began to feel overwhelmed. Then, Jessica said she needed more time for the lobster to cook, Michael had to stop what he was doing because of her, and Ramsay schooled Jessica because of her inconsistent timings. While Jessica sent up a lobster risotto that was cooked properly, Ramsay ordered her to start over as it looked like Dewberry's dog's dinner, and she was too far in to start serving him slop.
Two hours into dinner service, the final four have yet to serve half the dining room, and one table was getting restless, even threatening to leave in the next twenty minutes unless their food was there. Elsie found herself in the weeds on appetizers, and when she asked for some help, her three teammates stuck to their original plan and did not help her. Ramsay, unaware of that going on, shouted at Elsie because she was mixing up the orders. Elsie’s continually frantic behavior started to frustrate Ramsay even more before taking her to the blue kitchen for a private pep talk, and he sent her in the bathroom for a short break, something the others took notice of. In the bathroom, Elsie cried and was furious because she realized she was the group's outsider and could not even get through her confessional. Eventually, Elsie went back into the kitchen, ready to fight back, but Ramsay warned her that not talking to him would cause more trouble.
Three hours into dinner service, the final four have only served half their entrées, and the customers grew restless. Jean-Philippe was called to a table who found a piece of wood in their lobster dish. Jean-Philippe took it into the kitchen, and Ramsay showed Jessica her mistake, calling her a stupid idiot. Eventually, tables started to leave, but while Michael wanted to try and end on a strong note, Ralph’s steak was sent up upside down. Afterwards, Ramsay brought Jean-Philippe into the kitchen, who told them that two tables walked out. Ramsay decided not to agonize the pain any longer by shutting down the kitchen.
Post-mortem[]
Once lined up, Ramsay told the final four he was not proud and felt the previous service was better than what he got that night. Ramsay felt that they were all cooking against each other than together, which went against what Hell’s Kitchen was about. Nobody was named the “Best of the Worst” that night as Ramsay felt nobody earned the right to pick their own nominees and declared that he would make his own decision shortly.
On the patio, Elsie admitted that she had the worst performance of the night before leaving to be by herself, while the remaining three chefs agreed that Elsie was slow on every station she was on. Elsie felt alienated by having nobody around her. Michael felt that he might be going home for the first time in the competition but was determined to do better. With nobody knowing what Ramsay would do, all four of them felt stressed out.
Elimination[]
Once downstairs, Ramsay said how tough that night was and noticed that Michael looked distraught. Michael admitted that he was frustrated over that night, but Ramsay reminded him that he could not carry an entire kitchen on his back alone, and while he did a lot of good things in service, they were not enough. Then, Ramsay called Jessica and Elsie down.
During their pleas, Ramsay called Jessica's performance terrible, but she argued that despite having an iffy start, she pulled it together even though she knew things were getting harder. Then, Ramsay asked Elsie if she got the proper support, but instead of telling Ramsay the truth about being left alone, she felt she was incredibly disoriented that night as she could not prepare most of the dishes despite having the support. Ramsay eliminated Elsie for her meltdown during service but congratulated her for impressing him during her time on the show and told her she touched his heart. After Elsie gave him her jacket, Ramsay told her to keep smiling as she was lighting up a place when she was doing it. Then, Elsie hugged everybody and was told by everybody how much they were proud of her. Elsie received a retrospective montage of her run during her exit interview.
After Elsie’s exit, Ramsay said it was a tough night and hoped to regain their spirit as it was gone because there was potential in the final three. While Ramsay congratulated them for making it far, he wanted them to come back and prove why they were there. While being dismissed, Jessica knew they had to pull it together as a team, Ralph was happy to see Elsie go home if he was still around, and Michael said he had to do what he could to win.
Ramsay's comment: "Now that we're down to the final three, what I am looking for personally is flair, creativity, great imagination, and more importantly, individuality, 'cause it's now when they really have to start excelling!"
Trivia[]
- This is the first time where nobody was named the “Best of the Worst.” This would become a common occurrence in future seasons.
- This episode marks the first time that Chef Ramsay handpicked his own nominees.
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| Day 1 • Day 2 • Day 3 • Day 4 • Day 5 • Day 6 • Day 7 • Day 8 • Day 9 • Day 10 |