The second episode of Season 11 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on March 12, 2013, airing as a double feature alongside the first episode. In that episode, a beloved staff member made a return, the eleventh opening night of Hell's Kitchen, including a record of ejections, occurred, and one chef was put in their place for not taking the competition seriously.
Before service[]
Continuing from the previous episode, Gina was sitting in the back store. The medic asked her questions like what was her name and if she knew where she was, but Gina answered that she was feeling overwhelmed by the situation and that she was feeling better at the moment. She added that she just needed to relax and that she did not want to be in the kitchen at the moment, so she went back to the dorms to focus on herself. Nedra was determined to get it together despite being down a member in the red kitchen. Gina took a moment to make herself a cup of coffee in the dorms and put makeup on while acknowledging she needed to be away from her teammates and from everything.
Jeremy was completely lost in the blue kitchen and asked a lot of questions to his teammates. Anthony and Ray tried to help him, with the latter acknowledging that Jeremy was very inexperienced and was concerned about him, especially when Jeremy revealed he did not know how to make polenta. In the red kitchen, the women were extremely motivated to not have dead weight dragging them down, referring to Gina, and Susan even felt that they were a stronger team without her. Then, Gina came back in the kitchen, motivated to bounce back very quickly, but she broke the good mood of her team. When Gina asked Jacqueline what she missed, Jacqueline answered that she missed everything.
After, Ramsay entered the kitchen, and when the teams were lined up, he revealed that Hell's Kitchen was opening for the eleventh time. The chefs applauded that achievement, motivated to perform well, and Ramsay said he was not looking for perfection, but for every chef to give their best. He also said that he expected every customer to be served, therefore guarantying a complete service. Susan was a little bit worried as it was their first night in Hell's Kitchen, and that it was not an easy thing to do. Then, a silhouette was seen behind the front door, with the chefs wondering who could it might be, and Jean-Philippe revealed himself holding his luggage, before tripping on a chair. Mary was excited to see him, and Ja'Nel tried to wonder where he has been for the previous three years. Ramsay told Jean-Philippe that he was supposed to arrive the last day, which Jean-Philippe answered that he got delayed and tried to be there in time. Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to get changed quickly while adding that he was not happy. After that, Ramsay asked everybody to get on their stations and to open Hell's Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Deborah Ann Woll and Owain Yeoman were in attendance that night. Amanda and Christian served steamed mussels tableside in their respective sides of the dining room. Jean-Philippe took too much time to bring his first tickets, much to Ramsay's annoyance. Ramsay commented on how Jean-Philippe disappeared for three years and showing up late before telling how rude it was. Ramsay called the first ticket in the red kitchen. Gina asked Mary where the spatula to flip the scallops was. Still, Mary was annoyed as Gina did not know what she was doing, reminded that she has not been there all day, and could not believe she wanted to cook scallops. Gina started to cook the scallops, but her constant flipping made Ja'Nel say that she was in La La Land, Jessica tell to come on, and Susan urge her not to flip them anymore. When Nedra asked her if she was ready with the scallops, she answered she was and brought them to the pass and Nedra's risotto. Gina's teammates were worried about the scallops not being perfect, with Susan saying that was not the way the red team wanted to start. When Ramsay asked who cooked the scallops, Gina answered she did. Much to everybody's surprise, Ramsay deemed them excellent and thanked Gina for it. Susan could not believe those were the immaculate scallops. Gina reminded her teammates she could cook scallops.
When Ramsay called the first ticket in the blue kitchen, the men could not deliver a proper response, which annoyed Anthony. Ramsay asked them to answer, which they did finally. Christian began cooking his mussels in the dining room and in the kitchen, Sebastian declared he knew how to make risotto but never really focused on cooking Italian food as he was Mexican and liking his spicy food. When he was ready with his first attempt, he pointed at Zach, saying he could bring his scallops to the pass. Zach did, and Sebastian followed with his risotto seconds later. However, Ramsay came back and asked the men to taste the risotto, which they noticed was undercooked, much to Ray's dismay. Ramsay urged them to regroup and get it together while praising Zach, who cooked the scallops to perfection. Christian was ready with his mussels in the dining room, served them, and was pissed that he was doing his part while his teammates could not get the first table together. Ramsay reminded the blue team that Christian already served his mussels while Sebastian started over on his first risotto. Gina was eager to prove that she could cook scallops perfectly again in the red kitchen but constantly asked Nedra for a time after the latter gave five minutes. Nedra was annoyed by Gina's constant time request as she knew how long it was taking to cook scallops. When Ramsay asked for a time, Gina kept asking Nedra for a time, annoying Mary. Gina complained about how Nedra would not tell her anything and decided to fire her scallops without the latter's approval. However, Nedra said she needed two more minutes on her risotto while calling Gina a crazy bitch for firing the scallops early. Nedra walked with her risotto, and Gina followed her by bringing her scallops, but they were overcooked and too watery. Because of that, Gina requested to cook the scallops one more time while asking for somebody else to cook the risotto, but Ramsay did not understand what she meant. Nedra was angry for being thrown under the bus by somebody who was not having it right themselves. On her next attempt at the scallops, Gina told Nedra off when the latter asked her for a time, Ja'Nel helped Gina by reminding her not to burn the scallops. Nedra acknowledged that Gina could not cook scallops to save her life while adding that Ramsay was about to find that out. Gina sent her scallops to the pass while Nedra sarcastically wished her luck, and the latter brought her risotto seconds later. However, the scallops were rubbery, Ramsay played heads or tails with one of them while reminding he guaranteed a complete service and that Gina could not hold it together at the second table before kicking the latter out of the kitchen. After, he told Nedra that the risotto was delicious, and Nedra celebrated by saying it was a big whoop. Gina was pissed about Nedra's supposed lack of communication back in the dorms before guaranteeing war to her teammates, which she called little bitches.
Sebastian was ready with his risotto in the blue kitchen, and he brought it to the pass, along with Zach and his scallops. They were finally accepted, and Zach said that the men were on a roll and finally coming together. On the next ticket, Sebastian said he needed 60 seconds on his appetizers. When Sebastian was ready, he brought his capellini, and Zach brought his scallops to the pass. However, Ramsay rejected his capellini for being too spicy and disgusting, told the men to taste it, but praised Zach one more time for cooking scallops beautifully. Zach was annoyed as he felt it was déjà vu, and Ramsay asked him how many times he perfectly cooked scallops without serving them, which he answered twice. Ramsay urged Sebastian to get it together, Michael gave a little pep talk to his team, and Sebastian responded by calling him "Mikey Wikey." Sebastian acknowledged that he messed up a few times but was getting along with the group and trying to make the environment a little bit looser. Then, he tried to communicate with Zach by calling him Zacky, but Zach did not answer, and on his second attempt, he called him "Zacky Wacky." However, Ramsay heard him, called him down, asked him if it was a joke, which Sebastian answered it was not, before kicking him out of the kitchen for his comical attitude. Anthony sarcastically said that his ejection was unexpected. Then Sebastian came back in the kitchen holding clean pans and trying to get back on his station. However, Dan asked him what he was doing, Anthony wondered where he was going, and Ramsay kicked him out of the kitchen for the second time in a row. Jon took control of the appetizer station by himself. Christian decided to serve mussels to customers who did not even order some in the dining room to try and help his team out. In the red kitchen, Nedra and Mary served a lot of appetizers. When they began working on their entrées, Danielle was completely lost and failed to remember all the tickets while wondering how somebody could remember them. Then, Danielle revealed to Susan that she never worked in a brigade before. That surprised Susan, who could not believe Danielle was a head chef while asking if she was the head chef of a hot dog stand. Danielle grabbed a ticket and read it, wondering if it was the one Ramsay just called, and Ramsay asked her what she was doing that for. After, he clearly told her that the ticket was supposed to be in her head and that if she did not remember it, she had to walk three steps to the pass and read it. Danielle returned to her station after that lesson. In the blue kitchen, Jon and Zach succeeded in sending the appetizers to the dining room. When the team moved on to entrées, Michael called five minutes for his lamb and was excited to work on that as he was working with it every day. Barret worked on Wellingtons, even saying that he considered putting it on his following menu back at his everyday job. Michael communicated well with Jeremy and told Barret his Wellingtons were still undercooked. Jeremy asked Michael if he was ready to walk, which he answered he was while being very confident that his lamb was perfectly cooked. However, the lamb was still raw. When Ramsay sent the lamb back, Michael expressed disappointment and started his attempt over while still being disappointed in himself. Barret was disappointed as well, as he had to fire another Wellington.
In the red kitchen, Ramsay asked for a time on meat, and Jessica answered six minutes. Cyndi was concerned about Jessica being fresh out of culinary school and believed it could turn into a disaster. When Jessica was ready to slice her lamb and serve it, she took a lot of time slicing it, annoying Mary, who said it was not rocket science, Cyndi asked how much of an amateur she was, and Nedra reminded Jessica that there were only 24 hours in a day. Three and a half minutes later, Jessica finally finished slicing her lamb, bringing it to the pass, and Ramsay said it was cooked perfectly. Jessica impressed her teammates, with Cyndi saying she could cook some meat despite that. Because of their good work, the red team succeeded in pushing their entrées out at a good pace. In the blue kitchen, Barret was ready with his perfectly cooked Wellingtons. However, Michael still needed more time for his lamb to be ready, much to Barret's dismay. Barret told Michael that he could not make his lamb rest any longer, and he had to walk. That annoyed Michael, who sarcastically thanked Barret for sending his lamb too soon. Michael brought his lamb to the pass, with Ramsay asking him to show some energy, but Ramsay returned with both the lamb and the Wellingtons because there was more bone than meat on the lamb. That annoyed Dan, who reminded Michael that he was not serving a dog's chew toy and there had to have meat on it. As for the Wellingtons, they were overcooked, much to Barret's dismay, and Zach called Michael and Barret "dumb and dumber." While Ramsay was reminding them that they must not slice the Wellingtons before the lamb was ready, Sebastian came back in the kitchen requesting to return to his station, with Jon calling it perfect timing. Ramsay called Sebastian down, told him that he was making him look stupid, reminded the men they did not serve any entrée yet. One hour went into service, and Ramsay kicked Sebastian out for the third time, along with Michael and Barret. Ramsay concluded by threatening Sebastian with on-the-spot elimination if he would come down one more time. After that, Ray and Anthony were dedicated to the meat station. While going back to the dorms, Barret angrily threw his rag on the wall while telling him he was pissed as he did not do anything to be kicked out. Back in the red kitchen, the black kale was missing, Danielle and Susan did not answer, with the latter urging the former to get it together, and Ramsay urged Danielle to hurry up. Still, Danielle blamed the fact that she never done that before. Then, Danielle answered one minute for the kale to be ready. Susan was annoyed because she was having to tell everything that Danielle was supposed to do, which she called babysitting her, even neglecting her own garnishes. Both of them brought their garnishes to the pass. Still, Susan's were rubbery, and she was kicked out of the kitchen, even though she blamed Danielle for being completely lost. Then, Ramsay told Danielle to stop staring at him and focus on her things. When Ramsay reminded Danielle of the ticket, she got confused as she did not know if he wanted the refire along with the following ticket or not. That led Danielle to be kicked out of the kitchen as well, and when she was, she said it was a lot harder than it looked. The women looked for somebody to take control of the garnish station back. In the blue kitchen, Anthony's lamb was accepted. When Ramsay called the next ticket, he urged the men to stay focused, but at the same moment, a minor fire erupted on the garnish station. That annoyed Zach, who told Jeremy he could not cook kale and could see it catching fire and getting burned. Zach tried to help Jeremy on garnishes, but Jeremy angrily told him to mind his own business, shocking Zach, who called him out. Jeremy said he was taking care of his own station, and Zach should do the same. On the next ticket, Ramsay called three halibuts, one bass, and one chicken. Still, Jeremy failed to call it back properly, even being corrected by Dan, much to Ramsay's dismay. So, Ramsay called the ticket a second time. However, Jeremy was still struggling to repeat it properly, angering Ramsay, and Anthony even said that birds could repeat the ticket better than him. Ramsay repeated the ticket for the third time, but Jeremy was still having trouble repeating it, leading him to be kicked out of the kitchen by Ramsay, much to Zach's amusement.
An hour and a half into service, Mary was dedicated to the garnish station by Ramsay. In the dorms, Danielle was still blaming the fact that she never worked in a brigade before. In the kitchen, the women struggled to keep up with already three of their teammates ejected. So, Ramsay decided to send the entrées without the garnish, so the team would have a chance to catch up. Ramsay told Mary to get potatoes urgently, which overwhelmed her as she had to work two stations at once. So, Mary was helped by Amanda, and when Ramsay asked for somebody to help her, Jacqueline was seen not doing anything and just looking for her water bottle. Jacqueline said that Ramsay was stressing her and that she was looking to relax, annoying Nedra, who complained about her not doing anything at the moment. Then, the female customer who received the chicken without the garnish came back. Ramsay apologized to her. He returned to the red kitchen, telling that there were already seven minutes since the chicken was sent and the potatoes were still not ready. Mary was struggling to keep up, and Jacqueline was drinking water. When Ramsay asked her what she was doing, she answered that she was getting her water bottle before being kicked out of the kitchen by Ramsay. Jacqueline was not upset about being kicked out as she saw that as an opportunity to rehydrate again. Finally, Mary succeeded in sending the missing potatoes to the pass. Dan brought the chicken garnish to the pass in the blue kitchen, but Jon still needed time for his risotto to be ready. Dan's garnishes were undercooked, and Jon's risotto was overcooked. Because of that, both of them were kicked out, much to Zach's dismay, as he was determined to complete dinner service no matter what, and he started to feel the pressure when his teammates were getting kicked out. When Ray was asked to taste the overcooked risotto, he used his fingers in front of Ramsay, much to Anthony's dismay, who called that move stupid. Ray was kicked out of the kitchen as well. Zach compared the blue kitchen to being in the middle of a natural disaster and started not feeling good and feeling the pressure. Then, Anthony brought his risotto to the pass, but it was not accepted, and he was kicked out as well, leaving Zach as the only man remaining in the blue kitchen. He felt a lot of pressure and something in his stomach, as well as his body shutting down. Sous Chef James asked where Zach was, as the latter went into the back store as he was about to throw up. Sous Chef James looked for him, but Zach felt dehydrated and that he was about to lose consciousness before throwing up in a garbage bin. Then, Zach put a wet towel over his head to cool himself down and threw up again while telling Sous Chef James what he was doing, and the latter reported the news to Ramsay. After, Zach felt better and said that one must think again when thinking they were about to lose consciousness.
Meanwhile, Christian was brought back in the kitchen, while Zach called himself a monster. With the help of Sous Chefs James and Andi, both of them worked on the next ticket, while Zach motivated himself to finish strong. He served acceptable bass, and the blue kitchen was finally serving their entrées. Back in the dorms, the 12 chefs ejected were starting to feel angry, with Jeremy not understanding why he got kicked out just because he could not repeat back the order. Dan reminded him that he had to be able to and that communication was crumbling. On the red side, Jacqueline was annoyed by Danielle saying that she never worked in a brigade before as she knew that already. Then, Danielle asked everybody if they ever worked in a true brigade before, which almost everybody raised their hands, leaving her speechless. In the red kitchen, the remaining female chefs found their rhythm and sent entrées at a good pace. In the blue kitchen, Zach was feeling better, and entrées were coming out as well. Zach was determined to finish strong on the last ticket as something that would not kill one would make them stronger. Then, he revealed to Christian that he just put ice on his chest, and in the red kitchen, the women pushed themselves to finish strong as well, with Cyndi being very proud as they succeeded in completing the first dinner service. In the blue kitchen, Zach succeeded in sending his last table while being very proud of himself, concluding that Chef Zach was the man that night.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay revealed they completed dinner service but was expecting to have everybody at the end. Ramsay declared the women the winners before praising Zach for giving all he got and saying that was the kind of commitment he expected from everybody during every service. Finally, Ramsay asked the men to work as a team and nominate two people for elimination before dismissing them.
While going back to the dorms, Zach felt that his team let him down but added that the biggest dead weight would be penalized. During deliberation, Jeremy considered Sebastian and Michael for struggling on appetizers and meat. respectively. Barret recalled when Michael was not ready with the lamb and was told not to send his Wellingtons while questioning Michael's position as an Executive Chef. Michael acknowledged he messed up but said that he cooked lamb every day and had a lot of experience while considering Sebastian for not being serious since the beginning of the competition. Sebastian said he liked to have a good time. Michael did too, but he knew when to be serious and when to play around. Dan recalled that Sebastian came back in the kitchen three times, but Sebastian said he only came back twice before Zach confirmed he came back three times. Sebastian was pissed as all of his teammates messed up and he tried to send good food before considering Jeremy for being one of the weakest on the team. Then, Jon considered Jeremy for not being able to repeat an order, which angered the latter. Then, a little argument erupted between him and Zach over the tone of voice Jeremy used to tell Zach he got it after the kale incident. A violent argument erupted between the two of them one more time when Zach told Jeremy he could not cook, which angered Jeremy, who was still confident he would win the stupid restaurant in Las Vegas and that he would be better than everybody else. That argument finished with Zach saying that Jeremy did not know what he was doing and that he could go off home.
Elimination[]
Zach announced Jeremy as the blue team's first nominee for refusing to take criticism and being rude during service. Still, Jeremy said he was frustrated at the situation and lashed out before Ramsay reminded him that the customers were not served while he was frustrated. After, Zach announced Sebastian for not being serious. Both nominees were called down, and during his plea, Sebastian acknowledged that his attitude was the thing he had to work on the most and said that he would have to correct that. Then, Jeremy pleaded that he fought for everything he did in his life and would bounce back from his mistakes. In the end, Ramsay eliminated Sebastian because he was not taking the competition seriously, and Ramsay was not accepting comedians in his kitchen. During his exit interview, Sebastian was disappointed as he thought the challenge was to beat the other chefs, but instead, he defeated himself.
After Sebastian left, Ramsay reminded them that the competition was not a game before dismissing the chefs. While going back to the dorms, Jeremy declared it became a fight and was not going anywhere. Nedra went after Gina as the first of the women eliminated while adding she would vote with her two hands and counting her breasts as four. Finally, Zach declared he could not carry the team any longer and wondered who would be the next person from his team to go home, as only himself could be the winner.
Ramsay's comment: "Sebastian tried to be funny, but it was his cooking that was the joke."
Trivia[]
- This episode features the largest amount of chefs being ejected in one completed dinner service, with twelve (8 from blue and 4 from red).