The fourth episode of Season 11 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on March 26, 2013. In that episode, a service challenge to raise awareness to a worthy cause occurred, a new rivalry was born between two teammates, and one chef was nominated for no apparent reason.
Intro[]
During the episode recap, Gina, Alfredo, and Christian each received the coat hanging and portrait burning sequence for the first time since their departures.
Continuing from the previous episode, when Jeremy stepped forward while the other chefs were being dismissed, Ramsay told him he was getting worried as he thought Jeremy lost his fight. Jeremy responded that he did not, Ramsay added that he needed to find his voice and not get crushed, and Jeremy promised he would not let him down. After, Ramsay dismissed him, and while going back to the dorms, Jeremy said that Ramsay saw something in him that his team was not, without understanding why. Back in the dorms, Michael asked Jeremy what Ramsay told him, but Jeremy answered it was not his problem, but he got convinced to say it by his team. So, Jeremy explained that he was quiet because his teammates were talking too much and concluded by saying he would speak more to be heard more. Jon acknowledged that was the progression the entire team was looking from him, and Dan added that despite being confident about Jeremy, he called him a liability. When Jeremy said he would push it a lot harder, his teammates responded that they were looking for and motivated him by applauding.
For the women, Ja'Nel said she was happy about Danielle still being there, but the latter said she still had to grasp things. Then, Ja'Nel said the same thing to Mary and offered her help to both of them while adding not to give up. Mary acknowledged that surviving elimination was a wake-up call for her and added that she could not be nominated again as she would likely go home without being ready to.
Team challenge[]
The next morning, all the chefs woke up and were ready for a new challenge. When Barret answered the phone, Sous Chef Andi told him to get everybody outside immediately. Everybody went outside and saw Ramsay, dressed in a running suit and many runners waiting in front of a start/finish line. That worried Cyndi as she did not know if they would have to run a marathon while adding that she could not do that. Ramsay revealed he ran over dozens of marathon in his life, reached his friends at the 'nPlay Foundation, and that they organized the first-ever HK3K, to raise awareness of childhood obesity. Anthony was ready to run three miles to save the fat kids. Then, three guests of honor were introduced: Maurice Greene, Natalie Coughlin, and Danell Leyva. When Coughlin was introduced, Dan said she was beautiful and gave her a kiss, and when Leyva was introduced, Nedra declared he was "mucho caliente" and fine as hell. After, Ramsay introduced the HK3K Service Challenge, and Danielle declared it would be hard for her to run in her chef's suit. However, when the chefs were getting ready to run, Ramsay stopped them and asked how they could feed the customers if they would be running with them. So, he asked for a volunteer from each team, and for the women, Jacqueline, Jessica, and Susan raised their hands, but Ramsay chose Mary, who acknowledged she was out of shape but hoped to redeem herself in some way. Only Anthony and Jeremy did not volunteer for the men, and it was Dan who was chosen by Ramsay, which he was confident that he could run backwards and still beat Mary.
Once everybody was ready, Jean-Philippe gave the signal, and the race began. Still, Dan was already going faster than everybody, leading Ramsay to ask him to slow down. At the same time, the remaining chefs went into their kitchens and started prepping for the service. The menu included a grilled flank steak wrap, a pan-seared salmon, and a Portabella burger. Every dish was served with sweet potato fries. Leyva made an acrobatic backflip on the course, which impressed everybody, and then Dan gave his first checkpoint, and Barret and Michael were there to check on him. So, the men started rushing to complete their prep. Still, Mary was much slower in the red kitchen, being the last runner, and acknowledged it was hard while adding she was tired. Finally, she gave a checkpoint, much to Cyndi's relief, and the latter told her to keep going. Mary was still struggling to keep up, and Dan declared he could skip, take his time through a mellow, and still win. Dan was the first who arrived in the kitchen, much to Cyndi's worry, and Dan asked what was on the menu. Barret agreed to catch Dan up on the menu. On the course, Mary continued to run, and the runners started filling the dining room.
With the men complete, they received their first ticket, and Ramsay warned them that they have to serve salads and smoothies before their main course. Jon was confident that the men could not lose the challenge as they started way ahead of the women. He became the vocal leader of the team and asked Jeremy for a time on the smoothies, which Jeremy answered that he was already going. Then, Ramsay discovered an already cooked tray of salmons, but Zach corrected that they were only seared. Zach brought the tray to Ramsay and revealed he cooked them, much to Ramsay's dismay, who reminded him it was not a fish that could be cooked twice and that they were not a fast-food chain. Jon asked if Zach was kidding, and Ramsay ordered Zach to start over. After that, Anthony asked for a time on the smoothies, and Jeremy answered that he was plating them at the moment while adding that he found his voice and that his team knew it. He also wanted to pump that out, and salads and smoothies were going out to the dining room at a good pace, despite Zach's mistake. In the red kitchen, Mary finally arrived, very exhausted, and asked for someone to catch her up. She said that she did not let her team down as she runs the whole course but added that she was exhausted. She was comforted by Amanda, and Ramsay told the women that the men already began serving their side of the dining room. Then, he called the first ticket, and Susan was confident to be placed on smoothies as she was making them every day and claimed herself to be a smoothie queen. However, Ramsay berated Susan because she was not working with finesse and slowing down the kitchen as she worked like a slob. Then, she realized that she could not plate her smoothies because she had to cook them, much to Nedra's confusion as she did not have to cook smoothies. When Susan started blending her smoothies, she received help from Nedra, determined to get the dishes out in time. Susan accepted her help and gave her clear instructions.
Jeremy and Ray have served all their smoothies and salads in the blue kitchen, and the men were ready to move on to entrées. Jon became the vocal leader of the team, as he acknowledged they needed to win that challenge. In the red kitchen, because of Nedra's help, Susan finally succeeded in sending her smoothies. Seconds later, Ja'Nel brought her wraps, Jessica brought her burgers, but Danielle was still not ready with the fries. Danielle declared they were coming, and when Ramsay asked how they could mess up fries, she retorted that there were only two fry baskets and that the fries could not fry any quicker as it was the laws of physics. Ramsay reminded he had to complete the table, and Danielle received pressure from her teammates, with Cyndi motivating the team. Minutes later, Danielle finally sent the fries, and entrées began to go out to the dining room.
In the blue kitchen, entrées were going out too, and Ramsay told the men that they were having three tickets to go, while the women were having four. Jon motivated the team, and Barret guaranteed the men would win the challenge. The latter sent his wraps to the pass, but Zach was still not ready with his salmons. He declared they were coming and finally sent them to the pass, with the help of Dan. However, the salmon was raw, and Ramsay berated Zach for that mistake while ordering him to start over. Then, Zach went to the back of the kitchen, picked an old piece of salmon, declaring that it looked perfect despite Ramsay ordering him not to use it, and put it in the pan to finish it off. After, Ramsay went to see the salmon tray and asked where it was coming from, with Ray answering it was the old stuff. That infuriated Ramsay, and he asked Zach if he was using it, with Zach answering that he was not. Ramsay asked Zach if he told the truth, which Zach answered he was, but Ray reminded him that Ramsay was not stupid and knew what was going on. Then, Ramsay asked Zach the same question for a second time, but Zach still answered he did not use it, leading Ramsay to push him off the salmon and asking Jeremy to cook the salmon for Zach. Meanwhile, the women rallied to complete their tickets. The men were still missing the salmon to complete the table. Finally, the women served their last table, making them the winners of the challenge. Jessica acknowledged the women were dominating the men. Ramsay asked the women to go over to the blue kitchen and help them complete their last tickets. Dan declared there was no silver lining as the team went to a great start but collapsed while blaming Zach. The women served the last salmon order of the blue team, and Ramsay called the men embarrassing.
Reward[]
Before Ramsay announced the women's reward, he reminded them that they had great spirits and worked as a team. They were rewarded with a day at Temecula Valley's Wine Country for wine tasting and making and flew on a private jet to get there. Ja'Nel was excited to win again, and Jacqueline felt like a G6 as she never went on a private jet before. When they got outside and saw the men doing their punishment, they rubbed salt in the wound by saying that at least the men were getting some sun.
Arriving at the private jet, the women were very excited to board a private jet. Cyndi declared that Ramsay knew how to make them feel like VIPs. Mary declared the view was awesome, Amanda asked if they ever lost a challenge which her teammates answered they did not, and everybody clinked their champagne glasses. Arrived at Monte De Oro, the women declared it was absolutely amazing. Jessica said that Wine Country was absolutely beautiful and that the whole atmosphere was sexy. While eating lunch, Cyndi reminded her teammates that they got together. Mary said that just when you think it could not get any better, the women went to squish some grapes with their feet, while Mary said that she wanted to do this her whole life.
Punishment[]
Before Ramsay announced the men's punishment, he asked where the spirit has gone. Everybody was scared to step up and work together, with Ray answering that they lost. After that, Michael requested Ramsay to call the tickets slower so everybody could hear them properly. That request annoyed Dan, who asked Michael to stop asking stupid questions. Then, Ramsay said it was not difficult but accepted Michael's request and declared that he would read the tickets slower during the next service, but added that they must work together.
The men were punished by cleaning the HK3K course, including erasing the paint, breaking down the checkpoints, picking the trash, and finally, prepping both kitchens ahead of the next service. Anthony was disappointed as he did not get the chance to go on a private jet and instead had to clean trashes, declaring it sucked. When the women rubbed salt in the men's wound, Dan was annoyed by it, and Barret told them off.
While cleaning the road, Zach declared that scrubbing the arrows off the concrete was the worst. Jon told his mom he was on a chain gang, Zach said the men scrubbed the road all day long, under the hot sun, and Jon said it sucked. While prepping the kitchens, Barret declared he done legitimate, and the men motivated themselves by saying they should hustle.
Before service[]
When the women came back from their reward holding their squished grapes baskets, the men convinced themselves to keep working and not look at the women. When the women entered the kitchen to greet the men, Dan declared there was a skink parade coming through, Jeremy told they were working, Ja'Nel told the men not to be rude, and Zach asked them to get out while giving an air kick with his left leg.
The next day, the men began their prep determined to get their first dinner service win and under Michael's leadership. Danielle was completely lost in the red kitchen as she revealed she was afraid to speak up as she did not want to be wrong. However, Amanda acknowledged she needed to find her confidence and told Danielle that it was worse being silent than being wrong. After both of them motivated themselves by saying they had to win service, Michael was angry at Dan leaving his stuff on his station in the blue kitchen. Still, Dan talked back by saying to Michael that he was breaking his balls. Then, Michael declared he needed to keep a close eye on Dan, and Jon declared that Dan was lost and confused while reminding him that service had not started yet. Michael landed Dan a metal container by asking what was inside, which Dan answered watercress. However, Michael revealed he was incorrect, and Dan corrected himself by saying it was Swiss char. Then, Michael padded Dan on the shoulder while saying he should not mess up the team, but Dan declared that Michael was bothering him and asked him not to make him look bad. A little argument erupted between the two of them, where Michael reminded him that they had a service to pull off, but Dan talked back to him, leading Ray to calm the situation down.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay was determined to have a good service finally and declared they would be serving Greek salads tableside. He dedicated Cyndi and Jeremy to the tableside stations. When everybody was ready, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell's Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Before tickets entered, Michael told his teammates to have fun while being fast. In the red kitchen, Susan and Ja'Nel motivated the team, saying they could do it. Kristi Yamaguchi and Ryan Hollins were in attendance, and when Jacqueline saw Yamaguchi, she was very excited. Ramsay called the first ticket in the red kitchen, and when he called the first ticket in the blue kitchen, he did it very slowly. Then, he asked Michael and Ray how that was, and both answered it was perfect. Ramsay was dismayed that they could not understand the ticket read faster. Barret expressed concern over Ray because of his age and memory. Then, Ray gave three minutes on his risotto but corrected himself immediately by giving two minutes. Barret recalled that dinner service was not the room for errors. When Ramsay asked for the risotto, Barret answered it was coming, and Ray brought it to the pass moments later. Ray said he did not know why they should not get perfect risottos every time, and his risotto was accepted, with Michael being happy and saying they were doing a great job. In the dining room, Ryan Hollins was served his risotto. In the kitchen, Ray and Barret celebrated by giving each other a high-five. After, Jeremy struggled to keep up with the tableside special as he ran into Jean-Philippe and almost dropped his shaker to the floor. Jeremy apologized to Jean-Philippe and went to his first table to ask who ordered a Caesar salad before correcting himself by saying Greek salad. Then, Jeremy started to prepare his salad but struggled a lot to make his bowl spin, declaring it was embarrassing. In the red kitchen, Susan delivered perfect scallops, appetizers were going out at a good pace, even in perfect synchronization with Cyndi and the Greek salad tableside, and Kristi Yamaguchi was served.
However, Jean-Philippe returned Ryan Hollins' risotto to the kitchen because of undercooked rice. Ramsay berated Ray, took his dirty pan containing rice that was still stuck to it, and showed it to the team. Anthony was dismayed by that, and acknowledged that was what the men were constantly doing. Ray started to make another one, but Ramsay called him "granddad" while urging him to hurry up. Then, Zach said that Ray should watch himself and that he should not make any more mistakes. After, Ramsay told Ray to keep his pan down, which Ray answered that he understood. When Ramsay urged Ray to move quicker, Dan was dismayed as he knew the whole team was waiting for him. After that, Ray sent his second attempt at Ryan Hollins' risotto, and it was deemed delicious by Ramsay, who urged him to keep the bar up as he finally raised it and to stay focus. Ray was proud and eager to cook some more shit before apologizing for saying a curse word. In the dining room, Hollins was satisfied with his new risotto. In the kitchen, Jon congratulated Ray for bouncing back and motivated his team.
Ramsay asked Jessica for a time on her risotto in the red kitchen, which she answered six minutes. Then, Susan reminded Jessica to let her know when she would need the scallops and asked her if she was cooking one or two portions of risotto. Jessica only answered that they were good. Susan said she was baffled as Jessica was cooking too much risotto for one portion and Ramsay would not tolerate that. Then, she sent her scallops to the pass. Ramsay asked for the risotto, which Jessica answered that she needed two minutes, leading Ramsay to ask her if she had a second gear and say that he would like to see it. Nedra called Jessica a crazy bitch under her breath, but Jessica heard her, and she gave a wake-up call to Jessica, saying she should get her shit together. When Jessica sent her risotto to the pass, Ramsay rejected it for having too many portions for the ordered one. Jessica thought two were ordered instead. Ramsay asked Jessica if it was a joke, which she answered it was not, and he reminded that the women were waiting all that time for four portions of risotto when only one was needed, much to his dismay. Susan motivated the team, Ramsay berated Jessica for serving too many risotto portions. In the blue kitchen, the men succeeded in sending some entrées to the dining room. Ramsay called the next ticket, Dan gave one minute for his lamb to be ready, and Zach gave the approval for Michael to cook his garnish by calling him baby. Michael sent his lamb garnish to the pass, but Dan noticed his lamb was still undercooked. He revealed the problem to Ramsay, much to the latter's dismay, as well as Michael's, who acknowledged he had to fire another garnish. Dan mocked Michael by comparing him to a whiny baby and told him to wait as he got it. Dan finally sent his lamb to the pass, but it was not appropriately sliced, and Ramsay schooled him for that mistake. He asked Dan what was that by showing him the lamb, which Dan answered was shit and compared it to a dog's chew toy. Michael declared he had to restart his garnish for the sixtieth time, much to his dismay, and Dan started his lamb over. In the red kitchen, Jacqueline and Danielle were ready with their chicken order. Still, when Jacqueline sent it to the pass, Ramsay rejected it for being raw, much to Mary's dismay. Ramsay schooled them for that mistake and told Jacqueline and Danielle to wake up. Amanda urged Jacqueline to bounce back, and Ramsay told Jacqueline that serving raw chicken was the one thing not to do in a kitchen. Jacqueline asked for somebody to slice her next attempt at the chicken as her hands were too dirty. She received help from Nedra and declared she was stressing out. When she sent her second chicken attempt to the pass, it was accepted, and the customers enjoyed their entrées.
On the blue side of the dining room, only half of the customers received their entrées. Ramsay asked Dan for the lamb twice as he did not answer the first time, and when he did, he said there was one minute remaining. Michael urged Dan to hurry up as he did not want to do his garnish once again and expressed disappointment in Dan for failing at the one task he had. Then, Dan asked Zach to look at his lamb, but Zach acknowledged it was still undercooked. Dan said that he could not do anything about it other than put it back in the oven. Michael asked Dan for a real-time on his lamb but completely lost his patience when Dan asked Zach for a time. Dan went to the convection oven while wondering why he asked Zach as the latter could not know more than him. At the convection oven, Michael angrily ordered Dan to go back to his station and declared that if Dan put one finger on him, he would beat him all over the room, concluding he did not care if he would go to jail. Then, Michael got back to his station, but on his way, he bumped into Dan, which the latter did not appreciate and challenged him to a fight before Ramsay pulled both of them into the pantry room, which Anthony commented that one of them would get punched. In the pantry room, Ramsay asked what was going on between both of them, and Michael angrily told Dan that he had to talk, but when Dan requested Michael to stop yelling, he got ignored and insulted by Michael, who told him to talk or go home. Ramsay ordered both of them to talk to each other, and they got out of the pantry room calmer than when they entered. However, Michael did not understand well what Dan said about being ready on garnish, but when he corrected himself by saying he was ready with the garnish, Michael told him to speak English. Dan got back on his station but called Michael a baby, and Ramsay asked for a time, which Dan answered that he needed one minute on his lamb. Michael appreciated that answer, smiled, and asked Dan to do the same. Still, Dan said that sarcasm was not appreciated at the moment. Still, Michael said he did not appreciate the fact that he could not cook food and asked Dan not to talk and cook, which Dan mimicked. Finally, Michael and Ray gave each other an air kiss. Michael added that he would get fired if he had to take one hour for a ticket, Dan sent his lamb, which was accepted, and he called that redemption.
In the red kitchen, Danielle sent her Wellingtons, but they were overcooked, and Ramsay schooled them, much to Ja'Nel's dismay as she said that Jacqueline and Danielle were crashing and burning every single thing they were doing and that the team could not get passed it. Ramsay berated the women by reminding all their challenge rewards since the beginning of the competition and asked them to touch the Wellingtons, which everybody acknowledged were overcooked. Then, Danielle disappeared to her station, much to Ramsay's annoyance, and brought another tray of Wellingtons. Still, they were overcooked as well, much to Ramsay's dismay. Amanda said that Danielle should get it together, Ramsay asked the latter if the third time was lucky, which Danielle answered was perfect. When Ramsay asked what the first two were, Danielle answered it was her mistake. The third tray she brought was accepted, much to the customers' relief. Two and a half hours into service, both teams managed to serve all their customers. Jon acknowledged that everybody bounced back and were deserving a big "hooray" for that.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay noticed that both teams completed service, despite him not celebrating as they had many issues. After that, he praised the men's progress and named them winners, which the men celebrated by hugging each other. After the men got dismissed, Ramsay told the women that their service was dreadful before asking them two nominees for elimination.
While going back to the dorms, Ja'Nel called it disgusting to lose service to the men. On the patio, Susan declared that the meat station was the one that messed the team up the most, therefore considering Danielle and Jacqueline. Cyndi agreed and was reminded that all of Danielle's Wellingtons were overcooked. When Amanda declared that Jacqueline deserved to be nominated, Nedra disagreed as she thought Jacqueline was a strong cook and that nominating her would be a stupid thing. Ja'Nel voted for Danielle as she did not step up like she was supposed to, but that enraged Danielle as she thought she was more vocal and called it unfair to be thrown under the bus as that was a new environment for her. Cyndi noticed that Danielle was screaming but was missing that passion when sinking. Then, Danielle voted for Jessica for having problems with appetizers. Still, Jessica said she went smoother despite having risottos coming back. However, Ja'Nel reminded Jessica that she was second-guessing herself a lot with risottos and that she had to trust herself more. Still, Jessica did not know what was going on as she did well. Nedra singled out Jessica lacking confidence, which Jacqueline agreed, but Jessica reminded it was her first time on appetizers, and then, she revealed that she felt betrayed by her team. Finally, she added that it was unfair, that it was a bunch of crap, and Ja'Nel reminded them they were deliberating between Jacqueline, Danielle, and Jessica, which Cyndi hesitated for the second nominee.
Elimination[]
Amanda announced Danielle as the women's first nominee for lacking leadership and Jessica as the second for feeling she was over her head. Ramsay called both of them down and stated that somebody else could have killed somebody before calling Jacqueline down. Ramsay called the latter "Ms. Pink Chicken" while calling it unacceptable. Jessica stated that she felt her team was not seeing confidence in her abilities during her plea, so Ramsay asked Nedra why she thought Jessica was not a good teammate, but Nedra struggled a lot to answer. Because of that, Ramsay sent Jessica back in line. After, Danielle said there were still many things she had to grasp while stating that her first three services did not represent her abilities as she was a damn good chef. Then, Jacqueline pleaded that she was born to do that, which Ramsay responded by asking that she was born to cook pink chicken. Still, Jacqueline insisted that she was born to cook and deserved to be there as she cared a lot to be. After deliberating, Ramsay sent Jacqueline back in line and eliminated Danielle for not improving in three services. During her exit interview, Danielle declared she was happy about making it that far despite wishing to have made it further.
After Danielle left, Ramsay told the women they were not the same outfit who opened the competition while adding that he would turn up the heat if they thought the competition was challenging that far, as he needed to separate the chefs from the cooks. While being dismissed, Jacqueline acknowledged she dodged a bullet. Michael called Dan an amateur while declaring he had to take him out of the team if they would like to be successful. Jessica declared she was not there to make friends and was ready to have her revenge the following time.
Ramsay's comment: "Every dinner service, Danielle looked like a deer in the headlights. And that's why she ended up as dead meat."
Trivia[]
- This marks the fourth time a team won the first three challenges, following Season 3, 9, and 10.
- This marks the second time a team lost the first three challenges and the first two dinner services in a row, following Season 10.
- This episode marks the first time since Episode 1003 - 16 Chefs Compete where the blue team won the service.