The eighteenth episode of Season 11 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on June 27, 2013. In that episode, the final five competed against former winners at dinner service, and nobody was sent home.
Champion team revealed[]
Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay revealed that the first chef the final five were competing against was Season 3 winner Rock. Jon knew it would be tough as Rock was a beast in the kitchen. The second chef was Season 4 winner Christina, with Susan expressing her respect to the former for being a female winner. Season 6 winner Dave was the third chef to appear. Still, his presence intimidated the final five as Cyndi recalled how much of an animal Dave was with only one working arm. Now they had to face up against him with two working arms. The fourth chef was Season 8 winner Nona, and Mary said she looked up to her. The final chef revealed was Season 9 winner Paul, who warned the final five that the big deal was back. However, Ja'Nel told Paul not to talk shit to them out the gate as he had no idea who he was going against. After, Ramsay told the final five that he was not lying about them going up against the best. Still, Susan was confident they were better than the previous winners. However, Rock was not intimidated by Susan due to her towel on top of her head.
Menu creation[]
After expressing excitement for the following service, Ramsay had both teams think of one appetizer and one entrée to add to the menu and let them each control who was working where in the kitchens. After giving both teams one hour to decide amongst themselves, Dave wished the final five luck because they needed it. However, Jon challenged Dave, and as the chefs went back to the dorms, Mary remarked how Ramsay never brought back previous winners before. Still, Mary felt the previous winners had been out of the kitchen for a while and expressed confidence the black jackets would win. Susan wanted to make an easy appetizer as it would lead them to success, but her sliders suggestion was shot down as Jon reminded her what they were up against, and they were on another level. Mary suggested a beef tartare, and Ja'Nel loved that idea.
Meanwhile, Rock did not have a worry in his body as he felt they were the dream team. Christina suggested a bacon and eggs-styled appetizer with pork belly and quail egg, but Nona felt the quail egg was a bitch to open. That shocked Christina as she saw Nona’s personality was different since Season 8 and called her a diva before commenting how Los Angeles did that to her. Then, Nona suggested a chicken and waffles dish, but Christina called it boring, and before an argument could fire up, Dave said he did not care what they made as long as they all agree to a dish and explained that freaking out would not get the job done. Dave asked the winners what their favorite proteins were, himself liking duck, and everybody agreed with that.
Back in the dorms, the black jackets agreed with duck. While Mary suggested they do it multiple ways like a confit, Susan could not see how it would fit in with the rest of the dish and that confit took a long time to make. Despite Mary suggesting they get up early to start prepping it, Susan rejected that idea. Still, the rest of the chefs agreed with the Mary. That led Susan to let them have their way, with the only hope is that they could execute it well. Meanwhile, Nona suggested collard greens for their entrées, and Paul agreed to have it on the menu, making the former call the dish out of the hood.
With the menus agreed by both teams, it was now time to talk about station assignments. Both Susan and Cyndi wanted to be on meat as the latter felt she was better there than the former. Then, Cyndi suggested they make Susan a floater as the latter was the weakest out of the five and did not want to go down because of Susan. Ja'Nel agreed with that idea, and after, Cyndi put the former on appetizers, Mary on garnish, and Jon on fish. However, Susan refused to be a floater and felt Cyndi had an ego trip, but reluctantly decided to let the decision stand as she hoped the latter was ready the following night, or else it was game over. After both teams got their decisions made out, the champions went back to their hotel, while the black jackets went off to bed early.
Before service[]
The next day, the black jackets were up as Jon knew they had to be on their A-game that night if they were going up against champions and said there was no room for mistakes. As the black jackets began prepping their duck, the champion team returned as Rock felt the black jackets had no chance against them as they were that good. While Christina called it surreal to be back, she compared it to riding a bicycle. Both teams began prepping for service, in addition to making sample plates of their menu items. Mary was ready to smear duck blood all over her eyes when it came to butchering the duck. That led Susan to deem Mary a completely different person when around meat, and she got nervous. At the same time, Jon wanted to get the duck legs ready for the confit as they took 4 hours in the oven. However, Susan doubted that the confit would be prepared on time. Christina and Paul joked around in the blue kitchen as the former knew none of them were going home that night and felt they knew what they were doing. At the same time, Dave tasted Nona’s collard greens and thought they tasted great. As prep for the champions was going well, Nona was confident about their chances, and Paul felt they would dominate that night.
With five minutes left until both teams had to present their dishes, the champion team was confident, but the black jackets found out their duck confit was not cooking fast enough, which Susan knew would happen. Jon knew they could only wait as Mary realized they had to take the confit off their dish. Eventually, time was up, and both teams had their dishes ready for Ramsay’s review. Mary presented the black jacket’s steak tartare, and Ramsay told them to add more heat to the dish despite having a strong plating style. Then, Mary presented the black jacket’s pan-seared duck breast with celery root purée but told Ramsay that they were missing the duck confit for the hash, much to his dismay as Susan was not hopeful about their chances. When an upset Ramsay asked the black jackets if that was the best they could do, Ja'Nel was embarrassed, especially when it was revealed that the duck breast was bland. Afterwards, Jon was unsure they could beat the champions if they could not get one dish made properly. For the champion team, Christina said they had an advantage over the black jackets due to receiving Ramsay’s training before and therefore knew what his likes were. Dave presented the champion’s rendered duck breast with toasted pistachios, which Ramsay deemed fresh and vibrant. Then, Paul presented their veal loin with collard greens. While Ramsay praised the veal for tasting good, he reminded the champions not to make it too pink as people from Los Angeles were finicky and did not want to see a dish returned.
While the champions were proud of getting their dishes praised, the black jackets tried to get their second attempt on the entrée, and Mary hoped Ramsay would like it now. Fortunately, Ramsay liked it to Jon’s relief. Afterwards, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
As service began, Dave and Jean-Philippe reconnected, while Ramsay told Rock to remain solid while welcoming back Christina. Meanwhile, Susan notes that the five of them technically never worked in the same kitchen until now but wanted to beat the champions as it would be historic. As the black jackets received their first order, Jon wanted to be the best as there was no room for error and wanted to work by himself before telling Mary off for trying to help him. However, Ramsay told Jon to let Mary work on two pans with him. Still, Jon wanted to separate from the rest before sending up perfectly cooked scallops that Ramsay gave Mary credit for, to Jon’s annoyance. Despite that, the black jackets were off to a strong start. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay reminded Nona not to make the risottos liquidly. While Nona felt confident as she was strong on appetizers before, her first attempt was bland, admitting that it has been a few years since she made Ramsay’s recipe. However, Nona got the refire accepted, but she said the risottos could take six to seven minutes on their next order. Due to that, Ramsay asked Dave to help Nona, but the latter was confused why she did not have a lot going on now compared to himself as he would prep some ahead of orders. However, Nona did not want Dave’s help as she felt she had everything under control and felt the latter had a “my dick is bigger than yours” attitude. Regardless, Dave’s help allowed appetizers to continue flowing.
Ramsay wanted Mary’s high-pitched squeak to become a proper voice for the black jackets in the red kitchen. Still, Mary's attempts at leadership almost made Cyndi’s ears bleed. However, Mary did not care if it sounded stupid and wanted to have her voice heard. When Ja'Nel told her to calm down, Mary admitted to talking a lot, to which Jon responded with no shit. When Susan asked Ja'Nel to help her on the tartares, the latter refused as she had too much risotto. That frustrated Susan as she called Ja'Nel pathetic for babysitting two pans of risotto over her fifteen tartares. So, Mary came to help Susan, and it allowed the former to get their next order out. In the blue kitchen, the champions were in a backlog on appetizers, so Rock decided to step up as a leader by calming people down and seeing what was going on. However, Christina felt he was more lost, and despite Dave gave Rock a clear explanation of what was going on, the latter was still lost. Despite that, the champions completed appetizers and were now on entrées.
Forty-five minutes into service, Susan and Ja'Nel were working on their final order of appetizers. Still, Ramsay told Susan to let Jon know she was working capellini and when to drop his scallops. While Susan claimed the capellini could take four minutes, Ramsay reminded her that it takes two minutes, making Jon irritated by the former’s inconsistency. When Jon dropped his scallops, Susan asked for three minutes. Still, Jon refused to let her force him to hold off, and Ja'Nel got irritated by Susan’s inconsistent timings as Ramsay ordered her to get a grip. While Jon walked his scallops, Susan was nowhere near ready, and Ja'Nel questioned how the former was able to get far before calling Susan a joke for making these mistakes by now. While Ramsay called Susan stupid and how her mistakes made him crazy, she was able to get the capellini up on time, and the black jackets began firing entrées. In the blue kitchen, Paul and Christina were pushing out entrées, and the former was pumped before feeling confident. However, Paul sent up raw lamb, and while Ramsay told him New York would like the pink better than Los Angeles, Paul wanted to go back to New York while Christina told him to fix it. Fortunately, Paul’s refire was accepted, but one customer found it rare to her liking, forcing Jean-Philippe to bring it back to the blue kitchen. That frustrated Paul, who asked why the women did not ask for medium instead. Dave hoped Paul was not too deep as they all assumed he was the meat master, and Ramsay remarked that he expected a mistake like that in the red kitchen, not the blue kitchen. In the red kitchen, both Cyndi and Jon got their entrées accepted. Still, when Ramsay tried to call out the following order, he asked Mary not to stare at him as she was spooking him and compared her to something from The Shining. While Mary wanted to continue their momentum, their orders were accepted. In the blue kitchen, Paul has rebounded from his mistake.
In the red kitchen, the black jackets were on their final order, and Cyndi juggled lamb and Wellingtons before discovering that the latter were raw. Susan, who wanted to be on meat, noticed that Cyndi was having issues with her timings, and Ramsay told the latter not to scorch the lamb. The champions were catching up in the blue kitchen as Paul once again called himself a big deal. Dave offered his assistance to Christina, having met her before back in Season 6, and called her hot. While Christina was happy to have Dave’s support, she hoped the latter was not getting close to her. Eventually, the champions were on their final order. Susan wanted Cyndi to get their final ticket out in the red kitchen as they had a chance to beat returning champions, and the latter got her dish out. As they finished before the champions, Cyndi felt they finished strong. Still, one customer felt her lamb was too raw for her liking, and Jean-Philippe brought it back to the red kitchen. While Cyndi wanted a break, she felt her clock was ticking away, while Jon wanted to win. However, Cyndi’s refire was raw and bloody, and Mary begged her to get it together. While Cyndi was dismayed to have made an amateur mistake in a black jacket, the champions completed their service. Paul felt they had a flawless performance. In the red kitchen, Cyndi brought up her third attempt to success. Afterwards, the customers filled out comment cards at their tables. While clearing down, Mary felt that despite their ups and downs, it was a great night.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams lined up, Ramsay said that for being a chef for a long time, he never experienced a perfect service like that. Despite both teams having bumps that night, they performed very well. Using the comment cards to decide the winning team, Ramsay revealed that while the champions had a 95% approval rating, the black jackets had a 93% approval rating. Because of that, the champions were declared the winners; Paul said there was no doubt they would win, and while Rock admitted it was not a perfect service, he was honored to be there with the other chefs. After the champions left, Ramsay asked the black jackets to nominate two people for elimination.
During deliberation, Jon was dismayed that they lost by two points but added that there were people who should not be around anymore before considering Susan for the capellini incident. However, Susan felt it was a small mistake that should not send her home, while Mary considered Cyndi. Cyndi disagreed with that notion, but Mary reminded her about the raw lamb even though she did not want to see anybody go home. However, Cyndi felt they were looking for an excuse to send her out and told Ja'Nel that it almost felt Susan was running appetizers more than her. Ja'Nel refused to believe that and refused to believe she was the weakest chef in the competition. Then, Jon secretly wanted Ja'Nel and Cyndi to go home as they were his biggest competition.
Elimination[]
Ja'Nel announced Susan as the first nominee and Cyndi as the second. However, Cyndi argued that Susan and Mary were the weakest chefs as they should not be looking for the most improvements, but instead, they should look for a leader. In contrast, Susan deemed Cyndi and Mary as the weakest chefs as the latter backed down when the pressure came along with being too nice. However, Mary argued that she spoke her mind and did what needed to be done, and Ramsay called down the agreed nominees. During their pleas, Susan said she had a lot of passion through her blood and that she had everything it took to run Ramsay’s restaurant. Cyndi was not ready to give up her black jacket, and that Ramsay only saw her weak points. When Ramsay asked Cyndi what was different from her over Susan, she felt she was more well-rounded. After a tough decision, Ramsay told both the women to keep their black jackets and sent them back in line.
After Ramsay told the final five after a strong performance where they were almost as equal to the returning champions, he saw them as champions and that nobody would be sent home that night. However, Ramsay warned them that he was not going to stop cutting the dead weight from now on, the dinner services and challenges would become harder. By the end of the following service, it could be three chefs going home. While being dismissed, Susan decided to take control of her destiny as nobody else would stop her. At the same time, Cyndi felt the competition would get dirtier and that Ramsay said he would take her jacket off her cold dead body. Then, Mary said that despite some people seeing her as a weak chef, she brought it every day before calling herself a threat.
Trivia[]
- In a unique twist, Paul becomes the only chef to date to compete in a Returning Chef Service as both a competitor (in Season 9) and as a returning chef (in this season).