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The twenty-second episode of Season 11 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on July 25, 2013, airing as a double feature alongside the twenty-first episode. In that episode, Ja'Nel and Mary led their brigades for the final dinner service, one did something nobody had ever done before, and one of them was named the winner of Hell's Kitchen.

Before service[]

Continuing from the previous episode, Ja'Nel left after growing frustrated with her team disliking her menu and contemplated trading one of them for one of Mary’s. However, Susan arrogantly felt they could make a better menu than Ja'Nel could and wanted the latter to listen to them. While Ray compared the situation to watching a football game from the sidelines, Cyndi told the team to give Ja'Nel time. However, Ja'Nel realized that despite being pissed at her team, she was not interested in trading with Mary and wanted to lead her team to victory. So, Ja'Nel returned to her team and firmly told her team that she wanted the men to reflect herself. However, Ja'Nel did acknowledge that Cyndi was trying to give input. Although Cyndi disagreed with the menu, she was ready to help Ja'Nel win as she had been a team player since the beginning, making the latter confident they would kick ass the following service.

The next day, the chefs woke up as Mary did not think in a million years she would sit as a finalist, but as she fought hard that season, she was ready to prove why she deserved to be Ramsay’s next head chef. On the other side, Ja'Nel was prepared as she knew that night’s service would determine her entire career. After, both teams went downstairs to begin prepping for service, along with making sample dishes for Ramsay’s review. Ja'Nel wanted her team to pick up the pace as they had to get a lot prepared in a short amount of time. Zach declared himself and Ray as her secret weapons before telling Ja'Nel he was here to see her win. However, after seeing Ray put his drink under the counter and telling Zach where it was, Cyndi asked how they got stuck with two idiots, referring to the two men, while Susan feared they had two bad apples in the bunch. In the red kitchen, Dan muttered how much he hated prep before asking Mary how to make compound butter. That worried Mary as Dan's attitude not only sucked, but he was acting like a dunce. Then, Dan moved too slow for Mary’s liking. A frustrated Jon asked how Dan could make it look so complicated before deciding to take over the compound butter. However, Dan called that bullshit and told Jon and Mary to suck it, while the latter warned Jon she would not hesitate to kick people out as she was not babysitting anyone. With only 15 minutes left until Ramsay’s arrive, Ja'Nel and Mary pushed their teams to get their dishes out on time. However, Cyndi warned Ja'Nel that their noodles were half frozen. When Mary told Dan to watch the sauce, he criticized her voice for making him envy the dead and compared it to a bag of cats as Mary rejected his initial New York striploin. Dan had enough and walked out of the kitchen, upsetting Nedra as she called him a dickwad, and threatened to put her foot up his ass if he did not come back. However, Dan went to the patio for a smoke and arrogantly boasted how awesome he was. Then, Dan decided not to waste his talents and went back to the red kitchen to favor Mary. However, Dan’s return was not met with praise as Mary called him a two-faced jerk, but she knew she had better things to do than yell at his face before declaring she was watching Dan like a hawk.

Eventually, Ramsay arrived and looked at Ja'Nel’s dishes first, who explained that she used an elevated Southern background for her dishes. While Ramsay praised the BLT salad, he told Ja'Nel to be generous with the prosciutto before praising the rest of her dishes as well, deeming it a strong flavor profile. After, Ja'Nel completely trusted herself, was ready to rock it out, and told her team that she was not nervous at all. For Mary, Ramsay deemed her entire menu delicious, with the short rib ravioli being the best of them all, and she knew there was one service in between herself and her dream job. After, Ramsay had both teams lined up and expressed excitement as it was an important night for both Mary and Ja'Nel, before asking the returning chefs to give the two 100%. However, Dan looked like he did not care at all. Ramsay announced that he was opening the chef’s tables for the final dinner service, with Ja'Nel serving Anthony Anderson and Mary serving Kat Graham and Tony Hawk. However, Ramsay reminded the chefs that Ja'Nel and Mary were in the spotlight that night, asked them to give their teams assignments and wished them luck. After the debriefing, Ja'Nel told her team she wanted to win and asked them not to get frazzled as it was not a race, while Mary expressed her trust in her team as they would make her successful. Then, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service[]

In addition to the VIPS, Leeza Gibbons, John Schneider, Greg Louganis, and the finalists' loved ones ate in the dining room. After receiving their first order, Mary tried to combine two tickets for four orders of scallops, but that only confused them until she reread it. Even then, they did not respond to Mary's callout until she asked them again before calling herself the commander. Ja'Nel called out the first order in the blue kitchen, but nobody responded until Cyndi asked them to as she had her back on her big night. Jon asked Nedra for the scallop garnish in the red kitchen, and the latter wanted to do what she could to get appetizers out as she was a bad bitch. However, Nedra sent up a bland salad. Ramsay asked Nedra why she did not taste it before bringing it up. Nedra could only apologize before getting her refire accepted. Then, Nedra did not respond to the following order until Michael and Jon told her to pay attention. Mary wondered if she made a mistake putting Nedra on appetizers. In the blue kitchen, Ja'Nel told Ray to add more dressing to the salad, dismaying Susan as it would be a long night if they could not even get salads right, but Ray was able to get it fixed.

Forty-five minutes into dinner service, Mary asked Nedra how long for the order, but the latter responded that she would have to wait a minute, even though Mary felt five minutes have gone by. Then, a fire erupted on Nedra’s station to Mary’s dismay, and Anthony accused Nedra of struggling like two fat bitches. However, he admitted he did not know what that analogy meant. After Nedra’s dish was rejected for lacking salt, Michael asked what she was doing as she was supposed to be a Rockstar on appetizers. As Mary yelled at them to pick it up, an annoyed Dan wanted her to stop. To make things worse, Ramsay informed Mary that Nedra’s short ribs were cold in the middle. Mary yelled at her team to pick it up before knowing that Ramsay wanted a leader and gave Nedra one more chance before she was kicked out. That warning scared Anthony as he knew Mary had the power to do so. Thankfully, Nedra got the refires accepted, to her relief as she did not want to let Mary down. In the blue kitchen, Susan got her prawns accepted. At the same time, Ja'Nel looked to Ray for the second to last order of appetizers, only to reject his salads for being overdressed as an annoyed Ramsay told Ray to wake up. While Ray felt Ja'Nel was getting nitpicky with her perfectionism as blue diners grew impatient, his second attempt was accepted. Mary told Jon he was doing one order of scallops in the red kitchen, but not long after, she asked for two, much to his confusion, until Michael set him straight. However, Jon had to drag on the second order as Mary was not clear the first time and asked her to get it together as it was not her first day. Despite that, the order was accepted, and the red team was moving onto entrées as Mary wanted them to pick it up. In the blue kitchen, Ja'Nel had only the chef’s table left for appetizers. Still, Susan sent up burnt flatbread for the mussels, and Ja'Nel wanted to keep an evil eye on everything. Fortunately, Amanda’s attempt was accepted, and Ja'Nel started firing entrées.

One hour and a half into dinner service, Mary sent out her first order of entrées. In the following order, she felt like a warrior before telling Michael to add more scallions to his garnishes. However, Dan sliced into a New York striploin and found out it was rare, while Anthony looked at the former’s line of meat and asked what Dan was doing. When Mary continually asked Dan for the steaks, he grew tired of her voice and claimed he knew how to cook meat, only to send up an undercooked steak. While Mary reminded Dan that they were not serving tartare, his refire was undercooked again. Mary threatened to kick Dan out if he served one more cold steak before calling him a problem all day long and felt she was more his babysitter than his head chef. However, Dan arrogantly argued with Mary over meat temperatures. At the same time, Jon feared the former could single-handedly cost the latter her victory, although he would not blame Mary if she ended up hitting Dan in the mouth. After Dan’s third attempt was cold yet again, Mary criticized him for making Nedra work too much and screwing up the ticket system. Mary made good on her threat and kicked him out of service before reassigning Nedra to meat. However, Nedra had no idea what Dan’s temperatures were on the steaks, but despite that, she told Mary that she would be ready in one minute, and the latter sent out an incomplete table.

Unfortunately, all the steak Nedra sliced was overdone, and she grew frustrated over the mess Dan left her. Thankfully, Nedra found a decent serving to send out. Afterwards, Ramsay pulled Mary and Ja'Nel to the middle and told them they were doing a good job so far while adding on that they needed to keep their standards for their final six tickets. However, Ja'Nel rejected Susan’s garnishes for being cold and underseasoned and told the latter to use the space she had on the flat top. However, Susan told Ja'Nel to worry about something else, and with Cyndi’s help, the refire was accepted. On their next order, Amanda said she could be ready in one minute. Still, Zach wanted six instead for his chicken, even though Amanda feared her trout would be overcooked by then. Cyndi told the two to get it together, but Amanda asked Zach if he was trying to make her look like an asshole, while Ramsay warned Ja'Nel that her team was falling apart before urging her to step it up. So, Ja'Nel became more vocal with her team. In the red kitchen, Mary worked frantically and did not notice the pork belly and halibut Nedra and Jon left at the pass until they told her. That led Mary to call service crazy and was running on adrenaline. Despite that, entrées were leaving the red kitchen.

Two hours into dinner service, Ramsay told Ja'Nel that Zach’s six minutes was now eleven minutes, and the prawns on the pass became cold as a result. When Ja'Nel asked Amanda and Zach for a time, neither responded until Ramsay spoke up, only for Amanda revealing she lost the cod and had to refire a new one. When nobody responded to Ja'Nel for a time, she grew frustrated as Ramsay warned her the team was running by their rules and not hers. So, Ja'Nel became more vocal, making her team respond to her now. Because of that, the blue team rallied back, and entrées began flowing out the blue kitchen. Mary completed her final two tickets in the red kitchen, with Ja'Nel not far behind, and service ended on a solid note.

Post-mortem[]

After service, Ramsay had both teams lined up and praised them for an incredible service before thanking the returning chefs for delivering. After Ramsay explained how the finalists sounded and performed like head chefs that night, he dismissed Ja'Nel and Mary back to the dorms so he could make a final decision. On their way out, they said goodbye to their teams.

Ja'Nel felt her mind was racing a million miles back at the dorms and was nervous for Ramsay’s decision as she refused to leave empty-handed. For Mary, she was flipping out and tried to keep it together as she gave everything that night. Meanwhile, Ramsay was in his office, looking over the customer’s comment cards, and looking back at the finalist’s time in the competition, including their performance during the final dinner service.

Winner announced[]

Later that night, Ramsay called the dorms, asked the final two to come to his office for his final decision, and Ja'Nel knew she could be going to the top or going home that night. Ramsay expressed his proudness to the two at his office, praising Ja'Nel for being a natural leader and being in complete control that night, adding that no matter what happened, she had a bright future. For Mary, Ramsay deemed her improvement remarkable and praised her assertiveness that night. Despite Ramsay wanting to give both the grand prize, there could be only one winner and had the two stand in front of the two doors. After Ramsay’s countdown from three, both turned their handles, but only Ja'Nel’s door opened.

Ja'Nel became the winner of Hell’s Kitchen and won the head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, with a salary of $250,000, therefore making Mary the runner up. Mary teared up as losing was a hard pill to swallow, but called it the most amazing experience of her life as Hell’s Kitchen changed her as a chef, and announced that "Mary the butcher" was gone, and in her place was "Mary the chef". Dan approached Mary and apologized for both his poor behavior and performance, promising he would make it up someday. Ja'Nel was extremely happy to win and felt like she was on top of the world before asking how lucky she was. After, Ja'Nel called it a wild ride, hung up her portrait on the Wall of Fame, and declared her journey at Hell’s Kitchen over, but her journey at Caesars Palace has begun. During the celebration, Ja'Nel celebrated with her family, Zach congratulated Mary, and Ramsay asked a couple of them if they were interested in coming back, with Amanda asking if she could next season.

Ramsay's comment: "In all my years in Hell's Kitchen, I have never seen a more composed individual than Ja'Nel. And that is why I am so happy to have this ambitious, creative and talented woman as my Head Chef."

Trivia[]

  • This marks the first time a finalist ejected a chef during the finale.
Hell's Kitchen Season 11 Episodes
20 Chefs Compete Part 120 Chefs Compete Part 219 Chefs Compete17 Chefs Compete16 Chefs Compete Part 116 Chefs Compete Part 215 Chefs Compete14 Chefs Compete13 Chefs Compete12 Chefs Compete10 Chefs Compete9 Chefs Compete8 Chefs Compete7 Chefs Compete Part 17 Chefs Compete Part 26 Chefs Compete5 Chefs Compete Part 15 Chefs Compete Part 25 Chefs Compete Part 34 Chefs Compete2 Chefs CompeteWinner Chosen
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