The twentieth episode of Season 12 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on July 24, 2014. In that episode, Scott and Jason competed in their final challenge, picked their brigades for the final dinner service, and one of them was named the winner of Hell's Kitchen.
Intro[]
The episode began with a recap of the first nineteen episodes, mentioning what happened and who got eliminated when.
Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay told the final two that he was sending them to a luxury suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills for an overnight trip. While going upstairs to pack up, Jason was excited that two mid-Western guys were making waves in Los Angeles and was pumped up. Jason told all his doubters to screw themselves. Scott called it ridiculous and was proud that his resilience made him one of the finalists. Scott said the suite was dripping in gorgeousness at the Four Seasons Hotel, wanted somebody to pinch him, and he and Jason toasted to making it far. Afterwards, Jason and Scott worked on their menus for the final dinner service. Although Scott hoped to have one night away from the competition, he felt that winning the competition would affect his family and wanted to keep that perspective strong. For Jason, he felt that the friendship he had with Scott was turning into a rivalry, but he knew it was a part of the game.
The next day, Scott and Jason came downstairs for breakfast, only to be joined by their loved ones, making Jason feel good and giving him more motivation to win. Scott said that there was no better gift than to sit down with his kids as family was such a big deal for him, and he played with his children. Still, after seeing that, Jason said he wanted to win more as Scott had a good enough life as it was. After breakfast, the Sous Chefs came to get Scott and Jason as more things were to be done, but when they arrived back to their suite, they met Ramsay waiting for them. Ramsay gave the two their head chef jackets, which Scott knew was important as it meant all the hard work was worth it before calling it an honor. After, Ramsay said that he was taking them out for the evening to have fun without the competition for once.
Later that evening, Scott and Jason met with Ramsay outside the Vogu Theatre for a boxing match, and the former was psyched to join the latter on a night out. When they sat down, the MC announced the main event, but it turned out that Jason and Scott were the next competitors in the ring, much to their shock. Ramsay told them that their final challenge began now and revealed that he had kitchens ready behind them so they could cook in front of the audience.
Final challenge[]
For the Final Menu Challenge, Scott and Jason had one hour to create a tasting menu, including a cold appetizer, a hot appetizer, a chicken entrée, a seafood entrée, and a filet of beef entrée. Scott thought he would sit down for a nice evening and have a drink with Ramsay, but as it was Hell’s Kitchen, nothing was certain. Half an hour later, Jason said the dishes were based on his personality, while he felt Scott’s dishes were all laddie da fo fo. Eventually, the two got their dishes cooked and plated on time.
Before the judging began, Ramsay announced that the judges he invited were from local Los Angeles restaurants who would score the dishes on a 1-10 rating. The person who had the most points at the end was the winner. Michael Voltaggio judged the cold appetizer round for the first round, and Scott presented his tempura-based Caesar salad. Voltaggio liked the texture of the tempura mixed with the anchovies, calling it the better Caesar salad he had recently. In contrast, Jason’s pork belly wedge salad was deemed nice despite needing more cooking on the pork belly. In the end, Scott scored a 9, while Jason scored an 8, giving the former the lead 9-8. On the hot appetizer round, Ben Ford came to judge. While Jason’s mushroom risotto was deemed dry despite being flavorable, Scott’s duck confit ravioli looked pretty and colorful despite having tough pasta to cut through. After, both the men scored an eight each, but Scott still led 17-16. On the chicken entrée round, Neal Fraser served as the judge. While Scott’s grilled chicken with creamy polenta was delicious, Jason’s chicken Ballentine with heirloom carrots was deemed excellent. After, both the men scored a nine each, and Scott still led 26-25. On the fish entrée round, Quinn Hatfield came to judge. Jason’s caramelized salmon with rapini had well-working flavors. At the same time, Scott’s pan-roasted halibut in saffron broth was deemed beautiful but criticized for tasting like tomato water. So, Scott scored an 8, Jason scored a 9, and it became a 34-point tie. On the final round, David Myers came to judge the beef entrée round. Jason got nervous as Myers was an amazing chef. Scott’s charred roasted beef tenderloin with tamarin glaze was praised for the presentation and the tamarin flavor. For Jason’s filet of beef with wild mushrooms and confit garlic Yukon mashed, it was praised for being perfectly cooked. After, Scott scored a 9, while Jason scored an 8, making the former the winner at 43-42. Scott said that it was unbelievable that he won the final challenge.
Scoring[]
Scott | Jason | ||||
Round | Score | Total | Round | Score | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
One | 9/10 | 9 | One | 8/10 | 8 |
Two | 8/10 | 17 | Two | 8/10 | 16 |
Three | 9/10 | 26 | Three | 9/10 | 25 |
Four | 8/10 | 34 | Four | 9/10 | 34 |
Five | 9/10 | 43 | Five | 8/10 | 42 |
Results | 43-42 |
Team select[]
After the challenge, Ramsay reintroduced Scott and Jason to the returning chefs for the final dinner service which included Chris, Bev, Jessica, Ralph, Sandra, Anton, Gabriel, Kashia, Rochelle, and Melanie as they all walked down to the front. Because Scott won the final challenge, he had the first pick of the team, and he chose Chris as his first draft, although Melanie said that the latter would have been her last pick if she had a choice. After a hard look, Jason named Anton as his first, although Rochelle called it sexist for the finalists to pick the men first, while Scott picked Ralph as his second. Then, Jason picked Melanie as his second, Scott picked Rochelle as his third, Jason picked Gabriel as his third, Scott picked Kashia as his fourth, and Jason picked Bev as his fourth. That left Jessica and Sandra as the final choices. Scott immediately picked Jessica as his last pick, leaving Jason with Sandra as his last. Jason was not happy as Sandra was terrible and recalled his arguments with her in the past.
Before service[]
Once back at Hell’s Kitchen, Scott and Jason took their teams to the dorms so they could discuss the menu for the following night’s service. Jason was loud and boisterous when talking about the menu, with Sandra calling him sporadic. In contrast, Melanie called Jason loopy due to the lack of sleep. When Anton told Jason to relax, the latter said he would when he sleeps. For Scott, his more detailed instructions confused Jessica, although he felt it was easy.
The next day, both teams were prepping for service as Jessica was on board to help Scott win that night and do whatever she could. Still, Scott rejected her prepped potatoes for not meeting his standards. Rochelle knew that Jessica was making a lot of tiny mistakes and begged her to get it together. In the red kitchen, Jason noticed that Sandra was missing. Still, nobody had an idea where Sandra was, making Gabriel deem her the weakest link as she was lazy and knew she would not give it a 100% that night. Sandra was in the bathroom before coming back, but Jason warned her to wake up. Jason warned everybody that he could kick them out if he so pleased despite being reluctant about the idea. However, Sandra did not care about that night, as she would rather smoke and drink on the patio. After prep, Ramsay had both teams lined up and told them to work hard for the finalists as that night could change one of their lives. After everybody but Sandra gave Ramsay their dedication to the finalists, the latter asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
In addition to the finalists' loved ones, Sean Kanan and Shanola Hampton dined in the dining room. At the same time, Natasha Bedingfield and Mark Boone Junior ate at the blue and red chef tables. Jason said he loved Sons of Anarchy, and having Boone at the chef's table was badass. Scott received the first order and pushed his team to give out more energy after a wonky response. For Jason, Sandra gave him a halfhearted call out, but he would not tolerate her attitude as he already warned her about a kick out. However, Gabriel felt Sandra was moving like molasses and slow as snail poop. However, Sandra felt that Jason’s behavior was rude, but managed to walk up perfect crab cakes. Scott waited on Chris for the scallops in the blue kitchen, but he told the latter to cook them for another minute and knew the first order had to come out perfect. Fortunately, Chris’ second attempt was perfect, and Ramsay told Scott to keep up the standards as the food left the blue kitchen. Although, Scott’s daughter refused to eat his wife’s scallops despite the latter offering them.
Forty-five minutes into dinner service, Jason was on the VIP’s order and hoped that Sandra would not let him down. However, Ramsay saw that Sandra cooked the crab cakes ten minutes ago, had them out for that long, and planned to serve them instead of a fresh batch. That caused Ramsay to accuse Sandra of sabotaging Jason, which the latter felt so, but when he called Sandra a dumbass, the latter snapped at him. Jason asked Sandra if she wanted to leave, but while she could care less as she was intimidated by people bigger than the former, she began working on the refire. Scott’s team was in harmony in the blue kitchen as he served Bedingfield’s appetizers and began firing entrées. Scott told Chris to have his food ready in four minutes instead of five and knew that he had to keep the strong energy from appetizers going. However, Jessica served broken potatoes that led to a coating on the beans. While Scott reminded Jessica of how they were supposed to be made, she did not understand why it was a big deal. That forced Kashia and Chris to hold off on walking their entrées as Scott wanted the refired garnishes first. Ramsay warned Jessica that it was not the night to make mistakes. Then, Scott told Rochelle to help Jessica with garnish after she was finished with hot appetizers. In the red kitchen, Jason served Boone’s table, and he began firing entrées. While Gabriel wanted to show Ramsay that his mid-service elimination was not the end of him, he walked up an overcooked steak. That led Jason to call Gabriel a dumbass as he did it before and even threatened to kill all of them in a stressed panic. In the blue kitchen, Scott was at a standstill due to the garnish refire, and Rochelle knew that the items they were cooking on garnish were not difficult to cook before calling Jessica a disaster. When the refired garnishes finally made it to the pass, Kashia and Chris could walk up their entrées. Kashia stated they were doing it to see Scott win for his family. When Scott praised Kashia’s steaks for being cooked perfectly, she knew the former picked her for a reason before declaring she was back. In the red kitchen, Jason waited for Gabriel on the refire and lost his patience, leading Melanie to tell Gabriel not to get on Jason’s bad side as the latter was already crazy. Fortunately, Gabriel’s refire was accepted, he felt he rocked it out and delusionally felt he should have been in the final two.
One hour and fifteen minutes into dinner service, Scott tried to get ahead of Jason with the VIP order but found out that Jessica walked up fries that she did not mix. Ramsay warned Scott that garnish was a big mess, while the latter called it ridiculous as nothing was coming out and could not afford any more mistakes. After, Jessica walked up soggy fries. A fed-up Scott kicked Jessica out of the kitchen despite her begging him not to as he knew she was not getting any better and could not do it anymore. After, Scott told Rochelle to take control of garnish, and in the red kitchen, Jason called out the VIP’s order. However, Sandra sent up underseasoned garnishes, and Melanie told her to get herself together as if it was her running the red kitchen, she would have kicked the former out before wondering why Jason was not doing that. Feeling that Sandra was going too slow, Jason asked her what was going on, but she did not answer, leading Ramsay to call her a brick wall. In the blue kitchen, Scott told the blue team that they had four more orders, and Kashia compared his leadership to Ramsay’s as he wanted perfection. After Scott and Jason severed their VIP orders, both teams were able to serve the last of their entrées with no other problems.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay reminded Scott and Jason that while their final service was over, he still had a hell of thinking to do as that night was a close one. After, Scott and Jason said goodbye to their brigade before heading back to the dorms.
Back at the dorms, Jason really wanted to win as he worked hard for it and was ready to find out the results now. For Scott, he called it a long road and was proud of what he did before knowing it was Ramsay’s decision. Back at Ramsay’s office, he looked over the moments from that night’s service to make his decision.
Winner announced[]
Later that night, Ramsay called the dorms and told Jason and Scott to come upstairs to his office. Once there, Ramsay reminded them how difficult it was to decide, telling Scott that he pushed him the hardest because he saw how talented he was at creative dishes, and not only was he artistic, he was also very determined. For Jason, Ramsay deemed him the most consistent chef in the competition, and his passion and drive were remarkable. After, Ramsay said he made a decision and had the two stand in front of the two doors. After Ramsay’s countdown from three, both turned their handles, but only Scott’s door opened.
Scott became the winner of Hell’s Kitchen and won the head chef’s position with a salary of $250,000, therefore making Jason the runner-up. While Jason thought that his door would open, he knew Scott deserved it at the latter had cooking skills up the wazoo and was happy for him. Scott was stunned that he won and was in shock before knowing that it was the hardest thing he has ever done, and now, he can have his kids grow up near a beach. Scott thanked everybody who helped him throughout the competition and his family as he hung up his portrait on the Wall of Fame.
Ramsay's comment: "Scott won tonight because he has all the qualities I'm looking for in a head chef. He is passionate, determined and a true leader. He's an artist plating food and has a phenomenal palate. There's no doubt in my mind that he's got a great career ahead of him."
Trivia[]
- This marks the fourth all-male final two in Hell's Kitchen.
- It also marks the final time a male chef has won until Season 20.
- This episode introduces a new scoring system for the Final Tasting Challenge.
- This marks the first time since Season 9 where the final didn't featured the two-part episode, which continued until Season 16.