The third episode of Season 13 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on September 17, 2014. On that episode, one team made a comeback, one chef’s poor attitude alienated them for their team, and another passed out after elimination.
Intro[]
Back in the dorms, Denine was upset that she had to look at her teammates who threw her under the bus, and refused to be near them, adding that her strategy was to care only for herself. However, Sade said that if Denine would have one more bad service, she could be the next person eliminated. Meanwhile, Sterling told the blue team that he was always 100, and called his nomination a good reality check. However, Steve felt that Sterling should have been eliminated, and that he was not taking the competition seriously. Then, when Steve told Sterling to shut up, that infuriated the latter, and he called Steve for disrespecting him. Even though Steve threatened to beat Sterling, La Tasha broke up the argument, and told Sterling to go upstairs.
Team challenge[]
The next day, the chefs went downstairs to find the lights dimmed, like at elimination, much to Sade’s confusion. Then, Ramsay said that the errors from the previous night were all because of poor communication from both teams. After a difficult decision, he ordered Denine and Sterling to step forward, and told them that he could not work with chefs that would not communicate. After, Ramsay told them to take off their jackets, much to Steve's relief, thinking that latter would be eliminated next. However, instead of being eliminated, they received new jackets for the next challenge, and Sous Chefs Andi and James gave the other chefs new jackets. Ramsay explained that for the Jacket Challenge, each chef had one recipe on the back of their jacket, but the only way they could properly cook them was that one of their teammates would read it to them.
Both teams had 45 minutes to cook their dishes, and while Kalen deciphered Katie’s recipe to be an omelet, the latter corrected her by saying it was a frittata. Santos deciphered Frank’s recipe as spaghetti & meatballs, which excited the latter as his mother made the best meatballs he ever had. Katie told Kalen that she was making spring rolls, La Tasha told Jennifer that she was making lettuce wraps, but Ashley could not figure what Roe’s recipe was, forcing the latter to make a tart. Bryant told JR that he was making a burger, and Aaron and Fernando were making Sheppard’s pie and empanadas respectively. While things in the blue kitchen were chaotic, Fernando said that they were communicating a lot. Denine asked for the vinegar, and a reluctant Roe showed her where it was, and said that it was only a burger she was making. Sterling told Steve he was making a frittata, annoying the latter. Kalen dropped her spring rolls by accident, and was forced to use only one for her dish. Eventually, everybody got their dishes cooked and plated in time.
Ramsay explained that because he gave both teams the same ingredients, he felt that it only made sense that each chef would go head to head on the same dishes. On the first round, La Tasha and Santos presented their enchiladas, but Santos' chicken was dry, and La Tasha scored the first point despite calling her dish a meat pie. On the second round, Katie and Steve presented their frittatas, and despite Katie using fewer eggs than necessary, and Steve’s potatoes being undercooked, both of them scored a point, and the red team led 2-1. On the next round, Aaron and Ashley presented their Sheppard’s pie, but Ashley’s meat was dry and dreadful, so Aaron won the round, tying the score at 2. After, Denine and JR served their burgers, and Denine easily won as JR’s burger was raw, making it 3-2 for the red team. Bryant’s lobster spring rolls won over Kalen’s as her dish looked chewed up, tying the score at 3. Then, both Jennifer and Sterling’s lettuce spring wraps scored a point, with the score still tied, at 4. After, Sade and Frank’s spaghetti & meatballs faced off, and Frank won as Sade’s dish was under seasoned, making it 5-4 for the blue team, and he thanked his mother for showing him the sauce’s recipe. On the final round, Fernando and Roe presented their empanadas, but after Ramsay knew Roe had no idea what her dish was after calling it a tart, he revealed the correct dish. After tasting both dishes, Ramsay told Roe that she did not have any filling in her pastry, and gave Fernando the point. The blue team won the challenge 6-4.
Scoring[]
| Red Team | Blue Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Tasha | 1 | 1 | Santos | 0 | 0 |
| Katie | 1 | 2 | Steve | 1 | 1 |
| Ashley | 0 | 2 | Aaron | 1 | 2 |
| Denine | 1 | 3 | JR | 0 | 2 |
| Kalen | 0 | 3 | Bryant | 1 | 3 |
| Jennifer | 1 | 4 | Sterling | 1 | 4 |
| Sade | 0 | 4 | Frank | 1 | 5 |
| Roe | 0 | 4 | Fernando | 1 | 6 |
| Results | 6-4 | ||||
Reward[]
The men were rewarded with a trip to the Venice Beach boardwalk, receiving a zip line experience, and eating lunch on top of the Erwin Hotel. Santos was happy that the monkey was off the men’s backs. While most of the men enjoyed their zip line ride, JR was afraid of heights, but was coached by Sterling to go with it. After, Marino made his presence known on top of the Erwin greeted the men, and served them lunches while describing them. Aaron compared themselves to royalty as a lot of the ingredients were expensive, and Sterling said that he did not feel like a loser. For dessert, Marino gave them a dish that Co-Owner of Fonuts Waylynn Lucas made for them, and Frank was infatuated with her.
Punishment[]
After seeing the men celebrate their victory, an annoyed Ashley compared them to Justin Bieber fans, and said that she was so angry, she wanted to slam her head into a table. The women were punished by taking deliveries of 500 pounds of coffee, grinding them by hand, and prepping both kitchens for the next service. Denine was frustrated that the red team was slowly falling apart, but felt that she at least redeemed herself for scoring a point. During the punishment, Ashley said that she would not wish any punishment at her worst enemy, and that it sucked. Denine did not do any grinding, and she refused to help as she claimed to have not been responsible for the team's loss, before walking out, much to Kalen’s anger.
Before service[]
As the women began prep, Denine did not know where things went for the garnish station, and Kalen told Katie that she would kick her ass if her station was not properly set up. She also added that Denine was going to quickly find out that wandering around and not helping was going to bite her hard, and Jennifer called her a fairy princess running around. After deciding to prep the appetizer station, Denine caused a fire, but managed to cover it, and Sade said that if Denine would burn her weaves, they would have had 99 problems for herself. The men returned from their reward and got changed, with Sterling stating that they were focused to do well, before leading a prayer to succeed.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told them to use the challenge’s level of communication during service. Then, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Wendy Williams, Shaunie O’Neal, and Elisabeth Röhm were in attendance, and a coffee-rubbed Kobe steak appetizer was served tableside by Roe and Fernando. After calling the blue team’s first ticket, Ramsay urged JR to take the lead for the appetizers. JR refused to sink, and communicated with Bryant and Sterling. Despite Bryant’s concern about Sterling’s performance and micromanaging him on the scallops, they were accepted, and the men sent their first table of appetizers. In the red kitchen, Sade took the lead for the appetizers in order to boost the morale, even though Katie was annoyed by that. Their appetizers were accepted, and both kitchens were sending food at a good pace. In the dining room, Marino told Fernando that he was at the wrong table, and he admitted that trying to keep up with the table numbers was getting confusing. Roe went to Wendy Williams' table, but accidentally caused a small fire which she put out quickly, much to her embarrassment.
One hour into service, the men began working on entrées, and Aaron communicated with Frank, which Ramsay approved and called it their best start so far. However, Frank was moving slowly, much to Santos’ annoyance, and did not send the halibut’s garnish after Bryant. When Frank did send the garnishes, Ramsay found out that he put too much vinegar in the Brussel sprouts and turned them black, before revealing Bryant’s overcooked and mushy halibut. Then, Ramsay took the men to the pantry room, and ordered them to have a team meeting. Steve told his teammates that they had to calm down, and they returned to the kitchen as Ramsay asked them to get a grip. In the red kitchen, the women began their entrées, and Kalen was confident on the meat station as she was from Texas. Denine asked if she could help Kalen, but was rejected as the latter felt she could not do anything right. However, after Denine walked the lamb, it was raw, and got angry that Kalen could not deliver what she boasted. Then, Kalen was seen opening and closing the convection oven a lot, forcing Sous Chef Andi ordering her to stop. The lamb refire was raw again, and Ashley was dismayed that the meat station was sinking the red team. In the blue kitchen, the men were working on their second attempt at the first ticket, but Bryant was still working on the halibut, and Ramsay told Sterling to help him. Despite sending their dishes to the pass, Ramsay showed the men Bryant’s raw halibut, before kicking him and Sterling out of the kitchen, and reassigning Steve to the fish station. Back in the dorms, Sterling was angry that he got kicked out for Bryant’s mistake, even though the latter apologized for it. In the red kitchen, Kalen brought her third attempt, and it was accepted. The red team rallied to make up for lost time, and served multiple entrées. In the blue kitchen, Steve’s halibut was accepted, and the men pushed their first table of entrées. On their next ticket, Frank did not properly communicate with Aaron, and did not know what garnishes were for the chicken dish. Then, Frank sent his garnishes despite Aaron needing three more minutes on his protein, and Ramsay noticed that the spinach was under seasoned, before kicking him out of the kitchen, and reassigning Santos to the garnish station.
One hour and a half into service, the women got Wendy Williams’ ticket, and Ramsay personally welcomed her to Hell’s Kitchen. After walking their dishes to the pass, Ramsay showed them La Tasha’s raw salmon and Denine’s dry chicken That was the final straw for Ramsay as he kicked the women out of the kitchen, and called their performance pathetic. Jennifer called it a disgrace that they got kicked out of the last two services. In the blue kitchen, the men pushed their entrées as Santos felt that they did better without their dead weight holding them, and the team eventually completed service.
Post-mortem[]
After service ended, Sous Chef Andi called the women to go back to the kitchen, and Ramsay said that their opening night was looking miles away, before asking if it was a fluke. The women were named clear losers, and Ramsay asked them to nominate two people for elimination.
Ashley considered the women’s performance an epic fail, and wondered who to send home. Roe asked whether meat or fish had the most problems, and La Tasha admitted that she was concerned that her raw salmon could bite her in the ass. However, the rest of the women felt that the meat station performed worst due to poor timings, but Kalen disagreed and argued that if Denine cooked both the lamb and the Wellington, it would have been even worse. Denine tried to convince that Kalen did not want her help, but Kalen responded that she did not even step to help despite that. Denine blamed Kalen and La Tasha as their raw food got them kicked out, and refused to be nominated twice in a row. However, the rest of the women agreed with Kalen, and an angry Denine left the group as Sade said that they had to make a decision.
Elimination[]
Ashley announced Kalen as the red team’s first nominee, and Denine as the second. During their pleas, Kalen blamed Denine for being the reason why service went badly due to her inexperience, but Denine said that she had more potential, and that the damage she made was not as big as Kalen’s. Then, Kalen said that she would have never sent meat like she did, and claimed to have had a bad day. Ramsay sent Kalen back in line, and eliminated Denine for being nominated twice in a row, and for her string of poor performances.
After Denine left, Ramsay dismissed the chefs. Kalen said that being up for elimination motivated her to get herself together, while JR said that it was the men’s time to shine. Back in the dorms, Jennifer said that she was about to pass out, and La Tasha felt that the women’s morale was down. Then, Jennifer passed out, and after the concerned women called for a medic, the episode ended as a cliffhanger.
Ramsay gave no comment on Denine’s elimination, and she did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.