The seventh episode of Season 13 of Hell's Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 15, 2014. On that episode, the first team switch occurred, Italian cuisine was the main theme, and one chef made an unforgivable mistake at dinner service.
Team switch[]
During the episode recap, Katie received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence for the first time.
Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay sent Roe back in line, before asking Sterling to take off his jacket. He explained to Sterling that while the blue team has given up on him, he has not just yet. So, Ramsay told Sterling to join the red team to even the teams at six members each, and an appreciative Sterling hugged Ramsay, before greeting his new teammates. However, Jennifer was not happy about that decision, and declared that they were screwed. After sending Steve back in line, Ramsay urged the red team to get it together, before dismissing the chefs.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Steve said not only was he happy to survive elimination, he was glad Sterling was finally off the blue team. Meanwhile, Sterling told Roe how he worked with love, but she was fearing the impending dread of him being unbearable to work with, due to his upbeat attitude. Jennifer did not understand what Sterling was rambling about, and told Ashley she felt he was not taking the competition seriously, with the latter adding it would only get worse from that point on.
Team challenge[]
The next day, the chefs went downstairs and found Ramsay in front of a giant map of Italy, who explained that the country had a lot of great ingredients to work with. Then, he explained that the only other thing Italy was known for was opera, and revealed some opera singers behind the map. For the Italian Cuisine Challenge, each team would choose who they wanted to compete against from the other team, choose one of the scrolls held by the singers, and the singer would reveal what dish the pair would be cooking. Frank chose to go against Roe, and the latter chose La Bohemi. Their dish was cheese manicotti, which excited Frank as he knew that dish well. Sterling chose to go against Bryant as payback for throwing him under the bus, and the latter chose Norma. The dish they got was Fettucine Alfredo. Ashley chose to go against Fernando, and the latter chose Tosca. Their dish was saltimbocca, though Ashley had no idea what that was. Jennifer chose to go against Steve, and the latter chose Madame Butterfly. Their dish was tortellini. Santos chose to go against La Tasha, who called it the worst mistake of his life, and she chose O Sole Mio. Their dish was spaghetti alla carbonara. That left Aaron against Sade, and she chose Le Ville. Their dish was linguini vonogole.
The chefs had 40 minutes to cook their dishes. Ashley admitted that she sucked with Italian food, but wanted to prove herself and decided to fake it. Sterling asked if everybody had everything ready, but Roe reminded him that he was not special until he would prove it, and ordered him to cook. In the blue kitchen, Frank was happy that Ramsay chose the best ingredients for the challenge, and decided to make his dish the way his family did. In the red kitchen, Jennifer was struggling as her tortellinis were exploding on her, and Sade suggested that she put less filling in it. With only five minutes left, La Tasha wanted to bring it home for the red team. In the blue kitchen, Aaron found out that his clams were not opened and needed more time, while Sterling ignored Ashley’s concern of his dish being too spicy. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated in time.
Celestino Drago, Chef and Owner of Drago Centro, was invited as a guest judge. Jennifer and Steve went up first with their tortellinis, and he presented his eggplant and mozzarella tortellini, which was praised for having a lovely broth. Jennifer’s spiced pumpkin tortellini with a brown sugar sage sauce was praised for having the hazelnuts toasted, and generally being a good dish. In the end, Jennifer scored the first point, and the red team led 1-0. Ashley’s brucutto and basil saltimbocca was criticized for not having sage instead of basil, while Fernando’s pan-seared saltimbocca with sage and black olive purée was praised for having the right herb, and he won the round, tying the score at 1. Aaron’s linguini vonogole lacked juice, and Sade’s dish was criticized for having fennel, so neither of them earned a point, and the score remained a tie at 1. While Santos’ spaghetti alla carbonara was underwhelming, La Tasha’s dish was praised for being fantastic, and she won the round, making it 2-1 for the red team. Frank’s ricotta anole cheese manicotti was praised for being rustic and reminding Drago of how his grandmother made it, while Roe’s hot sausage and grilled eggplant manicotti was praised for its presentation. In the end, Frank won the round, tying the score at 2. The final pair was Sterling against Bryant, and La Tasha was praying for Sterling to win it for the red team. Sterling’s fire roasted pepper fettuccine was criticized for being more southern based than Italian and being hotter than Ramsay expected, while Bryant’s herb fettuccine pasta lemon, thyme, and parsley was criticized for having too much on the plate. In the end, Drago gave Bryant’s dish the point, and the blue team won the challenge 3-2. Bryant said that Sterling made the wrong decision to go against him, while the latter was disappointed that he cost his new team the challenge.
Scoring[]
| Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve | 0 | 0 | Jennifer | 1 | 1 |
| Fernando | 1 | 1 | Ashley | 0 | 1 |
| Aaron | 0 | 1 | Sade | 0 | 1 |
| Santos | 0 | 1 | La Tasha | 1 | 2 |
| Frank | 1 | 2 | Roe | 0 | 2 |
| Bryant | 1 | 3 | Sterling | 0 | 2 |
| Results | 3-2 | ||||
Reward[]
The blue team was rewarded with a $3000 shopping spree at American Rag Cie for a new wardrobe, with Ramsay telling Frank not to save a single dime, and eating lunch at Cecconi’s. Santos was confused about what to buy as his wife did his wardrobe, so he asked Frank for some advice as he knew his clothes. Frank himself called it the ideal reward for him, and said that he could have spent another four hours at the store shopping. During lunch, the men celebrated the fact that Sterling was gone, and Andre Cavaliere served them their lunch, with Frank nearly tearing as he tasted it.
Punishment[]
The red team was punished by prepping for the Italian Night service, breaking down squid for a black ink tagliatelle dish, and making pasta from scratch. During the punishment, Sade complained that she was tired of losing, and said that it would be a long ass day, La Tasha complained that she was up to a lot of squid parts on her station, and called it disgusting, Sterling decided to use this as an opportunity to bond with the women, and even asked Sous Chef Andi a lot of questions about her personal life, which the latter retorted that he was asking too much. However, Roe told Sterling to shut up as they were not there to socialize.
Before service[]
As the red team began prepping, La Tasha gave Sterling a rundown of where the stations were, but Jennifer was nervous as he was asking a lot of basic questions that he should know by that point, and Roe threatened to stab Sterling in the neck if he would ask one more question. Also, La Tasha reminded Sterling that he only had one chance to impress them, and mistakes were not an option. The blue team came back from their reward, and Santos was ready to win as Italian food was not that hard to cook.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay reminded them about Italian Night dinner service, that the VIPs were members of the Italian Consulate, before warning them not to screw up their table, and dedicated the blue team to do their appetizers, and the red team to do their entrées. After asking the chefs for confidence, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
For Italian Night, the menu featured a chicken saltimbocca, a strip steak alla fontina, and a clam cippolini served tableside by Bryant and Sade. In addition to the Italian Consulate, Tony Denison was in attendance. Steve was slow to start, and Fernando had to remind him what their first order was, which annoyed Santos as he felt Steve was in la la land. Ramsay noticed Steve’s slow performance, and asked where the fire in his belly was, before accusing him of not caring. When Steve sent his risotto, it was salty and watery, which Ramsay deemed an embarrassment. In the red kitchen, Jennifer took the lead on appetizers as she felt she was the only one that could, and because of her, appetizers were being pushed out. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay was pissed that nothing came out in the first seven minutes, Steve was working on his second attempt, and it was accepted. In the dining room, Bryant began serving his tableside appetizer, but struggled to describe what the dish was in front of the Consulate table, which he called awkward.
One hour into service, Sade was falling behind the red team, and admitted that working tableside was not as easy as she thought. Then, she accidentally dropped an order of clam cippolini to the ground, which caused a stall in the red kitchen, and Marino lectured her that she almost burned a customer. In the blue kitchen, entrées began to be fired, and Ramsay urged Frank to pick it up after their slow start. When Frank sent his meat, the steak was raw, and despite him claiming that he grabbed the wrong one, his chicken was also overcooked. Frank blamed Steve for bringing the poor meat for him, and the latter was pissed that he was thrown under the bus. In the red kitchen, the Italian Consulate’s entrée order was next, and Ramsay warned them not to send any imperfect food. Roe considered her performance as redemption for her previous shaky performances, and sent her steaks to the pass. However, they were blue, and Ramsay accused Roe of not caring at all. That forced Ashley to restart her tagliatelle, and she sarcastically thanked Roe. Despite Roe accidentally tripping on her way to the pass, La Tasha managed to save the meat, and the Consulate’s entrées were finally sent. In the blue kitchen, Frank managed to bounce back, and entrées were being served as well. However, due to Frank’s previous mistake, Aaron felt that he had to fire everything to speed up, but did not communicate when the team and Ramsay asked for the tagliatelle, with the latter accusing him of giving up. Santos, Steve, and Fernando went to help Aaron, but he was annoyed as there were too many hands at his station. So, Aaron pushed Steve away, but Ramsay warned him to get it together as he called it embarrassing. While Aaron sent his food, Ramsay reminded him that he had to tell the team if he was falling behind, with a warning that he would get kicked out if it would happen again.
An hour and a half into service, Marino came back with a dish from the Consulate’s table as the calamari was raw, which La Tasha could not believe Ashley would do that. After Ramsay showed the red team the raw calamari, he kicked them out of the kitchen, and ordered them to leave him alone. While going back to the dorms, Sterling was not impressed by his teammates' performance, and called it ridiculous. In the blue kitchen, Santos did not hear any yelling in the red kitchen, making him believe that they got kicked out, and the only thing left to do was complete service. While the blue team managed to complete service, Ramsay was not happy, and berated how Steve and Frank had poor performances, before asking them to clear down.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay said that the four words that nobody would hear were “the winning team is”. Instead, the words he listed were undercooked, overcooked, dry, salty, lost, and fucking disorganized. So, both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate two people each.
During deliberation, Jennifer called her team pathetic, and said that they were falling apart at the seams. La Tasha and Sade considered Ashley for being the weakest on the team at the moment, but the latter retorted that it was her first bad service, and all she wanted in the competition was to work with Ramsay, not even caring about the $250,000. Then, Sade considered Roe as her second nominee, which La Tasha agreed with, but Roe stated that she only had one order of steak sent back, reminded how Sade dropped her pan in the dining room, and believed that the red team was intimidated by her strong start in the competition. However, La Tasha reminded Roe that despite meat not bringing the kitchen down, it also showed how they did not have a perfect service as the latter was starting to show mistakes since the last few ones. On the blue side, Aaron claimed that his weak performance was due to Steve’s slow start, but Fernando called it a weak excuse, and considered him the weakest chef of the team due to his off timings. However, Aaron retorted that it still did not excuse Steve’s slow start, which Bryant agreed with, but Steve refused to be nominated again, even though Aaron reminded the soupy risotto incident. Then, Steve voted for Frank as his nominee for going down on the meat station, though Frank argued that he bounced back after the first poor attempt.
Elimination[]
Before asking for the nominees, Ramsay said that after seven services, he was still getting long-winded and painful performances. Roe announced Ashley as the red team’s first nominee, with herself as the second, while Santos announced Aaron as the blue team’s first nominee, and Steve as the second. During their pleas, Steve said that he had a lot of fight left, and blamed the meat and fish stations for the blue team’s poor performance, while Aaron stated that he had a bad day, and could do better the next one. Ashley said that she only had one bad service, and despite admitting that her mistake was a terrible one, she promised to work the fish station every single day to fix it. Then, Ramsay noticed that it was Roe’s second time in a row being nominated, but she stated that her mistakes were not as bad as Sade dropping a pan in the dining room. However, Ramsay said that was not good enough, and reminded Roe that she started off strong, though she promised to do better. In the end, Ramsay eliminated Ashley as her mistake on the Consulate table was the most unacceptable one, and for being the reason of the red team being kicked out.
After Ashley left, Ramsay said that he was not done yet as there was one more bit of business he wanted to take care of, and the episode ended as a cliffhanger.
Ramsay gave no comment on Ashley’s elimination, and she did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.
Trivia[]
- This episode currently marks the latest instance where a joint loss occurred with only one team being ejected from the kitchen. In this instance, the red team was ejected while the blue team finished service, but still lost.