The tenth episode of Season 13 of Hell's Kitchen aired on FOX, on November 19, 2014. On that episode, Indian cuisine was the main theme, one team made a comeback at dinner service, one chef exploded, and a startling announcement from another left Ramsay disappointed.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, La Tasha complained that she tried to help Frank, and refused to be a crutch for the weak any longer, with Sterling adding that everybody tried to help him. Then, Roe said that they had to rock the next service, and that there was no more room for excuses and mistakes. Meanwhile, Aaron told Bryant that he was starting to wonder if he wanted the head chef position as he wanted to earn it, even though Bryant reminded him that the salary was $250,000, and that he had a chance to work under Ramsay. Bryant felt that Aaron knew that he could not win, and that if he was in Ramsay’s shoes, he would kick him out.
Team challenge[]
The next day, Ramsay called La Tasha on the dorms' phone, and told her to bring everybody downstairs. Then, Ramsay asked the chefs what would be the one place in the world they would like to visit, which Bryant answered Holland. After, Ramsay explained that travelling around the world could benefit a chef in many ways, and revealed that one of the ethnic foods he fell in love with was Indian cuisine, before revealing some Bollywood dancers, and Sterling said that his kids would not believe he saw real-life Aladdin characters. For the Indian Cuisine Challenge, each team would cook four Indian inspired entrées with pork, lamb, chicken, and cod. To choose the ingredients, one chef from each team would use a tablet to slide the ingredients to their teammate’s protein, with Santos comparing it to food Tetris, and after three minutes, the person with the blank space had the option of choosing a wild card ingredient.
Because the blue team had one more member, two of them would have to share a protein, and the teams discussed who would be using what protein, and who was using the tablet. Roe volunteered to handle the tablet for the red team, while Aaron volunteered for the blue team as he used to work in an Indian restaurant before. During the ingredient selection, Aaron struggled as his teammates were talking all at once, and he could not focus. With thirty seconds left, Sterling got the lentils like he asked, but not the yogurt as Roe was unable to give it to him in time, much to his dismay. After, Ramsay told La Tasha and Bryant that each of them had the wild card space, and gave them the choice of either tomato, okra, paneer, or green beans. Bryant picked tomatoes, while La Tasha picked okra.
The chefs had thirty minutes to cook their dish, but while most of them knew what they were cooking, Jennifer had no idea as she had never even eaten Indian food before. In the blue kitchen, Aaron boasted how he knew a lot about Indian spices, but Fernando felt that he had no idea what the fuck was going on. With four minutes left, Sterling was denied borrowing La Tasha’s coconut milk, and lamented that he got a shit hand for his dish. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated in time.
Because Sade and Santos each made a chicken dish, the blue team decided to go with Sade's dish as it had more Indian flavors. Sachin Chopra was invited as a guest judge, and he and Ramsay would score each dish on a scale of 1-5. La Tasha and Aaron went up first with their lamb dishes, and while he confidently presented his lamb with date chutney inside filo pastry and mango powder on the lamb, it was criticized for the dates still having seeds in it, and the bizarre concept of the filo stuffed chutney. While La Tasha’s seared lamb with sweet pea and mint purée was praised for its perfectly cooked lamb, it was criticized for having undercooked okra. In the end, Aaron scored 5 points, while La Tasha scored 7, making the score 7-5 for the red team. Sade’s garam masala chicken was praised for being nice, scoring 7 points, while Sterling’s chicken curry soup was criticized for not being as fragrant as Sade’s dish, and he scored 3 points, making it 12-10 for the blue team. Bryant’s dry rubbed cod with champagne vinegar was criticized for not being pleasant along with the champagne vinegar not being Indian based, and he scored 4 points, while Roe’s filo wrapped cod was criticized for having wet filo, which Ramsay compared to wet tissue, and she scored 5, making it 16-15 for the blue team. The final pair was Jennifer against Fernando, and she presented her coconut milk marinated pork with tamarind, basmati rice, and curry leaves. Despite little confidence, the dish was praised for tasting great, and being flawless, much to Jennifer’s surprise. While Fernando’s pan-roasted pork loin with turmeric and cumin and garbanzo beans was praised for having a very nicely cooked pork, it was too spicy for Ramsay to handle. In the end, Fernando scored 7 points, while Jennifer scored 8, tying the score at 23. To break the tie, Ramsay decided to use the dish that received the highest score, which was Jennifer’s, the red team won the challenge, and she called herself untouchable.
Scoring[]
| Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron | 5 | 5 | La Tasha | 7 | 7 |
| Sade | 7 | 12 | Sterling | 3 | 10 |
| Bryant | 4 | 16 | Roe | 5 | 15 |
| Fernando | 7 | 23 | Jennifer | 8 | 23 |
| Results | 23*-23 | ||||
- * Highest scoring dish named by Ramsay breaked the tie in the challenge and won it for their team.
Reward[]
The red team was rewarded with a spa day at Willow’s Spa, as well as Vitamix blenders as gifts, much to their joy. During the reward, La Tasha got to try acupuncture for the first time, Sterling said that he was 100% twisted, and he amused his teammates by flirting with the masseuse. Roe felt that it was the perfect way to go into service.
Punishment[]
The blue team was punished by prepping for the next service, and cleaning the front entrance of the restaurant. Sade was upset as this was her sixth consecutive punishment, and teared up about how she hated losing challenges. During the punishment, she angrily told the red team not to walk on the red carpet, though Jennifer said that it was not her fault the blue team sucked at cooking. Later, Sade continued to openly complain about the punishment, and Santos felt that she was being bossy and rude, before warning that if she would not check her attitude, she would go home. Bryant called her fucking annoying, mocked her whining, and reminded her that she was there to cook.
Before service[]
Before the blue team began their prep, Sous Chef James told them that he wanted another great service. Sade accused Aaron of being an expert on everything minus cooking, and Bryant teased him over his multiple jobs, though he called himself a well-rounded chef. The red team came back from reward, and they began prep, hoping to continue their winning streak.
In the blue kitchen, Sade was still sore about losing the challenge, which annoyed Bryant as her attitude would not fly in the kitchen, and Ramsay called her over to the pantry room. Ramsay said that he has seen her grow in confidence, and urged her not to stop. The pep talk lifted Sade’s feelings, and she announced that she was going to carry the blue team through service. After, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
In addition to the classic menu, the service featured some Indian inspired dishes such as tandoori chicken, and Panera flatbread pizza. Billy Gibson, Uzo Aduba, and Lisa Guerrero were in attendance. Ramsay told Santos and Bryant to each work on one flatbread pizza, and the latter wanted to show Ramsay that he could lead. Despite Aaron wanting to make sure service would go smoothly, Bryant decided to help him on fish, but sent a raw scallop, and he took the blame as it was his station. In the red kitchen, Jennifer was getting overwhelmed by the flatbread pizza orders, but managed to serve some of them to the dining room. However, when Jennifer was still overwhelmed, Sous Chef Andi told Sterling to help her if he had the time. Sterling decided to help, but a concerned Jennifer warned him not to make them big, and threatened to throw him in the pizza oven if he would fuck her. Despite that, Sterling’s efforts helped the red team to serve food. In the blue kitchen, Bryant sent his refire, but got into a spat with Sade over his attitude. Moments later, Ramsay informed the blue team that Aaron’s lobster tail was raw, he got frazzled, and blamed Bryant for that mistake. Despite the dysfunction in the blue kitchen, they were able to send their appetizers. In the red kitchen, Sterling's risotto was accepted, and he jokingly decided to make a music video remix in celebration.
45 minutes into service, Sterling kept pushing out appetizers, La Tasha was proud of him, and the red team began working on entrées. However, a fire erupted on Roe’s station, though Ramsay was able to put it out quickly. In the blue kitchen, the blue team was beginning to work on entrées as well, and Aaron was determined to make sure things would go smoothly after their rough run on appetizers. Despite Sade trying to rush Aaron on the fish, he remained absolute to care the fish with finesse. While Sade sent beautifully cooked Wellingtons, Aaron sent a raw halibut, a frustrated Ramsay was forced to send an incomplete table, and Bryant accused Aaron of only knowing how to make desserts. In the red kitchen, La Tasha and Roe’s dishes were flying out of the kitchen, and Ramsay urged them to keep the momentum going. They continued to do so, and Ramsay told Sous Chef Andi that they were killing it. In the blue kitchen, fish orders were piling up, Aaron caused a fire on his station, and Bryant was able to cover it. A dismayed Ramsay asked what was going on, Sade and Bryant were still at each other’s throats, and Santos called it an absolute fucking shit show. Then, Aaron sent a raw salmon, and after, Ramsay showed the blue team Bryant’s raw garnishes, though both of them were able to bounce back. Eventually, both teams served their remaining tables.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, the red team were declared winners by a mile, Ramsay praised their incredible communication, and asked Sterling if he wanted to go back to the blue team, which the latter responded that he did not. After, Ramsay said that he had no idea what happened to the blue team, and asked them to nominate two people based on everything that has happened so far.
During deliberation, a pissed Bryant refused to go down for the blue team’s poor performance, and said that he was done playing nice. Aaron nominated himself as he had a lot of ups and downs in the competition, which Santos agreed with. Bryant confronted Aaron over why he did not listen to him, and while Aaron explained that he was not as organized as Sade, Bryant accused him of being unable to cook and listen at the same time. However, that led to an argument between them, Aaron angrily told Bryant to shut the fuck up, while the latter told him that he fucking sucked. Then, Bryant considered Fernando as he has been nominated once before, but the latter felt that Bryant could not figure out a proper argument, and said that his attitude sucked. As Bryant’s temper continued, Sade told him to simmer down, Aaron reminded him how he sent raw scallops, even though Bryant retorted that he would have taken responsibility, and was concerned that he was going to physically fight someone. Then, Bryant taunted the blue team to nominate him as he would survive anyway, but while Aaron said that nobody like him could be an executive chef due to his poor attitude, he argued that nobody would work under a pastry chef that could not cook fish. After, Bryant left to be alone, and Sade said that if he would not calm down soon, he might need a medic.
Elimination[]
Santos announced Aaron as the first nominee, and Bryant as the second, and even mentioned the latter’s temper. However, Ramsay reminded Santos that he did not care about what happened in the dorms, and called both of them forward. While Bryant said that he had the strength that Ramsay was looking for and could lead, when it was Aaron’s turn to plead his case, he announced that he wanted to become a Michelin Star chef, and felt that staying in the competition would not further his goal. That shocked everybody, Ramsay called it unbelievable, and asked Aaron why he came to that decision. Aaron explained that he has never been pushed hard enough to realize things he never knew before, and believed that he needed more education. However, Ramsay told Aaron that he had learned more there, but was more shocked that he was not fighting to stay. As it became clear that Aaron made up his mind, Ramsay decided not to waste any more time, and granted Aaron’s decision to leave, before calling it disappointing.
After Aaron's departure, Ramsay stated that thousands of chefs wanted the opportunity to compete in Hell’s Kitchen, and that he has never had a chef quit like that before. Then, Ramsay asked if anybody else wanted to leave, but when everybody said they would stay, he dismissed them. Santos considered Aaron’s decision to bow out when there were nine chefs left a big stupid one, Jennifer felt that Aaron bowed out because he knew he would have gotten eliminated regardless, and Sade felt that she was one step closer to winning the competition.
Ramsay's comment: "I found it quite strange that Aaron didn't even have the will to succeed. He clearly didn't belong in Hell's Kitchen."
Trivia[]
- This marks the second time since Episode 1203 - 18 Chefs Compete where a chef quit after being nominated.