The twelfth episode of Season 13 of Hell's Kitchen aired on FOX, on December 3, 2014. On that episode, amuse bouche was the main dish, one chef was almost forced to leave due to an allergic reaction, and a tearful elimination of a huge fan favorite occurred.
Intro[]
Back in the dorms, Jennifer was not happy that Roe survived elimination as she felt the latter was getting worse, and arrogantly believed that she herself was the strongest chef on the red team. However, Roe revealed that her tolerance for Jennifer was very low, and wished that she would shut up.
On the blue side, Sade told Santos and Bryant that they had to communicate as there was only three of them left, before noticing that with only seven chefs remaining, they were very close to being part of the black jacket club.
Team challenge[]
The next day, the chefs went downstairs, and while Ramsay explained how cooking and painting went hand-in-hand, La Tasha noticed a painter behind him, and hoped that she did not have to do any painting as she was not a drawer. As Ramsay said that there was nothing more stunning than taking something into beautiful art, the painter, known as Tim Decker, finished his portrait of Ramsay himself, which surprised Sade as he only took three minutes to do it. For the Amuse Bouche Challenge, each chef would create two servings of their own amuse bouche, which Sterling admitted that he never heard of until now.
The chefs had 20 minutes to make their amuse bouche, but Sterling had no idea what he was doing, and La Tasha was scared as he looked like that at every challenge so far. However, after visualizing his fiancé, Sterling finally got an idea on a steak dish. In the blue kitchen, Santos felt like a kid in a candy shop, and grabbed a lot of ingredients to add flavor. In the red kitchen, Jennifer continued to boast how she was spot on in challenges, and that Roe was the complete opposite. Then, Jennifer decided to use the prawn heads, and while Roe contemplated telling her not to do it, she wanted to focus on her own performance. With only 8 minutes remaining, Bryant decided to slice the scallops into small cubes to resemble tofu, while La Tasha wanted her dish to be explosive. Despite not using passion fruit before, Sade decided to use it to see what would happen. Because the red team had one more person, they had to drop one, and while Roe hopped that it would be Jennifer’s, it was Sterling who dropped his own as he was not confident. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated in time.
The red team announced that Sterling’s dish would be dropped for its poor presentation, even though he said that it still tasted 100. Tanya Steele of Epicurious came in as a guest judge, Roe hopped to be featured on the website someday, and Steele and Ramsay would score on a scale of 1-5. The red team went up first, and La Tasha presented her sweet corn and crab, pan-seared scallops, and crispy prosciutto. While it was praised for having a good smoky bacon, Ramsay felt that the dish was too big, and La Tasha scored 7 points. Roe’s seared ahi tuna with ginger and black garlic sauce was criticized for tasting very salty, the tuna was not featured promptly, and she scored 4 points. After calling out Roe for sucking at dishes, Jennifer presented her prawn heads. The dish was criticized for its off-putting presentation, the bizarre concept of sucking its heads, and she scored 5 points, with Roe calling her a fucking idiot. During the blue team's turn, Bryant went up first and presented his grilled scallop with charred corn, pea tendril, and wasabi caviar. While it was praised for being a one-bite dish like Ramsay wanted, being creative and original, it was criticized for having overcooked scallops, and he scored 7 points. After, Santos presented his fennel crusted ahi tuna with artichoke heart, dragon fruit infused with pomegranate juice, but Bryant and Sade were annoyed that he used every ingredient available. While it was criticized for having too many components, it was praised for being balanced, and Santos scored 7 points as well. Sade was the last person who competed, and presented her pan-seared tuna on top of a bed of Napa cabbage, sautéed with passion fruit. While a little concerned about the combination of the two ingredients, and Sade threatening to burn the place if she would lose again, it was praised for being delicious, innovative, beautiful, and Ramsay said that she was able to make two ingredients work well despite believing that they should not. So, Sade scored 9 points, the blue team won the challenge 23-16, and she was happy to finally leave Hell’s Kitchen after seven previous losses.
Scoring[]
| Red Team | Blue Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Tasha | 7 | 7 | Bryant | 7 | 7 |
| Roe | 4 | 11 | Santos | 7 | 14 |
| Jennifer | 5 | 16 | Sade | 9 | 23 |
| Results | 23-16 | ||||
Reward[]
The blue team was rewarded with a helicopter trip to Catalina Island, and eating at the Blue Water Grill. During the lunch, Sade felt that it was the type of relaxation she needed, Bryant said that it was fun hanging out with her, and Santos felt that they were all having a great time and that the day could not get any better.
Punishment[]
The red team was punished by taking deliveries of coconuts, and prepping them for the next service. La Tasha felt that Jennifer’s ego rose due to her previous challenge performances, and that their loss was a reality check for her. During the punishment, Sterling noticed that there were a lot of coconuts, and complained about the amount of work they had to do. Later, he decided to use the coconut shells as fake breasts to amuse his teammates, and said that he missed his fiancé.
Before service[]
The blue team came back from their reward, and Sade jokingly asked La Tasha how the coconuts tasted. When the red team were going back to the dorms, Jennifer revealed that she might be allergic to fresh coconut water, that she was developing a rash, and that her throat was getting scratchy. When Jennifer rushed to the bathroom coughing, Sterling called the medic, and Jennifer was taken to the hospital. Later that night, Roe suggested to the red team that they cook the scallops for 40 seconds on each side, and the chefs eventually went to bed.
The next day, both teams began prepping for service, but there was not any sign of Jennifer yet, and the red team had to prepare for the worst case that she may not be back in time. However, Jennifer came back moments later, and said that she was going to suck it up as she knew Roe was looking for an opportunity to get rid of her.
When both teams were lined up, Jennifer reassured Ramsay that she was okay and not going anywhere. Then, he reminded both teams about a special tuna amuse bouche, the appetizer stations from both kitchens would be responsible for it, and told the blue team that with three members, they would have to push it. After, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Lorenzo Lamas, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Colin Walker were in attendance. The amuse bouche dishes were served without problems, and both teams were ready for the hot appetizers. Sterling counted down to himself on the scallops, which Roe commented about, and they were accepted. In the blue kitchen, they were getting appetizers out as well, and Ramsay praised Sade for her delicious risotto. With appetizers leaving at a good pace, both teams began working on entrées. However, Sterling sent raw scallops, and he promised not to let that happen again. In the blue kitchen, their first entrées were accepted, but Ramsay urged them to be united, and being more vocal.
One hour into service, Sterling sent his third attempt, but one of the scallops was still raw, and while Ramsay asked if they had to change stations, Sterling was the only one against that idea. Then, Ramsay dragged the red team to the pantry room, and ordered them to have a meeting. La Tasha accused Sterling of pulling a Frank, which he argued against, and Roe warned him that if one more dish was rejected, they were switching stations. In the blue kitchen, entrées were served, and Louis Diamond Phillips came in. When Ramsay called the next order, nobody responded with a time, and he accused them of going slower. In the red kitchen, Sterling’s fourth attempt was raw, Roe and he switched stations, and Ramsay urged him not to give up.
One hour and 20 minutes into service, Roe’s scallops were accepted, and the diners were enjoying their food. Jennifer was getting overwhelmed on meat, and Ramsay decided to flip the tickets to make sure she could bounce back, and she succeeded to send her dishes. In the blue kitchen, Santos sent Phillips’ scallops, but they were raw and greasy, Ramsay lamented that it was too good to be true, and Sade was upset that it happened when they were on a roll. Then, Ramsay pulled Santos to the pantry room, accused him of cooking out of fucking control, and ordered him to wake up. Despite that, Santos’ refire was accepted, and the blue team eventually completed service, with the red team following shortly afterwards.
Automatic elimination[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay admitted that while it was not a bad service, it was not the kind of service he was hoping to get. Then, he called Sterling down, and told him that while he has been a phenomenal and relentless competitor, his poor performance on fish confirmed that he was not ready to be a head chef, therefore eliminating him on-the-spot. While the rest of the chefs were heartbroken, Sterling took it well, Ramsay praised him for being a joy around the kitchen, and allowed him to keep his jacket as a reminder of what he achieved. Before leaving to pack his bags, Sterling hugged Ramsay and the chefs, and Ramsay told him that he would always be 100. Sterling received a retrospective montage of his run during his exit interview, and ended by stating that while he did not win, he got Ramsay’s heart, which nobody before him did.
Post-mortem[]
After Sterling left, both teams were asked to nominate one person each. During deliberation, Bryant believed that the blue team did better than the red team as they were still sending entrées while they were on desserts. Sade considered Santos based on overall performances, even though she felt that he still did well, which Bryant agreed with. While Santos felt that his scallops were not the only mistake in the blue kitchen, he decided not to argue about it, and wanted to prove Ramsay why he should stay. On the red side, Roe considered Jennifer for getting confused on the tickets, but Jennifer argued that she did well despite her medical problem the previous day. That left La Tasha as the tiebreaker, and while Roe tried to convince that she had four strong services in a row, Jennifer felt otherwise. La Tasha felt stressed as picking either of those two was not as easy as it would have been weeks ago.
Elimination[]
Sade announced Santos as the blue team’s nominee, while La Tasha announced Roe as the red team’s. During their pleas, Roe called herself the strongest chef on the red team and that she regained her team’s confidence, but Ramsay pointed out that her being nominated was not a good sign. Then, Santos said that he had the passion and drive to become the head chef Ramsay wanted. After deliberation, Ramsay asked both of them to take off their jackets, but instead of being eliminated, they received black jackets before being sent back in line. Then, Ramsay gave Jennifer her black jacket, noting that despite a lot of medical problems, she fought back and earned it.
After La Tasha, Bryant, and Sade received their black jackets, Ramsay reminded the newly formed black jackets that one of them was going to be his next head chef, before dismissing them. Santos declared that the boxing match was beginning at the moment, and La Tasha said that she was in it to win. Finally, Sterling received the burning picture sequence.
Ramsay's comment: "Sterling went further in this competition than I thought he would. And even though he was always at 100, it wasn't enough to earn him a black jacket."
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the first time that a fifth consecutive male contestant was eliminated, beating the record of four consecutive males eliminated in Season 2.
- This marks the third and to date final time Ramsay eliminated someone right after service. This episode also makes Season 13 the only time he did so in two different episodes.
- This marks the second time since Episode 502 - 15 Chefs Compete a non-third placer was allowed to keep their jacket.