The twelfth episode of Season 14 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on May 19, 2015, airing as a double feature along with the thirteenth episode. In that episode, steak was the main ingredient, two station meltdowns caused one team to struggle at dinner service, and an early front-runner was sent home.
Intro[]
While walking back to the dorms, Josh called his situation tough. Josh believed that the only person who would help him now was himself and knew that he would have to get inside his mind to get himself together. Meghan agreed with Josh and believed that the latter’s problem was being frazzled in the kitchen. At the same time, Josh told himself to get it together. Meghan brought Josh down to the patio, and despite knowing that the latter had the potential and could listen to her, she felt that he did not know his capabilities. So, Meghan told Josh not to get up in the drama and let everybody else fall over it, which he agreed to. However, Milly called Josh a crybaby mamma’s boy that took things too personally and told T and Alison that he felt Meghan was wasting her time with him.
Team challenge[]
The next day, the chefs came downstairs to find lockers behind Ramsay. He explained that a skilled chef could unlock the flavor of any ingredient. Then, he explains that inside the lockers were steaks cuts which contained premium cuts, less desirable cuts, and lockers with nothing inside them. Then, Ramsay revealed that for their next challenge, he wanted each chef to cook a steak dish with a side of their own choice and gave them 35 minutes of cooking time, but Josh argued that it was not a lot of cooking time. After, Ramsay brought up a jar of keys to unlock the lockers before tossing them onto the ground.
As the chefs grabbed their keys, they raced to the lockers to find the right ones. Alison and Nick both unlocked a locker, each with nothing in it. At the same time, Milly compared it to playing twister as people were sliding between each other as they tried to open their doors. Then, T’s locker revealed a rib cap, and while she did not know what it was, she decided to take it, while Meghan got porterhouse from her locker. Moments later, Nick’s second attempt gave him New York striploin, and Josh got porterhouse as well. While Josh considered his cut a tricky one to cook, he was confident as he knew how a good porterhouse tasted. Alison got ribeye on her second attempt, while Michelle was getting flustered as five minutes went by, and Milly got New York striploin. That left Michelle as the last person yet to collect her cut. After ten minutes, she managed to get flank steak but was not happy about it as she considered it the cheapest cut of them all.
During the cooking, Meghan said that she loved steak and wanted to give a lot of love to her meat. With 15 minutes remaining, Michelle knew she had to enhance the flavor of her flank steak and decided to put some Mexican flair into it. She used rice and beans for her side. In the blue kitchen, Milly explained that he was pairing his New York striploin with a cream sauce and said that he could not get a steak looking better than that. Eventually, the chefs cooked their dishes and plated them on time.
Ramsay announced the King of The Hill Challenge, where one chef who had the best steak dish would be seated on the throne chair, any chef who had a better dish could take over. The chef still in the throne chair by the end would win the challenge for their team. T was the first person to have her dish judged, said that she was waiting for a challenge like that to come, and said that it was time for her to shine as an individual. T’s mustard Ju rib cap with vegetables and bacon was praised for being cooked beautifully, being cohesive, and sat on the throne after. Milly’s New York striploin and rosemary fondue was criticized for very close to the raw side. Milly was unable to dethrone T, while Josh’s pomegranate and fig porterhouse was overcooked. Josh failed to dethrone T as well, much to his dismay. Meghan was up next, was very confident in her chances, and presented her seared porterhouse with red wine demi sauce mushrooms. Ramsay praised the dish for being mouth-melting and declared that Meghan’s dish was good enough to dethrone T on the chair. Alison was up next, but her ribeye was deemed overcooked before Ramsay could even taste it. Meghan remained on the throne, and Alison was embarrassed that Ramsay did not even taste her dish. Then, Nick’s New York striploin with roasted sunchoke purée was criticized for being a little clumsy on the garlic, and he did not dethrone Meghan. Michelle was the last person up to have her dish judged. Meghan knew Michelle had an awesome palate and could cook, and while it made her a little nervous, she believed that her steak was the best and that Michelle’s flank steak could not beat her. Michelle’s grilled flank steak with salt, pepper, and chilli powder seasoning, bean purée, and mango pepper salsa was deemed delicious by Ramsay, even though she had the cheapest cut of the chefs. After much deliberation, Ramsay deemed Michelle’s dish better than Meghan’s. The red team won the challenge, and Michelle was ecstatic that she beat Meghan with a flank steak.
Reward[]
The red team was rewarded with a trip to Catalina Islands, received a private submarine ride, and a four-course dinner at the Catalina Country Club. Then, Ramsay said that there was one more surprise for them, gave Michelle another key, and told her to unlock a chest upstairs. She felt that she proved to the red team that she did not deserve to be up for elimination. Back in the dorms, Michelle unlocked the chest, and it was revealed to contain Vitamix blenders for each of them.
During the reward, the red team arrived at Catalina Islands, took their submarine ride, and saw many fish. Then, T noticed the fishpedo button, they were happy to find that it shot out fish food, and she compared them to mini Jaws as they were fighting for the food. During dinner, Alison felt like royals due to the fancy decor, and the red team toasted to their victory.
Punishment[]
Ramsay informed the blue team that the following service would be Steak Night. Their punishment was to take in a delivery of 250 pounds of beef sides and break it down before remarking that Meghan has lost seven challenges in a row. At the patio, Meghan sarcastically thanked Ramsay for rubbing that in for her, told Milly and Nick that she thought they would win and was just in shock she lost to mango salsa and flank steak.
During the punishment, Milly was annoyed that Nick and Meghan were looking at him to carry the beef inside and admitted that he did not expect the entire cow side when Ramsay said side of beef. As they were breaking down the beef, Milly admitted that he was pissed that they lost, and Meghan still thought that she should have won that challenge over Michelle. However, Nick told Meghan to shut up and get their punishment over with.
Before service[]
The next day, the chefs began prepping for the Steak Night service. As Sous Chef Andi gave out the new menus to the red team, she revealed that Michelle’s challenge-winning dish would be featured that night, much to the latter’s honor. Then, Michelle told Josh to flatten the peppers to cut easier. Still, Josh did not appreciate it and accused her of being bigger than French bread. Michelle herself was annoyed that Josh was unwilling to listen to her advice on her own dish, and he rudely gave her the responsibility of prepping it herself. While T felt that Michelle was getting annoying, she tried to calm down the bickering between the two. Then, Josh was pissed that Michelle was nitpicking his work as it was insulting, but she argued that babying him was not her responsibility.
After, Ramsay had both teams lined up at the pass, reminded them about Steak Night, and revealed that it would be their final dinner service as teams. He announced that by the end of that night, some of them would receive a black jacket. That inspiring the chefs to do well, Milly declared that he wanted a black jacket and wanted perfection that night. Then, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen for Steak Night.
Dinner service[]
Jake Steinfeld and Jerry Hairston JR. were in attendance that night. In addition to Michelle’s dish, the menu featured grilled filet mignon and pan-seared New York striploin. With the black jacket case in front of both kitchens, the chefs were more focused than ever. The blue team got their first ticket; Nick said that the only thing standing between him and a black jacket was service, but he was confident as he looked great in black. Milly and Nick got their appetizers accepted, and the blue kitchen was sending out dishes. In the red kitchen, Michelle brought up her capellini. Still, Ramsay noticed that it looked stewed and asked Michelle if it was worthy of a black jacket. She responded that it was not, before being dismayed for looking like a dumbass. In the blue kitchen, the blue team sent out a consistent flow of appetizers and began on entrées. Milly wanted to communicate and get the food out, but Ramsay noticed that Nick’s salmon was overcooked on the bottom and told the latter to wake up.
One hour into service, Michelle’s refire was accepted, and the red team was pushing out appetizers. Moving onto entrées, Alison worked on her dishes and knew that she had to step up as a leader for the red team. However, Alison’s filet was raw. Ramsay brought the red team to the back pantry and told Alison that she did not even deserve a red jacket, let alone a black jacket. Alison knew there were no excuses that night, and Ramsay ordered the red team to figure out their situation before going back to the kitchen. Alison asked for help monitoring her filets. Michelle offered to help on the grill, and the red team went back to the kitchen with Alison, determined not to let it happen again. However, Ramsay found out that Alison’s salmon was raw and informed the red team about it. In the blue kitchen, Nick’s refire was accepted, and the blue team was able to work on their next ticket. Meghan revealed that she had fourteen steaks going all at once and said that there was a lot of shit going on. Then, Meghan sent up a raw New York striploin, and Ramsay was shocked that she would make that mistake of all people. Nick was surprised as he had never seen her truly mess up before confirming that Meghan was an actual human being and not a robot. In the red kitchen, Michelle got the filet refire accepted, but Ramsay was waiting for Alison on the salmon refire. While Alison was ready to go up, Josh announced that he needed two more minutes on his garnishes, which angered Ramsay as that meant the salmon would get overcooked by then. Then, Michelle admitted that it was hard to know who was worse between Alison and Josh and believed they were not putting their heads down and cooking. As Josh kept calling out times, a pissed Ramsay called it pathetic. Ramsay was forced to send Michelle’s filet to an incomplete table. Marino apologized to the customers for the situation. Meghan’s refire was accepted in the blue kitchen, but she was still in shock over her earlier mistake. Still, Meghan knew that she had it, with Nick admitting that he liked getting bossed around by her. In the red kitchen, Ramsay and Marino were still waiting for Alison’s salmon, the former berated her for putting Marino in an awkward position and informed her that half of the table had already finished their entrées. Then, Josh said that he still needed more time on his garnishes as he was cooking seven things at a time. Still, T was annoyed that Josh snapped at her and reminded him that they were in Hell’s Kitchen, they were working under Ramsay’s standards, and there were black jackets on the line. That led to a snapping fest between the two as T refused to let Josh talk to her like a child, and Ramsay chewed out the latter as his off-timings were causing the customers to suffer. In the blue kitchen, the blue team were able to complete service, Sous Chef James rolled out a tray, and Ramsay announced that he had a special dessert for them before revealing them their own black jackets. Nick was stunned that he received a black jacket as the blue team raced to the back pantry to change into their new jackets. Milly remarked that they were part of an elite group now before stating that they deserved it and thanked Ramsay.
Josh sent up his garnishes two hours into service, and Alison sent up her refire not long after. However, Ramsay saw that the salmon was overcooked on one side. Michelle was shocked as Alison still did not know how to cook salmon, despite it being their eleventh dinner service. After, Ramsay called Steak Night disaster night, reminded the red team that they had nine tables left to fire, and accused them of not caring. Despite suggesting that the red team should go home, Ramsay relocated T to the fish station, and a very embarrassed Alison stated that she wanted to die right now. T announced that she needed four minutes on her salmon, asked Josh to get garnish ready, and knew that she wanted to get rolling and not have fish be the zero instead of a hero despite being in a sinking position. T was finally able to get the salmon refire accepted, and Marino finally served it to the incomplete table. However, Ramsay asked the new black jacket chefs to go and help the red team complete service and told the red team that the blue team earned them. Michelle was infuriated that the blue team already had black jackets while she was still in red, Milly and Josh had an argument over garnish, and Nick knew that the red team were not happy to see them in black. With the help of the black jacket chefs, the red kitchen was finally able to complete service.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay said that he did not expect a service like he witnessed by now and named the red team the obvious losers. Then, Ramsay asked everybody to agree on two nominees from the red team, reminding the black jackets that the ones that would survive elimination would be joining them.
During deliberation, T called the red team’s performance an epic fail and angrily compared their performance to how a first-day culinary student would perform. T asked Alison what happened that night. Alison decided to man up and take responsibility for her poor performance, but Michelle reminded her that it was not the opening night and that she could not even handle her own station. However, T brought up Michelle’s capellini mistake earlier, and Milly asked the latter why she was so mean in the kitchen as he kept hearing her from the blue kitchen. Still, Michelle argued that she was not trying to be mean and was trying not to be submissive. Then, T and Alison brought up Josh’s unfocused performance on garnish, but when he tried to argue that he had a good performance, Michelle said they had to look at the bigger picture. While Josh believed that his fate in the competition would end in the red team, Michelle asked him if he had good performances in the blue team. When he did not respond, Nick pointed out that Josh has never taken responsibility for his mistakes. However, Josh believed that they were making it all up, and Milly and Meghan reminded everybody that they had to make a group decision.
Elimination[]
T announced Josh as the red team’s first nominee and Alison as the second. However, Ramsay said that he wanted to hear from somebody else and called Michelle forward. While Ramsay noted that Michelle had a great run in the competition, he still believed that she had a lot to learn, told her to take off her jacket, and gave her a black jacket. Then, Ramsay called T forward and gave her a black jacket because she was the best chef on the red team that night, which she called amazing. After, Ramsay called the two nominees forward. During their pleas, Alison said she displayed consistency throughout the competition, admitted that her performance was an epic crap show, and knew she could be the chef Ramsay wanted. Then, Josh said that he was a leader, and despite moments of darkness, he tried to bounce back. After, Ramsay had both take their jackets off. While Ramsay told Alison that she had flashes of brilliance, she was eliminated for her disastrous performance on fish. During her exit interview, Alison beat herself up for screwing up on an important night but knew that she still had hope as she was still young and felt that she became stronger since she started.
After Alison left, Ramsay told Josh that while he was tenacious, he did not know what was happening as he was slipping. After Josh stated that he could bounce back, Ramsay believed that he was not ready to go home and gave him the final black jacket before telling him to wake up, much to Nick’s annoyance. After Ramsay announced that the playoffs were to begin, and while being dismissed, T said that only the strong would survive, Josh knew that despite Nick disliking him, he was wearing the same color as him. Lastly, Milly declared that he earned his black jacket.
Ramsay's comment: "Alison had a strong voice in the kitchen. Unfortunately, she couldn't talk her way into a black jacket."
Trivia[]
- With this episode, Josh tied with Season 11's Ja'Nel Witt for most consecutive challenge rewards with seven.