The thirteenth episode of Season 14 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on May 19, 2015, airing as a double feature along with the twelfth episode. In that episode, the final six competed in their first black jacket challenge, a meaningful punishment brought one chef to tears, and despite another making a comeback at dinner service, it was not enough to save them from elimination.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Michelle was excited that she got her black jacket and considered herself the youngest contestant ever to receive one. T said that she faded to black, and while Michelle and Nick remarked that they blanked out on what Ramsay said to them after receiving their black jackets, Josh remembered what Ramsay told him. However, that annoyed everybody, as they earned their black jackets. Michelle commented that Josh had nine lives to get his, much to Milly and T’s humor.
Pairs challenge[]
The next day, the final six went downstairs to finds Ramsay next to a chemistry set, though that brought back poor memories for Josh as he almost failed science back at school. Then, Ramsay compared how stepping into a kitchen was like a laboratory and revealed some test tubes containing food essence for them to test. After tasting their test tubes and getting some mixed answers, Ramsay explained that it was all a warm-up for their palates and announced the Taste It Now Make It Challenge. For that year, the chefs would be in three pairs each, each team had to recreate Ramsay’s dish, and the closest team would win. Then, Ramsay told the chefs to choose their partners. Michelle and Nick quickly paired up as they made each other laugh. T and Milly paired up as the former was confident in her partner’s abilities, which left Josh and Meghan as the final pair. However, Meghan was confident in her partner’s palate.
The three pairs had thirty minutes to recreate Ramsay’s dish, consisting of fish, broth, and dumpling filling. While Josh believed that the fish was cod, Meghan thought it was halibut, and he decided to go with it as she never led wrongly before. Nick and Michelle chose sea bass for their fish, and while T thought it was halibut, Milly convinced her to use sea bass instead. For the broth, Nick and Michelle picked soy sauce, while T and Milly and Josh and Meghan picked sake. For the filling, the pairs of Nick and Michelle and Josh and Meghan picked lobster, while T and Milly picked shrimp, although they struggled to put together their dumplings. Eventually, the pairs got their dishes cooked and plated on time.
As Ramsay tasted the dishes, T and Milly were confident in their chances. At the same time, Meghan said she wanted to win to get out of Hell’s Kitchen. After tasting each of their dishes, Ramsay announced that the correct protein was sea bass, which automatically got Josh and Meghan out of the running. T was relieved for trusting Milly’s instinct. Michelle and Nick got the broth correct with their soy sauce, and they won the challenge.
Scoring[]
Taste It Now Make It | |
Chef | Score |
---|---|
Josh and Meghan | 1/3 |
Michelle and Nick | 2/3 |
Milly and T | 1/3 |
Results | Michelle and Nick |
Reward[]
Michelle and Nick were rewarded with a tour of Long Beach, California, and dinner onboard the Queen Mary ocean liner. During the reward, the tour guide drove through the water on his car boat, which Michelle and Nick called crazy. When they got on board the Queen Mary, Nick said that there was nobody else he wanted to be with other than Michelle, and the two talked about how much they grew in the competition despite being doubted before. After Nick declared that he and Michelle would be the final two, they went out to the ship's bow and called themselves the king and queen of Hell’s Kitchen, respectively.
Punishment[]
The remaining chefs were punished by participating in recycling day and making 150 pounds of mashed potatoes for the Midnight Mission. Ramsay said that they were doing a good cause that day. Back at the patio, Milly was in tears as he had been homeless three times before and said not many people knew the hardships of not having a home to go back to. At the same time, Josh and T agreed that it was a rewarding punishment. During the punishment, Sous Chef James gave the chefs instructions on separating the garbage. Still, Meghan revealed that she never recycled before and said it was something she did not want to do. When Josh started to gag, T suggested that he breathe through his mouth, but he complained that he would taste it then. That annoyed Milly, who he called Josh a dumbass, and T called the latter a child as he was doing very little.
Later that night, they were prepping the mashed potatoes, and while Milly said that he could not wait to send the Midnight Mission food, he noted that it was a lot of hard work. Then, T noticed that Josh had two separate mashed potato pots in front of him, and despite suggesting that he mix them, he said that he did not have a lot of space. That annoyed T as she accused Josh of doing the easier stuff and asked him to hammer the potatoes and call him a little bitch. That led to an argument between the two over who was doing their job correctly.
Before service[]
The next day, the final six began prepping for their first black jacket service. Still, Michelle got annoyed at Josh for prepping the shallots for himself and not for everybody and accused him of not being a team player. Milly felt Josh was not making sense with his talking and did not want his help. He told Josh to shut up before calling him Uncle Randy as he was asking the same questions multiple times. However, Josh did not appreciate that comment, which led to an argument between the two until Nick calmed them down.
After, Ramsay had the chefs lined up, reminded them that they would be serving the entire dining room, and announced that Tatum O’Neal would be eating in the chef's table that night. After asking for a sensational service, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Before getting their first ticket, Ramsay said that he believed that he had the best six and asked them to prove it to him. While Nick was communicating to Michelle on their first ticket, the latter slowly prepared her Caesar salads. When she sent them up, they were in bowls instead of a plate, with Ramsay ordering Michelle to wake up. Refusing to let it happen again, Michelle got her second attempt accepted, and appetizers were being pushed out. On their next ticket, Meghan brought up her risotto, but Nick sent up a stone-cold lobster tail. Ramsay was forced to start again, much to Meghan’s annoyance as she did not think they had to do it at the final six. Later, O’Neal arrived at the chef's table with her son, and while Milly knew that the chef's table added a little more pressure, he was confident has he always served all-star food. As Marino took O’Neal’s order, Meghan and Nick were able to get their refire accepted. Eventually, their final order ticket was for O’Neal’s table. However, Michelle was slow on the tuna, which Meghan noticed despite acknowledging the former’s finesse and technique. When Michelle sent up it up, Ramsay saw that the tuna was cold in the center, and she knew that unless she bounced back, she would be a big target, and Meghan warned her to get it together. After Michelle got her refire accepted, Ramsay had her and Meghan serve their appetizers to the chef's table. However, Nick got annoyed when O’Neal started to nitpick at the dishes.
One hour into service, the final six were moving onto entrées, T asked Josh for a time, but the latter failed to give her one until Meghan gave her one. However, T was annoyed that Josh refused to hear anything at services, other than his own head, and called him a dangerous person to work in the kitchen. Then, Josh caused his station to catch fire. While Josh was panicking about what to do, Meghan was able to control the fire by reducing the temperature, called him frazzled, and Ramsay wondering what was wrong with Josh. While T sent up her salmon, Josh felt that the lamb was undercooked and put it back in the oven. When Ramsay lectured Josh for letting T walk the salmon up despite not being ready, he argued that he did not know she was going up and that she did not tell him. However, T stated that she did tell Josh earlier, and Meghan was fearful that the former would kill the latter. T accused Josh of zoning out five minutes ago. Despite that, Josh managed to get his lamb accepted, and the final six’s next ticket was for the chef's table. However, Josh decided to pump himself up with a woo sound, Ramsay mocked him for that and ordered him to get composed before calling him a baboon, much to T’s humor as she was waiting for Ramsay to call somebody that. Then, Josh sent up pink chicken and said he needed eight minutes on the refire, but Ramsay reminded him that the breast was fine, and he just needed the leg cooked a little bit more.
Two hours into service, Nick accused Josh of losing his mind, but the latter was able to get the chicken out to the chef's table. However, despite saying that his confidence was back, O’Neal found her Wellington to be underwhelming, much to everybody’s dismay, she asked Marino to send it back for a halibut, and Nick called her a diva. Despite that, T declared she would send out great fish, and O’Neal was happy about her new dish. As the chefs were nearing the end of service, Josh wanted to finish strong, got his lamb approved, service was completed, and Ramsay called it a great night.
Post-mortem[]
When the final six were lined up, Ramsay was happy that he finally got a service everybody could be happy and congratulated them for a job well done. However, despite having their best service yet, Ramsay asked for two nominees for elimination.
During deliberation, T knew that there were many strong people left and that it would suck to nominate two of them for elimination. While Nick and Meghan noted that it would get hard, Michelle recalled how her tuna was sent back for being cold in the middle, with Meghan reminding her about the plate incident. However, when Michelle admitted that she had a brain fart, Meghan reminded her that amateur hour was over. Then, Josh recalled about his raw chicken leg, and despite claiming that he had a great performance otherwise, Nick argued that he was frazzled that night. However, Josh argued that he had control that night, T recalled that Nick had a cold lobster tail sent back, and that led to an argument between the two as Josh considered that Nick did not have a perfect service because of that, even though Nick considered the former a frazzled mess. Afterwards, Milly asked what team they wanted the next day.
Elimination[]
Milly announced Josh as the first nominee for his frazzledness in services and Michelle as the second due to her slow speed and mistakes that night. After, Ramsay said he had services that year where he wanted to send three people home in one night. While he did not feel like sending anybody home that night, he would regardless and called the two nominees forward. During their pleas, Josh said that he gave everything that night, that he bounced back that night, and believed that the rest of the chefs were out to get him. Then, Michelle said she had more potential than Josh, knew more than him, and was determined to stay. Josh was eliminated for being on his fifth nomination in a row and being in a downward spiral. Before leaving, Ramsay praised Josh for going on a strong performance and urged him to stay passionate. Josh received a retrospective montage during his exit interview.
After Josh left, Ramsay remarked how difficult it was to identify the weakest chef on their phenomenal service but warned the final five that he would raise the bar even higher. While being dismissed, Nick was happy that Josh was gone as he called it karma and said it was one less person he had to deal with. Meghan knew if she cooked her heart out, nothing would stop her, and Michelle knew that she had to be perfect with fewer chefs.
Ramsay's comment: "Josh had great passion and a strong service tonight. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late."
Trivia[]
- With this episode, Meghan tied with Season 12’s Melanie Finch for most consecutive punishments with eight.
- This marks the third and final time Ramsay used the paired format of the Taste It Now Make It Challenge.