The fifth episode of Season 16 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on October 21, 2016. In that episode, pirates greeted the chefs before the challenge, one chef's bunch of questions annoyed their teammates, and a controversial elimination of a chef who did not do anything wrong during service occurred.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Heather called losing Gia a huge weight lifted off the women and believed that they would become a force to be reckoned with. However, Shaina admitted that she did not expect that to happen.
Team challenge[]
The next day, both teams came downstairs to hear some singing, with Devin wondering what was going on. Once inside the dining room, the chefs found a stage prop pirate ship with singers dressed as pirates singing sea shanty’s, with Shaina wondering if she was dreaming, Andrew wondered why there was a giant pirates ship in the middle of the restaurant, and Johnny declared that the pirates of Hell’s Kitchen were there, complete with a pirate accent. After the song, Ramsay complimented the singers and told the chefs to consider the achievements the explorers received by travelling through the oceans, which included discovering new types of fish to eat. For the Seven Seas Seafood Challenge, each chef would pick one chef from the other team they would like to compete against, and that chef would choose a scroll that had the name of one of the major bodies of water, which would reveal what fish they were cooking with. Heidi chose to compete against Johnny from the men, much to his dismay as he was not strong with fish. He picked the Atlantic Ocean scroll, revealing that they would be cooking with Bluefin tuna. That excited Heidi as she was used to cooking fish from the Atlantic Ocean, and she believed that Johnny dropped the ball on that one. Koop decided to go up against Kimberly, she picked the Mediterranean Sea, and their fish was branzino. Shaina chose to go up against Matt, he picked the Gulf of Mexico, and their fish was a grouper. Paulie decided to go up against Aziza as he was pretty sure he had it, she picked the Indian Ocean, and their fish was wahoo, although Aziza admitted that she had no idea what a wahoo looked like. Ryan decided to go up against Aaron, he picked the Baltic Sea, and their fish was cod. Devin decided to go up against Heather, she chose the Arctic Ocean, and their fish was arctic char. That left Wendy and Andrew as the final pair, even though the latter thought that somebody had enough balls to challenge him, he picked the Pacific Ocean, and their fish was sea bass. After, Andrew confidently claimed that he had it and even told Ramsay to put his point up already.
The chefs had 30 minutes to cook their fish dishes, and while Aziza admitted that she never cooked with wahoo before, she was willing to take the risk. Kimberly told Ramsay what her dish was, but while she admitted that she never made couscous before, she decided to follow a recipe she found on TV before deeming it easy. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay told Aaron that he should have roasted his vegetables before adding garlic, and when there were five minutes left, it dismayed Andrew as he just tossed his salad and thought he had more time to cook his fish. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time, and Aaron tried to calm Andrew down over his supposed raw sea bass.
The Bluefin tuna round was up first, and when Heidi and Johnny presented their dishes, Ramsay asked the latter what happened to his Bluefin tuna as it looked like a cat attacked it. Then, Heidi’s sesame-crusted Bluefin tuna with a sake Asian stir-fry was praised for having a classy presentation, she scored that round, and the women led 1-0. After, an annoyed Devin declared it another case of Johnny’s poor plating and urged him to step up in the challenges. During the branzino round, Koop’s dish was deemed a solid effort, and while Kimberly’s fish was praised for being cooked perfectly, the couscous was overcooked to the point of being dreadfully mushy. So, Koop scored that round, the score was tied at one each, and a dismayed Heidi said that the one word she did not want to hear from Ramsay was dreadful before asking why Kimberly never asked for help. On the grouper round, both Matt and Shaina’s dishes tasted delicious, and after a hard decision, Ramsay decided to award both the point, making it a 2-point tie. Paulie’s seared wahoo with sesame and black pepper crust was praised for the heat from the said crust on the wahoo round. In contrast, Aziza’s pan-seared wahoo with creamy vegetables was praised for having delicious vegetables but criticized for having a raw center in the fish. So, Paulie scored that round, the men led 3-2, and he was happy that he never lost a head-to-head challenge so far. On the cod round, Ryan’s pan-seared cod with tequila butter sauce and potato red pepper hash was praised for having a beautifully cooked fish, while Aaron’s oven-baked cod with roasted root vegetables was criticized for having excess water from the fish. So, Ryan scored that round, the score was tied at three each, and she said that despite being humble throughout most of the competition, she felt that people were beginning to realize how much of a threat she was. On the arctic char round, Heather’s brown sugar-coated arctic char and pineapple salsa were deemed a rarity as it had pink fish despite being coated in the sugar, while Devin’s pan-seared arctic char with a buttercream dill sauce was praised for having a perfectly cooked fish. In the end, Ramsay decided to award both the point and the score was tied at four each. On the final round, Wendy and Andrew were up, and the former presented her Asian-inspired marinated sea bass with bok choy. Ramsay was amazed at how perfectly cooked the sea bass was. Shaina deemed Wendy the Lebron James of the women before mockingly asking Andrew how confident he was now. Then, Andrew presented his pan-seared sea bass on top of Asian slaw, but despite his concern about the fish being undercooked, it was cooked to perfection and praised for nailing the taste. After a tough decision, Ramsay decided to award Andrew the point for having a better presentation, and the men won the challenge 5-4. While Johnny was happy about winning the challenge, he admitted that he had no contribution to it.
Scoring[]
| Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny | 0 | 0 | Heidi | 1 | 1 |
| Koop | 1 | 1 | Kimberly | 0 | 1 |
| Matt | 1 | 2 | Shaina | 1 | 2 |
| Paulie | 1 | 3 | Aziza | 0 | 2 |
| Aaron | 0 | 3 | Ryan | 1 | 3 |
| Devin | 1 | 4 | Heather | 1 | 4 |
| Andrew | 1 | 5 | Wendy | 0 | 4 |
| Results | 5-4 | ||||
Reward[]
The men were rewarded with lunch at Petty Cash with Ramsay and got to go bowling with more surprises. During the reward, Koop deemed Petty Cash a badass way to hang out, though Ramsay was shocked once again by Aaron’s choice of shorts. While eating lunch, Ramsay asked if this was the sign of a winning streak and reminded the men that the strength of winning was through the unity of the team, which excited Devin as he got to pick Ramsay’s brain. During the bowling experience, Andrew loved the bowling shirts, pins, and towels provided by Hell’s Kitchen, which he deemed awesome, and Aaron and Paulie were seen doing very well in the game.
Punishment[]
The women were punished by taking in deliveries of vegetables and prep them for a special seafood chowder appetizer the following service along with both kitchens. During the punishment, Wendy was super pissed about losing the challenge as she wanted to win the reward and declared that she was salty. Later, the women agreed that they lost due to Kimberly’s poor couscous and that they should have tasted it, while Ryan wondered why Kimberly would make something she never attempted before and asked why she did not ask before Kimberly apologized for her actions.
As punishment continued, Kimberly asked Heather what type of pot was used for the truffle mashed, but the former’s constant questions annoyed the latter and said that she should know everything by now. Then, Wendy said that while she has worked with incompetent people before, she deemed Kimberly the worst of them all before asking her why she had to open her mouth every time for a question. However, Kimberly retorted that she was a sushi food truck chef and tried the best she could ask things she never made before.
Before service[]
Later, the men came back from their reward, and while changing into their chef jackets, Andrew declared that he was ready to bust ass. After prep, Ramsay had both teams line up and announced that he decided to invite some special VIPs to dine at the chef's table. While the men would be serving Joe Perry, the women would be serving Estelle. After, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
A special clam chowder appetizer was served tableside by Matt and Heather. After receiving their first ticket, Andrew knew that they had to get off to a strong start to succeed and prayed for Johnny and Paulie to pull it out. However, Johnny admitted that he was freaking out as he did not have a good performance in the previous challenge and knew that Ramsay put him on fish to showcase his skills. Despite that, Johnny and Paulie got their appetizers accepted, and the blue diners were enjoying their appetizers. Back in the dining room, Estelle and Joe Perry sat at their respective chef tables, and Johnny deemed latter a guitar god and one of his heroes. In the red kitchen, Heidi was star-struck overseeing Estelle and commented that she did not see many celebrities in Maine. Now working on Estelle’s order, Aziza revealed that the women agreed to knock it out that night and helped Wendy and Ryan with appetizers. The effort paid out as Estelle’s appetizers were accepted, and the women were soon pushing out appetizers to the dining room.
One hour into service, the men were continuing to push out appetizers as well, including to Joe Perry’s table. Now moving onto entrées, Andrew knew that they had to continue pushing and communicated with Johnny and Devin. However, Devin sent up stone-cold garnishes, and Johnny sent up raw salmon. That caused an angry Ramsay to smash it to pieces, and Koop believied that Ramsay hated fish. After, Ramsay urged Andrew to get the men back on order, sternly warned Devin not to send up cold garnishes again, and the men were forced to start over. In the red kitchen, the women were beginning to work on entrées as well, but Ramsay noticed that Ryan was speaking very meekly, and while she admitted that her voice was not suitable for the kitchen, she also did not want to yell. Then, Ramsay asked Ryan for a time, but when she asked if it was for the steak, he sarcastically said a time for a bus before reminding her that she had to take control and that she had the voice of a quiet little mouse. That irked Ryan as her first employer called her that, and she managed to get her New York striploin accepted along with Heidi’s salmon.
Two hours into service, Ramsay reminded the men that they should have had the refire up two minutes ago, but they managed to get it accepted soon after. On their next ticket, Devin was slow on garnish, and then, Andrew’s New York Striploin was raw, much to Devin’s annoyance as the latter worked at a steakhouse. Then, Johnny announced that he needed one more minute on the salmon, just as Devin sent up cream spinach with no salt in it, much to Andrew’s dismay as his three-year-old could do that. However, Devin told Andrew to calm down and stop screaming at him, and then, Andrew’s second attempt was rare again, with Ramsay also revealing that Johnny’s salmon was dry before smashing it to bits. Then, Ramsay brought the men to the back hallway, scolded them for their constant mistakes despite trying to help them during the reward before kicking them out of the kitchen and asking them to nominate two people for elimination. Back in the red kitchen, the women were on their final ticket, and Kimberly felt that she and Ryan were not only kicking ass but finishing strong as well. As Aziza declared that the women were not getting derailed, they managed to complete their final ticket.
Post-mortem[]
Back at the patio, a pissed Andrew yelled that they could not complete a service to save their lives. He and Devin argued that his steaks were raw and that Devin felt Andrew was deflecting his mistakes. Then, Devin added that he needed help on garnish near the end and accused Paulie of not even tasting the last two spinaches, much to the latter’s annoyance. After Koop managed to calm everybody down, Andrew considered Johnny and Devin for elimination, which Paulie reluctantly agreed with, but Matt wanted to look at the previous services as well and claimed that Johnny busted his ass in the past, before considering Aaron as the weakest chef on the men. However, Aaron was pissed as he did awesome that night, but everybody considered him and Devin for elimination.
Elimination[]
Before asking for the nominees, Ramsay reminded the men that they were completely outclassed by the women and deemed their performance embarrassing. Koop announced Devin as the men’s first nominee and Aaron as the second. However, Ramsay asked Koop what Aaron did wrong that night, but he said that they looked at everything from previous services. After calling the two nominees down, Ramsay said that there was somebody else he wanted to hear from and want to see if they had the balls to come down themselves. While the men expected Andrew to come down, Johnny instead came down, which Ramsay bluntly said that he knew. During their pleas, Johnny declared that he was stronger than Aaron and Devin, that it was his first poor service that night, and felt he had the skills to run the Yardbird. However, Ramsay asked Johnny what he was doing that night, and he answered that there was no excuse. Then, Aaron claimed that he has gotten better every service and was baffled why he was nominated. When Ramsay asked Aaron if the men trusted him, he answered that they did, even though Ramsay pointed out that they kept nominating him. Then, Aaron felt that the men did not want him around, admitted that he was hurt but wanted to prove them wrong. Then, Ramsay told Devin that he thought he would cook garnishes with his eyes closed, and while Devin admitted that he thought he would have done better, he promised to fight back and claimed that the hardest part was cooking garnishes for both the fish and meat refires. However, while Andrew argued that he owned up to mistakes, Devin retorted that he did as well and called it messed up that he had one poor night on garnishes and was labelled as the weakest by default. After a tough decision, Aaron was eliminated as Ramsay felt that the men have given up on him due to his lack of confidence. Before leaving, Ramsay praised Aaron for his passion and urged him not to stop as he could cook. During his exit interview, Aaron was still baffled on why he got eliminated, thought that people were playing favorites as they didn’t want their friend to leave, and was still pissed off, but would make a name for himself and would cook until the day he dies.
After Aaron left, Ramsay warned the men to regroup quickly because the women were looking a lot like the black jackets. While being dismissed, Heather was torn about the decision to eliminate Aaron and believed that it would bite back on the men. Then, Andrew told Devin not to make him look bad as he would lose his mind, while Devin declared that he was there to compete for his family.
Ramsay's comment: "To be a great chef, you have to earn respect from your brigade. Being so young and inexperienced, Aaron was never going to do that with his team, and that's why I took his jacket."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the actors dressed in shipmen costumes and Johnny doing a pirate accent in response.