The seventh episode of Season 16 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on November 11, 2016. In that episode, Southern Cuisine was the main theme, one chef almost lost a finger, two station meltdowns caused one team to fall apart at dinner service, and the first team switch occurred.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Paulie believed that being nominated gave him the perspective of becoming the winner and felt he needed to become humble and bounce back. Later that night, Andrew and Heather started cuddling together, and the latter said that she could talk to him about anything before saying that it was hard to find someone that understood her. Then, Andrew confirmed that he and Heather were just friends but wanted to keep flirting with her despite getting married in a couple of months.
Team challenge[]
The next day, both teams came downstairs to find Marino painting with three artists, and Ramsay explained that each artist, with the same training and tools, could create different interpretations with their own personal style. The first painter, Tony, presented his classic Ramsay portrait, the second one, Greg, presented a cartoon drawing, the third painter, Jess, did a more artistic portrait, and Marino drew a simple stick figure. After, Ramsay said that cooking and painting went hand in hand with their tools being plates and their canvases being plates before announcing the Southern Cuisine Challenge. That made Devin comfortable as he was from the south. Then, Sous Chefs Andi and Aaron pulled out two carts of covered proteins, and Ramsay asked each chef to stand behind one of the covered proteins. As the chefs stood behind their proteins, Heather decided to go up against Andrew as he did not have somebody behind him and wanted to throw down with him as he talked a lot of nonsense. The pair of Matt and Ryan revealed that their dish was fried chicken, Koop and Heidi’s dish was shrimp, Shaina and Johnny’s dish was hanger steak, Paulie and Wendy’s dish was catfish, Andrew and Heather’s dish was pork chops, and Kimberly and Devin’s dish was trout.
Both teams had 40 minutes to cook their southern dishes, and Kimberly admitted how annoyed she was that the women lost three challenges in a row before declaring that she wanted a win. Then, Wendy admitted how frightened she was as she never cooked with southern food before. She had no idea what to do with the catfish, even though Heather suggested that Wendy fry it. Devin suggested to Johnny to use spicy seasoning in the blue kitchen, and the latter felt that Devin was well suited for that challenge and felt that they had it. Then, Koop decided to make a ceviche with his shrimps, but while cutting his celery stock, he accidentally cut his fingertip. Forced to see the medic, he applied pressure to Koop’s wound, and Ramsay informed the men that Koop sliced his fingernail off. Then, Ramsay checked on Koop to see if he was okay, but the latter did not respond until they gave him oxygen to breathe properly. After urging Koop to take his time, Ramsay informed the men about the former’s situation, the fact that Koop would not complete his dish on time, and urged them to make their dishes brilliant. Eventually, the chefs got their dishes cooked and plated on time.
Chris Hastings was invited to help Ramsay judged the challenge, and Wendy got worried about how southern her dish was to the former. Before judging, Ramsay revealed that the best overall dish of that challenge would be featured in the following service, just as Koop came back to the men. The hanger steak round was up first, and Shaina and Johnny presented their dishes. Johnny’s spicy hangar steak over a bed of garlic hash and bell pepper was criticized for not having any zing and for having too much blood on the plate. Then, Shaina’s brown sugar rubbed hangar steak with collier greens, and macaroni & cheese was praised for a beautiful sear, tasting delicious. She scored that round, and the women led 1-0. On the catfish round, Wendy’s spicy fried catfish with bacon peppered gravy, sautéed kale, and fried red potatoes were praised for being beautifully cooked and crispy, while Paulie’s fish and grits were praised for a well-cooked fish and having nice crispy skin. So, both scored that round, the women led 2-1, and Wendy was happy that she scored that round. On the fried chicken round, Ryan’s fried chicken with creamy white cheddar grits and Swiss chard was praised for having a well-seasoned chicken and having delicious grits, while Matt’s cornflake crusted Cajun fried chicken with gravy and Collier green was criticized for reminding Hastings of a diner, and for being under-seasoned, with Ramsay commenting that he could get bored just by eating it. So, Ryan scored that round, the women led 3-1, and Matt was upset over Hastings’ comment, called it disrespectful, and accused Hastings of not even having a country accent. For the shrimp round, Heidi was the only one to present her dish as Koop failed to complete his. However, while her southern shrimp with summer polenta was praised for well-cooked shrimp, Hastings felt that it was not jumping off the plate worthy, and she did not score. The women led 3-1, but Wendy was annoyed that Heidi could not score despite being the only one that presented a dish. Heather and Andrew presented their dishes on the pork chop round, and Ryan jokingly called it their lovers quarrel: pork addition. Heather pan-seared pork chop with fried green tomatoes and country-styled gravy was praised for having lovely green tomatoes but criticized for tasting dry, and then, Andrew’s buttermilk marinated pork chop with fennel slaw on top was praised for having a good crust, and for the slaw element. So, Andrew scored that round, the score was 3-2 for the women, and while Andrew mockingly asked Heather if she liked losing, he still shook her hand out of respect. Devin and Kimberly presented their trout dishes on the final round, and the former presented his trout with black-eyed pea succotash with corn-bacon fried okra. The dish was criticized for being over breaded, and Ramsay told Devin it could have been confused for any other fish because of that. Then, Kimberly’s cornflake and blue cornmeal encrusted trout with pecan and bourbon glaze were criticized for being too sugary for Hastings. The two were sent back in line, and neither of them scored that round. However, the women won the challenge 3-2, and Shaina thanked God for letting them out of the restaurant. Then, Ramsay announced that Wendy’s catfish dish was the best dish overall, and she was very happy about that.
Scoring[]
| Red Team | Blue Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaina | 1 | 1 | Johnny | 0 | 0 |
| Wendy | 1 | 2 | Paulie | 1 | 1 |
| Ryan | 1 | 3 | Matt | 0 | 1 |
| Heidi | 0 | 3 | Koop | NJ* | 1 |
| Heather | 0 | 3 | Andrew | 1 | 2 |
| Kimberly | 0 | 3 | Devin | 0 | 2 |
| Results | 3-2 | ||||
- *Koop's dish was not judged due to failing to complete his dish on time
Reward[]
The women were rewarded with a horseback riding experience at Gibson Ranch and lunch from the Wings and Waffles food truck. During the reward, Wendy deemed herself a country girl at heart and rode a horse named Big John, while Ryan felt that the former was enjoying the horseback ride too much, before feeling that Wendy missed her husband a lot. During lunch, Shaina claimed that she would pick chicken and waffles over fine dining food any day, and Wendy was stoked that despite being targeted for elimination, the women were going to cook her dish that night.
Punishment[]
The men were punished by prepping shrimp and grits for the following service, including grinding corn down, cleaning shrimp, and prepping both kitchens. During the punishment, Andrew complained they had to grind grits by hand and declared they stopped doing that after the pilgrims came. Then, Koop said his wound was hurting more than when he cut it, felt that it was a kick to his confidence, and went back to the dorms to try and calm himself down. However, Paulie was unsympathetic as everybody cut themselves every day and deemed Koop mentally fragile for walking off. Back at the dorms, a mentally drained Koop debated whether he should quit, and while he came back down the blue kitchen, he was still unsure of himself. Despite that, Andrew wanted to win that night’s service so Koop would not go home.
Before service[]
Later that day, the women returned from their reward, and both teams began prepping for service. After, Ramsay had both teams lined up and revealed that he has decided to open the chef's tables once again. The women would be serving Adrienne Maloof, which Ryan deemed watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills her guilty pleasures, while the men would be serving JJ Redick, which Andrew deemed amazing as he remembered the latter playing for the Dukes. After asking the chefs to bring their A-game, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
In addition to the aforementioned VIPs, Blake Lewis and Mircea Monro were in attendance at the dining room. In addition to Wendy’s challenge-winning catfish dish, a special shrimp and grits appetizer was served tableside by Devin and Ryan. The men received Redick’s ticket first, and Johnny revealed that while Matt would cook the pasta, he would cook the risottos and pizzas. However, Matt wanted to help instead of standing around but was ignored by Johnny. Despite that, Johnny’s risotto was accepted, and in the red kitchen, the women received their first ticket. However, Kimberly deemed carbonara a bitch to cook, and after she sent up her dish, Ramsay caught her standing close by the hot plate before shewing her away and asking if she was looking for something. Despite that, Kimberly’s carbonara was accepted, and Heather proclaimed that the women would shut out the men.
One hour into service, both teams were pushing out appetizers at a strong pace. Ramsay decided to give the men their first entrée order, and Andrew felt that he would execute the catfish properly. However, Ramsay saw that Andrew’s catfish was soggy to the touch and called up Wendy to feel it, which caused her to believe that Andrew fried it off too early and let it sit. Then, Ramsay reminded Andrew not to fry the catfish too early as he did mind that, but the latter managed to get the refire accepted. In the red kitchen, the women worked on their entrées as well, with Shaina and Wendy pushing out entrées. On their next ticket, it was for Maloof’s table. However, Heidi admitted that she was concerned about Shaina as the latter has never worked on a station alone before, and while she hoped not to get Maloof’s order wrong, Shaina’s pan caught on fire. Then, Shaina’s chicken was dry, and aa annoyed Kimberly recalled the former's dry chicken from a previous challenge, just as Maloof’s table received an incomplete order. Then, Shaina’s refire was raw, and while she honestly claimed that she would never send out raw food, Ramsay sternly told her that neither Maloof nor he was happy about that. An annoyed Heidi told Shaina to bounce back while being embarrassed for Maloof having to wait 10 minutes on the chicken refire. Fortunately, Shaina’s third attempt was accepted, and she served it to Maloof.
One hour and a half into service, the men were blazing through entrées as Ramsay noticed that they were talking more. In the red kitchen, Wendy said that it was her time to shine with her catfish dish. However, the catfish was raw, an upset Ramsay called the women to the pantry room, and an annoyed Heather asked how Wendy could have failed on her own dish that won them the challenge. While Wendy took responsibility for her mistake, Ramsay berated the women for falling apart after their strong start, accused her of giving up, and yelled that he was embarrassed over the chef's table looking at him like an idiot. After, Ramsay ordered the women to sort it out, and an angry Heidi yelled that they should start talking, which shocked Wendy. In the blue kitchen, Koop sent up his Wellingtons, but they were raw, and while Paulie accused Koop of skating by a few rough services, Ramsay ordered the latter to focus. In the red kitchen, Ramsay told Kimberly to start prepping for desserts, and she told Shaina that she was turning down the convection oven while moving the meat entrées to the lower ovens. However, Shaina sent up both raw and overcooked Wellingtons, and she blamed Kimberly for messing her up, though Heidi believed the oven was not to blame. Wendy admitted while they always turned the convection oven down for desserts, they were way behind on entrées that night when it happened as Kimberly told Shaina off for trying to throw her under the bus. Soon after, Wendy’s catfish was raw and cold, Shaina’s Wellingtons were raw, and a fed-up Ramsay kicked the women out of service. Despite Wendy claiming that she checked it, Ramsay bluntly told her to check out a lens’s crafter. While going back to the dorms, Wendy was fearful her poor performance was the excuse the women needed to get rid of her. In the blue kitchen, Paulie told the men that the women just got kicked out, and Devin felt they might have won that night, just as they completed service.
Post-mortem[]
Back at the dorms, Wendy immediately tried to argue that she should not be nominated that night despite the raw catfish and considered Kimberly and Shaina for elimination, accusing the former of messing everything up by turning down the convection oven. However, Kimberly considered Wendy and Shaina for elimination. While Wendy argued they were basing it off of overall and not that night, an angry Heidi argued they were basing it off on both factors. Then, Heather considered Wendy and Shaina for elimination, but Ryan argued that Wendy had the best dish in the challenge before considering Shaina and Kimberly as she felt the latter was the weakest chef on their team. After, Shaina argued that she delivered while Kimberly turned the oven down, which angered the latter as they were nominating her for no reason, and argued that she was doing what they did in the past. That led to an argument between Shaina and Kimberly over that, with the former claiming she never threw Kimberly under the bus.
Team switch[]
Heather announced Shaina as the women’s first nominee for the raw and overcooked Wellingtons. Still, Shaina argued that it was Kimberly’s fault for moving them to a different oven, only for the latter asking why she never said something. However, Shaina argued that the men could vouch for her that they would never move stuff to different ovens just for desserts, but none of the men spoke up about it. After, Heather announced Wendy as the women’s second nominee. During their pleas, Ramsay reminded Wendy that it was supposed to be her night to shine, and she admitted that she rushed on the final two tickets. Shaina argued that her only mistakes were the improperly cooked Wellingtons, but a flabbergasted Heidi reminded her about the raw chicken for the chef’s table. After much thinking, Ramsay asked Wendy for her jacket as the women have given up on her. Still, while she believed she was eliminated, Ramsay told Wendy to stay put before asking Shaina for her jacket. Then, Ramsay announced that he would do something drastic after a miserable night, placed Shaina and Wendy in the blue team, and swapped them for Andrew and Matt, who were now part of the red team.
After moving into their new teams, Ramsay told Shaina and Wendy that a new environment might help them get back to the level they were at from the start of the competition. While being dismissed, Wendy was stoked over not having to deal with the mean girls any longer and proclaimed that she would personally destroy the red team, while Heather was glad to have Andrew as they were growing closer. Then, Andrew felt that the red team lucked out having himself and Matt as new teammates, while Devin was glad to have the two gone as Matt was hot-tempered, Andrew was loud and obnoxious and believed that the red team would blow up.
Ramsay's comment: "In Vegas, shuffling the deck gives a gambler a new chance for a better hand. I'm hoping this switch doesn't end up being a bust."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the beginning of Andrew's infamous flirtmance with Heather, despite being engaged.
- This is the second time since Episode 1211 - 10 Chefs Compete where Ramsay swapped two pair of chefs into the other team.