The fourteenth episode of Season 16 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on January 19, 2017. In that episode, the final five competed in their first black jacket challenge, worked as Ramsay's Sous Chefs, and a shocking double elimination occurred.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Kimberly said that she was in a surreal moment as she never thought she could have made it that far in the competition. Still, Kimberly declared that she was there because she could cook and joined Ryan and Heather at the black jackets lounge. Meanwhile, a pissed Paulie stated that he hated Kimberly, called her a bitch, and said that she did not deserve to be there. Most importantly, Paulie was upset that he was responsible for Andrew’s elimination. However, Heidi reminded Paulie that he could not be upset in a competition where there could be only one winner and suggested that he let it go, but Paulie was still upset that he let Andrew down.
Individual challenge[]
The next day, the final five came downstairs with Heidi noticing The Venetian banner behind him and a poker table, exciting her as she had four people in her way. After reminding the chefs about how one of them would become the head chef at Yardbird Southern Bar & Grill at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Ramsay said that he decided to bring a little bit of Vegas of them and invited them to sit at the poker table. After sitting down, Ryan called herself a poker shark, and after, Ramsay explained that each of them would receive six ingredients that they would use to cook a stunning dish, with half of them being ones that each of them would use. Then, Ramsay laid out chicken, potatoes, and smoked bacon as their three ingredients. That excited Heather as she nailed the chicken in the previous challenge before saying that the other chefs did not stand a chance against her. After, Ramsay said that he would then lay out cards of different ingredients, and if they wanted one of them, they would hit their buzzer until they had six ingredients. As they began, Heidi buzzed in for carrots, Paulie buzzed in for green beans, Kimberly buzzed in for black garlic, and Heidi buzzed in for Swiss chard before comparing it to a game show. Then, Heather buzzed in for egg, Kimberly buzzed in for mushrooms, and so far, Ryan has yet to collect an ingredient, with her complaining that she was in slow motion. Then, Heather buzzed in for peas, Paulie buzzed in for pecans after some hesitation, and Ryan was starting to get nervous over getting the ridiculous ingredients before buzzing in for breadcrumbs. Then, Kimberly buzzed in for Dijon mustard which gave her three ingredients, Ryan buzzed in for spinach, Heather buzzed in for pecorino cheese which gave her three ingredients, Paulie buzzed in for white wine, which gave him his three ingredients. Ryan buzzed in for leeks giving her three ingredients before complaining that lady luck was not on her side. That left Heidi as the last person without three ingredients, and Ramsay gave her the last card from his hand, which was lemon.
The chefs had 30 minutes to cook their dishes, and Kimberly boasted she took shits longer than that time limit. Paulie asked where the cayenne pepper was but was ignored. Ryan knew that the vibe was weird as it was every man for themselves now, before bickering with Kimberly over counter space. Then, Kimberly complained that everybody was crowding around her and told them to get the fuck out of her way. Eventually, the chefs got their dishes cooked and plated on time.
Jenn Louis was invited as a guest judge. While Kimberly knew how nerve-wracking it was to be serving food for a new judge, she felt that Louis looked like a kind lady and believed that she would not be that harsh. Then, Ramsay announced that the challenge was the King of The Hill Challenge, showed them the leader chair, revealed that the best dish would have the person sitting at the chair unless somebody else could dethrone them, and the person sitting at the chair at the end was the winner. Kimberly was the first to present her pan-seared chicken with a Dijon crust and red smashed potatoes. It was praised for having a moist chicken, being tender, the Dijon crust not being overpowered, and Kimberly sat in the leader chair. Paulie was up next, presented his pecan-crusted chicken breast over a potato purée with white wine, and bacon sautéed greens beans, and it was praised for being seasoned beautifully. When Ramsay noticed Paulie was surprised about the critique, the latter said that he was learning from everything he and the past judges told him, but Heather asked Paulie to get his shit nose out of Ramsay’s ass. After, Ramsay and Louis agreed that Paulie’s dish was better than Kimberly’s, and he took over the leader chair. Then, Heidi’s bone-in chicken with a purple and chive mashed potato purée, a carrot and tarragon purée, and Swiss chard sautéed in bacon was praised for the lemon aspect, being a nice dish, but criticized for being too busy. Even Ryan said that Heidi’s dish looked like blobs. After, Heidi’s dish was deemed not good enough to beat out Paulie. Then, Ryan presented her breadcrumb crusted chicken over a bed of potatoes, spinach, leeks, and bacon. While the dish was praised for being well seasoned, the chicken was criticized for being on the verge of dryness, and Ryan did not beat out Paulie. Heather was the final person to have her dish judged. Paulie believed that he had it in the bag as he only had Heather to beat out. Heather presented her rustic egg and pecorino cheese crusted chicken breast with potatoes and peas. It was praised for a beautiful presentation, being very flavorful on top of it being rustic and having charming. After a hard decision, Louis and Ramsay agreed that Heather’s dish was better than Paulie’s, she won the challenge, and she called it amazing to have won the first black jackets challenge. However, Paulie felt he should have won that challenge and refused to believe that Heather beat him.
Reward[]
Heather was rewarded with an overnight trip to Las Vegas, which excited her as she never went to Vegas before, and she got to stay in the Presidential Suite at The Venetian hotel. Then, Ramsay allowed Heather to have one chef join her in the reward. Still, while Kimberly hoped for the former to pick her as she promised her in the past, Heather decided to pick Heidi instead, much to Kimberly’s anger. However, Heather deemed Heidi her strongest competitor and wanted to keep her enemies more closely than her friends. During the reward, Heather and Heidi rode a limo to The Venetian, and the former declared that she and Heidi were going to tear shit up that night. At the hotel, the two received a gondola ride, with Heidi calling her driver hot, and at their suite, Heather said that she never thought she would ever book a room like that before. Then, their butler invited them to the balcony for a champagne toast. Heidi thanked Heather for choosing her for the reward as it was nice to get out of the restaurant for a while.
Punishment[]
The remaining chefs were punished by participating in recycling day, which involved separating all the trash from the dumpsters. Paulie was not happy to hear that as he wanted to go to Las Vegas. During the punishment, Ryan complained that once again, she was stuck picking through the trash. When it started to rain, Paulie called it the most disgusting thing he had ever done before comparing himself to a sewer rat. Then, Kimberly told Paulie and Ryan that if she won a challenge, she would pick one of them to come with her as she was still pissed by Heather’s decision and called her shady as a result.
Before service[]
The next day, the remaining chefs began prepping for that night’s service just as Heather and Heidi came back. However, Heather deemed herself and Heidi in an alliance and warned the other three chefs to watch their backs. After prep, Ramsay had the chefs lined up in the blue kitchen, reminded them that they were cooking as one unit that night, and gave Sous Chefs Andi and Aaron the night off. Then, Ramsay announced that each of them would have a chance to perform as his Sous Chef, and after, he asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Neil Everett, Pauly Shore, and Erik Griffin were in attendance that night in the dining room. Sous Chefs Andi and Aaron ate at the chef’s table. Heidi knew that there was added pressure with the Sous Chefs eating at the chef’s table and did not want to fuck up that night. Heather was called up as the first Sous Chef that night, and Ramsay asked Kimberly to cook up two risotto for the chef’s table. Despite communicating well with Kimberly, Heather felt that the former’s risottos tasted crunchy and undercooked. Kimberly was dismayed by that before declaring that she would bounce back. The refire was deemed better, the Sous Chefs received their risottos, and Heather felt that she was proving herself to Ramsay as she went to Vegas for a reason. Heather’s solid performance continued as appetizers were making their way to the customers.
After calling out their next order, Ramsay called up Kimberly to perform as his Sous Chef next and put Heather on appetizers. While Kimberly was excited to show Ramsay her improvements, she plated the risottos on the wrong plate, and Paulie sent up raw scallops. After ordering the black jackets to start over, Ramsay discovered that Paulie’s lobster tails were raw, and after he went on a short tangent on how they were not coming properly, Ryan felt that he was freaking out before saying that Paulie’s fish emporium would be going out of business quickly. Then, Kimberly plated slowly and unsure about exact portion sizes, with Ramsay criticizing her for asking stupid questions and compared her to an irritating ex-girlfriend. After, Ramsay asked for the lobster tails and scallops, but Paulie did not respond until Ramsay reminded him that he was wearing a black jacket, and a pissed Ryan said that they could not start failing now. Then, Ramsay reluctantly asked Sous Chef Andi to cook the scallops and dragged the black jacket chefs into the pantry room. There, Ramsay yelled that he had no idea what was going on and rhetorically asked them who they were supposed to be before accusing them of going backwards. After, Ramsay ordered them to take a minute to get organized if they want to go back into the kitchen. After the final five agreed to communicate better, they returned to the red kitchen just as Sous Chef Andi finished up the scallop order.
Ramsay sent Kimberly back to the appetizers, told Heather to go on fish, and called up Paulie as the third Sous Chef. Paulie said that he was already used to checking up on things as he was an Executive Chef, but called out an incorrect entrée order until Ramsay told him. Then, his poor leadership caused everybody to get confused about what was going out until Ramsay called it out. An annoyed Heather said she would have punched Paulie in the throat if she was allowed to. Despite that, the first order of entrées was sent out. Still, on their next ticket, Kimberly told Paulie that she needed three minutes on her carbonara, only for Heather not to acknowledge that. Then, when the appetizers were brought to the hot pass, Paulie started plating Heather’s scallops until Ramsay pointed out that they were overcooked and mushy, and Kimberly’s carbonara came out overcooked to the point that it was not moving on the plate. Ramsay called up Kimberly and Heather to the front, chewed out the latter for not listening to the former, and chewed out Paulie for dithering on the standards. After being forced to start over, Heather sarcastically thanked Kimberly for making her look like an ass, despite the latter arguing that she communicated to her earlier. Despite that, the refire was accepted.
Ryan was called up as the fourth Sous Chef of that night, told Paulie what was happening on the garnish station, and was excited over being at the pass as she wanted to get them back to order. However, Heather sent up a cold sea bass, she knew she could be going home if she screwed up anymore, and Ramsay sternly told her that he was done with her sending up shit. Now forced to start over and flip the tickets, Ramsay’s goal was to get the remaining appetizers out to the customers. Kimberly got confused on orders because of that, and a disappointed Ryan commented that their situation was not what she wanted Ramsay to see. Then, Ryan asked Kimberly for a time on the carbonara, but the latter was so overwhelmed that she wanted to quit, despite Heather and Paulie urging her not to. So, Ryan decided to jump onto appetizers to help Kimberly and serve the customers. Still, when Ramsay asked Kimberly if she wanted to go home due to her panicking, she gave out an unsure answer but decided to keep going as she wanted to show her daughter she could persevere. After, Paulie sent up sea bass garnish that contained raw pancetta, and a fed-up Ramsay kicked the black jackets out of the kitchen before reluctantly asking Sous Chefs Aaron and Andi to help him out.
Post-mortem[]
While going back to the dorms, Heidi was pissed that they embarrassed themselves in front of their Sous Chefs, the fact she did not have a chance to perform as Ramsay’s Sous Chef and believed they were going backwards. Before heading back, Ramsay stopped them in the back hallway, said he had never seen a black jacket service in such disarray, and asked them for two nominees for elimination.
During deliberation, Heidi brought up Paulie’s name due to his poor performance on fish. When Paulie argued that he did not have one fish sent back that night, Ryan called him both delusional and a crybaby, knowing he would not take responsibility for his own mistakes due to working with him before. Then, Paulie accused the women of nominating him based on the fact he was the only male chef remaining, but Heidi reminded him that it was only her opinion and the other women had their own opinions before considering Kimberly as her second nominee for poor performance on appetizers. After, Paulie considered Heather and Kimberly, the former for sending up raw fish. Still, Heather argued that she was trying to crawl out of a hole he made that night. However, Kimberly struggled to choose her nominees before considering Paulie and Heather. Then, Heather and Ryan considered Paulie for elimination, with the latter reminding him of the raw pancetta that got them kicked out of service. However, Paulie arrogantly believed that the women were claiming they did nothing wrong that night, called them shifty bitches, and felt the decision was based on nepotism because he was the only male chef left. However, Heidi angrily reminded Paulie that it was not based on that decision and told him not to act like he had a perfect service, but he argued that nobody else did either. When Heidi accused Paulie of feeling that he was being nominated over gender division and not his poor performance, he argued that everybody messed up that night despite messing up the most.
Elimination[]
Ryan announced Kimberly as their first nominee and Paulie as their second. During their pleas, Ramsay asked Kimberly if she had peaked, but she argued that she was only beginning as she never had the proper training before and that she was impressed by her growth in the competition. However, Ramsay told Kimberly that he was only asking because of her freeze-up moment that night, but she said she was not ready to give up. Then, Paulie said he was a strong cook in the kitchen and that he was not the weakest chef in the kitchen before claiming that he was the unanimous decision based on being the last man left, even though Heather called it a cop-out excuse. After a tough decision, Kimberly was eliminated for her meltdown on appetizers and freezing up that night. Still, before Kimberly left, Ramsay praised her for growing more than any other competitor that season, which she appreciated. Kimberly received a retrospective montage during her exit interview.
After Kimberly left, Ramsay asked Paulie if he was relieved, but the latter said that he was not as it was not his best performance that night. Ramsay agreed with Paulie that it was one of his worst performances in the competition. While Ramsay praised Paulie for being a fighter and bouncing back despite being on the ropes several times, he did not bounce back that night and therefore eliminated him as well. Paulie received a retrospective montage during his exit interview.
After Paulie left, Ramsay reminded the final three how disappointing that night was and decided there was something he wanted to tell them that he could not wait for the next day. Then, Ramsay announced that their next challenge would begin immediately, and the episode ended as a cliffhanger.
Ramsay gave no comment for Kimberly and Paulie’s eliminations, and they did not receive the coat hanging and picture burning sequence.
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the card collecting part of the King of the Hill Challenge.
- This marks the final time to date where Ramsay had the black jackets serve as his Sous Chefs.
- This marks the first time Ramsay ejected all the black jackets from the kitchen since Episode 811 - 6 Chefs Compete.
- With this episode, Paulie set the record for most times a chef was kicked out of service, with eight.
- This marks the fourth time Ramsay eliminated two chefs in one night, the second time he did so in the black jacket phase after Episode 1514 - 5 Chefs Compete, and the final time he did so under regular nominations until Season 21. This also makes Season 16 the first season to date where Ramsay did two double eliminations in a single season.
- With Kimberly and Paulie's eliminations, this marks the first time all the chefs who made it to the final three did not have a nomination to their name.