The fifteenth episode of Season 16 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on January 26, 2017. In that episode, the final three's tableside skills were tested, they took turns running the pass, and Ramsay picked two of them for the finals.
Individual challenge[]
During the episode recap, Kimberly and Paulie received the coat hanging and picture burning sequence for the first time since their elimination.
Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay explained that the next day, the dining room would be full of a group of judges, and announced the Tableside Challenge, which dismayed Ryan as tableside was not her strong suit, and knew that she had to be on her game. Then, Ramsay said that he would take the final three to a local grocery store to gather whatever they needed for their dishes, but Heidi felt tired due to the service that night and called it crazy.
At the grocery store, the final three had 15 minutes to shop for their own ingredients. While Heather had an idea for a seafood Diavolo, Ryan knew that she wanted scallops before deciding to grab tequila as well for her dish. Meanwhile, Heidi had an idea for a rainbow trout with parmesan cheese and wanted to show Ramsay her skills. Eventually, the final three collected their ingredients on time.
The next day, the final three were up and began prepping for their guests. After, Ramsay told them to use their time wisely, each judge would taste every dish served to them, and the person with the most votes would win the challenge. Then, Ramsay invited the guests, who turned out to be chefs, including Bruce Kalman, Steve Samson, Mette Williams, and Alessio Biagini. Heidi called it both awesome and intimidating as chefs were the toughest critics. As the challenge began, the final three had 15 minutes to cook, plate, and serve their table before moving onto the other one. Ryan started making her pan-seared scallops with a mango avocado salsa, Heidi worked on her pan-seared rainbow trout with an herb spätzli, and Heather revealed her seafood fra Diavolo. While cooking their dishes, Heather told Samson how she hated shellfish before as she used to be anaphylactic, but her description of her allergies disturbed the table despite believing she had a great personality. Meanwhile, Ryan explained to Kalman and his table how she worked professionally as a chef for the past nine years but that nobody wanted to hire her other than a waitress and that she was the worst waitress in the world. Despite feeling nervous, Ryan thought she was doing well and offered tequila shots to her table. Elsewhere, Heidi felt that she was doing good as her dish was time manageable, and she knew she could execute her dish. With two minutes left on round 1, Heather was rushing to plate her dish while Ryan poured tequila shots to her table. Eventually, the final three were able to serve their dishes on time.
For round two, Heather decided to flirt with Biagini as she felt he was hot but knew that she had to make her tomato sauce on point. For Heidi, she explained to Kalman that she wanted to cook with fish as it had the technique to it, but stumbled when he asked her if the beef did not have technique, and felt that she insulted him. For Ryan, everybody but Samson wanted tequila as the latter had to take the kids to preschool. Eventually, the final three finished plating and serving on time.
For the third and final round, Kalman asked Heather if she felt that Ryan and Heidi were more seasoned chefs than herself as she worked at a college. While Heather disagreed, Kalman caught her double-dipping her spoon. That dismayed Heather as it was the most disgusting thing she could have done at tableside, and she knew that she had to make four portions out of what she had left. Meanwhile, Ryan once again offered tequila shots, and Heidi described her pesto as a traditional one to Samson. Eventually, the final three served their final tables, and despite her earlier mistake, Heather felt confident about her chances. After tallying the votes, Ramsay announced that with 62.5% of the votes, Ryan won the challenge, which made her happy as she won the challenge that she was the most afraid of. However, an annoyed Heather said that if she were able to get her tables drunk, she could have won as well.
Reward[]
Ryan was rewarded with a helicopter tour around Los Angeles with Sous Chef Andi, and lunch at Firefly with Ramsay. After hearing that, Ryan called it great before saying that she had to brush her teeth and clean her nose hairs. During the reward, Ryan said she and Sous Chef Andi were experiencing their first helicopter tour together, and the latter gave her a Hell’s Kitchen jacket as a gift. During the tour, the two took in the sights. When Ryan asked Sous Chef Andi for advice on what to do in order not to get eliminated at that point in the competition, the latter told her to find her voice.
At lunch, Ryan was happy that it was a solo reward, and Ramsay reminded her that she had proven time and time again that she could cook. After, Ramsay told Ryan that she should be leaving proud of her accomplishments no matter what happens that night.
Punishment[]
After hearing Ryan’s reward, Heather said the former could take it as she still had Vegas under her belt. Heather and Heidi were punished by making gift bags for the staff in honor of wait staff appreciation day, ironing and pressing their uniforms, and polishing their shoes. During the punishment, Heather admitted while punishments sucked, she was looking forward to spending time with Heidi as she never got along with females before. However, Heidi got annoyed by Heather’s constant chatter and was going crazy by it.
Before service[]
Before service began, Ramsay reminded the final three that this dinner service would decide who was worthy of being in the finale. The chef’s table would host Tara Reid that evening, which Ryan deemed Sharknado one of the former's best projects. Then, Ramsay told them each of them would be running the pass one at a time, and after urging them to stand out like a leader, he asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
In addition to the VIP, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Letscher, and Taylor-Ann Hasselhoff were in attendance at the dining room. While Sous Chef Andi would cover the vacant stations for the final three, Sous Chef Aaron was on garnish the entire night. Ramsay began the night by reading off the first order, and Heidi knew that the only thing she was concerned about was good communication. However, Heidi was slow as her flat-top was not hot enough, and Ryan asked Heidi what happened as it was a stupid mistake. Despite that, the first order of appetizers was sent out, and Heidi went up as the first person on the hot plate. After calling out the order, Heidi received Sous Chef Aaron’s carbonara that had edamame instead of peas, but she did not notice it until Ramsay urged her. In the following order, Heidi knew she had to stay focused and rejected both Sous Chef Andi’s risotto as it had carrot purée instead of butternut squash and Heather’s scallops for having inconsistent searing. Despite an annoyed Heather telling Heidi to tone it down, the latter ordered her for one more scallop as one of them was broken, even though Heather argued it was not broken when she sent it up. After, Ramsay asked Heather what she was doing, but she managed to get it accepted on time.
Heather was the second person to run the pass and was given an improper ticket from Marino. However, Heather read out the order until she saw snapper on the ticket, which they did not have. Marino gave her the correct ticket for the chef's table. Heather knew how nerve-wracking it was as she had to get everything noticed, and Heidi failed to get the shrimp and calamari into the carbonara. Despite accusing Heidi of not being as good as she was or sabotaging her, Heather asked Heidi to get it together, and she managed to get the refire accepted on time, allowing Heather to deliver the chef table’s order. As orders continued to go out to the customers, Sous Chef Andi gave Heather an arctic char instead of salmon. Still, Heather failed to realize the mistake until Ramsay pointed it out, and Ryan commented that she would have caught that mistake. Despite that, Heather felt she did a better job running the pass than Heidi and felt Ryan had no chance to be better.
Ryan was the final person to run the pass, and after Ramsay urged her to be assertive, Marino gave her two tickets to readout. However, Ryan struggled to read it out properly, which Heidi deemed confusing. Then, Ryan’s quality test came as the black bean purée was swapped out for black garlic. Still, she struggled to identify the taste after plating them, and Ramsay reminded her to taste everything. Ryan felt she just forgot all the previous sabotages that night before calling herself an idiot. Despite that, Ryan rejected Heidi’s risotto for being undercooked, and the latter’s slow speed on the refire had Ramsay compare her to an old senior. When Heidi continued to perform slowly, Ramsay accused her of sabotaging Ryan, but she got the refire accepted, and Ryan hoped to keep the momentum going. Then, Sous Chef Aaron brought up celery root purée instead of potato purée, but Ryan caught that mistake. After, Ramsay took over for the rest of the night, and Heather knew that with one of them leaving that night on a strong night, it would be stressful.
Post-mortem[]
After service, Ramsay had the final three lined up at the blue kitchen and told them that he was very proud of their performance that night. Then, Ramsay asked them to name one person that did not belong in the finals.
During deliberation, a nervous Ryan said that she wanted to be in the finale very badly and said she saw herself and Heidi at Yardbird as she felt Heather was too young to become the head chef there. Heidi agreed with Ryan as she felt that Heather’s relationship with Andrew was not a good one, but the latter felt that the two were threatened by her and they were trying to find reasons to send her home, before refusing to go out like a bitch. Then, Heather accused Ryan of shutting down during services, but when the latter tried to argue against it, Heidi agreed with her, especially when the two were on the pass.
Elimination[]
As the final three came downstairs, Ramsay admitted that it was a tough decision for him, and he did not enjoy making it. Still, before he decided, Ramsay asked them why they felt they deserved to be in the finals. Heather said that she deserved to be in the finals because she was strong and that she fought back, and Ryan did not deserve to be in the finals due to her weak voice. However, Ryan said that she belonged in the finals because of her consistency in services and challenges, and Heather did not deserve to be in the finals due to her inexperience. Finally, Heidi said that she deserved to be in the finals due to her confidence and Heather did not deserve to be in the finals for not being on point. After, Ramsay announced that Heather was the first person in the finals and praised her for her rising strength in the competition. Then, Ramsay named Ryan the second person in the finals, therefore eliminating Heidi from the competition. Before she left, Ramsay praised Heidi for being a solid competitor and having a solid attitude and allowed her to keep her jacket. Heidi received a retrospective montage during her exit interview.
After Heidi left, Ramsay congratulated Ryan and Heather for making it to the finals. He told them to enjoy the moment before reminding them that one of them would become the head chef at Yardbird. While being dismissed, Heather was shocked to be in the finals and knew that she was not going home that night, while Ryan knew that she has been working her ass off her entire night and felt beyond words to be in the finals. At the end of the episode, Heidi received the burning picture sequence.
Ramsay's comment: “Heidi is a very talented chef with a bright future. But it will not be at Yardbird in Las Vegas.”
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to Ryan offering tequila shots to the judges during the Tableside Challenge.
- This episode marks the final time to date Ramsay issued an elimination statement on the third placing chef.