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The sixteenth episode of Season 17 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on February 2, 2018, airing as a double feature along with the fifteenth episode. On that episode, Michelle and Benjamin picked their brigades, went through one final dinner service, and one of them was named the winner of Hell's Kitchen All-Stars.

Team Select[]

Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay asked Michelle who her final pick was for the final dinner service, but Nick knew how difficult the decision was for Michelle. He felt she would be better off with neither Elise or Barbie. Ultimately, Michelle picked Elise as her final pick, although the latter commented that if she were on Benjamin's team, she would have given 250% to. That meant Benjamin was left with Barbie, and although he called her a wild card due to not working with her in the past, he was glad not to get Elise, as he deemed her bad energy.

Before service[]

Returning to Hell's Kitchen, Benjamin and Michelle's teams broke off to discuss the menu items for the following night's service. Michelle said that her menu should be easy enough for everybody to work with and assigned them stations they were most comfortable with. However, Elise showed a sour attitude towards Michelle as she did not write any of the notes down like the other chefs, stated that she did not want to be back but decided not to sabotage anybody purposely. When Elise gave a halfhearted confirmation that she was good, Nick confronted her on that, causing her to snap at him as he called her a sore loser and a bully. Nick proclaimed he would back up Michelle as even if he were not in the finale, he would help her win. After, Dana hoped Michelle had a plan b regarding Elise's behavior. Meanwhile, Benjamin's team workshopped ideas to make his dishes better, and he felt good about his team as he was open to constructive criticism, while Van was rooting for the former to win.

The next day, both teams came downstairs to prep for the final dinner service. Robyn called herself "Benjamin's bitch” for that day and was willing to forget about the conflicts they had. As Benjamin never worked with Barbie before, he felt that she was a little off before giving her clear directions on prepping her station. Benjamin said he wanted to show her and the rest of his team some respect after seeing Jay 's performance during the Season 7 finale. In the red kitchen, Michelle and Nick discussed ways to improve some of her dishes, with her calling him her right-hand man. However, Michelle still had trouble trying to control an emotional Elise, who went off after she asked her about her appetizer station. Elise criticized Michelle's repetitive instructions, comparing her voice to nails on the chalkboard, but when an annoyed Nick told her to go home if she was going to be rude that night, it led to an argument as Robyn watched on, hoping that the red team would collapse that night because of that. Then, Nick felt that Elise should grow up for acting like a middle schooler despite her age as the latter threw a rubber glove at Dana and was over her being in the red kitchen.

An hour before service began, Benjamin and Michelle gave each of their team's pep talks as the former wanted to dedicate his service to his family. After Michelle's speech, Milly was pumped to beat the blue team, especially because Benjamin had both Barbie and Robyn. Then, Michelle knew that she was a better chef than Benjamin and wanted to prove to Ramsay she could run a pass. After, Ramsay, Benjamin, and Michelle asked Marino to open Hell's Kitchen.

Dinner service[]

In addition to the finalist's loved ones, Lamorne Morris was in attendance that night. Michelle received her first ticket, called out her first order, and knew that putting Elise on appetizers was smart because if there were problems, she would kick the latter out. While Elise begrudgingly wanted to get Michelle out of the gates strong, she would not help it if anything went wrong, before having her appetizers accepted, even though Dana told her to thank Michelle's positive comment. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay reminded Benjamin about working with his standards, but the former was confident that his team would work like a machine before hoping for perfection. While Jennifer felt the need from Benjamin, he rejected her shrimp & grits for lack of salt, which continued until she had a good serving.

Twenty minutes into service, Dana was confused about what the Hamachi was supposed to look like and asked Michelle for help on the first plate, even though Ramsay reminded her that the latter could not afford to be off the hot plate. As Michelle wanted to win, she told Dana to get it done as she showed the latter what was needed. However, Dana continued to struggle, dismaying Milly as a cold appetizer should never hold them back, and then, Ramsay pulled Michelle to the storage room, much to Elise's pleasure. There, Ramsay urged Michelle to act more like a Head Chef and not a Sous Chef, and after getting more vocal, her order went out. As appetizers were flowing out of both kitchens, Ramsay told Barbie to speed up as Robyn decided to help, and Barbie admitted that she did not have a lot of experience on the appetizer station as she only worked that station once before and felt she should have told Benjamin that before the placements. Despite missing the mushrooms and parmesan on the risotto, Benjamin told Barbie that it still tasted good, and the latter claimed that he was giving her more respect than the red team did all season as she got her refire accepted. Marino came back with one of Michelle's risottos in the red kitchen as Morris' table complained that the broth was too watery, and she asked Elise for a refire without the broth. Elise begrudgingly did, and Milly praised Michelle for working with a chef like Elise.

One hour into service, Benjamin was ready to begin entrées, but while Robyn's steaks were accepted, Jennifer's sea bass was raw, and he told the latter to heat it up. After feeling that she was in the weeds, Jennifer's second attempt was raw again, forcing Van to refire garnishes and Robyn to try and keep her steaks warm. When Ramsay complained that the blue team was in the weeds, Benjamin argued against that, and Robyn told Jennifer to hurry the fuck up as the latter kept calling out one minute. After Benjamin pushed Jennifer, her third attempt was accepted, and he was finally able to serve his ticket. In the red kitchen, Milly asked Michelle if he was cooking four chickens on the next order, but she told him to ask Nick. However, Nick called out the order incorrectly for a nine-top table, confusing Milly, and Ramsay lectured Nick that there were no nine tops that night. Then, Ramsay reminded the red team that they would not throw food like that, and Michelle said that she would not allow that before telling her team to regroup. In the blue kitchen, Robyn felt confident on meat as she earned her black jacket with a lamb loin but sent up a rare filet, and Van said that she was crazy for boasting about her skills on meat. Then, Ramsay informed Benjamin that Robyn was scorching the filets now, and after seeing them, he told her to cook on a lower flame. After, Robyn said that it could be five minutes for the refire, with Van saying that it was not the night to perform poorly, and Ramsay informed Benjamin that Robyn was flatlining. Ramsay warned Benjamin that he would intervene unless he did something as an embarrassed Barbie felt Robyn needed to be gone from meat. Just before Robyn came up with the refire, Ramsay told her to touch the filets, and to his concerns, they were raw, even accusing her of sabotaging Benjamin. However, Robyn argued that she would never sabotage Benjamin and that it was a fuck up on her end. Still, when Ramsay accused her of giving up, Robyn decided to stop answering questions as everything she said was wrong, only for Ramsay to sarcastically ask Robyn if the raw filet was right. After Ramsay had Marino apologize to the waiting table, Benjamin admitted he did not want to yell at Robyn at the risk of her imploding and hoped to see her bounce back. In the red kitchen, Michelle sent back a fish for Dana to reheat and tried to stay focus on what her team was doing before proclaiming she was doing everything to keep the red team's momentum going and finish strong. That paid off as Dana's refire was accepted.

One hour and a half into service, Robyn's third attempt on the filets was accepted, but Ramsay and Sous Chef Jocky noticed that the lamb was grey and cold, much to Benjamin's dismay. Then, Robyn put the lamb chops into the same pan the filet came from, and a bewildered Barbie commented that there were a lot of sauté pans in the kitchen before commenting that they were supposed to make Benjamin good that night. After seeing that, a furious Ramsay pulled Robyn and Benjamin aside, criticized her for that move, and kicked Robyn out of the kitchen. Despite Robyn's dismay, Benjamin agreed with that decision as Sous Chef Jocky got the meat station rolling again. However, Robyn refused to leave service like that and pleaded with Benjamin to come back to the kitchen and complete service. Benjamin reluctantly put Robyn back with Barbie. Eventually, both teams got their remaining dishes out on time with no other mistakes. After service, Michelle was grateful of her teammates, and no matter what, she was happy to have made it further than she did last time, while Benjamin said that despite the mistakes, he pushed hard that night.

Post-mortem[]

With both teams lined up, Ramsay remarked that despite some hurdles, both Benjamin and Michelle pushed through it, before dismissing the two back to the dorms as he looked through the comment cards.

Back at the dorms, Benjamin felt that he fought the hardest that night, while Michelle felt that her customers loved her food. Ramsay looked over the comment cards back at his office before looking back at Benjamin and Michelle's performances throughout the season.

Winner announced[]

Later that night, Ramsay called the dorms and asked the final two to come to his office. Making their way to his office, the two went through a crowd of people, with Robyn apologizing to Benjamin about her poor performance. There, Ramsay told the two that he thought way back to their performances as All-Stars, along with the performances in their original seasons. After, Ramsay asked the two to stand behind a door, with only the winner's door being the one that opened. After anxiously waiting for Ramsay's countdown, both turned their handles, but only Michelle's door opened.

Michelle was crowned the winner of Hell's Kitchen and won the Head Chef position at Hell's Kitchen at Caesars Palace, with a salary of $250,000, therefore making Benjamin the runner-up. Despite being disappointed that he lost, Benjamin said that he fought hard that season and learned a lot from his experience before saying that he had no regrets. Michelle was happy over winning the All-Star season that it was everything she worked for and thanked Ramsay. After, Ramsay reminded Michelle that there was one more thing she had to do, led her to the Wall of Fame, and had her hang her portrait on the wall.

During the celebration, Nick expressed proudness in Michelle's accomplishment and that she deserved it for dealing with the bitches in the red kitchen, and her nephew's told Ramsay that they knew she would win. Then, Ramsay reminded Milly about the deal they had and hoped to see him in London, while Elise openly cried about losing that season, despite Barbie reminding her that she was at least on the winning team. Finally, Van asked Marino for a stronger drink.

Ramsay's comment: "Having the youngest of all-stars step up and win this competition is a testament to Michelle's talent. At a very young age, she has already proven she is driven, creative, and commanding. She will be a great asset to Hell's Kitchen in Las Vegas."

Trivia[]

  • Title Reference: The title refers to this being the final episode of the All-Star season.
  • This marks the first time since Season 11 where the final featured the two-part episode, despite the previous episode featured the final three contestants instead of two.
Hell's Kitchen Season 17 Episodes
All-Stars ArriveRaising the BarTower of TerrorJust Letter CookJosh Josh JoshA Little Slice of HellTrimming FatWelcome to the JungleCatch of the DayIt's All GravyTrying to Pasta TestFive is the New BlackStars Heating Up HellFamilies Come to HellFinal ThreeAll-Star Finale
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