The fourth episode of Season 18 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox, on October 19, 2018. In that episode, soup was the main dish, dinner service was rough on both ends, and Ramsay turned the theme of that season on its head with the first team switch.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, the rookies were still shocked over Jen's disrespectful attitude towards Ramsay. Chris commented that Jen had a major opportunity that other people would have killed for to come back a second time, and asked what she was thinking for spitting in Ramsay's face, before Bret stated that he would have slit his own throat just for another chance. Later that night, Chris, Jose, and Scotley relaxed at the hot tub and talked about how sexy the ladies on their team were. Chris stated that if it were not for Mia's bossy attitude, he would date her for her big ass booty. However, Mia overheard that, sat in the chair area with Trev, and both agreed that they came to cook in front of Ramsay. Trev believed he and Mia might make it to the black jackets, while the men at the hot tub would be eliminated soon, and Mia said she would rather be underestimated as she could surprise her competition in the future.
Team challenge[]
The next day, the Sous Chefs came into the dorms and gave out winter jackets for the chefs to wear outside, but Kevin was confused as they were in Los Angeles and that it was 90 degrees outside. After making it to the front entrance, the chefs saw the entire front lot covered in snow, and Ramsay announced that they would be competing in a Hell's Kitchen sled race for the first time ever. It was a relay race with three pairs on a sled and a pusher, and the team that finished first received an advantage for the real challenge. However, Roe was nervous about the physical challenge and hoped that the veterans did not need walkers afterwards. The first pair up were Heather and Trev for the veterans, and Mia and Motto for the rookies, with the pushers for their teams being Bret and Scotley. Heather and Trev crossed first as Mia and Motto crashed before reaching the finish line, and after Ariel and T crossed for the veterans, the latter commented that she never went sledding before. Chris and Gizzy crossed for the rookies soon after, and the final pairs were Kevin and Roe, and Jose and Kanae. However, Kanae face planted as she and Jose tried to take off, and while that pissed her off, Scotley found it funny. As Jose and Kanae struggled, Kevin and Roe crossed, and after, Bret was the final person to sled down and cross the finish line. So, the veterans won the pre-challenge, and Mia was embarrassed as she thought that the younger rookies would have won. After, Ramsay announced the Winter Soup Challenge, showed them the outdoor kitchen, and Scotley said that he was called the soup man back when he was a lead line cook. For their advantage, Ramsay told the veterans that they received a ten-second head start to grab their ingredients.
Both teams had 45 minutes to cook their soups, and as the veterans grabbed their ingredients, Kanae was irritated as the veterans were going to grab all the good ingredients. After the ten seconds were up, the rookies began the challenge, and both teams were cooking their dishes. Roe decided to make a Vietnamese pho dish but knew how difficult it was to make a good pho broth in 45 minutes. Chris decided to make a spicy butternut squash soup as he made it before and decided to cook some shrimp as a garnish. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time.
Traci De Jardins and Brian Boitano were invited as guest judges, with Kevin deeming the De Jardins a rock star for winning the James Beard award and Roe hoping that Boitano would give her a perfect score. Each team would go up one at a time to present their soups, each judge would score on a 1-3 rating, and the team with the most points at the end would win the challenge. The blue team was up first, with Trev presenting his carrot and coconut soup with Cajun curry shrimp. The dish was praised for being flavorable and having a beautiful texture but criticized for having no herb taste as the coconut flavor overpowered the overall taste. So, Trev scored six points, and he said it was rough being the first one up as the judges never gave the first dish a perfect score. Then, Heather's lobster corn chowder was praised for the combination of the ingredients, having a nice spice to it, and she scored eight points. In comparison, Ariel scored seven points on her fried chicken miso ramen as it was praised for the flavors, texture, and authenticity. T scored eight points as her Appalachian-inspired soup was praised for the flavors and presentation, and while Kevin's classic New England chowder was praised for the textures, Boitano said he was looking for a clam to eat with, and he scored six points. Then, Roe presented her Vietnamese pho dish, and while Ariel hoped the veterans would finally win a challenge, the dish was criticized for lacking salt, body, and acidity. So, Roe scored three points, but Kanae commented if it were a zero, then the judges would probably not hold up their judging signs. Bret was the final veteran to present his dish, and presented his crispy pancetta tomato soup with orzo. However, when De Jardins asked Bret what kind of tomatoes he used for the dish, he revealed he used canned tomatoes, much to the veterans and Ramsay's dismay as Heather annoyingly commented that Bret was Italian. The dish was criticized for tasting salty, lacking the pancetta taste, and Bret scored three points. In the end, the veterans finished with a score of 41, and Ramsay commented despite starting off strong, they wilted off at the end.
It was now the rookies' turn to have their dishes judged, and Mia presented her brown butter and butternut squash soup with crispy Brussel sprouts. It was praised for having the perfect marriage of ingredients, with Ramsay commenting that he wanted more, and Mia scored a perfect nine, which she rubbed in the veteran's face. Then, Motto's Southern spiced sweet potato soup was praised for having fantastic flavors, but criticized for lacking any acidity despite having a complex base, and he scored six points. In contrast, Gizzy's celery and fennel soup scored a perfect nine for blowing the judges' minds away with pickled fennel, which concerned Kevin. After, Chris presented his spicy butternut squash soup with fried jalapenos and tomatoes, but it was criticized for looking like melted cheese, and he scored three points, which relieved Heather as it meant that one rookie was terrible. Then, Jose's miso soup and vegetables were praised for the funkiness and being easy to eat, and he scored seven points. When Scotley went up to present his soup, Kevin was praying that the rookies would stumble twice. However, Scotley's saffron potato leek soup with crispy Brussel sprouts and poached lobster was praised for the texture and airiness, he scored eight points, and it was enough for the rookies to score over the veterans and officially win the challenge, which a demoralized Kevin deemed a big blow. However, Ramsay still wanted to taste Kanae's soup, she presented her roasted mushroom soup, and she scored a perfect nine for having an amazing texture, ending the challenge 51-41 for the rookies.
Scoring[]
| Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trev | 6/9 | 6 | Mia | 9/9 | 9 |
| Heather | 8/9 | 14 | Motto | 6/9 | 15 |
| Ariel | 7/9 | 21 | Gizzy | 9/9 | 24 |
| T | 8/9 | 29 | Chris | 3/9 | 27 |
| Kevin | 6/9 | 35 | Jose | 7/9 | 34 |
| Roe | 3/9 | 38 | Scotley | 8/9 | 42 |
| Bret | 3/9 | 41 | Kanae | 9/9 | 51 |
| Results | 51-41 | ||||
Reward[]
The rookies were rewarded with an overnight trip to L'Horizon at Palm Springs, and Scotley said that he felt like he had diamonds inside himself. During the reward, the rookies were amazed at their bungalow suite, and Kanae said that Ramsay really hooked them up with an amazing place to stay. Later, the team relaxed at the pool, but while the men noticed the cover Kanae was wearing over her bikini, the latter said that her husband would kill her if she were not wearing a cover-up. Then, Chris said that he would remember that moment when he was in heaven.
Later that night, the rookies ate dinner at Sopa, with Mia calling it a very date night restaurant, and it had been a long time since she went on a date, while Gizzy called the food amazing. Then, Scotley said the team had the momentum now, and if they win the dinner service, then Ramsay would start calling them the all-stars.
Punishment[]
The veterans were punished by cleaning all 30 tons of the snow off the front entrance. Back at the dorms, Bret was disgusted that he let the veterans down and profusely apologized to his teammates. However, Roe told Bret to let it go, but he said that he did not want to as he would criticize himself harder than what Ramsay could do to him. However, that annoyed Roe and even Trev told Bret to suck it up.
During the punishment, Trev complained that they were lifting about 30 car pounds of snow into wheelbarrows, but Bret decided to chuck some snow chinks into the dumpster instead of waiting for an open wheelbarrow. However, that caused Heather to deem Bret a roller coaster of emotions and that she did not want to be on that ride.
Before service[]
The next day, the veterans began prepping for service for both kitchens. Trev was working on the poached eggs, but Sous Chef Jocky told him to scrap the test batch as they were too hard to the touch and could be overcooked later. While Trev believed that poaching an egg was not that difficult, he went through multiple eggs for multiple batches, which shocked Kevin. When Roe offered to help Trev out, he snarkily commented that he should have the entire team helping him out and was getting tired of getting picked on by Sous Chef Jocky. Despite that, Sous Chef Jocky approved of Trev's poached egg batch, but the latter told Sous Chef Jocky to fuck off in the confessionals. Later that evening, the rookies returned from their reward, and after Ramsay gave the chefs some last-minute tips, he asked Marino to open Hell's Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Hayley Orrantia was seen in the dining room that night, and the chef tables were booked with Cheryl Hines and Rachel Harris eating in the blue kitchen and Morgan Spurlock eating in the red kitchen. A clam chowder appetizer dish was served tableside by Bret and Gizzy. On their first order, Mia asked Jose to help her out on the flatbreads and felt that the rookies were making the veterans look like amateurs. However, Mia and Scotley argued their methods on appetizers, with the latter complaining how she was hard to work with, and Mia complained how Scotley was not respecting her. Eventually, Sous Chef Christina went in and calmed them both down. In the blue kitchen, Ariel knew that the biggest fear for the chefs was the scallops but was confident in her first attempt. It worked as the first order was accepted, and Ramsay was impressed how they sent it out with no glitches. In the red kitchen, the rookies received Orrantia's order, but Gizzy decided to go back into the red kitchen instead of being at her tableside station even though Mia did not ask for her help. Even though Ramsay reminded Gizzy to be at her station, the latter argued that neither Mia nor Scotley told her to leave them alone before returning to her station. Meanwhile, Bret was chatting with the customers about his career, but that caused the blue kitchen to slow down, leading Ramsay to tell him to speed up.
In the red kitchen, the rookies were moving onto entrées, and their first table was the chef's table. However, Chris was firing a pork now, and Ramsay discovered a seriously charred pork chop in the oven. When Ramsay asked the rookies who was responsible for that, nobody answered, and Gizzy asked how Chris could not have remembered that there was a pork in the oven. However, Chris argued that the pork should have been cooked on the meat station instead of fish, and he did not know who put the pork chop in the oven, not remembering it was Ramsay who placed it there ten minutes ago. In the blue kitchen, the veterans were moving onto entrées, but Kevin expressed annoyance that they keep losing as there were some chefs on the team that were inconsistent. Then, Kevin and Trev argued about seasoning their meat, and Ramsay rejected the steaks for being cold before Trev accused Kevin of trying to be the hero and do the work himself instead of asking himself for help. In the red kitchen, Chris got his refire accepted, and on their next ticket, Kanae asked him if she could slice the Wellingtons. However, Chris said that he was not ready yet, which irritated Motto as they should have done so earlier, before saying that Chris' off timings would screw the brigade system. Despite that, Motto decided to send up his steaks, but Ramsay discovered that they were overcooked, and that dismayed the former as he blamed Chris for that mistake. Despite that, the refire was accepted, and in the blue kitchen, Kevin's refire was accepted as well.
One hour and thirty minutes into service, Roe felt that the veterans needed to get back on track, but Kevin sent up an overcooked lamb. When Ramsay asked the meat station who was responsible for that, Trev claimed that both he and Kevin were responsible for that, much to the latter's annoyance as that was not true. Then, Kevin's second attempt was raw, and a pissed Ramsay brought the veterans into the pantry room. There, Ramsay asked what was going on and ordered them to bounce back quickly, while Heather said that after that night, she was no longer comfortable with Kevin on the team as he continued to refuse help on the lamb. However, the third attempt was raw, and a fed-up Ramsay decided to cook the lamb himself as Kevin lamented that he never had a bad service in his entire run on Hell's Kitchen. Eventually, both teams completed their service with no other problems.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay called that night an oblivion due to the careless errors from both kitchens and felt that they all went backwards. So, both teams were named joint-losers and were asked to nominate two people for elimination.
During deliberation, Kevin admitted that meat was the main issue that night, leading Bret to feel that the former and Trev were the obvious nominees. Kevin agreed as he did not pull his weight that night but was willing to take the responsibility, while Trev hoped that somebody from the rookies did an even worse performance than he and Kevin did. On the rookie side, Gizzy and Kanae considered Chris for elimination for being lost all night and not being certain about timings, but he argued that he was communicative compared to the others. Then, Mia considers Chris and Scotley for elimination, the latter because of the argument they had earlier that night, but he argued that she was too snappy. Kanae reminded Gizzy of how Ramsay was pissed that she left her tableside station to help appetizers back in the red kitchen, but when Gizzy asked why nobody told her that, Scotley commented that they would have said something if tableside was not called out on the ticket. However, Gizzy remarked that she only cared what Ramsay thought about her skills and hoped that her one mistake would not be the reason to send her home that night.
Team switch[]
Bret announced Kevin as the veterans first nominee, with Trev as the second, while Scotley announced Chris as the rookies first nominee, with Gizzy as the second. During their pleas, Ramsay asked Gizzy if she felt she was the weakest chef on the rookies, but she argued that she was not, and felt that Chris was the weakest. However, Chris argued that Mia was the weakest as the latter was more demanding than being a leader. Then, Ramsay asked Trev what he did that night, which the latter struggled to answer, and while Kevin knew that he had a bad service, he was ready to bounce back. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay told Kevin to take off his jacket, but instead of eliminating him, he sent Kevin over to the red team. Then, Ramsay called Gizzy forward, and while he expected more from her, he hoped that Gizzy could do better in the blue team before sending Trev over into the red team. Then, Ramsay sent Chris back in line but warned him that he was on his last chance before moving Kanae and Mia into the blue team and moving Bret into the red team.
After the new teams were adjusted, Ramsay announced that the Rookies Vs. Veterans experiment was over as it became clear that neither team was performing to what he expected. So, Ramsay decided to bring back the battle of the sexes with the men in the red team, and the women in the blue team. While being dismissed, Mia was happy to leave Scotley's team and believed that the latter would end up digging his own grave, while Trev felt that the change was good for him as it was back to basics. Then, Gizzy apologized to Ramsay for letting him down and promised to use her new advantage to prove to him that she deserved to stay.
Ramsay's Comment: "Rookies? Veterans? The only title I really care about is executive chef. It's time to see who will lead and who will fall."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the snow mountain Ramsay created in front of Hell's Kitchen. It is also based on the phrase "hell freezes over", a term used to describe the impossible happening.
- This episode marks the biggest change over of teams as Ramsay reassigned six people in total into the other team. This beats the original record of Seasons 12 and 16 as four people in total were reassigned. This record would be held until Season 21.