The fourth episode of Season 19 of Hell's Kitchen aired in the UK on November 4, 2020 and in the US on January 28, 2021. In that episode, wedding bells rang in a service challenge, somebody was medically evacuated, a woman joined the blue team, and both teams performed poorly at dinner service.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Syann said she knew Ramsay would not accept Nikki as a nominee because, even though the latter only had two years of experience, she kicked ass that night. While Kori was willing to own the women’s mistake for nominating Nikki, Amber refused to as she would have gone insane if Ramsay sent her home over Nikki. That got Nikki frustrated as being around people who did not believe her capabilities and told the women they have no idea what she could offer. However, Amber reminded Nikki that she is young and inexperienced, meaning the latter had no chance of entering a Sous Chef role, but Nikki told Amber not to base her off her resume alone. That caused Lauren to note that Amber is difficult to be around due to the latter being a bitch, and she wished that she stopped bringing in bad energy for the women.
Later that night, most chefs were trying to relax and unwind after dinner service, but Drew was visibly in pain while sitting down. Drew revealed his body has not great for the past few days and complained about getting cramps all over his body. Having felt the pain being too much for him to handle, Drew went to the medic and explained he has been experiencing full-body cramps, experiencing headaches, and revealed he nearly passed out earlier that day. The medic decided to take Drew to the hospital for a more proper diagnosis, and the latter could only think about his kids, telling Ramsay he is more concerned about his health by that point. Drew left for the hospital in an ambulance, and Marc and Josh hope the former would come back soon.
Team challenge[]
The next day, both teams came downstairs, but with Drew not back yet, the men were forced to go on with one less person. In the dining room, they see a wedding happening, much to Declan’s surprise, while Marc got emotional as it reminded him about his wife and that he was doing it for his family. After the wedding ended, Ramsay reminded the chefs that Las Vegas was the wedding capital in America, and over 300 marriages were performed a day. Ramsay decided to open Hell’s Kitchen to couples celebrating their big day, with numerous couples entering the restaurant and sitting down. Cody counted 30 couples in the crowd and saw multiple couples in costumes. Ramsay explained that once all the couples got married, the Wedding Brunch Service Challenge would begin and told the men that Drew was still not feeling well to return just yet. Regardless, both the weddings and the service will go on, and the first team to serve all their diners and place a cake topper would win.
Both teams had thirty minutes to prep for service as the couples got married. The menu featured an avocado toast appetizer served with mimosas, and the entrées included steak and eggs, eggs benedict, and buttermilk waffles. Once the final couple got married, service began as both teams began working on appetizers. Declan felt that making the mimosas would be easy, but he moved slowly for Ramsay’s liking, which Adam deemed a poor start for them. Fortunately, the men got their appetizers out, while the women had their first entrée order. Jordan was on the pass expediting the women’s orders, but she struggled to dictate to the women what she wanted, and Kori noticed that the former got flustered when it came to multiple items. Jordan frantically plated the dishes as she did not want to fuck up somebody’s wedding day, but she soon became more confident on the pass as the women served their entrées. As both teams hit their stride, the men were on their next order and Josh felt greatly confident as he could cook a mean steak. However, Josh sent up a raw steak, with Declan seeing how blue it was, and Ramsay demanded a medium-rare refire before calling the men out for being unfocused. In the red kitchen, Mary Lou called it daunting to serve the married couples their first meal after getting married and wanted them to look back fondly on their steaks. Fortunately, Mary Lou got the steaks accepted, with Ramsay praising the color of them, making her feel phenomenal. However, Ramsay wanted the eggs, but Amber was overwhelmed as every dish they served had an egg component. Despite Ramsay’s impatience, the egg for the steak dish was brought up to the pass, and the women were serving entrées. In the blue kitchen, the men were waiting on Josh for the refire, and Ramsay complained that love till death did not mean starving to death. Josh walked up his refired steaks, but they were medium-well, much to Adam’s dismay as he felt Josh was doing every steak cooking technique minus the one Ramsay was looking for. Fortunately, Josh’s third attempt was accepted, and both teams were quickly serving the couples. Eventually, both teams were on their final orders, with Ramsay waiting for the egg benedicts from the men, and Declan managed to plate up. Unfortunately, the egg was overcooked, pissing Marc off as they were giving newlyweds hard-boiled eggs. In the red kitchen, the women completed their final order and put their cake topper on, claiming victory, while Ramsay asked the men why they had to make a simple wedding brunch so difficult. As the men cleared down, Declan declared that he would take the lead of the blue kitchen from now on no matter what anyone else said, but Marc snapped back at the former by reminding him about his overcooked egg. As Marc and Declan continued to argue, Peter and Cody tried to get them to stop, with the latter reminding them that they had couples watching them from the dining room.
Reward[]
The women were rewarded with an overnight trip to Lake Tahoe, where they would ride snowmobiles in the mountains and stay at the Harrah’s Hotel and Casino. During the reward, the women rode their snowmobiles in the mountain range, with Mary Lou feeling she should go buy a motorcycle after that day, while Syann was amazed by the sunset they witnessed. When the women reached their hotel suite, Syann called the women bad bitches, apologizing to her grandmother in response. As the women celebrated their victory, Amber felt they were bonding well and growing a sistermance, while Mary Lou drank her champagne fast but argued that there was no rule against drinking it fast.
Punishment[]
The men were punished by making 600 cupcakes for the wedding couples, and Ramsay reminded them that they lost due to their lack of composure. Back at the dorms, Marc declared he was a natural leader and refused to take a back seat to anybody. Pulling Declan outside to the patio, Marc said that he refused to look up to him and take direction from him, but Declan claimed he could only hear barking from the latter’s mouth comparing it to a chihuahua barking at a grizzly bear. Declan accused Marc of disrespecting him before warning him about a knuckle sandwich, while the latter told Adam to stop smoking. During the punishment, Adam said that he hated baking and did not want to bake 600 cupcakes, while Marc and Josh looked at the latter’s first batch. To their dismay, Josh’s first batch looked horrible due to a possible overmix on the batter, while Marc was pissed they had to restart from scratch, warning Josh that it was entering the levels of unforgiveness.
Later that night, Cody remarked that he did not know how hard it would be, while Josh said he was sick of working with sugar. Declan reassured him that they were almost done with the punishment, but Josh continued to complain, with Cody noting how everybody is getting more irritated. Then, Josh finished the purple cupcakes with pearls, but Peter was horrified as there were no pearls on the demo cupcakes. Adam feared that Declan would flip, and the latter got upset before calling Josh a liability.
Drew's Exit and Team Switch[]
The next day, the women returned from their reward while the men had all their cupcakes packed for delivery. Afterwards, both teams began prepping for that night’s service, with Amber taking the lead for the women and Ramsay warning Josh not to fuck around that night.
Once the prep was finished, Ramsay had both teams lined up and gave them an update on Drew’s condition. Unfortunately, Drew was still not feeling well and has been pulled out of the competition. The men were crestfallen by the news, especially Marc, as they were dwindling quickly with the loss of Kenneth, Eliott, and now Drew. Because the men were down two members, Ramsay told the women he was reassigning one of them into the blue team to even the teams up. After hearing that, Declan was hoping for a sexy woman like Mary Lou or Syann, but not Kori as he did not want a mother figure, or even Lauren as he did not trust her. Instead, Ramsay moved Amber into the blue team, surprising both her and Declan. Although Amber was not happy to be taken away from the red team, she was ready to adapt.
Before service[]
After Amber moved her knives from the red kitchen to the blue kitchen, she put on her blue jacket and asked Declan if she could move a few things around. Declan said no as they had everything set up for how they wanted it to go, but that got Amber emotional in response. Josh and Adam tried to calm her down, and Declan asked her what was wrong. Amber said she was upset because she was not used to losing, but that comment offended Declan and Adam, reminding Amber that the blue team won the previous service. Despite that, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
DJ Ashba, Donna D’Errico, and DJ Friese were in attendance that night, and Ramsay invited the staff member’s families to dine as well. Sous Chef Christina’s girlfriend and family dined in the red kitchen, Sous Chef Jason’s wife and best friends dined in the blue kitchen, and Marino had his family eating in the dining room. The blue team received their first order, but Declan warned Peter that the pans he dropped the scallops into were not hot enough. While the blue team tried to help Peter out, the latter got annoyed as he knew how to cook scallops. When Peter walked the scallops, he had a fear they were not cooked properly, leading Declan to ask why he walked them despite that. True to Amber’s concern, Ramsay rejected the scallops for being overcooked, but Peter tried to turn it around.
Forty-five minutes into dinner service, Syann said she made flatbreads before and had her stomach growl, but while she thought it was a good sign, Ramsay saw that the flatbreads were burnt in the pizza oven. Syann trashed it and made a new one hoping it was good, but it came out raw. A dismayed Kori did not understand what was going on and wanted to pray to a deity for everything to come out well. Jordan told Ramsay that her risottos were ready, but Syann had to make a third flatbread on the first order, dismaying Ramsay. Ramsay asked Syann if she was trying to screw her team up, but while she apologized, Ramsay asked the red team if their mess of performance is due to Amber’s departure. Jordan took over flatbread, but Lauren told her not to put basil leaves on top of them. Jordan had help from almost everybody from the red team to make the flatbread, but the women were able to send their order out. Both teams were at a good pace with appetizers and were now moving onto entrées. Ramsay was about to call out the blue team’s order for Sous Chef Jason’s VIP table, but Marc interrupted him before he could say a word. Pissed by that, Ramsay lectured Marc not to talk over him when he read out an order and asked him what was more important. Marc said that Sous Chef Jason’s family was, but Declan accused him of being all talk and said he should either be a spokesman, politician, or a car salesman instead of a chef. Afterwards, Ramsay called the order out properly, Josh tried to calm Marc down, and Declan told Peter to put his halibut on. In the red kitchen, the red kitchen had Marino’s family order, and Ramsay hoped they could pick up on entrées after their shit start on appetizers. Brittani was confident that they could bounce back and was confident in her skills as she could cook anything. However, Brittani’s salmon was raw, much to her embarrassment as she was hurting Marino in the process. Seeing that Brittani was struggling, Nikki went over to fish to calm her down and help her cook the refire. However, Ramsay reminded Nikki that she was supposed to be on meat, but when the latter claimed she was supporting Brittani, Ramsay asked if it was truly needed. Brittani nodded yes, frustrating Ramsay as he called it painful.
One hour and a half into dinner service, Declan said he would walk in two minutes and did not want to falter on Sous Chef Jason’s VIP table. However, Declan’s steaks were undercooked, making Marc chuckle after recalling how the former wanted to be their leader. Then, Declan asked Peter if the fish was ready, only for Ramsay to see no halibut cooking. That frustrated Declan as he told Peter to be ready earlier, and a furious Ramsay warned the blue team that he would kick them out if any of them made a single mistake. In the red kitchen, Brittani had her refire accepted, and Marino’s family had their entrées delivered. Now moving onto Sous Chef Christina’s VIP table, Nikki reminded them who they were cooking for as she refused to let their Sous Chef down. When Kori walked up her meat, Ramsay called them down to the front, with the former trying to look on the positive side of their situation. Ramsay showed them that the meat Kori walked was all raw, and it served to be the final straw. Ramsay kicked the red team out of the kitchen and ordered them to name two people for elimination. In the blue kitchen, the blue team worked on their refire for the VIP table, with Cody hoping they got it out and moved forward. While the chicken and steak were cooked nicely, Peter’s halibut was burned, and to make things worse, it was their last portion. True to his warning, Ramsay kicked the blue team out of service and ordered them to nominate two people for elimination.
Post-mortem[]
When the red team walked back to the dorms, Kori was embarrassed that her mistake broke the camels back, while Syann knew that herself, the former, and Brittani all had problems that night. However, Kori argued that appetizers were when they had a clusterfuck of a start, and it snowballed from there. While Syann admitted to dropping the ball that night, she did not think she was the weakest chef on the red team as Kori reminded Brittani how she struggled on fish and needed Nikki’s help to cook the refire. However, Brittani argued that one bad night did not define a chef, and she was determined to keep learning. Lauren had no idea who was going up for nomination with names being called out as it could any of the three women who made mistakes that night.
Later, the blue team went upstairs after being kicked up, with Declan upset by their loss. While Marc tried to talk with Declan, the latter was in no mood for that and warned the former to stay away from him. The red team told Marc not to provoke Declan any further, while Mary Lou felt that the blue team ruined the red team’s classy discussion. Amber was not happy with the blue team’s infighting and deemed them a mess before calling out Peter for his lack of communication skills that night. While Cody noted that Peter had a poor performance, he felt that what fucked them that night was a lack of respect between each other. Peter considered Marc and Declan for nomination due to their fighting and believed that the blue team would never gel with that going on, with Amber agreeing with that. Then, Cody compared Marc and Declan to two bulls clashing around and had no idea how the blue team will work with them around any longer.
Elimination[]
When both teams came downstairs, Ramsay said that they should be getting better and hitting their stride, not moving backwards by now. Lauren named Brittani as the red team’s first nominee, with Syann as their second, while Josh named Marc as the blue team’s first nominee, and Peter as their second. During their pleas, Marc claimed he was here to win and tried his best to communicate with Peter, but said that the fish station was a mess. However, Cody shook his head and told Ramsay that all he heard from Marc was finger-pointing. Then, Peter admitted that he had a poor night but knew he could cook, while Brittani said she was determined despite saying she had no idea what to do with fish. Lastly, Syann deemed herself a fighter that could cook fish. In the end, Ramsay eliminated Brittani for her poor performance on fish and needing Nikki’s help on the refire. Before leaving, Ramsay acknowledged Brittani’s determination but felt it was not coming together as she should have been better on their third service. During her exit interview, Brittani thought she would have brought more to the table but knew that she felt short and planned on cooking fish back home in Kentucky.
After Brittani left, Ramsay told both teams that while they want success, it was he who wanted it more. While being dismissed, Syann said it was hard to see Brittani go home but knew it needed to be done as she was not done yet, while Declan called Marc a joke and wanted the latter gone. Then, Marc called it ridiculous to be nominated and warned the blue team that he was there till the end.
Ramsay's comment: "Brittani floundered on the fish station and sank her team. Which left me with one option: cut bait."
Ramsay gave no comment on Drew’s departure, and he did not receive the coat hanging and portrait burning sequence.
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the Wedding Brunch Service Challenge.
- This marks the first time a team switch occurred right before dinner service.
- This marks the second time where neither teams finished dinner service since Episode 1610 - Dancing in the Grotto.