The fifth episode of Season 19 of Hell's Kitchen aired in the UK on November 5, 2020 and in the US on February 4, 2021. In that episode, Mexican cuisine was the main theme, an advantage was used, and one chef grew disillusioned about the competition, leading to a mid-service elimination.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Adam dreaded another speech from Marc as the latter accused the blue team of playing politics and proclaimed that he would be the one left standing after the clouds were gone. Cody took Marc aside and scolded him for using his plea to blame everybody instead of trying to make a case to stay. Still, Marc called himself a fighter and refused to go into a forced argument with Cody. Cody argued that he was concerned about Marc due to his attitude, but the latter rudely brushed him off, called his team full of shit, and was prepared to defend himself.
Team challenge[]
The next day, both teams came outside to see Ramsay standing next to a food truck, explaining how amazed he was at the quality they served to customers. Then, Ramsay explained that one of the latest trends was taking street food and elevating them into fine dining cuisine, introducing the Mexican Cuisine Challenge as a mariachi band came to play for the chefs. Ramsay had the band stop, but before he could explain, the band humorously continued to play whenever he said Mexican food. Eventually, Ramsay shooed the band away and revealed that both teams would be elevating four classic Mexican dishes. Those included tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, and Chile Relleno, but Declan revealed that he did not have a lot of experience with Mexican food. Both teams would be in pairs for that challenge, but because of the uneven numbers, the blue team would have one person cooking alone, and the red team would have one pair cook two dishes. Mary Lou immediately paired up with Kori due to the latter having the most experience cooking with Mexican food, and they decided to cook the Chile Relleno and enchiladas. Kori was confident about her and Mary Lou’s chances due to her Latin background and the latter’s Southern Tex-Mex flavor. For the blue team, Declan paired up with Cody due to the latter having more experience in Mexican cuisine, with Josh and Peter pairing up together, and Amber pairing up with Marc. That left Adam alone, and he decided to cook the enchiladas.
Once both teams got organized, Ramsay said they would be cooking with the freshest ingredients he could find and had the food truck pull out to reveal an animal pen. Ramsay explained that each animal in that pen represented the protein they would cook with, and after bringing them into their dish pen, they must collect four ingredients to use for their dish. The team that finishes first would get a five-minute head start on their cooking. As the gathering began, Mary Lou grabbed a pig so her and Kori’s enchilada would use pork, but Ramsay warned her not to put her face too close to the cow’s butt. Kori and Mary Lou completed their pork enchilada ingredients first, while Adam finished not long after for his beef enchilada. Then, Nikki and Syann finished fast as they entered with their chicken taco dish while Peter grabbed pork for his and Josh’s tacos. Meanwhile, Jordan managed to move her cow into the pen due to being from Texas, while Marc chased after a runaway duck, much to Syann’s humor. After Lauren and Jordan finished collecting their ingredients for their beef tostadas, Mary Lou and Kori entered the pen again to collect their duck Chile Relleno as the latter said it was common in the northern mountain areas. Cody and Declan went in to get ingredients for their chicken Chile Relleno, but it was too late as Mary Lou and Kori finished first, and the red team won the five-minute head start.
Once back inside the restaurant, Ramsay gave the red team forty-five minutes to cook their dishes while telling the blue team that they would start cooking after the first five minutes are up. As the red team began cooking, Kori called the first five minutes an hour in kitchen time and said that she learned how to cook from her grandmother as she showed Mary Lou how to prep a cactus paddle. Once the first five minutes were up, the blue team could begin cooking, and Adam said he would blow everybody away with his enchiladas. Cody decided to flour their beef for the Chile Relleno, and Declan allowed the former to take the lead. Twenty minutes left, Marc had his marinade ready as he focused on cooking the duck while Amber was busy making a side salad. However, Amber sarcastically deemed her teamwork with Marc a match made in heaven as the two bickered over how much to plate. Eventually, both teams had their dishes cooked and plated on time.
Before the judging, Ramsay revealed that he would not be judging dishes as he invited fellow MasterChef judge Aarón Sanchez to do the job for him. As Aarón came in, Lauren said that she loved the man due to being a phenomenal chef, and while Ramsay asked Aarón why it took him a long time to come to Hell’s Kitchen, the latter snarked that the former did not want to pay him. The enchilada round was up first, but Adam said he, a Milwaukee red bearded and tattoo person, was the farthest away from Mexican food compared to Kori. Despite that, Adam felt he had it and presented his flank steak enchilada with cotija and onion. Aarón thought the presentation was fantastic, and after tasting it, he called it a great example of where Mexican food is going, with Ramsay praising Adam for showing individual character. Then, Kori introduced herself to Aarón in Spanish before presenting her and Mary Lou’s enchiladas de puerco with green mole. To Aarón's reluctance, he called the presentation problematic as the colors were muted, there was too much cheese on the plate, and the enchilada was breaking up. While Aarón praised the mole sauce, he found it the wrong type of filing for an enchilada. With that, Adam scored that round, the blue team led 1-0, and Kori was extremely disappointed in her failure. Nikki and Syann presented their braised chicken taco with jicama and whole grain mustard slaw on the taco round, with the latter feeling confident about their chances. Aarón praised them for thinking through their taco flavors as everything paid out, while Peter and Josh presented their pork barbacoa tacos. Despite Aarón getting the reason why the two made their tacos small, he felt it did them a disservice and gave the point to Nikki and Syann. With the score tied at one each, Jordan and Lauren presented their steak tostada, and Aarón praised them for staying true to the ingredients. Then, Marc and Amber presented their molasses soy marinated duck tostada with a mixed salad, but while Aarón felt that everything was cooked properly, he had reservations about the salad as they used green bell peppers, which are considered bland for tasting. While Ramsay liked the salad’s acidity, he deemed the peppers a no-no, but despite that, Aarón decided to award both pairs a point, making it a two-point tie. As both pairs went back to their teams, Amber remarked she would not have heard the end of it from Marc if they failed to score as she refused to listen to his complaints. On the final round, Cody and Declan presented their braised chicken Chile Relleno, but Aarón got frustrated as they did not make the batter in a more traditional route, comparing the coating to panko crust and Mary Lou said it looked like a fried avocado. Ramsay reminded Cody and Declan that they were looking for authenticity, and then, Mary Lou and Kori presented their duck de pato Chile Relleno. While Aarón liked the presentation, he found the filling to be a mess and decided not to award a point to either team. With the score at a two-point tie, Aarón asked Adam and the pair of Nikki and Syann to bring up their dishes again for the tiebreaker, and Adam said that any praise he got from the former was validation. Ramsay said that both dishes were elevated in the right way, and Aarón expressed proudness that there were chefs who took his culture seriously, causing Adam to shed tears of joy. In the end, Aarón told Adam that he had the best dish of the day, and the blue team won as a result.
Scoring[]
Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adam | 1 | 1 | Kori and Mary Lou | 0 | 0 |
Peter and Josh | 0 | 1 | Nikki and Syann | 1 | 1 |
Marc and Amber | 1 | 2 | Jordan and Lauren | 1 | 2 |
Cody and Declan | 0 | 2 | Kori and Mary Lou | 0 | 2 |
Results | 2*-2 |
- * Best dish named by Sanchez breaked the tie in the challenge and won it for their team.
Reward[]
The blue team was rewarded with a spa day at the Voie, located at the Paris Hotel, with Ramsay asking Cody if he had a facial lately. Amber vented about Marc to Mary Lou and Jordan, with Mary Lou expressing her distaste of the guy back at the dorms. Amber deemed Marc a child she wanted to shake him, while the latter told Josh that he warned Amber about the size of the plate earlier, although Cody recalled the bickering the two had. Later, Declan told Amber that Marc threw her under the bus, leading her to confront the latter as Mary Lou watched the blue team’s drama with glee. Amber told Marc to talk shit about her to her face and told him to grow up, but Marc argued that he was not coming after her. That caused Amber to complain that Marc always wanted the final word and wished she had a muzzle, while Syann commented that it would be an awkward spa day.
During the reward, Marc was ready to have the tension massaged out of him, while Adam called the setting perfect for them, even saying that he would have left if the red team won instead. Declan jokingly asked his masseuse for her number, Peter said that the last facial he got was from boiling pasta. Then, Amber told Peter to speak up more in dinner service, but that dismayed the latter as he wanted to relax, while Syann knew Amber could not help herself.
Punishment[]
The red team was punished by cleaning the animals in the pen, scoop up the manure, and clean up the hay bales before that night’s dinner service. Before sending both teams off, Ramsay offered Syann a chance to use her Punishment Pass and Sous Chef Christina brought the pass up to Syann, still encased in ice, before handing the latter a hammer. Syann decided to use the Pass and broke open the ice to claim her Pass before deciding to switch places with Cody. As the red team went back upstairs, Cody expressed surprise that Syann did not use it on Marc, but he did not care about his situation as he was no stranger to punishments, and he loved animals.
During the punishment, one of the cows pooped, and Mary Lou said that shovelling shit was not on her top ten list of things to do in Las Vegas before wanting to go into the spa instead. As Mary Lou and Cody cleaned the pigs, the latter managed to calm his down, leading the former to comment that she was starting to like Cody more than the first time she saw him. Later, the red team and Cody gathered the hay as Lauren complained about getting hot and did not want to clean up donkey shit. Lauren stood around doing nothing, which Cody noticed and asked Kori if that happened at dinner services. As Cody saw Lauren stand around and do nothing all day, he got a little offended when she felt they did a good job.
Before service[]
Later that day, the blue team came back from their reward and got changed for dinner service. However, Peter told Declan that he did not want to compete any longer as it was starting to wear on him, and he did not like the direction the blue team was going. However, Declan told Peter that if he quit now, he would be kicking himself in a couple of months and said they needed him to keep the blue team strong.
With both teams prepping, Declan helped Peter out so the latter would get refocused on the competition. After prep was finished, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
The red team received their first order, but despite Lauren telling Mary Lou that she was comfortable on flatbread, she expressed a little bit of nervousness as it was her time to shine. Mary Lou noticed Lauren being nervous near the pizza oven and compared it to doggy paddling in the shallow end while wearing water wings. Fortunately, Lauren got her flatbread accepted, making herself proud, and the red team sent out their first order.
Twenty minutes into dinner service, Amber felt that Marc was all over the place on their station, which made her hate the guy even more. Josh said that he was walking his lobster tail, but while Marc acknowledged that, he did not send up the risotto, claiming he needed thirty more seconds. With that, Ramsay sent back Josh’s lobster tail and asked where the teamwork went. While Marc asked Josh for a time, the latter reminded him that he was leading appetizers, and Marc caused the same mistake again by not walking the risotto with Josh’s lobster tail. An agitated Ramsay asked Marc if Josh checked with him on timings, but after a moment of hesitation, the latter said yes. Annoyed by that, Ramsay reminded Marc that Josh should not walk with the lobster tail until the risotto was ready, while Amber told her station partner to cook and communicate. Despite that, the blue team finally got coordinated and sent out their first order of appetizers. In the red kitchen, the red team was moving onto entrées, but Nikki felt anxious as it was the first night she worked alone on meat. After Ramsay called out the order, he asked Nikki for a time, but she hesitated to call out five minutes. That caused Ramsay to doubt Nikki’s ability to run meat by herself and got more annoyed when it looked like she was about to tear up again. Despite that, Nikki got confident and gave out proper times, saying that she oversaw the grilling station back home. That came out true as Nikki’s meat was cooked perfectly, and in the blue kitchen, the blue team was on their first order of entrées. However, Ramsay saw that Josh put butter into the halibut pan early and lectured to him that doing so would burn the butter. So, Josh was forced to clean his pan, while Adam told him to calm down as people at home can cook a fish like that with ease. While Adam’s New York striploin came out perfectly, Josh sent up a broken piece of halibut due to lifting it with the tongs. Ramsay told Josh to just send the fish up in the pan, and the latter got his refire accepted. In the red kitchen, the red team moved along well as Mary Lou and Kori communicated well, but the latter saw Lauren standing around and doing nothing, urging the latter to start pulling her weight. Ramsay noticed that as well and told Lauren to help Nikki out on meat.
Automatic elimination[]
One hour into dinner service, the blue team was on their next order, but Peter had no idea how to cook the tomatoes with Cody forced to explain how to. Adam felt that Peter was getting frantic, and when Ramsay saw that Peter was not talking with his team, he had to urge him to do so. However, Peter called out six minutes for the garnish when Adam only needed four, and Amber said that it would be an understatement to call the blue team a hot mess. When Peter walked up his garnish, Ramsay sent it back as it needed more stock and had to help him out, making Peter feel embarrassed in front of the best chefs in the world. Then, Peter was late serving the mashed potatoes, and when he did send them up, he had no idea what was up next even though Josh told him it was his responsibility. Fed up with the basic mistakes in the blue kitchen, Ramsay pulled the blue team to the front before asking them if they had the qualities to become his next head chef. While most of the blue team said they did have them, Peter flat out said he did not. With that, Ramsay eliminated Peter on the spot and moved Amber to the garnish station, all while Marc was stunned by Peter’s admission. Peter walked back to the dorms to pack up before walking out the front doors of the restaurant. During his exit interview, Peter felt he was not ready to become an Executive Chef if this were the steps he had to do, he said that the cash prize was not worth the mental stress, and said he wanted to go back home with his family.
After Peter left, the blue team got refocused thanks to Amber’s direction on garnish, and Ramsay felt that it was the exact way they should be talking to each other. Afterwards, both teams served their final tickets with no problems as Marc thanked the Lord for letting the blue team complete service.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay said that although there was no losing team that night, he wanted to keep the competition moving along. So, Ramsay asked both teams to name one person they felt were stronger without.
During deliberation, Syann considered Lauren for elimination, to which Nikki agreed. Jordan said that Lauren’s weak point was dinner services, and the latter decided not to argue with that as she wanted to let Ramsay decided her fate as cooking was her dream. On the blue side, Marc nominated Amber as he felt she was toxic towards the blue team, but Cody did not believe that to be true and found Marc’s statement completely hypocritical as the only thing the latter needed was a mirror. While Marc reminded Amber about her salad during the challenge, she could not deal with him any longer. Cody refused to vote for Amber but said he was stuck between choosing either Marc or Josh as he reminded the latter about his broken halibut. Josh argued that he did not make the same mistake twice as he listened to Ramsay’s instructions, while Adam considered either Josh or Marc for nomination. Marc felt that they were nominating him based on political views, but when Cody asked him if that was true, Marc cut him off in the middle of his question. That made Cody angry, leading him to call Marc out on that along with being super aggressive and asked if he was accusing the entire team of lying about the same thing they have been saying all along.
Elimination[]
Nikki announced Lauren as the red team’s nominee, and Cody announced Marc as the blue team’s nominee. During their pleas, Lauren felt that her food was kick-ass, and despite having little kitchen experience compared to her teammates, she said she could learn quickly. Then, Marc said he was here to cook, but when Ramsay pointed out that the blue team accused him of not taking criticism well, he argued that he could take criticism well before accusing his teammates of not taking his criticisms well. In the end, Ramsay decided not to eliminate any of the nominees, sent them back in line, and revealed he did not feel like sending somebody else home. Even though neither team was travelling at the speed of light that night, they all stepped up, listened well, and became more confident and vocal. All of that led Ramsay to believe he had the right twelve standing in front of him, but he suggested that they all step it up a gear and start owning it.
While being dismissed, Marc felt he was nominated for not playing house with the blue team, but he refused to quit as his family never saw him do that because he was an amazing chef. Then, Lauren knew she had to prove to the red team that she was an amazing chef and do things independently, proclaiming she was going to shine and kick ass. Lastly, Declan was upset that Marc did not get swatted but decided to bite the bullet and work with the latter.
Ramsay gave no comment on Peter’s elimination, and he did not receive the coat hanging and portrait burning sequence.
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to Peter's disillusionment of the competition due to stress, ultimately leading him to declare that he was not ready to become Ramsay's next Executive Chef.
- This is the first time that Ramsay declared that he wasn’t eliminating anybody during the elimination ceremony, wherein he said "Neither or you" towards Marc and Lauren.
- This is the first time the show acknowledged its younger sister series, MasterChef.
- This is the second time the Punishment Pass was used, and the first time a chef from the winning team was forced to do the punishment.