The seventh episode of Season 19 of Hell's Kitchen aired in the UK on November 12, 2020 and in the US on February 18, 2021. In that episode, Ramsay tested the chef's palates in identifying surf and turf dishes, trust issues were brought up, a communication breakdown occurred at dinner service, and Ramsay made a somewhat controversial nomination change.
Intro[]
Before dismissing the chefs, Ramsay told them that it was time to emerge as leaders, while Amber felt the blue team nominated her out of fear of being in the final two. Back at the dorms, Mary Lou and Lauren decided to change for a hot tub session. At the same time, Syann gave Cody a back massage before moving onto Amber. When Amber commented on how Syann knew how to use her hands, Jordan remarked that the latter used to be a lesbian, which she did not understand how Syann could convert back. Once changed into her swimsuit, Lauren wanted to relax after a stressful day, while Syann joking flirted with both her and Mary Lou as they went to the hot tub. On the other end, Cody left to check his blood pressure after seeing Lauren and Mary Lou enter the hot tub.
Team challenge[]
The next day, both teams came downstairs, where Ramsay explained how Las Vegas was one of the biggest culinary capitals in the world and added that surf and turf has been a city staple for decades. Then, Ramsay said that the concept of surf and turf has been evolved over the years and revealed that for their next challenge, they would be working with surf and turf as a curtain behind him pulled back to reveal meat and fish proteins. While Syann loved surf and turf, Ramsay said they would taste surf and turf dishes rather than cooking their own, dismaying Amber as she had a shellfish allergy. For the Protein Identification Challenge, Ramsay said that one team at a time would race in three pairs to correctly identify the proteins used for one of their surf and turf dishes. If both proteins were incorrect, the light would turn red, if both were correct, the light would turn green, and if only one protein was correct, the light would turn blue. The team that correctly guessed their proteins the fastest would win the challenge.
Because the red team won the previous service, they got to go first, and the blue team was sent back to the patio. Lauren and Mary Lou were the first pair to compete and grabbed their first dish, which contained pork and mussels, but Lauren thought it was fried chicken and clams. However, their first attempt was incorrect, and another taste had them grab pork and mussels. Their second attempt was correct, and Mary Lou was happy they got it in 53 seconds. Nikki and Kori grabbed their second dish for the next dish, which contained lobster and bison, but per Syann’s suggestion, they grabbed bison and king crab legs. It was half right, but they swapped out the bison for filet, making it entirely incorrect. As the red team tried to help Nikki and Kori out by calling out suggestions, the latter told them to shut up as they were not tasting the dish. Their third attempt was bison and lobster, and that time, it was correct. On the final dish, Syann and Jordan’s dish were tacos, which contained squab and snapper, with Syann discovering that one of them had a white fish component. However, Syann felt the other taco tasted gamey, and she and Jordan grabbed venison and snapper for their first attempt, only to get it half right. Syann and Jordan tried snapper and elk for their second attempt, but the results stayed the same, and again for veal and snapper. After four failed attempts, Syann and Jordan ended up grabbing random meat proteins to pair up with the snapper, only to fail each time. Eventually, Jordan and Syann finally grabbed squab, and it was correct after ten attempts. The red team ended with 8 minutes and 46 seconds, although Syann complained that she could not get the gamey taste out of her mouth.
The blue team came back downstairs, where Ramsay told them they had to beat 8 minutes and 46 seconds to win, and while Marc felt confident about that, Nikki hoped the blue team got overconfident and lose. Marc and Cody were the first pair up and grabbed the pork and mussels dish, but they grabbed clams and chicken. It was incorrect, and Cody found out that things were not what they seemed. Then, they got half right on turkey and mussels, but they got the right meat protein on their third attempt. Amber and Declan grabbed the bison and lobster dish, but she had the latter taste the shellfish because of her allergy. However, their first attempt, filet and king crab legs were incorrect, while their second attempt, bison and Dungeness crab, was half right. Declan swapped out the bison meat for elk, but that proved to be entirely incorrect. Doing a full reset, Amber felt that Declan was scattered brained as he was grabbing proteins they already tried, and she decided to taste the shellfish despite her allergy. It worked as they got the right pairing on their fourth attempt, but Amber needed her EpiPen from Sous Chef Jason. On the final round, Declan went up again, this time with Adam, and they grabbed the squab and snapper tacos. They grabbed venison and halibut, but that was incorrect, and with three minutes left, Declan called it an endurance challenge as he was old with a bad knee. Their second attempt, goat and cod, was incorrect, along with ostrich and monkfish, while their quail and snapper pairing was half right. However, they brought back the snapper per most of the blue team’s suggestion, while Nikki was getting stressed and prayed the blue team would fail. Adam and Declan’s next attempt, catfish and squab, was half right, and they only had a minute to find the correct fish protein. Cody screamed at them to grab the snapper again, but they grabbed monkfish instead, and it was incorrect. With that, time was up, and the red team won the challenge, annoying Cody as he screamed snapper so many times to them.
Scoring[]
| Protein Identification | ||||
| Team | Duration | Team | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Team | 8:46 | Blue Team | TU | |
| Results | 8:46-TU | |||
Reward[]
The red team was rewarded with a flow riding experience on top of the Planet Hollywood roof, and Jordan was pumped to hang ten. During the reward, the red team met with Riley as Syann went first, only to wipe out. While Lauren said she grew up in San Diego, she called it a lot different from the normal boogie boarding she did. Nikki wiped out due to her big limps, and Mary Lou held on before wiping out as well as her bra came a bit undone. Then, Mary Lou said that everybody who saw her fun muffins owed her twenty dollars.
Punishment[]
The blue team was punished by deshelling crab and prepping them for crab cakes for that night’s service. Not only was Amber not happy due to her allergy, but Cody also knew they dropped the ball and felt there was no trust in the blue team. Cody asked Declan to join him on the patio for a smoke back at the dorms, but Amber felt they did that to avoid her, especially since Cody does not smoke. Amber said it was hard to switch teams as the blue team had a different mentality than the red team before confronting Cody, Adam, and Declan for having a team meeting without her. However, they argued that they were just having a smoke, and Declan told Amber not to listen to the red team because they were trying to manipulate her. Amber whined how hard it was to switch teams, but Adam felt she had to be entirely on the blue team if she wanted to succeed.
During the punishment, the blue team was shocked to see a lot of crab meat as Sous Chef Jason told them not to leave any shells for the crab cakes. As the blue team cleaned the crabs, Marc stated although he worked with crabs before, he never worked with that many before as it was immense suffering for them. Then, Declan explained the crab’s anatomy as they need the meat, while Amber knew they had to prep more items for the crab cakes. Later, Cody asked what would happen if the blue team lost another teammate that night, but Adam knew another woman would join them. Amber felt it was not a good mindset, but Cody was still concerned because if it happened, that woman would team up with Amber. While Amber found Cody's comment to be aggressive, Declan told her to start trusting them as they had her back. Adam decided to stay silent as he did not find the conversation meaningful and said he was not here to make friends.
Before service[]
Later that day, the red team came back from their reward but were met with silence from the blue team. However, that did not stop Syann from flirting with Adam, with him remarking that big black women liked him. After the punishment, Amber talked with Mary Lou about how the red team was more supportive than the blue team and asked what she can do. Mary Lou suggested that Amber try to survive for one more day because if the blue team lost another member, then a red chef would join them, and she wanted the latter to stay.
As both teams prepped for service, Amber knew a lot was riding for her as she could not afford to make mistakes in service and prepared to put her best foot forward. Declan wanted to win that night as there was nowhere to hide, and Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Jerome Williams was seen in the dining room that night. The red team received their first order as Kori knew garnish was the backbone of the line as she talked with Mary Lou on times. Mary Lou and Syann had their appetizers accepted, and in the blue kitchen, Marc wanted to make sure he and Cody were in control that night. Adam was happy to be on fish as he wanted to drive out of a station that usually crashed and burned, but he had his back against his scallops when he went into the fridge. Ramsay chewed out Adam for that, and when the latter walked the scallops, they were disgusting, frustrating Declan as he wanted one service where they were on point. Ramsay warned Adam that if he turned his back on food, he would produce shit, but while the latter had no excuse, he got his refire accepted and sent to a table of drag queens.
Fifty minutes into dinner service, the red team was moving onto entrées, and Syann talked with Nikki about timings so she could drop her salmon. Syann felt good about her chances and hoped to keep the momentum going, but Mary Lou told her not to sell it as the skin looked burnt. That led Syann to look for more acceptable pieces of salmon, but that confused Nikki as salmon was an easy fish to cook. While most of the red team had their entrées ready with Jordan getting praise for the Wellington and the lamb, Syann said she needed two minutes on the salmon and told meat about it. However, Jordan said that happened two minutes ago, leading Ramsay to ask Syann where the salmon was. Syann walked the salmon up, and despite her teammates' concern, she got it accepted. Jordan felt that she and Nikki were vibing on their next order, but they ended up walking up a lamb and New York striploins instead of the requested Wellington. While Jordan claimed she had misheard the order, Syann said she was not ready for that ticket yet, and neither was Kori. To make things worse, Syann’s salmon was burnt, forcing Ramsay to redo the order while the former had no idea why Jordan was sending up the wrong meat as she was already in the weeds. As Kori told the meat station about the refired order, the blue team moved onto entrées, and Adam was waiting to see Amber prove herself. However, Amber was concerned about the New York striploin thickness as the temperature must be perfect and feared it was overcooked. While Amber did not want to serve it, Declan told her to stop fussing and serve it. However, Amber refused to walk it as she knew it was not right, so she cooked another steak, and after walking that up, Ramsay praised it for being the best-cooked steak from both kitchens. That relieved Amber as she knew she could cook better than everybody in the blue kitchen, while in the red kitchen, the red team served their refired order. Unfortunately, it was for the following ticket rather than the current ticket, but while Nikki blamed Kori for telling them to fire that, the latter argued that she did not, even though the flashback said otherwise. Despite that, Jordan felt that Kori fucked them and refused to take fire for something she did not do wrong on as the red team was now dragging on poor communication. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay called out a six-top order, and Cody felt the blue team was working well as a team with perfect communication before hoping they kept it up. Amber was happy that the blue team was on the same page as Ramsay praised her for her lamb.
In the red kitchen, the red team was on their third attempt on the same order, and Syann felt they were getting frantic as their smooth ride was getting bumpy. While the dishes were walked up to the pass, Ramsay showed them the soggy fries from Kori, overcooked steak from the meat station, and ice-cold salmon from Syann. Having enough, Ramsay called over the recently finished blue team and placed them into the red kitchen before kicking the red team out and ordering them to name two people for elimination. While going back to the dorms, Nikki was not happy that the red team was kicked out yet again and felt there was no reason they should have these problems by now. Back in the red kitchen, the blue team was able to work through the mess the red team left behind and complete their tickets.
Post-mortem[]
Back at the dorms, Syann noted the cold salmon, soggy fries, and overcooked steak that got them kicked out, while Nikki knew that each of them made mistakes that night before asking what the ones that brought the red team down overall were. Lauren deemed the fish station the weakest of that night, and Syann took accountability for that before asking who was joining her. However, nobody was volunteering, upsetting Syann as everybody made mistakes, but Lauren considered Kori for her flustered performance on garnish. While Kori admitted to messing up on the fries, she argued that it was due to rushing the order and did not understand why she was being targeted when there were other mistakes made that night. Nikki took the blame for the New York striploins being overcooked, while Jordan thought she did well that night, even though Syann reminded her that she sent up meat for the next ticket and accused her of not taking accountability for it. However, Jordan disagreed as Kori could not pull it together. As the red team struggled to make a final decision, Kori said she could go for a cocktail.
Elimination[]
As the red team came down for the elimination ceremony, Ramsay came down from his office as Adam saw how pissed he was. Ramsay deemed the blue team’s performances the best they had so far and felt that the red team switched off that night. Mary Lou announced Syann as the red team’s first nominee, but when she announced Kori as the second, Ramsay asked why. Mary Lou explained that the red team had a miscommunication in the kitchen because of garnish, but Ramsay disagreed with Kori’s nomination. While he agreed with Syann's nomination, Ramsay called up Jordan as they were the worst two performers of the red team. During their pleas, Jordan said she had a lot of fightback despite putting up meat earlier than normal, but when Ramsay asked her how that happened, Jordan blamed Kori’s miscommunication. However, Kori said that she called out two minutes for the refired order for the current ticket, which Ramsay claimed to have heard earlier. Then, Ramsay reminded Syann that she got backed up after a strong start, but she felt she kept fighting while she admitted to doing that. While Ramsay reminded Syann that the secret to a great chef was getting back up and having the back up of their brigade, he asked her if she was better than Jordan, to which Syann said yes. Despite that, Syann was eliminated for her poor performance on fish, but Ramsay praised her for her energy and urged her to keep her head up before leaving. Syann thanked Ramsay for the experience, and during her exit interview, she called her journey amazing before wanting to keep true to Ramsay’s word to keep her head up high.
After Syann left, Ramsay told the red team that if they thought Kori deserved to leave the competition, they were dreaming as he did not want any more nonsense. While being dismissed, Kori was upset at her teammates and said she only had to prove to Ramsay she was his next Head Chef, while Adam felt that everyone on the red team was weak before deciding to knock them off one by one. Then, Jordan felt she did not deserve to be nominated as she was not the worst cook that night and hoped Ramsay would see her resilience as she had more things to do.
Ramsay's comment: "Sy's winning personality and determination were enough to take her far. But her lack of experience made me say sayonara."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the Protein Identification Challenge and how it featured Surf and Turf.
- This marks the first time that the first team who participated in the Protein Identification Challenge won.
- Kori's nomination being voided by Ramsay marks the first instance of this since Season 14.