The ninth episode of Season 19 of Hell's Kitchen aired in the UK on November 19, 2020 and in the US on March 4, 2021. On that episode, the annual Blind Taste Test took place, one team had no communication during Steak Night, and a shocking elimination of an early front runner took place.
Intro[]
Continuing from the previous episode, Jordan’s return to the dorms was met with cheering from everybody as she felt good to stay despite being on the chopping block four times now, and Nikki deemed the red team the final four. Meanwhile, Declan checked on Amber as the latter was confused as to why Cody nominated her over Adam as she felt the latter did not take the idea of being a leader seriously. Amber felt Adam was too cocky to become a Head Chef, but Declan told her to brush that feeling away and do what she came to do. Elsewhere, Cody reminded Adam he could have been in Amber’s shoes that night, but the latter believed he would not have gone home if that did happen. Although Cody warned Adam not to get too cocky, the latter felt he was already in the top two of the competition as he was making everybody think he was not a threat until it was too late.
The next day, both teams relaxed at the dorms, where Adam called Declan an Irish baker for wearing his bandana. Kori suggested that Declan wear one of Mary Lou’s wigs, but despite his protests, the latter dug out her blonde wig for him to wear. After putting on the wig for him, Mary Lou introduced Declan as Donna, or as Nikki said, Double D Donna. Afterwards, Declan played along with his Donna persona, much to the amusement of the other chefs.
Team challenge[]
Later that day, both teams came downstairs to see a makeshift 50’s diner inside the dining room, and they sat at the bar. Ramsay said he worked all day to give each of them a treat, but that made everyone tense as Marino came out in a soda jerk outfit. Marino handed the chefs milkshakes, but Marc wondered what was going on as it seemed too good to be true. Ramsay asked Kori to taste her milkshake and say what the flavor was, but while she said garlic, Ramsay said it was mango. Then, Mary Lou said that her milkshake tasted like pineapple when it was orange. Everybody else struggled with their flavor, with Declan mistaking almond for hazelnut and Marc mistaking caramel for root beer. However, Nikki was the only one that got her milkshake correctly, peanut butter. Afterwards, Ramsay said that milkshakes were not the only thing on the menu that day as he threw a pitcher at the special board to reveal that the Blind Taste Test was their next challenge. The diner boards folded over to reveal the Sous Chefs at the punishment chairs as Marc had a good feeling that the blue team would win. Ramsay explained that this annual challenge was the one where it separated the chefs from the cooks, and just like in dinner services, a lousy palate would punish their teammates. While one chef tasted the ingredients, the other would sit in the booth to experience punishments if their teammate got more than one attempt incorrect. If the guesser got two wrong answers, their teammate would get dunked with ice cream, three wrong answers led to a chocolate sauce dunk, and four wrong answers led to a maraschino cherry dunk.
Nikki and Declan were the first pair of chefs to compete, while Marc and Jordan went to the booths. While Jordan had high hopes for Nikki’s palate, the latter got all four ingredients incorrect, leading the former to get all three punishments. On the other hand, Declan was able to get all four guesses correct, chicken, carrots, pear, and cheddar cheese sparing Marc from the punishments. The blue team led 4-0, and Jordan swore she would beat up Nikki for putting the red team in the hole. On the second round, both Kori and Adam got green beans, but while the former got New York striploin and mushrooms, the latter did not, leaving Declan to get two punishments, and the blue team led 5-3. In the third round, Mary Lou got spinach and peas, but Amber got that along with red bell peppers, making the score 7-5 and leading Adam and Kori to get the ice cream punishment. In the fourth round, both Jordan and Cody got celery and pineapple, leading Amber and Mary Lou to get the ice cream punishment as the blue team led 9-7. Before the final round, Ramsay asked the red team to decide who should go up again, and Nikki immediately said Kori. Kori went up against Marc, and while both failed to get cauliflower, they each got strawberry, making it 10-8 for the blue team. With only two ingredients left, Ramsay said that the only way the red team could tie it is that Kori scored on them while Marc failed to score. However, neither of them got butternut squash, and because of that, the blue team automatically won the challenge as Cody and Nikki got dunked with ice cream.
Scoring[]
| Red Team | Blue Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikki | 0/4 | 0 | Declan | 4/4 | 4 |
| Kori | 3/4 | 3 | Adam | 1/4 | 5 |
| Mary Lou | 2/4 | 5 | Amber | 2/4 | 7 |
| Jordan | 2/4 | 7 | Cody | 2/4 | 9 |
| Kori | 1/3 | 8 | Marc | 1/3 | 10 |
| Results | 10-8 | ||||
Reward[]
The blue team was rewarded with a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon and an overnight stay at the Caesars Palace’s private villa. After hearing that, Declan said he had not seen all the country yet, and seeing the Grand Canyon in the helicopter was a first. During the reward, Cody asked if riding in a helicopter was how Ramsay rides every day, Adam saw Hoover Dam from his view, and they soon landed after travelling 90 miles. As the blue team picnicked on the Canyon, Amber felt they needed the win as the blue team was bonding and called it the best reward.
Later that day, the blue team entered their villa in Caesars Palace as Cody said that the walkway alone was bigger than his Los Angeles apartment. During the night, the blue team relaxed as Marc let down his man bun for the first time.
Punishment[]
The red team was punished by taking in delivery of beef and prepping them for Steak Night, and as they left to clean off, Ramsay asked Jordan what happened to her based on the fact she received all the punishments. Jordan blamed Nikki for that and complained she had chocolate everywhere. During the punishment, the red team struggled to lift the beef as Jordan said it weighed half a ton, which they did not. They decide to use one of the spare aprons to help carry the beef into the restaurant, but they needed to take a break in the hallway. On their second movement, they got as far as the dining room before stopping again, but on their third movement, they finally got to the kitchen counter. As the red team butchered the beef, Nikki felt embarrassed about costing the red team the win as Jordan continued to be salty.
Before service[]
The next day, both teams began prepping for Steak Night, but Marc asked Adam questions about the procedures for fish that night. That caused Amber to feel that Marc was not on point with the blue team as he was asking questions any chef should know by now. After prep was finished, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen for Steak Night.
Dinner service[]
Floyd Little and the Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders were seen dining that night. The red team received their first order as Jordan knew there was nowhere left to hide now that they were down to four members. Jordan coordinated well with Nikki on the appetizer timings, and they got their first dishes accepted.
Twenty minutes into dinner service, Declan said that although he was happy to be on the blue team, he felt that Marc was a glitch in their workflow as the latter had Adam walk the lobster tail. However, Declan did not have the risotto ready until a few seconds later. Marc served bland scampi that Ramsay sent back, but while the latter asked him for the refire, Marc went quiet. Despite Ramsay’s frustration, Marc got his refire accepted, and the blue team was pushing out appetizers. In the red kitchen, the red team was on entrées as Mary Lou was excited to be on garnish as she started calling out orders to the red team. Nikki said that it was her first time on fish after her poor performance on the opening night, but she wanted to see herself redeemed. Fortunately, Nikki got her salmon accepted and planned to make every single portion perfect as Little enjoyed his dish. In the blue kitchen, the blue team began working on entrées as Cody knew that he would have the most traffic of that night, but while he tried to talk to Adam on timings, the latter ignored him. That irritated Cody as Adam should be the most talkative due to being on garnish, and Ramsay was getting frustrated by the lack of communication. Then, Cody accidentally served two New York striploins when only one was needed along with a chicken, and to make things worse, he forgot to cook the filet, angering Ramsay. In the red kitchen, Kori said she was driving the red team as she knew that the only way to find out a cooked steak is through the fingers. Kori got her steaks accepted, and later, she was sending out a stream of perfectly cooked meat, much to Nikki’s amazement as she compared her to an octopus. With the red team serving perfect entrées, the blue team’s diners were waiting on entrees as a waiter handed one table more bread.
One hour into dinner service, Cody got his missing filet accepted, but on their next order, Ramsay told the blue team to stop staring at each other and start communicating like the red team. Marc felt that this was a different fish station that night due to having additional items to cook other than fish and had Adam help him with his fried egg. However, Adam caused it to come out burnt, angering Declan as he asked why he was surrounded by turkeys while he tried to soar like an eagle, and Amber said that the fish station should be the last station that went down on Steak Night. As Ramsay poached the egg himself, the blue team’s poor communication continued to show, and a frustrated Ramsay pulled them to the front. Ramsay told them to start communicating with each other and dragged them into the red kitchen to hear the red team’s smoother teamwork. Seeing the red team perform better than them, Amber missed being in the red kitchen as Kori led them to victory. Once back to their stations, Ramsay called out the next order, but Marc got confused as he thought it was one salmon and two veal instead of one salmon and one New York striploin. Infuriated by how far off Marc was, Ramsay dragged the blue team into the back pantry, criticized them for not coming together, and ejected them to the dorms, telling them to nominate two people for elimination. As the blue team returned to the dorms, Marc knew they were better than that as he was ashamed by that night. Back in the red kitchen, the red team was on their final order, and they managed to complete it with no problems, much to Mary Lou’s glee.
Post-mortem[]
Back at the dorms, Cody knew that the deliberation would be interesting as both Declan and Amber accused Marc of going down that night with the poor timings. Marc argued that he was trying to communicate well for the team, but Amber felt it was more of a deer in the headlight moment and said she would fire a Sous Chef if they behaved like him. However, Marc got pissed that they were nominating him for what he believed to be personal reasons, while Adam considered Cody for elimination for the misread order being sent up. While Cody took accountability for that, Amber reminded him of how Kori led the red team on meat and felt he should have done the same. However, Cody argued that he went down because of fish and garnish and considered Marc and Adam for elimination, the latter for not leading. Declan agreed as he felt Adam was an island that night and not answering Cody, but when Adam argued that he was making a million things that night, Declan reminded him that everybody was doing the same. Marc reminded Adam about how he burned an egg for him, but the latter argued that his problem that night was helping Marc out when he had things to do himself. However, Amber felt that Adam’s lack of communication meant he did not want to be a part of the blue team, which irritated the latter.
Elimination[]
Amber announced Marc as the blue team’s first nominee for elimination and Adam as the second. During their pleas, Adam believed that he was passionate and was a spine for the blue team since the start, arguing that it was the only night where he had a hiccup in service and felt that he could have communicated well if he focused properly. However, Ramsay asked Adam how he could run a brigade of twenty-five people if he could not be vocal on garnish. Then, Marc said that he has shown extreme adaptability and felt that he was given false timings for fish. Ramsay asked Marc who he felt the weakest stations were that night if not fish and the latter said garnish and meat before continuing to ramble on about being great. In the end, Adam was eliminated for his lack of communication on garnish, as Ramsay thought he would have shined that night instead of backing off. During his exit interview, Adam felt that he was a great asset to the blue team despite messing up on a wrong night, and while he was disappointed in Ramsay’s decision, he still respected it.
After Adam left, Ramsay noted that the red team had their best service that night before reminding the blue team that they had their best a few nights ago before asking both teams to give him their best services on the same night. While being dismissed, Marc felt his four nominations were not valid and planned to do whatever it took to win, while Cody felt that Marc had no choice but to fuck off. Lastly, Declan was not happy they had to carry Marc again and called it a nightmare.
Ramsay’s Comment: "Adam started off the competition strong. But unlike his beard, Adam stopped growing."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the annual Blind Taste Test being used in this episode.