The fourteenth episode of Season 19 of Hell's Kitchen aired in the UK on December 9, 2020 and in the US on April 8, 2021. In that episode, the final four cooked for club dancers, ran the pass, and while a fan favorite was sent home, the final three was announced.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Cody was ecstatic to be in the final four and was happy that he was around people he felt were worthy of that position. As Mary Lou and Cody joined up in the living room, the former said she was scared about the latter going home, and the two snuggled up together, with Declan commenting how Cody had his eyes on Mary Lou since the beginning, comparing him to a dog in heat. Mary Lou said that Cody made her feel tingly and did not want him to go home yet as the two shared a shower.
Individual challenge[]
The next day, at 6:50 AM, the final four were sleeping until they heard loud house music blasting from downstairs. The Sous Chefs came and told everyone to get up and dressed because Ramsay wanted to see them in his office, but once downstairs, they saw a dance club in the dining room. As the chefs went past the club patrons, Cody called it insane. Once in Ramsay’s office, he explained that no other city could party like Las Vegas and revealed that the patrons downstairs finished a night of dancing at Drai’s Nightclub. For the 40 Nightclub Portions Challenge the final four must cook their own version of upscale comfort food served to the patrons.
The final four had one hour to cook their dishes, and once back in the kitchen, Mary Lou decided to make salmon croquette, a dish she with her grandmother who was her inspiration for cooking. As Mary Lou cooked her salmon in the pan, Cody made his version of drunk food, consisting of a watermelon and heirloom tomato gazpacho and Karahage skewers, a dish he has been working on in his life. While Cody ignored the patrons in the dining room, Declan got smitten by a blonde in a black dress as he called her a Viking woman, leading Sous Chef Jason to warn him to keep his focus on the food. Fifteen minutes left, Kori decided to make chicken lollipops as she knew they wanted a dish that filled them up, while Mary Lou wanted to dance with everybody in the dining room. Five minutes left, Kori realized that she forgot to check on her sesame seeds, only to find out they were burnt. Fortunately, she got more seeds frying on the pan. Eventually, the final four had their dishes cooked and plated on time.
With the cooking done, the final four served the patrons their food as Kori decided to play the mom card to win over the crowd. Meanwhile, Mary Lou joked that her plate was pink instead of purple, while Declan explained his mini fish and chips dish, and Cody flirted with the female guests as he served his dishes. Once the patrons had their dishes, they tasted them and ranked them on the comment cards. As the chefs waited for the results, Mary Lou said that she was proud to have done her grandmother proud no matter what. Once the votes were counted, Ramsay gathered everyone to the pass to announce the rankings. Mary Lou’s dish ranked last with only 15% of the votes going to her, and Declan’s dish ended up in third with 23%. That left Kori and Cody as the top two dishes, but the former won the challenge in the end. After hearing that, Kori was excited that she was stepping up her game and showing her stuff.
Reward[]
Before announcing the reward, Ramsay told Kori that she could bring one person to join her. Although Kori wanted to repay Mary Lou for bringing her on the previous reward, she decided to have Cody come with her due to being the runner up, shocking the latter. The reward was a shared $4,000 shopping spree at Macy’s, making Kori excited as she never spent $2,000 on herself before. Also, Ramsay said there was a special surprise waiting for them when they get to Macy’s. As the chefs went back upstairs, Kori knew that there were some groups in between them but wanted to get to know Cody more and keep a close eye on him.
During the reward, Roberson Keffer welcomed Kori and Cody and revealed that the second part of their reward was an entire suite of the brand-new Hell’s Kitchen Collection of home and kitchen goods. That amazed them as they were getting a bunch of cookware on top of their shopping spree, and the two went out to spend their cash. Cody picked out a pink colored suit and thanked Kori for taking him on the reward, and the latter was happy to get to know him more than before.
Punishment[]
After hearing the reward, Mary Lou was disappointed that she did not get to go on a shopping spree but knew it was part of Kori’s plan. Mary Lou and Declan were punished by participating in spring cleaning day in the dorms. During the punishment, Mary Lou was disgusted that nobody deep cleaned the dorms since they have been here and remarked that it was telling how many people were living there. While Mary Lou liked having Declan for company, she would have liked the shopping spree even more.
Before service[]
After the reward, Kori and Cody came back with gifts for Declan and Mary Lou. Declan got an Al-Clad pan, while Mary Lou got a Vitamix blender after missing out the first time, making the latter happy. Later that night, the kitchen was ready as Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Adam Carolla was in attendance that night. For that night’s service, the final four had the chance to run the pass as each chef would go up and run the kitchen while Sous Chef Christina filled in the empty stations. Cody was up first as Ramsay reminded him to keep in control, and although the former was nervous, he felt that his career led him to that moment. However, after calling out the first order, Cody stood around feeling bored, but then, his first quality test came as Sous Chef Christina sent him a risotto that contained orzo instead of arborio rice. After tasting it, Cody rejected the risotto and knew that it was that kind of game. Then, Cody rejected the carbonara as Sous Chef Christina used pappardelle instead of fettucine and seemed to lead well as food was leaving the kitchen. Then, Marino handed him a ticket that had duck on it when it was no longer on the menu, but Cody did not realize that as he called out the order as written. Kori knew that was wrong as Ramsay warned Cody to study the ticket as he gets it in his hands. While Cody knew he had to step the fuck up, he noticed that Mary Lou served a slightly overcooked salmon. However, Ramsay had to prompt Cody to bring her to the front and tell her about the salmon, and Mary Lou could not hear the power in the latter’s voice. After Cody’s turn, Ramsay told him that he got scrambled in the end, even though he caught the first two sabotages.
Mary Lou was up next as Cody was reassigned to fish, and the former knew that every service she was in all came down to that night. Mary Lou’s first test was to identify a Wellington that had tapenade instead of the duxelle, but she failed to figure out the mistake until Ramsay told her, making Declan ask how she could miss that. As the kitchen got backed up, Ramsay swapped out the carrots for beets, but Mary Lou caught that mistake and finally found her rhythm. On the following order, Mary Lou called out a time but only got a response from Sous Chef Christina until she called everybody out. Then, Kori walked up a raw lamb, and Mary Lou called her up to tell her that, but Ramsay called it embarrassing as he never expected that. As Kori kicked herself for fumbling on meat, she got her refire accepted, and Mary Lou sent out her order.
Declan was the third chef up on the pass and called out the order with dominance as he wanted to separate himself from the pack. However, Declan failed to notice that Ramsay swapped the braised fennel for braised endive until the latter told him to feel it. Frustrated that he missed that, Declan began to sweat to Kori’s annoyance, while Carolla joked about putting his sweat into a martini glass. For Declan’s next test, he was given a tuna tartare when it was supposed to be beef, but that time, Declan caught it and felt he was back in the game. Afterwards, Declan saw Sous Chef Christina putting courgettes into the carbonara instead of peas, and Mary Lou noticed that he bounced back after his stumble.
Kori was the final person to run the pass, but when Cody took over meat, he saw that she left the station in a complete mess. Ramsay told Kori that she could not afford to abandon ship, and she was ready to prove to him that she was a strong leader. Then, Kori was able to catch Sous Chef Christina serving halibut rings instead of scallops and declared that nothing was slipping past her. On the next order, Sous Chef Christina served Chilean sea bass instead of the ordered halibut, but again, Kori caught it and felt she was showing to Ramsay she was his next head chef. As Carolla’s table got their order, Kori asked for times on the next order, but when Cody sent up his Wellingtons, Ramsay saw they were undercooked. While Cody was forced to refire the Wellingtons, he argued that Kori left him in a mess of a station and accused her of setting him up to fail. When Cody sliced into his refire, they were cold in the center, and he wanted another three minutes, something Kori did not want him to have. As Ramsay called it a meltdown, Cody called it embarrassing as he was getting hit by somebody else’s inconsistency. Fortunately, the third time was accepted, and the rest of the orders were sent out with no issues.
Post-mortem[]
After service, Ramsay had the final four lined up and called that night a tough one. Although everyone had a strong performance running the pass, there were some surprising mistakes made that night. Ramsay asked the final four to name one person they wanted to be in the finale with.
During deliberation, Declan knew that all decisions would have to be cutthroat from now on as anything could happen, while Kori wanted to get straight to their opinions. Cody wanted to go up against Mary Lou as she had a lot of fire inside, but when Kori asked how many mistakes they made up on the pass, Mary Lou played dumb by saying, “I don’t know” because she knew they would use it against her. Declan felt there were two failures on meat that night, meaning Cody and Kori, and Mary Lou remarked how she saw no presence from Cody on the pass. Kori felt that Cody should leave that night based on his poor performance, and Declan admitted that the latter just called out the orders with nothing else. However, Cody argued that he heard from them and felt that was good enough, but Mary Lou thought he was not commanding even though the former felt his service was better than Kori, calling her the catalyst of everything that went wrong for him. However, Kori argued that once Cody went on meat, it was his responsibility.
Elimination[]
Once downstairs, Ramsay asked Kori who she wanted to go up against in the finale and why she should be in the finale. Kori said she wanted to go up against Mary Lou as the latter found her voice in the competition, while she felt she was a team player and fighting. Then, Mary Lou wanted to go up against Kori as the latter has been the leader for the red team since the beginning, and she felt she was not the same person that began the competition by proving to Ramsay she could be a leader. Cody wanted to go up against Mary Lou because both showed the most growth in their respective teams and called himself a pillar for the blue team, and Declan wanted to go up against Cody for his consistency while feeling he had been vocal all the way. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay said he has never had a final four who were the most competitive, articulate, and passionate chefs he has ever seen. Although Ramsay was proud of all of them, he had to eliminate somebody, and in the end, he eliminated Cody as he felt the latter was not ready to run a brigade that large. However, Ramsay told Cody to keep his jacket as a memory of everything he achieved in the competition and told him that his door was open for him. During his exit interview, Cody received a retrospective montage of his time in the competition.
After Cody left, Ramsay announced that Declan was the first chef in the finale, making the latter feel over the moon. Then, Ramsay said that after a tough decision, he named Kori the second finalist but then added Mary Lou as the third finalist. Because only two of them would be cooking in the final dinner service, Ramsay said there was one more test the final three must face getting there. While being dismissed, Mary Lou was shocked that she made it that far and was happy to know that Ramsay saw her potential, while Kori was ecstatic to be in the final three, planning to cook her fingers off to win. As Declan went up, Ramsay asked what the family would say about him being in the final three, and the former believed they would be pleased as he was proud as a pig in shit.
Ramsay's comment: "Throughout this competition, Cody was never shy about his abilities. But when it came to running the pass, he was just a bit shy. So, unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye."
Cody received the portrait burning sequence at the end of the episode.
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to Cody and Mary Lou’s ongoing friendship.