The sixteenth episode of Season 19 of Hell's Kitchen aired in the UK on December 17, 2020 and in the US on April 22, 2021. In this episode, Kori and Mary Lou competed in their final dinner service, and one of them was crowned the winner of Hell's Kitchen.
Intro[]
The episode began with a recap of the season, mentioning what happened and who got eliminated. During the recap, Kenneth, Drew, Peter, Nikki, and Declan each received the portrait burning sequence for the first time since their eliminations.
Returning to Hell’s Kitchen, Kori said she was not giving up without a fight as she could both cook and lead a brigade. She expressed confidence with her brigade, having heard good things about Adam from the blue team, knew that Jordan would kick ass on any station she was assigned to and wanted Declan on appetizers. However, Kori was not confident with Marc due to his aggressive behavior in the past. As Kori went over the menu, Marc kept making quips to the annoyance of Declan as the latter could not stand it, while Jordan told him to relax as it was Kori’s reputation on the line. Afterward, Kori gave out the station assignments, putting Jordan on meat, Marc on garnish, and Declan on appetizers. Kori was excited to show Ramsay how rounded she was, while Marc gave his loyalty to her.
Meanwhile, Mary Lou said she had to go in and hit her team hard by giving out the menu. The only member Mary Lou was nervous with was Lauren due to getting caught up in wanting attention, especially when the latter kept asking her questions. Cody was enamored with Mary Lou taking charge, while Lauren expressed nervousness if she were to be on garnish. Afterward, Mary Lou put Nikki on fish, Cody on garnish, Amber on meat, and Lauren on appetizers, making the latter happy as she nailed that station every time she ran it in the past. Later that night, Amber confronted Kori over picking Jordan over herself, but the latter argued that it was not personal. However, Amber continued to be soured by that as she bitched about Kori’s decision to both Mary Lou and Lauren before calling it Kori’s loss. Despite claiming she was over it, Amber continued to give Kori a hard time about it the next morning, much to the latter’s annoyance.
Before service[]
Later that day, both teams went down to prep for the final dinner service as Kori called it the big one and believed that her food would push her to the end of the winning door that night. As Kori’s team prepped, Adam offered them a shot before service. In the red kitchen, Mary Lou began to grow nervous as they got closer to service, but talking with Cody started to make her stress less as she knew he had her back. Cody himself declared that he would do anything to make sure Mary Lou won and checked with Nikki on the scoring of the redfish. As Cody and Mary Lou began working together more, Nikki knew that Mary Lou’s bonds would be the deciding factor, while Amber joked the latter would make Cody sign a prenup if they ever got married. In the blue kitchen, Jordan asked Kori about the sweet potato purée, but when Marc said he just made it, the former was frustrated because he did not tell her earlier. Kori was worried about Marc due to never working with him before and knew he was very opinionated, but decided to go with a clean slate and continued to give her brigade instructions as she refused to have a rotten apple. In the red kitchen, Mary Lou knew Lauren was the weak link on her team but trusted her with her techniques and her palate. On the other hand, Mary Lou was not confident about Amber as the latter kept asking her questions and did not want her to get nervous. Meeting up with Sous Chef Christina in the back pantry, she expressed concern about Amber, just as the latter asked her more questions.
Forty-five minutes before service began, Ramsay pulled Kori and Mary Lou into his office for a final meeting. He reminded the two women that this was their final test to prove that they were his next head chef at Hell’s Kitchen at Lake Tahoe and gave them their head chef jackets. Mary Lou felt great receiving hers as not many people received one and thought she was in charge while wearing it. Before leaving, Ramsay reminded them that it was their night to run the kitchen, and Mary Lou figured she could do it and crush Kori. When the finalist exited the office, they saw the dining room already filled with diners, including their loved ones, and Ramsay asked them to give insight into their menus. Mary Lou said she had a Southern-inspired menu that included her mother’s favorite dishes, finally feeling she was feeling the confidence she could be. For Kori, she was basing her menu on the dishes both her father and son loved, and she said her win would be for her son. Ramsay told the diners that one of the finalists would become his next head chef at Hell’s Kitchen at Lake Tahoe and sent them back to their kitchens. Right before service began, Declan was determined to see Kori as the winner and make Ramsay proud of them, while Marc was focused on winning it for her. In the red kitchen, Mary Lou gave her team a pep talk as Cody and Nikki were determined to see her win. Afterwards, service began.
Dinner service[]
In addition to the finalists’ loved ones, Rita Rudner was in attendance that night. Mary Lou received her first ticket from Marino and called out a four-top order. As they worked on the order, Lauren knew that appetizers set the pace for the entire night and wanted to set herself up for an excellent first step. However, Lauren could not remember Mary Lou’s order, and Amber was worried about the former being in la-la land. When Lauren did not respond to Mary Lou’s questions, Ramsay accused her of being asleep as her flat-top started to smoke up, annoying Mary Lou as she wanted the former to move. While Cody and Nikki were communicating times, Lauren was still silent, leading the former to accuse her of fucking them up. Despite all that, Lauren got her grits accepted, and Mary Lou served her first table, leading the former to proclaim she will not let her down despite not having a lot of experience on the line.
Twenty-five minutes into dinner service, Declan admitted to being jealous he was not running the pass, but he was happy for Kori and wanted to do his best for her. While Marc responded to Declan’s call out, Adam stood around and said nothing, leading the latter to accuse him of being overconfident and spacey. While Declan got his risotto up to the pass, Adam was late with the shrimp but felt Kori should not worry about it as they were cooking food. However, Adam’s shrimp were missing their heads, and he could not find them, much to Ramsay’s frustration. So, Adam had to refire the shrimp, and Kori told him not to lose his head over the missing shrimp heads. Fortunately, Adam got his refire accepted, and Kori served her first table of appetizers. Eventually, both Kori and Mary Lou were pushing out appetizers and moved onto entrées. In the red kitchen, Amber was happy to finish in the kitchen she began in and was sure to see Mary Lou win before telling Kori that it was her loss that she did not pick her. However, while Amber served her entrées, Ramsay noticed that she forgot the chicken as Mary Lou called her team down to the front. When Mary Lou asked Amber how long for the chicken, the latter said seven minutes, with Cody pissed as that was making Mary Lou look bad. So, Mary Lou was forced to refire the entire table and struggled to keep her composure with Amber before micromanaging her brigade. As the red diners waited for their food, Kori called out the blue kitchen’s first entrée order. Jordan said she was not here for herself anymore but for Kori and called her a rock for the red team, wanting to return the favor. However, one of the filets Jordan served was rare, frustrating Declan and Marc as the latter felt she was shutting down. Ramsay reminded the brigade that they already sliced the chicken and sauced the plates before asking for the togetherness. Jordan served her refire, but Kori found out it was rare after cutting into it. Afterwards, Ramsay pulled Kori aside, warned her they were getting screwed on filets, and reminded her Declan was inches away from making it to the finale while Jordan was nowhere near him. So, Kori told Declan to help Jordan with meat, and he refused to let her down. Fortunately, Declan’s attempt was accepted, and Kori served her first order of entrées to excellent reviews.
In the red kitchen, Mary Lou was still waiting on the refired order while Amber felt like shit after missing the first chicken. However, Amber began to go back inside her head, with Cody telling her to get it together. While Lauren was concerned about the feel of the chicken, Amber was willing to serve it and get yelled at. Lauren’s concerns were realized as the chicken Amber cooked was raw in the center, and Mary Lou showed it to the team. Angry this was happening again, Mary Lou told her team to be on the same page and to stop making her look like an asshole. Ramsay reminded the team this was Mary Lou’s night and pulled the latter aside, telling her not to work with a problematic chef. With that, Mary Lou ordered Cody and Amber to switch stations, much to the latter’s annoyance as Cody quickly got his chicken accepted. Once Mary Lou served her order, Ramsay pulled her and Kori to the middle of the pass and told them they were dead even with their mistakes. Kori wanted to finish strong as she refused to stop, while Mary Lou bossed her team into getting the final order out, which Nikki took notice of and felt the former was killing it. Eventually, both teams got their final orders out with no problems, and the dining room gave both finalists a round of applause. As both teams cleared down, Kori told Declan she owed him drinking for saving her ass as the latter felt it was her victory, while Adam felt Kori did a great job and thought they all did a great job tonight as she signed his menu. On the red side, Nikki felt Mary Lou did an incredible job, while Cody wanted her to win thanks to her improvements before calling a successful woman a turn-on.
Post-mortem[]
With both teams lined up, Ramsay thanked the returning chefs for helping Kori and Mary Lou that night and announced that he decided to forgo the traditional door opening ceremony and said he would make the announcement right now. Ramsay announced the winner of the season would be a woman, but everybody knew he was just joking, even though Mary Lou did not find that funny. Ramsay admitted it was a massive decision that could not be done so simply before dismissing the returning chefs so he could have a moment with the finalists. Ramsay told the finalists that night was a close one, and he would be using the comment cards to help decide the winner before dismissing them back to the dorms.
As the finalists went back to the dorms, Kori felt she kicked ass that night, and despite a few bumps, she was going to go home with her head held high. Then, Mary Lou hoped that Ramsay saw her face the adversity of the competition and how she ran her kitchen before telling Kori that it was an honor competing with her. Meanwhile, Ramsay reviewed the comment cards along with the finalist’s journey throughout the competition.
Winner announced[]
Later, Ramsay called the dorms and asked the finalists to come down to his office as the crowd waited for the results. At Ramsay’s office, he said how proud he was of them, telling Kori she was an extraordinary chef with all the tools on top of being a born leader while telling Mary Lou she grew a lot in the competition and was proud her self-confidence matched her skills. Afterwards, Ramsay had the two stand in front of their doors, with only one of them opening to reveal the winner. After a countdown from three, both turned their door handle, but only Kori’s door opened.
Kori was crowned the winner of Hell’s Kitchen and won the head chef position at Hell’s Kitchen in Lake Tahoe, leaving Mary Lou as the runner-up. Although Mary Lou called it bittersweet, she was happy to lose to Kori and knew she grew a lot to allow other doors to open. Kori was in shock that she won the competition but knew it was thanks to her focus and determination that led to her door opening. In her celebration speech, Kori said it was all for her son and thanked everyone for their support. During the celebration, Mary Lou hugged her mother, knowing she was proud of herself in the same way the latter was of her, while Kori hung her portrait on the Wall of Fame, telling Lake Tahoe that she was coming.
Ramsay's comment: "Kori is everything I could want in a head chef. She's decisive, levelheaded, and most importantly, passionate. From the moment she stepped into Hell's Kitchen, she was an instinctual and natural-born leader. She'll be a great asset to Hell's Kitchen in Lake Tahoe."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to how one gets a major prize, in this case, the Head Chef position at Hell’s Kitchen in Lake Tahoe, along with the $250,000 cash prize.