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The third episode of Season 20 of Hell's Kitchen aired on June 14, 2021. In that episode, squid was the main ingredient, one team continued their winning streak, and one chef threw three of their teammates under the bus at elimination, leading to a record-breaking nomination amount from one team.

Intro[]

While going back to the dorms, Antonio was pissed because he knew the men were there for a reason, but Sam wanted to drop it and move forward. Jay knew some things were still wrong with the men, but he was not ready to go back home to Kansas City as he had a lot to prove. Emily told Payton that she teared up by how Ramsay dressed him down but was proud of him regardless. However, despite feeling bad for the men, Emily wanted to relax with the women as they dipped their feet into the hot tub. Emily wanted to compare foot sizes, though Victoria and Megan said their feet had cankles and bunions. Emily then revealed she had friends who sold pictures of their feet online, much to the disgust of Brynn who decided to leave the hot tub. As the women talked about foot fetishes with Victoria revealing her sister got offered $50 for a toe suck, the men listened in on their conversation with interest. Keanu then said she heard of a man pouring maple syrup over one woman’s body, leading her and Emily to comment on how weird men were.

Team challenge[]

The next day, both teams were up and early as they went outside the front entrance for their next challenge. Ramsay explained that over 350 challenges took place throughout the series. All were meant to test the chef’s palate, leadership, and creativity. Their next challenge was to test their attention to detail. Ramsay explained the first challenge done in Season 1 was the Squid Prep Challenge, showing a video clip of the teams from that season cleaning squid to his standards. Seeing that made Josie emotional as she was a vegan. In honor of their twentieth season, Ramsay decided to bring back the squid challenge in an evolved manner, the Whole Squid Prep Challenge. Unlike in Season 1, both teams must break down the entire squid to his standard, and Ramsay showed them how to prep one to his standard. As they saw that, Keanu was stunned at how fast Ramsay did so and was not confident about matching his speed. In contrast, Jay confidently felt it was an easy challenge for the men as all they had to do was filet a squid. Then, Ramsay had the truck behind him pull away to reveal a giant dunk tank full of squids with ladders for the entrance. Marino came out in a lifeguard outfit with the job of giving any drowner mouth to mouth, but Ramsay could not finish the sentence without laughing. Alex could not see Marino saving someone with a dad's body, and Morgana was unwilling to have Marino’s mouth close to her. Before the challenge began, Ramsay announced the first team to prep 16 perfect squid won.

As the challenge began, Antonio and Brynn were the first people from their teams to go into the dunk tank and started grabbing their squids. Brynn blindly grabbed her squid, and Antonio came out with his. Alex wanted to win a challenge for the men and explore Las Vegas, while Josie wanted to get through this and keep the women’s winning streak strong. Steve dove in on top of Victoria and said he was not a swimmer. Once everyone had their first squids, they began cleaning their portions. Brynn saw that she and Antonio were ahead of everyone, and the latter brought up his first attempt with confidence. However, Ramsay rejected it for still having some guts on the mantle, while Brynn’s first attempt was accepted. The score was 1-0 for the women, and Brynn was ecstatic. Trenton got pissed at Antonio for floundering for the men. Kevin, Sam, and Steve each got their first attempts correct, and the men led 3-1. Megan made sure her teammates' squids were ready for judging as Keanu got her first attempt accepted, along with Kiya and Victoria. The score was 4-3 for the women, but Jay managed to tie it up with his first attempt after pushing himself. As the challenge continued, Trenton and Josie got their first attempts accepted, along with Payton and Emily. Kevin tied it up to nine each with his second attempt, and even though Keanu scored on her second, Steve tied it again with his second. Then, Kiya, Victoria, Trenton, and Sam got their second attempts accepted. Still, Brynn’s third attempt put the women in the lead 13-12. Antonio brought up his second attempt, and it was accepted, tying it up at thirteen. Kevin brought the men back up 14-13 with his third successful attempt, but Victoria was confident that the women had it. Victoria got her second attempt accepted, while Megan got her first approved, making it 15-14 for the women. Alex refused to let the women win again, just as Antonio was finishing up his third attempt. Emily sent up her second attempt, but Antonio collided into her with his third. However, Ramsay judged Emily’s plate first as Jay prayed that it was the former’s downfall. Unfortunately for the men, Emily’s attempt was accepted, and the women won 16-14. Kiya was happy to win again and felt they were undefeated.

Scoring[]

Team Score Team Score
Red Team 16 Blue Team 14
Results 16-14

Reward[]

The women were rewarded with an off-road racing experience at Speed Vegas and eating lunch provided by BLT Steak. As the women went upstairs to change, Josie was happy not to do the men’s punishment because that would have pissed her. During the reward, Keanu swore she would make her car her bitch, Kiya called the reward a home experience, and Victoria called Speed Vegas lit. Keanu thanked Ramsay for the reward.

Keanu and Victoria loved their steaks during lunch as Brynn felt they continued to bond over their victories. As the women made fun of the men’s bonding experience, Brynn wondered if they were drinking squid shakes.

Punishment[]

The men were punished by taking in seafood deliveries and breaking down 50 pounds of squid and shrimp. As this was the first opportunity for a Punishment Pass to be used, Ramsay asked Steve if he would use his. Steve decided not to use it now, explaining the punishments would get worse moving forward, and he wanted to save it for another time. Ramsay commended Steve for his mindset. As both teams went back to the dorms, Kevin was crestfallen about the men’s third loss in a row.

During the punishment, Payton felt they were on a losing streak and could not get a break. As the men broke down the squid, Steve started to regret his decision while Antonio tried to get the men pumped up for service. However, Trenton reminded Antonio he had the only poor squid of the challenge, and Sam wished the latter shut up. For lunch, Sous Chef Jason presented them calamari sandwiches with maple mayonnaise and a hot pepper paste. Jay was not thrilled about eating the sandwich as everyone started to gag at the taste. Trenton felt that everyone would puke through the gag reactions, but Steve was the only one who enjoyed his meal.

Before service[]

Later that day, the women came back from their reward, and both teams prepped for that night’s service. Jay asked Steve for assistance on garnish as he wanted to know which one paired up with what protein. However, Steve was unsure of Jay as the latter kept asking questions about the easiest station. Once Ramsay went through both kitchens, he asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service[]

Shane Mosley JR. and Bob Bergen were seen that night. Morgana and Steve served a tableside appetizer of squid ink tagliatelle. Kevin knew how crucial it was and decided to fire the scallops as soon as he heard them as the men began their first order. Ramsay asked Trenton to check on Steve for timing on tableside, and the latter said he would be ready in five minutes. But once Trenton told Ramsay, the latter asked why Kevin fired scallops when they usually took two minutes. Alex told Kevin to communicate with appetizers for timings, and the latter was not feeling great after jumping the gun. Meanwhile, the chef tables were open as the blue kitchen hosted Nancy Silverton, while the red kitchen hosted Curtis Stone. Seeing Stone infatuated Josie, even revealing her boyfriend knew she had a crush on the former. As the women began working on the order, Megan wanted to hit the ground running as she refused to end their winning streak. Megan got her scallops accepted, and the women were off on a strong start. Kevin said he learned from his mistake from earlier and got his scallops accepted in the blue kitchen. Appetizers left both kitchens at a steady pace, and most of the diners enjoyed them. Morgana was seen cooking tableside for a table of mimes. Still, they psychologically bothered her due to their non-vocal communication skills. Regardless, Morgana was able to serve her tagliatelle to the table.

Ramsay began firing entrées in the blue kitchen one hour into dinner service, and Jay felt confident on garnish after puking his brains out earlier that day. Antonio was pumped on meat as it took finesse to cook proteins and thought he and Alex would kill it. Just as the men were nearly ready, Jay said he needed salmon garnish ready, but Kevin said that they had no salmon fired for the order. Ramsay stopped Antonio from slicing the lamb before seeing Jay was not prepared for garnish. Gathering the men for a discussion, Jay told Ramsay that he focused on the wrong order and did not have the Wellington garnish ready. Ramsay ordered Jay to hurry it up as the latter tried to keep himself calm. However, Alex was not happy about Jay’s mishap as he feared it would ruin the meat station’s momentum. Fortunately, the first entrée order was accepted. In the red kitchen, the women worked on entrées as Emily pushed for communication. However, a glitch in communication happened when Emily called out a halibut on order, but Victoria did not think it was. Emily struggled to remember what was on order, so they decided to send up what they had up to the pass. However, Ramsay saw that and asked the women what was going on. Once everything was cleared up, Victoria said that communication was either do or die for the women, and they got their first order out. Ramsay told the men that he wanted a clear response in the blue kitchen whenever he called out an order. But, when he called out an order for a six-top, everyone struggled to recite it back. After multiple failed attempts, the men finally got it together, and Ramsay told them six minutes instead of Antonio’s eight. In the red kitchen, the women were able to recite their six-top order as Victoria wanted Ramsay as their conductor. They got their order accepted, and Brynn felt that winning was in their blood.

One hour and a half into dinner service, Jay asked Ramsay what was on order, but the latter had the men remind him. Then, Ramsay reminded Jay that he was supposed to be the best chef in Kansas City due to his YouTube video and asked him to be number one that night. As the men worked on the order, Alex cooked the chicken alone as he felt a ten-year-old could cook one easily. As Antonio and Sam walked the proteins, it turned out that Alex’s chicken was undercooked. A fed-up Ramsay took the men into the pantry room, threw the raw chicken across the wall, and asked where the drive was. Antonio claimed that it was inside themselves, but Ramsay got angry when he used the word baby as they were cooking like babies and standing like idiots. Ramsay ordered them to get out there and show some passion while warning Antonio that he would give him a diaper if he said baby again. As the men worked on the refire, Alex told his teammates to provide him with a second opinion about the chicken. Trenton told Alex to cook it for nine more minutes, but the latter was not happy about his mistake. When the men brought up their entrées, Ramsay sliced into the chicken and showed the men how raw it was. It was so pink Stone could see it across the room, and Marino claimed that he could cook a chicken better than them. That served to be the last straw as Ramsay ejected the men from the kitchen, following them on their way out demanding answers. As the men went back to the dorms, Ramsay asked for two nominees for elimination. The women completed their final orders back in the red kitchen, and Ramsay congratulated them for their strong finish.

Post-mortem[]

At the dorms, Antonio blamed the raw chicken for sending them out, but Alex reminded the men about his need for a second opinion. Still, Trenton thought Alex deserved to be nominated based on his lack of communication skills and letting a raw chicken walk. However, Alex said there were other stations with poor communication skills that night and blamed Jay. Jay admitted to his mistake but refused to be eliminated over Alex’s raw chicken. Antonio wanted a diplomatic vote and voted for himself because he was on meat with Alex, with Jay as his second. Still, Kevin was not impressed about that, while Trenton nominated Jay and Alex. Payton nominated Jay and Antonio based on the latter’s self-nomination. Still, Antonio denied doing so despite video footage clearly showing him doing that. Trenton agreed with what Payton heard, but Antonio was still defensive. That caused Payton to lose trust in Antonio.

Elimination[]

Payton announced Alex as the men’s first nominee for elimination and Jay as their second. After both men went down, Ramsay asked Jay why that night was difficult, but the latter blamed the meat station for screwing him up. Ramsay asked Alex if that was true, but the latter argued that the real problems began when the chicken orders came in. Alex told Ramsay that he could cook chicken and thought he communicated with the men on the temperature. However, that led Ramsay to believe that none of the six men behind Alex could cook a chicken and asked who told him to send it up. Alex blamed Antonio, leading Ramsay to bring the latter to the front. Antonio denied touching the chicken, and Alex blamed Trenton for telling him about the chicken’s cook. However, Trenton denied telling Alex about that. Growing frustrated by the minute, Ramsay went back to his office for thirty seconds and demanded the truth when he came back. As the four nominees squabbled over who did what, the women tried to get a clear idea as well. Alex blamed Sam for bringing the raw chicken up to the pass, but the latter denied doing so. Once Ramsay came back, he asked Alex for the truth about the chicken. Alex said Sam, leading a frustrated Ramsay to bring down the latter down as well. Sam said he did not touch the chicken for Alex; he only pulled it out for the latter. However, Alex told Sam he should have felt it afterwards, to which the latter agreed. Ramsay told Alex that he should have kept control of his station and now knew that chicken gate happened because Sam pulled the chicken out of the oven and sent it up without checking. With that out of the way, Ramsay sent Trenton and Antonio back in line. Then, Ramsay sternly told Sam not to commit to something he would not follow through on and sent him back in line.

After that mess, Ramsay gave Alex and Jay ten seconds to plead their case. Alex wanted to stay as he refused to back down, while Jay thought he had a voice despite having a rough day. Jay was eliminated for his poor performance on garnish. During his exit interview, Jay thought Alex should go home instead of himself, but he declared that he would go home and keep moving forward.

After Jay left, Ramsay told Alex to show some confidence and stand up to his own techniques while remaining calm. While being dismissed, Alex said he was not making enemies with the men but was pissed at Sam for being self-centred. Then, Kiya thought the men needed to get it together while the women would kill it. Lastly, Sam was furious at Alex for blaming others instead of owning up to his mistakes and wanted the latter home.

Ramsay's comment: "After watching Jay struggle so badly on garnish, I decided to assign him to a different station. The train station."

Trivia[]

  • Title Reference: The title refers to the dunk tank used in the Whole Squid Prep Challenge.
  • This episode marks the second time a team won two challenges and two services in a row, and the first time the red team did so, following Season 17's blue team.
  • This episode features the most nominees from a single team, with five.
  • This is the first time Ramsay has ever walked back up to his office during the elimination ceremony.
  • This marks the first time a Punishment Pass was not used upon its first usage availability.
  • This is the only episode where Ramsay voided his own nominations.
Hell's Kitchen Season 20 Episodes
Young Guns Come Out ShootingTemping the MeatCome Hell or High Water!Young Guns Going BigStirring the PotA Ramsay Birthday in Hell!If You Can't Stand the Heat...A Devilish ChallengeA Game Show From HellMore Than a Sticky SituationSwiping RightAll Hell Breaks LooseSocial Media in HellHell Hath No Fury...What the HellTwo Young Guns Shoot It Out
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