The eighth episode of Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on July 31, 2006. In that episode, the final four served lunch to construction workers, immunity was given for the first time in Hell's Kitchen, but the chef who received it made a terrible performance, not worthy of it.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, all but Virginia celebrated being in the final four as Keith apologized to the former for nominating her. Virginia went lying on her bed, crying and ashamed about her poor performances and being nominated a fourth time, saying said she does not want to be there if she does not deserve to. While Virginia knew she was good at challenges, she sucked in dinner services, making her frustrated. Sara thought that Virginia had no skills whatsoever and that Heather and Keith were her biggest competition. On the patio, Keith joked with Heather that he was the last man standing, declaring he had to get rid of the dudes as he was a pimp. Keith hoped that K-Grease was in the final two, while Heather told him he had to pick her if he was to win the next challenge, or she would punch him in the throat.
Individual challenge[]
The following day, Ramsay found it extraordinary that they went from twelve to four and asked the final four who they think was the strongest chef. Everybody answered themselves, except Virginia, who was still feeling ashamed about her last dinner service performance until Ramsay made her say it. Regardless, Ramsay declared they were all strong chefs as they went from hell and back and revealed that they would each have their own restaurants for a lunch-themed challenge for their next challenge. Keith called that pimp as he played restaurant since he was a kid, and Ramsay announced that the winner of that challenge would win a guaranteed spot in the final three. After hearing that, Virginia was more determined to win the challenge, while Heather called it huge. Then, Ramsay had the final four blindfolded and taken to a secret location via the SUVs. On the drive there, Heather was excited to run her own restaurant, Sara called it a great opportunity to run a team, and Virginia refused to get intimidated if it were a high-class restaurant. However, once the final four arrived at the location, they were shocked to see catering trucks in front of them, but Sara called it a big dream to run one. Ramsay introduced the 100 Portions Construction Workers Challenge, where each contestant had one hour to prepare 100 portions of a meal for the same number of construction workers for lunch, which excited Heather. In addition, the workers would help Ramsay judged the dishes they created, and the chef with the best dish was the winner.
As the challenge began, Virginia prepared a turkey, prosciutto, and feta cheese sandwich, Sara made seared quail with a micro green salad and fresh berries, Keith served a poached lobster and greens, and Heather cooked a grilled chicken sandwich with French fries as everybody loved those dishes. Once time was up, the final four served their dishes to the construction workers. While serving her plates to the construction workers, Sara spoke in her native tongue, Spanish, hoping it would help her. On her side, Virginia used a very flirtatious approach, while Heather revealed that she added alcohol into her onions as she thought construction workers loved alcohol. After, every worker sampled each plate and voted for their favorite and least favorite dishes, while the final four went back to Hell's Kitchen with Ramsay to hear the decision.
Once back in Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay reminded the final four how big the reward was as it was immunity for the final three. Heather knew that the immune chef could throw things out of whack, Sara wanted to clinch the victory, Virginia wanted redemption, and all Keith wanted was not to do another punishment. Ramsay announced that for the worst dish overall, Heather's dish was voted the worst, which made the latter’s heart drop. For the best dish overall, Ramsay announced that Virginia's dish won more than half the votes as the best, making her the winner of the challenge. A shocked Virginia asked Ramsay if he was lying, but he reminded her that the construction workers were the ones that decided the vote.
Reward[]
As promised, Virginia was rewarded with immunity at the subsequent elimination, which meant she went through to the final three. In addition, she received a shopping spree with Ramsay. Back at the dorms, Virginia was happy to be in the safe zone with immunity but wondered what the shopping spree entailed, just as Keith mocked her in the bathroom out of jealousy.
During the reward, Virginia and Ramsay went to Sur La Table for the shopping spree, which she called her dream. As the two shopped, Virginia got more comfortable with Ramsay, even flirting with him at certain points before finding one of Ramsay’s cookbooks and having him sign it. Then, Virginia found a porcelain cow for Sara after a certain insult in a previous service. In the end, she bought close to $970 worth of kitchen items.
Punishment[]
The remaining chefs were punished by prepping crab for the next dinner service. Back at the dorms, Keith felt that even if Virginia won more challenges, they did not matter in the end, before comforting Heather, who was discouraged by the results. Then, Heather and Keith felt that Virginia won not because the workers liked her dish but because they liked her. Keith said she won because she was the hottest and flirted with them, saying things like I'll take you home. The two plotted against Virginia, where they agreed to leave her on the side if she would need help during service.
During the punishment, Keith called the prep work tedious, while Sara warned them not to let a crab pinch them. Then, Keith found it odd that Virginia kept winning challenges, while Heather was annoyed that the latter was still around despite having all but one poor service. As the trio were annoyed by Virginia, they planned on letting her fall in the following service.
Before service[]
When Virginia returned from her reward, she received a very cold shoulder from her teammates as she gave them cheap presents. Sara received a cow statue, Heather received a glove and Keith crab crackers. An upset Keith felt that Virginia should have given them better gifts based on her $1000 shopping spree, especially as picked her to come on his Las Vegas trip, while the latter felt that they were rude to her just because she won. So, Virginia went back upstairs to sleep while the remaining chefs continued their punishment.
The following day, the final four came downstairs to prep, but Virginia was not feeling secure even though she was safe. Sara remarked that even though Virginia was safe, she was a mess during the line and wanted to focus on herself that night. With the three other chefs at risk of elimination, Keith felt confident as all he had to do was keep calm and clean. When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay revealed that he invited three top chefs to eat in the dining room that night, making Sara freak out. After warning the final four not to screw up on that table, Ramsay opened the kitchen.
Dinner service[]
In addition to being on garnish, Virginia was responsible for serving a crab amuse-bouche for every table. Virginia was able to get the amuse-bouches out, and Ramsay felt that was the fastest he has seen her so far. Keith and Sara got the kitchen off to a great start by sending many appetizers out, with Keith serving them in record time.
It was only 30 minutes into dinner service. The kitchen was moving on to entrées, with Ramsay praising the final four for their strong start and told them he wanted to keep that momentum. However, when Ramsay called out a six-cover, Virginia was caught staring at him, not doing anything, leading him to tell her that she had to move her ass by mimicking what she was doing. As Heather knew she could be any of the three remaining chefs going home that night, she was in overdrive on meat as she had to step up. Then, Virginia could not find her green beans, holding Heather up on her entrées. Still, when Virginia told Ramsay she was trying to move fast as many things were going at once, the latter told her to watch Heather. Despite that, Heather served perfectly cooked Wellingtons, and Ramsay said it was the best start they have ever had.
One hour into service, nearly half of the dining room received their entrées, and the three master chefs arrived, being greeted by Jean-Philippe. The guests included Josie Le Balch, David Myers, and Michael Mina. Ramsay told the team to pick a dish to serve to the master chefs. Keith decided to serve lobster spaghetti, but while Sara wanted to serve one monkfish and two scallops, Ramsay told her to get all three VIPS of them the same dish, so she chose the scallops Saint-Jacques. Finally, Heather decided to serve beef Wellingtons. When a minor fire erupted on Keith's station, he reassured Ramsay that he was in control, and the fire disappeared. Then, Keith realized his pasta was undercooked, but rather than announcing the mistake, he took a chance by trying to reboil it. Ramsay did not notice it and sent it to the VIP table. On her side, Sara declared she needed two minutes on the salmon, so Heather had to take her duck back. While Sara acknowledged her mistake, Ramsay said he knew it was her mistake, claimed that the duck was perfectly cooked and she was holding the entrées back. When Sara said she needed two minutes again, Ramsay was discouraged, and Heather had to refire her duck. Ramsay warned Sara that she could not sabotage their service as was so far immaculate. When the master chefs finished their appetizers, Keith found out that his gamble of reboiling the pasta did not pay off as the pasta was still too watery and not cooked all the way through. Ramsay told Keith not to give up on him as he did not give up on him. Then, another minor fire erupted on Keith's station. Afterwards, Sara announced she was running out of salmon for the night, much to Ramsay's disbelief. Sara checked with Jean-Philippe if she could serve turbot instead, but when Ramsay was schooling her about her performance, she talked back to him, saying, come on. Ramsay became furious when Sara kept talking back to him and sent Heather to the fish station to help her. Although Sara refused Heather’s help and told her she was fine, Ramsay threatened her with elimination unless she spoke up. When her scallop dishes made it to the chefs' table, it received mixed reviews as Le Balch thought they tasted salty.
Determined to ensure the quality of her food, Heather had to communicate well with Virginia, only to repeat one of her orders to her when the latter did not understand it the first time. After a minor fire erupted on Virginia's station, Heather was sent there to help her, going to the back store looking for bok choy. When Virginia realized she was out of cream, she asked Keith if he could run to get her some as fast as possible, but he refused. When Ramsay asked Virginia if her panicking was because of her immunity, she answered no, even though the former reminded her that Heather was working her station for her. Despite that, Heather succeeded in getting her entrées out, and more than half of the diners received their main courses. When Jean-Philippe returned to the kitchen with the chefs' dishes, he said to Heather that the meat was cooked perfectly, but Virginia's peas were burned. Heather sarcastically thanked Virginia for that, while an upset Ramsay asked the latter if she was playing against Heather and not with her due to being safe. However, Virginia argued that she was trying to play with them and asked why they were harsh to her.
While Heather was determined to complete service, with or without help, Sara asked her to slow down. Still, Ramsay made Sara count the tickets, which there were ten left, and made Sara apologize to Heather for that comment like she meant it. Afterwards, Virginia told Heather to slow down and not make it in time, leading Ramsay to tell Heather that the former was screwing her. Then, Virginia told Ramsay she burned the cabbage, which made Heather taking her meat back. That led Ramsay to take Virginia's immunity away from her, which made Heather smile and thanked God for that. Then, Virginia became confused and started to panic about the time she needed, which discouraged Ramsay even further as it was her worst night ever, making her wish she was a server right now.
Two and a half hours into service, the final four were about to complete its second dinner service in a row, which Ramsay was eager about it. After the last ticket was sent out, Ramsay congratulated Heather and made everybody clear down.
Post-mortem[]
When the final four were lined up, Ramsay reminded them it was their best start ever, but it shut down when it got to the middle. Referring to the chefs' comment cards, both the appetizers and fish received mixed reviews, but the Wellingtons were the most enjoyed. Ramsay, congratulating Heather for her best performance yet, put her in charge of nominating two of her teammates for elimination.
During deliberation, Virginia convinced Heather to put her up as she was so ashamed about her performance and seriously wondered if she was ready to run a restaurant. Although Heather felt threatened by Virginia’s creativity, she respected that decision and went to the patio to tell the news to Sara and Keith. Heather said she was nominating Sara alongside Virginia, which made the latter ask why. Although shocked that she had to justify her reasoning, Heather felt that Sara made more mistakes than Keith, whose performance that night was okay. Heather reassured Sara that she was not going home as Virginia was taking herself out. The three chefs toasted to themselves being in the final three.
Elimination[]
Heather nominated Virginia as her first nominee and Sara as her second. During their pleas, Sara refused to nitpick on what happened that night but knew she could hold her own despite her mistakes. Then, Virginia flat out told Ramsay that after being nominated multiple times, she questioned her ability to run a kitchen if she could not run garnish and felt she did not deserve to win Hell’s Kitchen. However, Ramsay reminded Virginia that she had a spot in the final three because she won the challenge, offering to give her back her immunity if she wanted it. Although Virginia did not want to be in the final three because Ramsay was a man of his word or because of the challenge, the latter told her it was her decision, before telling Sara to shut up when the latter tried to speak up. After much deliberation, Virginia changed her mind and declared she wants to stay in the competition. Ramsay respected her decision and eliminated Sara for her poor performance on the fish station but praised her hard work. Before Sara left, she gave a Texan farewell to Ramsay, saying, "Kiss my grits!" and received a retrospective montage of her run during her exit interview.
After Sara left, Ramsay said that it was a phenomenal journey with highs and lows but told them that the hardest part was about to begin. While being dismissed, Virginia was in better spirits than earlier as she wanted to stay. While Heather was shocked about Virginia staying due to being a threat to her, she was not worried. Then, Keith said he was more concerned about his skills than the two women next to him.
Ramsay's comment: "Sara's not good enough as a cook, she made so many simple mistakes, she definitely didn't merit to win her own restaurant. Hello sweetheart, kiss my grits!"
Trivia[]
- This marks the first time Ramsay gave a chef immunity, and its also the first time an immuned chef was nominated.
| Hell's Kitchen Season 2 Episodes |
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| 12 Chefs • 11 Chefs • 9 Chefs • 8 Chefs • 7 Chefs • 6 Chefs • 5 Chefs • 4 Chefs • 3 Chefs • 2 Chefs/Winner |