The second episode of Season 21 of Hell's Kitchen aired on October 6, 2022. In this episode, chicken wings were the main dish, one chef made a gutsy move to avoid being the first boot, experience proved to be of little value during service, and Ramsay made a shocking move at elimination.
Individual challenge[]
Continuing from the previous episode, the chefs race back to the kitchens to start the Creative Chicken Wing Challenge. Billy was confident that his wings would bring in flavor as he was a self-described wing connoisseur during his career. Cheyenne planned to put a citrus salad underneath her wings in the red kitchen and said she learned how to make a wing sauce when she started cooking. Thirty minutes left, Nicole planned to redeem her failure on the Signature Dish Challenge, while Dafne planned to stuff her wings with trumpet mushrooms in the red kitchen. Dafne said she loved wings and wanted to execute her risky dish flawlessly. Twenty minutes left, Sommer wanted redemption as she made a sweet and spicy chicken wing while Sous Chef Christina looked at Alejandro's dish. Alejandro was going Mediterranean for his dish, knowing it was a big risk to do that for wings. On the other side, Ileana fried her wings and deemed herself a badass in the kitchen. But with three minutes left, Ileana asked Brett to bring her sauce over, leaving the latter to deem her the most frantic on the red team. Brett believed she would be the first to go home. Eventually, everyone had their dishes cooked and plated on time.
Before Ramsay judged the dishes, he reminded the chefs that the Punishment Passes were up for grabs and had the Sous Chefs unveil them from their suitcases. Seeing one made Alejandro compare it to the power of God due to having the ability to switch places with someone on the winning team. Ramsay asked the Sous Chefs to taste all the wings from their respective kitchens and decide on the top three he would be tasting. Billy showed Sous Chef Jason his Asian Buffalo-styled wing, confident that he knew the profile well. However, Sous Chef Jason had difficulty wiping his fingers as they were sticky. In the red kitchen, Alejandro admitted that his wings were the first time he did them, while Sous Chef Jason questioned Abe's decision to use balsamic. Then, Cheyenne asked Sous Chef Christina for a smile as she deemed the latter to have a strong poker face. In the blue kitchen, Alex presented his General Tso-styled chicken wings, deeming them a guilty pleasure. Meanwhile, Sommer wondered if her dish was too salty after seeing Sous Chef Christina take some water. O'Shay believed his wings were the best, but Sous Chef Jason found a raw wing on the plate and refused to eat it. That embarrassed O'Shay.
After the tasting, Sous Chef Jason announced Zeus as the first chef in the top three of the blue team. That made Zeus believe he deserved to be there, and he walked up his sweet chili wing. Ramsay loved the contrast and the strength of the heat coming from the dish. After his review, Zeus felt stoked as it meant he was there to play. The second blue chef in the top three was Alex, and he presented his General Tso confit wings. Ramsay loved how Alex elevated the Chinese dish and deemed his dish better than Zeus'. The final blue chef in the top three was Nicole, shocking her as she went from zero to hero. Her Gochujang chili wings with tamarin honey were praised for not being store-bought, but Ramsay wondered if they were better than Alex's wings. Ultimately, Alex's dish was deemed the best, and he won the Punishment Pass.
Sous Chef Christina announced Vlad as the first red chef in the top three for the red team. Vlad's buttermilk-soaked double-drenched cornflake chicken wings were praised for being spicy and sweet and for the cornflakes' crunchiness. Afterwards, Vlad boasted that he knew his flavors and deemed the Punishment Pass his. Cheyenne was named the second chef in the top three, and she presented her Asian barbecue wings. Ramsay deemed them good and said Cheyenne overtook Vlad. The final chef in the top three was Alejandro, taking him by surprise. Alejandro presented his Mediterranean wings with Greek yogurt on the bottom, and Ramsay loved the presentation and pomegranate seeds. After a quick deliberation, Ramsay named Alejandro the winner of the second Punishment Pass. Alejandro felt like he had the power of God now, while Ramsay reminded Cheyenne that her wings were still good.
Elimination[]
After the winners were announced, Ramsay reminded Alex and Alejandro that with great power came great responsibility and asked them to taste their teammates' dishes to decide on the bottom two from their respective teams. Although Alex was not thrilled to hurt people's feelings, Alejandro knew it was part of a management position. As the two tasted the dishes, Dafne feared she could go up as she was the only one on the red team who did not toss their wings. Alejandro found Ileana's wings to have pink chicken, while O'Shay got stressed when Alex refused to taste his dish due to having pink chicken.
Afterwards, Alejandro nominated Ileana as his first nominee, much to her disappointment as she wanted to stay, and Dafne as his second. Alex nominated O'Shay as his first nominee and Billy as his second. As the four went up with their dishes, Dafne was distraught to be in the bottom two over a chicken wing. Dafne presented her dish as Alejandro deemed it flavorless despite having an ambitious attempt. Ramsay agreed, as they were bland. When Ileana went up, Alejandro revealed that her dish was undercooked and flavorless. Ramsay found them tough to cut and told Ileana that her frying and oven cooking did not work. When Billy went up, Alex explained that they were overcooked and had a confusing flavor profile. Billy disagreed as he thought Alex feared him, but Ramsay found them dry due to the former removing the skin on the wings. As for O'Shay, Alex said that the former's plating was old school. Ramsay found the spinach tasty, but it did not belong on the wings.
After tasting the dishes, Ramsay sent Billy and Dafne back in line, much to the latter's relief. Between Ileana and O'Shay, Ramsay found it hard as they have not opened Hell's Kitchen. In the end, Ramsay sent O'Shay back in line and spared him, making the latter promise he would bounce back. As for Ileana, Ramsay asked her if that was her best. Ileana said it was not, but Ramsay wondered how she could make it to Atlantic City if she could not execute a wing properly. Ramsay asked Ileana for her jacket, but she begged him to let her stay because she had leadership skills and wanted to prove she could do better. Although doubtful of that, Ramsay relented and gave Ileana one more chance. As Ileana returned in line, she claimed she was not done fighting and wanted to prove herself in the kitchen.
Before service[]
After the challenge, Ramsay sent the chefs back to the dorms to rest before the Sous Chefs went through the menu. As they left, Ramsay congratulated Alex and Alejandro for winning the Punishment Passes. Although Brett was disappointed that he did not make it to the top three, he was proud of Alejandro for winning. Back at the dorms, the chefs got their Henkel Knife kits which Cheyenne said it made the competition real.
Five hours before service began, the chefs came downstairs to receive a lesson about the menu from the Sous Chefs. As they went through all the dishes, Alex found the Sous Chef bouncing off different dishes. Several chefs from the blue team asked questions about what to do with certain dishes, though Alyssa found them stupid and annoying. Zeus felt overwhelmed, and Charlene did not feel confident going into service, comparing it to going to prom with your cousin. As the blue team kept asking questions, the Sous Chefs got bewildered by some of them, particularly Zeus' question about setting up stations. That question irked Ileana, as the blue team would not learn new tricks due to their age. Sous Chef Jason told Zeus that they would not hand them a prep list for a prestige job on the line.
After the lesson, both teams began prepping for service. The blue team got concerned about their first service, and Billy was confused about who made the sriracha sauce. Charlene said Abe was and was concerned that she was working with Billy on the meat station as the latter looked for the lamb. In the red kitchen, Alyssa was worried about working with Ileana on fish as she deemed the latter the weakest link of their team. After Alyssa had to teach Ileana how to score some salmon, the latter called the former a bitch. With everyone ready, Ramsay welcomed Matthew as a temporary Maître D' due to Marino going home to visit family. Afterwards, Ramsay asked Matthew to open Hell's Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
The menu that night featured Alex and Alejandro's challenge-winning dishes served in the dining room by Nicole and Tara from the blue team and Brett and Vlad from the red team. Also, Gene Simmons dined at the blue chefs' table while JoJo and Dexter Darden ate at the red chefs' table. Alejandro admitted that JoJo was his first celebrity crush and used to have posters of her on his wall. So, Alejandro promised to make sure her food came out perfectly. After receiving their first order, Dafne and Sommer coordinated four minutes to get the order out, but Ileana claimed her lobster tail would take seven minutes to cook. Cheyenne disagreed with that, as a lobster tail took three minutes to cook, and suggested that Ileana stop arguing with Alyssa and focus. When Ramsay checked for a time, Dafne told him about the lobster tail's cook time, and he did not understand how it could cook longer than the risotto. Ramsay reminded Ileana that a lobster tail took three minutes to cook and reminded her she was not supposed to be slow for her age.
Forty minutes into service, the blue team began their first order as Alex felt anxious. Despite Alex feeling that they had it, Ramsay noticed Zeus' broken carbonara and called it painful. That led Alex to accuse Zeus of having the shark bite his brain and said the dish looked like scrambled eggs and pasta. When Zeus walked up his refire, it was salty and still had broken eggs in the pan. Ramsay accused Zeus of having half his brain eaten by that shark, and Abe was not happy. Alex compared Zeus to the Berlin Wall crumbling and began helping him on the third attempt. However, Ramsay told Alex to let Zeus cook it himself. In the red kitchen, Alyssa and Ileana bickered over the lobster tail just as Dafne was ready on her risotto. Despite that, Ileana got her lobster tail up to the pass, where it was accepted. Ramsay told Dafne to push the fish station as she should never wait on the lobster tail. While the red team pushed out appetizers, Zeus got his third attempt accepted, and the blue team's first order was out. While Billy was relieved, he did not know if Zeus could not handle the pressure.
With both kitchens pushing out appetizers, Ramsay went into the red kitchen to call out their first entrée order. However, Alyssa and Ileana were distracted by their bickering, frustrating Ramsay. He told the two to listen and reread the order. When Ileana and Alyssa continued to bicker over fish timings, Dafne and Sommer told them to stop. Alyssa told Ileana to listen to her as they were partners and walked the halibut to the pass. Sakari walked the Wellingtons as well, but Ramsay noticed that there was no garnish on the pass. Ramsay scolded the red team for their lack of teamwork, and Alejandro was upset that neither meat nor fish communicated with him. However, Alejandro got his garnishes ready, and the red team sent out their first order of entrées.
The blue team received Gene Simmons' order one hour into service, but Charlene was caught standing unresponsive. Billy was thrilled to be cooking for Gene Simmons, but Charlene did not respond to Ramsay's question about the chicken. When Charlene did respond, she said it would be ready in fifteen minutes. That dismayed Ramsay as a chicken took six to seven minutes, but Charlene argued that she did not want to give him a low number. Still, Ramsay said he did not want to wait until New Years' Eve for a chicken, and Abe found no communication from Charlene. Then, Charlene fired the chicken, angering Ramsay as she was not ready earlier, and he brought the entire blue team into the pantry room. Ramsay was shocked at how bad they were and demanded that someone install the team with some vigor. After a quick pep talk from Alex, the blue team returned to the kitchen. Still, Charlene called it overwhelming to have Ramsay yell at her for being dumb. As Billy cooked the chicken, Zeus told him to let it rest. However, O'Shay walked up the salmon, and Ramsay demanded the meat entrées. Billy walked the proteins, but the Wellingtons were ice cold, and the chicken was pink. Infuriated that they served bad proteins for Gene Simmons, Ramsay threw the blue team out of the kitchen and ordered them to nominate two people for elimination. As the blue team returned to the dorms, Alex was humiliated by getting kicked out. The red team served JoJo's table perfectly in the red kitchen, thanks to Ileana's salmon. Ileana knew she had to prove to her team she could bounce back, and the red team completed their service with no other problems. Once service ended, Ramsay congratulated the meat, fish, and garnish stations for a well-done job. Alyssa was thrilled that they won, and the blue team should be worried about them.
Post-mortem[]
Back at the dorms, Billy was embarrassed of what they served to Gene Simmons and felt there was no communication or energy. Alex retorted that all they had for energy was nerves, and Abe knew they were better than that night. Abe singled out Zeus for the carbonara mishaps, but he asked who was responsible for the chicken fiasco. Billy singled out Charlene for being accountable for the chicken as he went to get the Wellingtons before the mishap started. Charlene admitted that she should have told someone to let the chicken rest, but Billy reminded her that she gave him to okay to walk it up. Billy refused to go home that night due to one mess up and felt he could have run meat alone. Zeus tried to downplay his carbonara mistakes, but Abe reminded the former that he did not communicate as well. Zeus argued that Abe had the easiest station to man, but the latter retorted that carbonara was an easy dish. Still, Zeus wanted to go through everything and decide who to nominate on overall performance. Tara knew Charlene was an obvious nominee, while Mindy nominated Billy. Billy felt there was no reason he should go up over Zeus and called the blue team out for picking on him. However, Alex and Abe argued that it was the meat station's fault they got kicked out of service. Billy argued that they started poorly on appetizers and told them not to blame him for everything.
Elimination[]
When the blue team came downstairs, Ramsay said that what should have been a joyous night turned into a night of mistakes. Abe announced Charlene as the blue team's first nominee for elimination and Billy as their second. During their pleas, Billy deemed it a horrible night but argued that he had the passion and wanted to win. Then, Charlene admitted that she made mistakes that night and was better than what Ramsay saw that night. In response, Billy said he was better than what Ramsay saw and asked for another chance. Before Ramsay announced the eliminated chef, Zeus spoke up and walked down to the front to join Charlene and Billy. Ignoring Billy's demands to shut up and go back in line, Zeus said he deserved to be nominated due to his terrible service and felt Billy and Charlene wanted it more than he did. Ultimately, Ramsay sent Zeus and Billy back in line before eliminating Charlene for her poor performance on meat and freezing up all night. During her exit interview, Charlene was disappointed to go after one service but knew it was her fault for not taking the initiative on meat.
After Charlene left, Ramsay said he was not done and called Zeus down. Because Zeus was willing to give up his safety and try to self-nominate himself, Ramsay saw no reason to keep him around and eliminated the former. During his exit interview, Zeus knew he felt ill after that night and felt Hell's Kitchen was not something he wanted to be a part of.
After Zeus left, Ramsay reminded the chefs that the competition was about bouncing back and getting stronger. He asked the blue team if they could bounce back, and they said yes. While being dismissed, Abe knew that Zeus self-nominating himself meant the latter did not belong in Hell's Kitchen, while Billy was happy to stay as he wanted to win. Then, Cheyenne was excited to have the red team keep dominating the blue team after seeing them lose two chefs.
Ramsay's comment: "Charlene had trouble with her chicken, and Zeus was nothing but a chicken. Good riddance."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the Creative Chicken Wing Challenge.
- This episode marked:
- The first time since Episode 1614 - Playing Your Cards Right where a double elimination occurred, and the first time Ramsay eliminated two chefs from the same team at once. It is also the first time it happened on the opening night, making this season mark the second time where two contestants get eliminated on the opening night following Episode 601 - 16 Chefs Compete.
- The first time since Season 18 where a chef was not eliminated after the individual challenge.
- The first time a chef successfully convinced Ramsay not to eliminate them despite the former seemingly having made his decision.
- The first time since Episode 1220 - Winner Chosen where Marino Monferrato was not seen. Instead, a guest maître d', Matthew, filled in for him.
- The second time a chef survived two nominations in the same day following Episode 1105 - 16 Chefs Compete Part 1 and Episode 1106 - 16 Chefs Compete Part 2.
- The first time since Episode 408 - 8 Chefs Compete where Ramsay eliminated a chef after sending them back in line.
- Three significant notices during dinner service show a few COVID-19 protocols implemented:
- Some of the servers and staff members are seen wearing masks.
- Seating has been downsized due to personal limits.
- The tableside section has been modified to a stationary table with the chefs assigned to the station serving dishes behind plexiglass.