The third episode of Season 21 of Hell's Kitchen aired on October 13, 2022. In that episode, lobster was the main theme, one team continued their domination, and Ramsay made a drastic decision after elimination.
Intro[]
While returning to the dorms, Alex deemed the blue team a dumpster fire and told Brett he wanted Billy to leave that night. Alex did not like Billy's aggressive behavior, and Nicole called the latter unnervingly loud. As Billy loudly cheered for his safety, he promised to bottle his emotions. However, Tara told Billy to shut up, go to bed, and bring his A-game the following day.
In the morning, Billy chatted with some of the women on the red team and said he was going to "Be True" all day. Sommer felt that the blue team disliked Billy due to his attitude, but she found it a good advantage for the red team to exploit.
Team challenge[]
Later that day, the Sous Chefs came in with cases containing helmets, knee pads, and elbow pads. As the chefs put them on, Alex claimed that the last time he wore a helmet was when he was seven. Once outside, they saw Tony Hawk doing tricks on a half-pipe, stunning everyone. Billy deemed Tony the GOAT of skateboarding, and after the latter finished his set, thirteen-year-old Sky Brown began doing her tricks. After the show, Ramsay asked for a volunteer from both teams to skateboard. None of them raised their hands as Cheyenne refused to go up. Eventually, Vlad and Mindy volunteered and went up to the top of the ramp. Before they could skateboard, Ramsay said he was kidding and sent them back to their teams. Still, Mindy said she would have done it even if she needed medical help afterwards.
Ramsay asked Tony Hawk what the secret was to his success, and the latter said it was his consistency. Sky Brown said her success came from being attentive to the littlest details. With those two things in mind, Ramsay announced the Whole Lobster Prep Challenge was their next challenge. Tara said she cleaned lobsters her whole life and felt she would be comfortable in that challenge. Ramsay gave a quick demonstration on properly cleaning a lobster, and O'Shay compared him to a ninja for doing it effortlessly. Once the chefs returned to their kitchens, they had ten minutes to cook and properly clean their lobster. However, Cheyenne knew that four minutes of that time limit would be dedicated to cooking the lobster and then spending the rest of the challenge cleaning it. O'Shay said he used to work at a lobster restaurant and said he would work like a surgeon. Four minutes left, Sommer was confident she could break a lobster down as she did it back home while Tara struggled. One minute left, Tara struggled to get her second knuckle out, and as time ran out, everyone had to present what they had on the board. Although Tara was not happy about her performance, she hoped Ramsay would be gentle for at least having most of the lobster done.
Before judging the lobsters, Ramsay gave the red team thirty seconds to sit out two chefs so they would be even at seven each. Alyssa immediately dropped her lobster as she failed to get the legs out, while Sommer wondered if she should drop hers as she did not get everything. However, many pointed to Ileana's lobster as it looked butchered, angering her as she had all the components compared to Sommer. By the end of the discussion, Alyssa and Sommer were excluded from the judging, though neither was happy with the decision. Dismayed by that, Ramsay gave the red team ten more seconds to review their decision. Immediately, Sommer told Ileana that although she had everything on the board, it looked butchered while she had everything but the legs. As such, the red team swapped Sommer in place of Ileana, angering the latter as she felt the red team had no faith in her skills after the last two challenges.
Ramsay started with the blue team and looked at Abe's attempt. Abe's attempt was deemed exceptional, while Tara's attempt had no legs. Because of that, Tara did not score a point, and Ileana knew Ramsay would not like Sommer's attempt. O'Shay's attempt looked messy due to missing part of a claw, a missing knuckle, and only four legs. O'Shay failed to score, and that angered Billy. Afterwards, Billy, Mindy, Nicole, and Alex scored, and the blue team ended with five points. After their round ended, Nicole felt like the blue team would win.
Moving over to the red team, Brett's attempt was accepted, followed by Cheyenne, Dafne, Vlad, and Sakari. With the score tied at five each, Sommer had to score for the red team to win. However, Sommer failed to score to having no legs. While Sommer knew she shot herself in the foot that day, she argued that she at least stood for what she believed in. The final chef to have their lobster judged was Alejandro, and he scored. That meant the red team won 6-5, and while Dafne celebrated, a deflated Mindy knew the blue team would do another punishment.
Scoring[]
| Team | Score | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20-Somethings | 6 | 40-Somethings | 5 |
| Results | 6-5 | ||
Reward[]
The red team was rewarded with driving European Sports Cars. As the red team returned to the dorms, Brett was glad they had a strong enough team to win despite some hiccups. Still, Brett wanted to address the failures before they ruined the team, and the red team sat down for a meeting. Sommer defended her call to switch places with Ileana, but the latter was still mad that she was cast aside due to her previous challenge performances. Alejandro told Ileana to stick up for herself more, and Alyssa felt the latter did have a decent lobster to present to Ramsay. However, Sommer rudely told Alyssa to keep her opinions to herself, and the latter retorted that the former gave her attitude no matter what she said. Still, Brett pointed out that Alyssa brought out negative vibes whenever she was mad. Alyssa took that personally and felt the red team was ganging up on her for being outspoken. At the end of the meeting, Sakari told the red team they must stick together and reminded them that they won the challenge.
During the reward, the red team went to MB2 Raceway and began racing in go-karts. Brett admitted to being a competition freak during the race and ran through Vlad, sending the latter into last place. Dafne drafted behind Alyssa for the win on the final lap, but the latter came in first. After coming in first, Alyssa felt she needed the confidence boost after that morning.
Punishment[]
The blue team was punished by making seafood stock out of fish guts and separating the rice. Ramsay asked Alex if he would use his Punishment Pass and join the red team on their reward, but the latter decided to take the punishment and be with the blue team. As the blue team went up to the dorms, O'Shay felt they were cursed due to their losing streak.
During the punishment, Sous Chef Jason told the blue team to separate the fish for stock preparation, but O'Shay had no idea what each fish looked like. Billy called it disgusting, and Abe found the fish sticky and slimy. As the blue team went forward, Alex jokingly said he wanted to use his Punishment Pass, but Mindy told him it was too late. As the blue team went through the rice, Billy compared it to going through bird feed, and Alex felt he was in ISS during detention. That led to a conversation about who got suspended at school, though Tara said she never got suspended. When Tara began to have a minor spat with Abe, he believed she was antsy and the home-schooled teacher. When the red team returned from their reward, Billy said he would do anything it took to win the following service.
Before service[]
Later that day, the blue team met up for a meeting. Alex believed their problem was being a team that was used to being Executive Chefs and running things, while the red team was used to being on the line. Alex wanted the blue team to focus and calm down, and Mindy did not want to lose and send someone home again. Later that evening, everyone had finished prepping their stations as Billy stated he was there to bust his ass for Ramsay. Billy tried to pump up the blue team and get through dinner service, but Alex was getting worried about the former. Once everyone was ready, Ramsay asked Matthew to open Hell's Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Tony Hawk and Uncle Roger were seen in the dining room that night. Because the red team had two extra chefs, Alyssa and Sakari were stationed in the dining room serving a special New England lobster Caesar salad. The red team received their first order, and Ramsay told Alejandro to take control of the appetizers. When the blue team worked on their order, Billy tried rereading it to help Tara and Abe. However, Billy confused Tara as they had no risottos on order. Alex got his scallops accepted, and Tara and Abe got their appetizers out as well. Once the order was finished, Ramsay sternly told Billy that he did not want him copying him on orders as his job was to communicate with his team.
Forty minutes into dinner service, Alejandro got his flatbreads ready, but Ileana was late getting her scallops up to the pass. After Ileana got them up, Ramsay told Alejandro to tell the fish station he was ready, so his food did not die. Alejandro knew he had to be the leader Ramsay wanted him to be, and on the following order, he asked Ileana if she had the lobster tail cooking. Ileana nor Sommer did not respond to Alejandro, frustrating him as fish was supposed to be an easy station. When Alejandro got his risotto up to the pass, Sommer realized they forgot to fire a second lobster tail. Ramsay was unhappy that Sommer forgot to fire two lobster tails, as that was basic cooking. Ramsay did not find any leadership in the fish station, but Ileana promised to get a lobster tail ready in one minute. Ileana got frustrated working alone without Sommer's help, and when the latter walked up the lobster tails, one of them was raw. A frustrated Ramsay took the dishes and walked the red team into the pantry to scold them for shutting down. Ramsay reminded Alejandro of his expectations of him leading appetizers, told off Vlad for standing there in silence, and called Sommer and Ileana pathetic. Finding no leadership in the red team, Ramsay told them to have a meeting to sort out their problems. Alejandro told Ileana to take control of fish and Vlad knew that they would lose if they did not get it together. Once the red team returned to the kitchen, they began working on the refire and had a spark relit. As the red team got their refire accepted, the blue team began working on entrées. Nicole added oil to the chicken instead of butter, leading her teammates to tell her to dump it out. Still, Nicole got annoyed that they were micromanaging her as she knew how to cook. Then, O'Shay called out five minutes for the Wellingtons, which annoyed Nicole as he said it every other minute. O'Shay cut into an overcooked Wellington and did not respond to Ramsay, leaving the latter frustrated that no one was talking to him. Nicole walked the chicken, but O'Shay was late bringing the Wellington. However, Nicole's chicken was pink, and O'Shay's Wellingtons were overcooked. Nicole believed that mistake happened because she got yelled at by everyone, and she got confused.
As blue customers got restless, the red team began firing entrées. Ileana knew it was do or die after being called pathetic, and Sommer got angry when the former was leaving her nothing to cook. Vlad compared the arguing to high school girls bickering despite being on the same team, but Ileana found Sommer a backseat driver. Then, Ileana burned her skin on the salmon and asked for six minutes on the refire, but Ramsay said Brett's Wellingtons were ready. Ramsay got frustrated that nobody was leading the fish station and ordered Ileana and Sommer to sort it out.
One hour and a half into dinner service, O'Shay failed to give Ramsay a time on the following order: a two top celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary. Nicole walked up her New York Striploin, and soon after, O'Shay walked up his lamb. However, both proteins were raw, and a fed-up Ramsay kicked the blue team out of the kitchen. That left Tara fuming over losing again. Ramsay followed the blue team to chew them out for giving a married couple raw proteins for their fortieth wedding anniversary while serving only three tables in 90 minutes. Ramsay told the blue team they should be ashamed and ordered them to nominate two people. Alex called getting kicked out of two consecutive services a nightmare. Meanwhile, the red team pushed through their final entrées as Ileana did not want to get yelled at again. Thankfully, Ileana's salmon was accepted, and the order was sent out. As the red team sent out orders, Matthew served the couple their entrées that Sous Chef Jason cooked himself. Once service ended, Ramsay congratulated the red team for finishing strong.
Post-mortem[]
Back at the dorms, Billy said that service was worse than the previous one, and Alex deemed it a trainwreck. Billy did not understand why they could not come together while Abe wanted to get straight to nominations. Billy saw the meat station, O'Shay and Nicole, as the apparent nominees, and Abe found no motivation or motion from them. Nicole argued that meat had problems the previous night, but Alex said he did not hear from her or O'Shay. Nicole said she knew how to cook a chicken, but she did not get any feedback from O'Shay. O'Shay asked what they wanted him to do due to the temperature drops, but Billy told him to take things out fast. Still, O'Shay was frustrated that he was struggling with something he knew what to do and nominated Billy for messing up two nights in a row. Billy did not feel he deserved to be nominated, but Alex felt there was some disorganization on garnish. Billy did not feel that Alex's comment was necessary, but when Tara tried to back the latter up, Abe came down on her for always having an opinion. That caused Tara to have a mini freak out in response.
Elimination[]
Before asking for the nominees, Ramsay told the blue team that the only word he could use to describe their night was painful. Tara announced O'Shay as the blue team's first nominee and Nicole as their second. During their pleas, Ramsay asked O'Shay what had happened to him. O'Shay admitted that meat got away from him and that he had a bad night, while Nicole felt she did not get any communication from the former. When Ramsay asked Nicole if she was a better chef than O'Shay, she believed she was as she knew how to communicate. In contrast, O'Shay said he was a better chef than Nicole as he did not drag people down on his mistakes. After a tough decision, Ramsay eliminated O'Shay for his poor performance on meat and having no fight back that night. During his exit interview, O'Shay was disappointed he did not perform to his standards, but he planned on taking what he learned from Ramsay and keep dreaming.
After O'Shay left, Ramsay sent Nicole back in line and warned the blue team to stop giving him excuses. While being dismissed, Nicole said she really wanted to compete but knew she had a lot of work to do. Then, Alejandro was not impressed by the blue team and knew that sooner or later, they would be taken out one by one. Lastly, Tara believed trimming the fat was for the best so the blue team could stop losing.
Ramsay's comment: "Some evictions are harder than others. This was an easy one. Goodbye, O'Shay."
Team Switch[]
After elimination, the chefs relaxed at the dorms as Alex looked at the photos the red team took on their rewards. Suddenly, the phone rang, and Brett answered it. Ramsay told Brett to have everyone back downstairs immediately, making Nicole wonder if the former had changed his mind about her. Once everyone was downstairs, Ramsay said he spent time in his office reflecting on everything that had happened since they began, and the one thing that stood out was the red team dominating the competition. Ramsay refused to let that continue as he did not want to leave half the dining room hungry. So, Ramsay announced that come the next day, the battle of the sexes was back on with all the women cooking in the red kitchen and the men cooking in the blue kitchen. Everyone was stunned by that announcement, and the episode ended on a cliffhanger.
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the Whole Lobster Prep Challenge.
- With this episode, Season 21 has set the record for most chefs participating in a team reassignment with seven chefs. This beats the original record of six from Season 18.
- Coincidentally, both seasons featured Ramsay making a team switch after realizing that the theme of the season was not working to how he envisioned it and reverting back to the battle of the sexes.
- This marks the second time since Episode 2004 - Young Guns: Young Guns Going Big where Ramsay reassigned an odd number of chefs.
- This marks the third time a team won the first two challenges and services following Season 17's blue team and Season 20's red team.