The thirteenth episode of Season 21 of Hell's Kitchen aired on January 26, 2023. In that episode, the final five competed in their first black jacket challenge, the reward had an accident, and an early front runner ruined the service.
Intro[]
During the episode recap, Sakari and Tara received the jacket hanging and portrait burning sequence for the first time since their eliminations.
After Ramsay dismissed the final five back to the dorms, Alex said he could not be happier with the people who deserved black jackets. Although Alex wished his competitors luck, he also told them they had job opportunities when he won the competition. Later that evening, everyone gathered in the dining room and began talking about the Covid-19 Pandemic. Cheyenne revealed that she was in college when it happened and never returned after a supposed two-week break. Alejandro said his place of business shut down, and Dafne said she lost her Executive Chef position at a private club in Beverly Hills when it shut down. Then, Sommer asked Alex what happened to him as she recalled that he had a restaurant before coming to Hell’s Kitchen. Alex said he ran his restaurant for two years before the Pandemic, remembering how scary it was when he struggled to feed his family with a closed business. Also, Alex revealed that he sold it two days before leaving for Los Angeles.
Individual challenge[]
The following morning, the final five came downstairs to see Ramsay next to an Allegiant airport conveyor belt. Still, Alejandro said he stopped assuming things to happen in Hell’s Kitchen as anything could happen. Ramsay reminded the final five that chefs traveled worldwide to make magical dishes from anywhere in the globe. So, Ramsay announced that their next challenge was creating a dish using ingredients from different cities. The ingredients native to those cities were stored in suitcases, but they must pick a flight number to decide what city would get. Sommer went first and picked 23, getting Key West, Florida. Sommer said she ate a lot of seafood in Florida and felt confident as she had cooked a lot of fish before. Then, Alejandro picked 25 and got Austin, Texas, which he deemed the smoking capital of the world. Dafne picked 57 and got Boston, Massachusetts, while Cheyenne picked 19 and got New Orleans, Louisiana. Cheyenne said she worked with New Orleans cuisine at her bistro, so she felt confident she would do well. Lastly, Alex picked 12 and got San Francisco, California. Even though Alex had no idea what Californian cuisine was, he thought it would be easy. After getting their cities, Ramsay asked Marino, dressed in flight attendant gear, to collect their bags. However, Marino ended up stacking them into a messy pile, which annoyed Ramsay.
The chefs had 45 minutes to grab their bags and cook their dishes. As the challenge began, the chefs raced to find their bags, and all but Cheyenne found theirs’ in the first minute. Still, Cheyenne managed to get her’s not long after Alejandro got his bag. Sommer found mahi-mahi, rum, and tropical fruits in her bag, relieving her as she was used to cooking with those ingredients due to her Jamaican background. Cheyenne noticed those ingredients were similar to what Sommer cooked in the competition and hoped she would whoop the latter’s ass. Meanwhile, Alex was not thrilled when he got a live crab as he had never worked with one before, but Sous Chef Jason explained where the meat was. Alex felt lost as he threw his crab into the pot. Twenty-two minutes, Dafne told Sous Chef Jason that she was making a beer-battered cod with corn chowder and beer-battered green beans. Fifteen minutes left, Alejandro decided to make Johnny Cakes and a potato vinaigrette. Ten minutes left, Alex still had no idea what he would make with his crab, so he decided to make a salad. Then, Dafne saw the mess Alex made when trying to deshell the crab. Meanwhile, Cheyenne felt confident using the New Orleans ingredients as she seasoned her shrimp with Cajun seasoning. Eventually, everyone had their dishes cooked and plated on time.
Michael Cimarusti came to help Ramsay judge the challenge. Seeing him made Dafne recall that she went to Cimarusti’s restaurant Providence and knew he could cook. Before judging the dishes, Ramsay explained it was the King of the Hill Challenge. One by one, each chef would have their dishes judged by Ramsay and Cimarusti and be allowed to sit on the winner’s throne, a first-class airplane seat. However, anyone who presented a superior dish would replace the leader, and the last person left on the throne at the end won the challenge.
Alex went up first and knew there was a lot of pressure because it was the first black jacket challenge. Hoping he made something decent, Alex presented his Dungeness crab salad with grilled bok choy, poached grapes, and micro cilantro. Cimarusti liked the refreshing components, and Ramsay liked how Alex nicely respected the ingredients. After Alex took his throne, Dafne was surprised that the former managed to pull it off. Alejandro presented his ribeye with barbecue sauce, Johnnycakes and fried potato vinaigrette. The steak was cooked perfectly, and the vinaigrette was tasty, but Cimarusti found the Johnnycake too heavy. Even though Ramsay found the ribeye cooked perfectly, Alejandro failed to dethrone Alex. Sommer’s Caribbean-inspired mahi-mahi did not have the citrus flavor Cimarusti hoped for, but Ramsay said the dish screamed Florida and loved what she did with the mahi-mahi. Dafne knew that Sommer shot it out of the park, and the latter dethroned Alex. Afterwards, Cheyenne presented her shrimp jambalaya with andouille sausage. Cimarusti called it a beautiful mountain and felt Cheyenne made a wonderful sauce. After a tough decision, the judges agreed that Cheyenne’s dish was better than Sommer’s, giving the former the throne. Once she sat down, Cheyenne was thrilled to be in first class for the first time. Dafne was the final chef up and hoped it was enough to beat Cheyenne. Dafne’s corn chowder with beer-battered cod and green beans. The batter was delicious, and the cod was cooked perfectly with the right crunch. Still, Ramsay told Dafne not to be afraid of putting heat into the chowder as it would make it less creamy. Ultimately, Dafne failed to dethrone Cheyenne, and the latter won the challenge.
Reward[]
Cheyenne was rewarded with an offroad trip through the Los Angeles canyons. That pumped Cheyenne, and Ramsay asked her who she would like to bring with her on the reward. Cheyenne picked Sommer, upsetting Dafne as it meant she had to do a punishment. Before returning to the dorms, Ramsay told Cheyenne and Sommer that there was one more reward waiting for them upstairs. Once upstairs, Cheyenne felt she was on top as the two women found an OXO cooking set for them.
During the reward, Cheyenne was excited to hit the roads on a UTV, while Sommer was a little nervous despite loving extreme vehicles. Cheyenne drove first and felt comfortable letting Sommer take her turn; however, Sommer went too fast, and the vehicle flipped when she tried to turn the corner. Fortunately, both were okay, and Cheyenne thought she could have had another turn.
Punishment[]
The remaining chefs were punished by taking in peppercorns, separating them by hand, grinding them, and prepping pistachios for that night’s services. As the chefs prepared for their punishment, Alex felt he was close to the record of the most punishments, as it was his ninth overall. Still, Alex felt like he was in good company. Alex and Dafne prepped the pistachios during the punishment, while Alejandro did the peppercorn. Alejandro deemed it the worse punishment he did due to his big hands, and Dafne felt her energy being sapped. Realizing she had not done any punishments in a while, Dafne realized she had been spoiled after Alex said it was his ninth punishment. Alex admits that the worst part of doing the punishments was missing out on the activities.
Before service[]
When Cheyenne and Sommer returned from their reward, they told the others about their accident. However, Alejandro got annoyed by how loud Sommer spoke, leading Cheyenne to comment on their beef. As Cheyenne and Sommer returned to the dorms, Dafne commented that the three chefs doing the punishment could have been the final three had the accident gone differently but stressed it as a joke.
Later that evening, the final five lined up as Ramsay deemed them his fab five. He expected a great service from the group and asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Tia Mowry dined at the chef’s table that night. After Ramsay called in Mowry’s order, Alejandro and Sommer worked on appetizers despite their complex relationship. Still, Sommer knew Alejandro did not want to send out imperfect food like herself. Alejandro told Cheyenne he needed two more minutes on his rice and later, sent up his risottos. However, Cheyenne walked up a raw lobster tail, and everyone began talking over each other on the refire. That annoyed Ramsay, and he told Cheyenne to communicate with Dafne. Sommer did not want to see the group fail as Cheyenne got her refire accepted.
Twenty minutes into dinner service, Ramsay called out the following order, and Cheyenne asked Dafne for a count on fish orders. However, Dafne got distracted by her own work and did not say anything, much to Cheyenne’s annoyance. Cheyenne felt everyone was not talking with her, and Ramsay said he heard more noise from a library. While Cheyenne got her scallops to the pass, she did not have another ready as she did not know two were on order. So, Cheyenne dropped another order, but Ramsay was not happy she did not have it ready on time and demanded she tell the truth. Cheyenne admitted to forgetting the order, but she blamed Dafne for not telling her that earlier. Then, Cheyenne only had one lobster tail ready and had the other one ready seconds later, making Ramsay further frustrated. He took the final five to the pass after sending the risottos out and scolded them for their sloppy start. Ramsay told Cheyenne to talk and told Alejandro to countdown on times as he refused to serve the dining room like that. Dafne told Cheyenne to get a grip, and the black jackets were able to push out some appetizers. Moving onto entrées, Dafne knew everything began and ended with garnish and knew she must be composed. Alejandro came to help Dafne, but the latter walked up ice-cold mushrooms. After Ramsay pounded the mushrooms with his fists, Cheyenne knew it was not cool to send up cold garnishes as there was no excuse. After Dafne walked her refire, Cheyenne and Alex walked up their proteins and got them accepted.
Ninety minutes into dinner service, Ramsay told Alex, Dafne, and Cheyenne to be in sync as the latter kept giving out inconsistent timings. Cheyenne promised to be ready in four minutes, but Alex felt they were not in sync as the former had a fire erupt at her station. Ramsay accused Cheyenne of being out of control before pulling her aside, as Alex knew they could not afford to make hiccups. Ramsay told Cheyenne to calm down as he refused to harm anyone, including herself, and the latter knew she should not have made that mistake. While Dafne had her garnishes ready, Cheyenne continued to perform flustered as the former accused her of being off-planet. Alex got his Wellingtons accepted, but Cheyenne served a raw salmon. Getting further frustrated by the mistakes, Ramsay dragged the final to the front to show the raw salmon before taking them to the pantry room. Ramsay reminded the five that they earned their black jackets for a reason, but now, they were performing poorly due to no communication, no delegation, and no unity. After Ramsay ordered them to get it together, Alex told Dafne to communicate with him, and he will help Cheyenne. As the final five went back to the kitchen, Alex stepped up and helped Cheyenne get the salmon refire accepted. On their next order, Alex stammered on four minutes, but Cheyenne kept yelling out three minutes, much to Dafne’s annoyance. While Dafne needed more time on garnish, Cheyenne and Alex claimed they were ready with their proteins. That annoyed Ramsay that they were waiting on garnish, but Dafne told Alex and Cheyenne to walk their proteins. However, Ramsay discovered that Cheyenne’s salmon was raw and Alex’s New York striploins were medium well and rare respectively. That was the final straw as Ramsay kicked the final five out of the kitchen and said they were not the fab five he hoped for. As the final five went back to the dorms, Ramsay told them to nominate two people for elimination and said they were spoiled for choice.
Post-mortem[]
After the final five returned to the dorms, Dafne said that night was not supposed to happen and said it sucked. Alejandro and Alex knew Cheyenne had the most mistakes that night, but the latter nominated Alex and Dafne for elimination. Dafne nominated Cheyenne and Alex, and Alejandro reminded the latter of his one mistake that got them kicked out. However, Alex argued that his performance was a B plus and did not believe he deserved to be nominated. Then, Alejandro told Dafne she was quiet that night and Cheyenne recalled how she gave her incorrect salmon orders. Dafne argued that she did not want to pile on Cheyenne’s already frazzled state of mind and did not like to scream. Still, Cheyenne believed that Dafne deserved to go home as she did not communicate with her. In contrast, Dafne thought Cheyenne was trying to make her the weakest link when the latter gave up and reminded everyone that she only had the mushrooms sent back. However, Alex said that dumb mistakes could send her home.
Elimination[]
When the final five came downstairs, Ramsay called that night bizarre as they failed to showcase their strengths. Alejandro announced Cheyenne as their first nominee for elimination and Dafne as their second. During their pleas, Dafne said she was a great cook and admitted she should have communicated better with her teammates. However, Dafne argued that there was too much talking and thought Cheyenne was too flustered to listen to her. Still, Dafne said she kept her composure, which Cheyenne did not. Then, Cheyenne said she was passionate and had an off night before arguing against Dafne’s claims by stating the latter did not give her communication. Dafne argued against that and said Cheyenne looked lost. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay called Dafne forward but warned her to get her act together before sending her back in line. Afterwards, Cheyenne was eliminated for struggling with fish and failing to bounce back. Before leaving, Ramsay told Cheyenne that she stood out on many occasions for her young age and believed she would get there. During her exit interview, Cheyenne received a retrospective montage of her time.
After Cheyenne left, Ramsay told the final four that the winner must lead the kitchen when things went well, and when things went poorly. While being dismissed, Dafne said she would no longer play nice, while Sommer refused to let anyone knock her off her game. Then, Alex believed he had a shot at winning the competition.
Ramsay's comment: "As the youngest chef in this competition, Cheyenne came a long way. Unfortunately for her, the ride ends a few stops short of Atlantic City."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title contains two references.
- The title is based on a quote Ramsay made about the final five of that season before service began. However, it turned out to be ironic as they failed as a team that night.
- The title refers to the airport theme of the King of the Hill Challenge.
- This is the first time since Season 16 that a black jacket team was kicked out of the kitchen.
- With Cheyenne’s nomination in this episode, Season 21 becomes the second season after Season 15 where every chef was nominated at least once.