The second episode of Season 22 of Hell's Kitchen aired on October 5, 2023. In that episode, scallops were the main ingredient, the opening night was rough for both teams, and Ramsay swept away the weakest link from the competition.
Individual challenge
Continuing from the previous episode, the Sous Chefs uncovered the boxes as Ramsay revealed to the chefs that they would work with fresh scallops. Mattias saw other things in the blue box and knew things would get messy quickly. As Ramsay took in the fresh smell, Melissa was squicked out by the sight of the contents. For the Creative Scallops Challenge, the chefs had 45 minutes to collect, shuck, clean, and cook their own scallop dish. To demonstrate how to get scallops, Ramsay pulled some items out and gave them to Marino. The chefs watched in amusement as Sammi called a geoduck interesting, which led to Ramsay putting some octopus on Marino's head.
Ramsay gave the chefs a demonstration on how to clean a scallop, and Sandra took note of how easy he made it look. Then, Ramsay revealed that the best chef from each team would receive a Punishment Pass, allowing them to swap places with someone from the winning team and go on the reward while forcing the latter to do the punishment in their place. After hearing that, Jermaine was determined to win after the punishment the men had received the previous evening.
As the challenge began, the chefs went to their colored boxes and collected ten scallops to cook with. Johnathan noticed his teammates going through different seafood and found some scallops to use. Meanwhile, Melissa said she was not a deep diver and felt squeamish about touching the seafood. As the men entered the kitchen, Sous Chef Jason warned them not to underestimate how long shucking a scallop took. Mattias said he had never shucked one before and shanked a couple of his first attempts. While Mattias got his third attempt accepted, Johnathan felt comfortable shucking scallops and planned on making an Escabèche. Johnathan said he had never made it with scallops before but was willing to take a risk.
Twenty-four minutes left, Sammi asked if anyone was serving raw scallops, only to be met with silence. As Sammi wanted to represent California, she made a scallop crudo. Meanwhile, Melissa wanted to see how far she could rise past her strong performance in the Signature Dish Challenge, especially when a Punishment Pass was on the line. With ten minutes left, Tad wanted to make jambalaya out of the scallops but found his rice undercooked. Eventually, everyone had their dishes cooked and plated on time.
After the cooking, Ramsay had Marino bring out the Punishment Passes in a briefcase, and Carmen called it gold. Ramsay asked both teams to judge their dishes and pick the top three he would taste. As the men went through their dishes, Johnathan hoped they put their differences aside and focus as a team. While Johnathan's dish was well received, Jermaine deemed Tad's dish undercooked, which he knew Ramsay would not like. As Jermaine's dish was tasted, Sammi pushed her scallop crudo, and Leigh deemed it beautiful. But for Donya and Atoye's dishes, Carmen felt they lacked salt. Then, Carmen wanted her scallop dish to be in the top three, but everyone else thought it was underwhelming. Carmen was adamant that her dish was in the top three, but with time running out, Sous Chef Christina told the women to wrap it up. Ultimately, Melissa's dish went up over Carman's, upsetting the latter as she thought she was a front-runner in the competition.
When Ramsay asked Carmen who the first person in the top three for the women was, the latter said Sammi's for a unique flavor profile. Sammi's scallop crudo looked confident; it was light, and Ramsay said she was in contention for the Punishment Pass. Then, Leigh's coriander-dusted scallops were up next, but she wanted to prove to Ramsay she could cook despite her lack of experience. Despite his concerns about the overpowering coriander, Ramsay said the dish lifted the palate, and Leigh's dethroned Sammi's dish. Melissa was the final person in the top three to present her dish: scallops with corn relish. Ramsay loved the nod to New Orleans but sent Melissa back in line for his final decision. Ultimately, Melissa won and received the Punishment Pass, which she called the American Dream.
For the men, Jason announced Jermaine as the first person in the top three, making the latter feel like a million bucks. Jermaine presented his scallops in a sweet and spicy sauce, which Ramsay liked as the cook was proper and the heat was balanced. Then, Johnathan went up with his scallop Escabèche in orange Ju vinegar. It had a beautiful presentation and a perfect cook, making Ramsay deem it better than Jermaine's. After Johnathan felt confident he would win a Punishment Pass, Ryan went up as the final person in the top three. After crossing everything he had, Ryan presented his pan-seared scallops in lemongrass Berblanc sauce. Ramsay said the scallops were nailed perfectly, making Ryan feel he was on cloud nine. After a tough decision, Ramsay said Johnathan's dish had the slight edge, making the latter the winner of Punishment Pass. After claiming it, Johnathan said it was his destiny and was on cloud nine.
Before service
After the challenge ended, Ramsay reminded the chefs that Hell's Kitchen opened that night and dismissed the chefs until the Sous Chefs were ready to review the menu. Back at the dorms, the chefs received their knife sets, and Raneisha felt like a thirty-eight-year-old kid on Christmas. Devon reminded the group in the blue bedroom that they get to bring back the jackets and the knives after the competition, but Jason asked if STDs counted. That comment weirded Jermaine out as he did not think Jason was funny, and the latter began bad-mouthing the women by declaring that none of them had talent. Devon disagreed with Jason, and Dahmere did not want the latter's negative energy to drain his skills.
Later that day, the Sous Chefs brought the chefs down for a five-hour training session on the menu items. Atoye felt terrific to get an opportunity to compete, especially as she worked her butt off for her young children. As the Sous Chefs went through the demonstrations, Brad felt overwhelmed by the speed they were going through and felt unconfident. With twenty minutes left before the doors opened, both teams did last-minute prep as Ramsay quizzed Tad on how long a carbonara was cooked. Tad said five minutes and knew the opening night jitters got to him after two poor performances. With everything ready, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell's Kitchen.
Dinner service
Garcelle Beauvais and Alex Mack ate in the dining room. At the same time, a seafood ceviche was served in the dining room by Johnathan and Jermaine for the men and Raneisha and Melissa for the women. Also, Ramsay invited Martina McBride and Oscar De La Hoya to eat at the chef's tables. While Raneshia was thrilled to cook for McBride, Devon felt intimidated to cook for Hoya. Ramsay called out the first order for the men, and Ryan took command of the ticket. However, Sous Chef Jason caught Jason trying to cook a lobster tail off the heat and asked how that would work. Jason argued he did not want it to separate, but that made Devon nervous as he knew the former would not be perfect despite working in Michelin Star restaurants before.
As the appetizers went up, Ramsay showed men Jason's raw lobster tail, saying it needed another three minutes. Tad could not believe the big dog screwed up while the women in the red kitchen got McBride's order. Leigh knew how stressful it was to cook for the VIP table, but Donya and Sammi got the appetizers accepted. While the women celebrated their first successful order, Ramsay sternly told them not to celebrate until they got through service. In the blue kitchen, Devon saw that Jason's second attempt was raw, and the latter did not respond to Ryan and Mattias for a time. Ryan felt that Jason was staring into space, but the latter sent it to the pass. However, Ramsay saw something wrong and took Jason and Devon to the back room. The lobster tail came out raw, and Ramsay ordered them to get a grip. Jason knew he was not performing to his standards, while Devon knew he looked bad, thanks to the former. So, Devon helped Jason on the third attempt, and it was accepted.
Thirty minutes into service, both teams pushed out appetizers, and Ramsay decided to fire entrées in the red kitchen. Carmen said the salmon would be ready in six minutes, but Ramsay said he wanted them ready in five. While Carmen felt confident as she cooked a lot of fish, she was not certain about cooking the salmon. Then, Carmen walked it to the pass despite Sandra not being ready with meat, and the latter was not happy with the poor communication. When Sandra walked up her steak, Ramsay sliced into it and told her it was cooked nicely. As the red diners received their entrées, Ramsay began firing entrées in the blue kitchen. However, Tad and Brad gave inconsistent answers about timing, and Ramsay could not believe it. Tad said he had been in stressful situations before but believed he was a strong line cook. However, Tad served a raw steak, and Brad prayed for Virgil to get himself out of purgatory. In the red kitchen, the women worked on their next order as Atoye and Sandra worked on what to cook for meat. However, Sandra wanted to work without Atoye's micromanagement. When Carmen was ready with her salmon, it turned out the chicken had not been fired. Sandra realized that she had misheard Atoye's comments earlier and that the latter did not fire the chicken. With the chicken delayed, Ramsay was forced to serve an incomplete table as Sandra and Atoye worked together. In the blue kitchen, Brad said that Hell's Kitchen was harder than it looked on TV, but he got the refire accepted and felt they would get out of it.
The men worked on Hoya's order one hour and fifteen minutes into service as Devon compared Tad and Brad's performance to a twenty-car pile-up. Then, Tad and Brad argued over the cook of a chicken breast as Ramsay and Marino waited impatiently for the order. When the entrées went up to the pass, Ramsay discovered raw halibut and raw chicken. Fed up with the fragmented opening night performance, Ramsay kicked the men out of the kitchen and apologized to Hoya as Sous Chef Jason cooked the refire. As the men returned to the dorms, Ryan was embarrassed about their performance and wondered why Hoya did not knock them out. After the men entered the dorms, Brad was mad at Tad for the raw chicken as Sous Chef Jason came in to deem it the worst service he had seen. Sous Chef Jason told the men to nominate two people for elimination as Ryan felt embarrassed. In the red kitchen, Sandra continued to work on the chicken as Ramsay told her to rely on her partner. However, Sandra served raw chicken, infuriating Ramsay as he waited seven minutes for that. Ramsay scolded the women for not caring about what they were doing, but an absent-minded Claudia randomly asked for a time on the chicken. Then, Claudia giggled over her mistake, but Ramsay was unimpressed and kicked the women out of the kitchen, ordering them to nominate two people for elimination. Claudia argued it was a nervous reaction, but Ramsay stood by his word. As the women returned to the dorms, Carmen was deflated as she cooked with passion and felt no one showed it.
Post-mortem
After returning to the dorms, the women began discussing who to nominate. Raneisha suggested nominating the person who served raw chicken, and Sandra explained the confusion between her and Atoye. Despite acknowledging that they messed up, Atoye argued that everyone messed up. Sandra was named the first nominee, but the former pointed out how Carmen kept shouting off random numbers. Carmen argued that she did not serve raw food and felt that Sandra blamed her for her failures. Afterwards, Raneisha said they got kicked out for raw meat and giggling before asking what they would do.
Jason blamed Tad and Brad on the blue side for getting them kicked out, but Mattias said the former was no better than the two on meat. Ryan and Mattias brought up the raw lobster tails Jason served, while the latter badgered the former for not looking at him in the eyes. Jason denied serving anything wrong that night, which bothered Mattias as Tad and Brad took responsibility and said they had integrity. Mattias went off on Jason for not owning up to his mistakes, but the latter brushed them off.
Elimination
After the chefs lined up, Ramsay reminded them that Martina McBride and Oscar De La Hoya dined at the chef tables, but he said he would not have invited them had he known both teams performed poorly that night. Ryan announced Tad as the men's first nominee and Brad as the second, while Sammi announced Atoye as the women's first nominee and Sandra as the second. During their pleas, Tad said he wanted to keep learning and prove to Ramsay he could cook, while Brad wanted to show his passion for cooking and achieve the American Dream. Then, Atoye said she was a team player and was willing to go down with the women, while Sandra believed she had more to show than raw chicken. Ramsay told Sandra that he believed her as her cooking was consistent until the raw chicken, and he was surprised to see her in front. After sending Sandra back in line, Ramsay eliminated Tad for his poor performance on meat and refused to wait for him after his poor start. During his exit interview, Tad admitted he did his best and wished to show he was more than a quidditch player.
After Tad left, Ramsay told Atoye to get a grip and Brad to fight back from mistakes. After sending the two back in line, Ramsay told both teams to bounce back after their poor performance, as that was what the American Dream was. While being dismissed, Sandra called it a reality check, but she knew she must bounce back from that night. Then, Atoye was relieved to stay another day and promised to work on her communication skills to show why she was still there. Lastly, Brad promised to show that the American Dream was inside the Cuban.
Ramsay's comment: "Tad not only believes quidditch is a real sport, but also that he's a real chef. Neither is true."
Trivia
- Title Reference: The title refers Tad's struggles on the meat station. It is also based on the phrase "A Tad overwhelming".
- This is the third time following Seasons 8 and 12 where the opening night dinner service ended in a joint loss for both teams.
- This is the first time that the first individual challenge was not an elimination challenge since Season 18. While Season 21 ended up not sending someone home through the Creative Chicken Wing Challenge, Ramsay originally planned on an elimination until Ileana D'Silva, the intended victim, called his bluff.
- This marks the first time since Season 18 where only one contestant gets eliminated in the second episode.