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The tenth episode of Season 22 of Hell's Kitchen aired on December 7, 2023. In that episode, pasta was the main theme, the fish stations floundered at dinner service, and one chef ran out of chances to stay.

Intro[]

While going back to the dorms, Donya said that while she did not want to be on the chopping block, she knew it meant it was time for her to step it up and grow stronger. The red team group hugged as everyone knew it was time to take the competition seriously.

The following day, Johnathan was determined to make his daughter proud and told everyone that he found out she lost her first tooth recently. Being a mother herself, Atoye said she was sick of seeing teeth around her house, but she and Johnathan bounded over being parents and making the sacrifices to win it for their family.

Team challenge[]

Later that day, the chefs lined up to see Olympic Gymnast Jordan Chiles on a balance beam in the dining room. Donya wondered what was happening as Chiles did a balance beam routine in front of the chefs. Ramsay explained that Chiles kept her balance in the 2020 Summer Olympics and led the USA to win a silver medal, while Dahmere was amazed by the latter’s routine. In contrast, Ryan said he would never be able to do what Chiles did on the balance beam. After finishing her routine, Chiles said her key idea to claim the American Dream was going out there and doing what you knew best despite the negativity that may come. After Chiles left, Ramsay said their next challenge would test their balance and composure before taking the chefs outside to the front of the restaurant.

Outside, Carmen saw two balance beams standing in marinara sauce, wondering if this was another punishment. Ramsay explained that this was part one of their next challenge: the Creative Pasta Challenge. Each chef must create four unique pasta dishes, including pappardelle, agnolotti, ravioli, and tagliatelle. To get their ingredients, each chef must cross over the balance beam one at a time to claim an ingredient for their dishes. But, if anyone lost their balance and fell, they would lose their ingredients and go back in line to try again. The team that finished their board first received a five-minute head start for part two.

As the chefs got ready, Johnathan knew the red team would be quick on the beam, but he was confident that he could beat them. As part one began, Johnathan and Leigh crossed the marinara pool, and the latter knew winning the five-minute head start would be valuable for any team. Leigh was sick of losing challenges as she searched for an ingredient to use, while Johnathan picked pecorino cheese for the pasta. Both Johnathan and Leigh successfully got back without falling and placed their ingredients on the board. Dahmere barely made it across the balance beam without falling and said he was quick on his feet. In contrast, Carmen called herself a Tasmanian devil and moved slowly to Ramsay’s liking. However, Sammi got impatient with Carmen’s slow speed as Ryan got back before she began crossing over. As both teams were neck and neck grabbing ingredients, both boards were filling up fast. Sammi said she used to do competitive dancing and felt comfortable crossing the beam, only to slip when coming back to her team. Eventually, the blue team had one ingredient left compared to the red team’s two, only for Atoye to slip and dip her foot in the marinara. Carmen came back with lobster as Johnathan grabbed olives. Both Johnathan and Leigh raced to the other side, but the former got their first and won the five-minute head start for the blue team.

Back indoors, the blue team began cooking while the red team stood at the pass to await Ramsay’s cue. Because the blue team had one extra person, Dahmere and Atoye worked together on the pappardelle. Atoye decided to have fun with her dish and stuffed mozzarella into her meatballs. Jason claimed that he loved making agnolotti and was confident about the results of the dish. After five minutes, the red team began cooking their pasta dishes. Donya knew forty minutes was not enough to make pasta dishes, but she had confidence in the red team to succeed. In the blue kitchen, Ryan felt good about the ravioli dish as he made that dish every day at work and declared that challenge his to win. Sixteen minutes left, Carmen knew ravioli was a hard dish to make and knew she had a hard battle against Ryan, who she considered a strong chef on the blue team. Later, Sous Chef Christina caught Sammi folding her pasta into tortellini shapes rather than agnolotti shapes. Realizing her mistake, Sammi began to fret as she wasted pasta dough for her dish. Still, Sammi pressed on despite not being confident about her chances. Eventually, everyone had their dishes cooked and plated on time.

Evan Funke came to guest judge the challenge, making Johnathan feel he was over the moon seeing the former. However, Johnathan also felt intimidated serving pasta to Funke. The tagliatelle round was first as Donya and Johnathan went up with their dishes. Still, Donya felt nervous to compete against Johnathan and compared it to getting beat up by the biggest person in prison. Donya’s basil tagliatelle with shrimp and fresh burrata had great flavors and a good cook on the shrimp, but Ramsay felt the plating could have been cleaner. Then, Johnathan’s mushroom ragu and pancetta tagliatelle were criticized for having inconsistent pasta density, and Donya scored that round. The red team led 1-0, and Donya felt pumped. On the ravioli round, Carmen’s mozzarella-lobster stuffed ravioli with shallots and garlic was criticized for the lack of lobster. In contrast, Ryan’s mascarpone and crab ravioli with fresh peas were deemed fresh and nicely rolled pasta. So, Ryan scored, and it became a one-point tie. That made Ryan feel a buzz of excitement over the compliments.

In the third round, Leigh’s pork pappardelle looked good, with delicious seasoning and on-spot rolling of the pasta. In contrast, Atoye’s veal meatball and red wine sauce pappardelle intrigued Funke over the mozzarella stuffed meatball, but he found the sauce overpowering and the pasta bland. Also, Ramsay was put off by the dark colors against the pasta. Then, Dahmere presented his veal and pancetta meatball pappardelle, which looked underwhelming and had undercooked pasta. Funke gave the point to Leigh, giving the red team a 2-1 lead. With the agnolotti round left, Sammi presented her chicken and blanched asparagus agnolotti. Funke liked the seasoning and flavors, but he found the shape interesting, as Ramsay knew it was not a traditional looking agnolotti. Then, Jason presented his portabella mushroom duxelle stuffed agnolotti and was confident he had it. While the shape looked more traditional, Funke found undercooked pasta on the dish, and Ramsay said it looked thick. After a tough decision, Funke gave the point to Sammi, and the red team won 3-1. After winning it for the red team, Sammi deemed herself the pasta queen.

Scoring[]

Red Team Blue Team
Chef Score Total Chef Score Total
Donya 1 1 Johnathan 0 0
Carmen 0 1 Ryan 1 1
Leigh 1 2 Atoye
Dahmere
0 1
Sammi 1 3 Jason 0 1
Results 3-1

Reward[]

The red team was rewarded with a goat yoga session, and Ramsay told them there was a surprise for them in the dorms. The red team got an Oxo cooking set, making Sammi happy to finally leave Hell’s Kitchen for a day. During the reward, the yogi and goat trainer guided the red team through their session, but it made Carmen uncomfortable as she found it hilarious rather than relaxing. Still, Leigh felt good to be outside of Hell’s Kitchen despite the goats acting like drunk idiots.

Punishment[]

The blue team was punished by making 200 lbs. of fresh pasta for that night’s service. Ramsay asked Johnathan if he would use his Punishment Pass, but the latter decided to stay with the blue team. During the punishment, Atoye got tired from kneading the dough, but she knew it must be done. Sous Chef Jason saw that Johnathan’s dough was dry and was forced to start over as it was too late to save it. As Ryan commented that Johnathan should have said something, Johnathan started over as he felt his Italian pride coming out. The second attempt came out perfectly, and the blue team finished their punishment with no other hiccups.

Before service[]

Ten minutes before service began, Sous Chef Jason told the blue team that he did not want another loss that day. With Ryan firing the blue team up, the red team pumped themselves and went through prep with confidence. Afterwards, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service[]

The menu that night featured carbonara that the blue team made during their punishment. Also, Jordan Chiles and Sous Chef Jason’s wife, Thuy Santos, ate in the dining room. Lastly, Ramsay opened the chef tables for Alix Klineman and Kel Mitchell. The blue team got the VIP order first, and Atoye was excited as she used to watch Mitchell on All That. Dahmere vocally got the blue team on track as Johnathan compared the former’s voice to that of a lion’s and felt the energy from it. Dahmere kept the blue team on timings, while Ryan got concerned that Atoye’s lobster tails were undercooked. Ryan tried to help but did not want to overtake her work. As the orders went up to the pass, Ramsay saw that the lobster tail Atoye served was raw, and she was forced to try again. In the red kitchen, the red team got Chiles’ order, and Leigh knew there was no room to hide that night. Leigh called out orders as she wanted to see who could lead and who could not while Donya tried to push out scallops. However, Donya ripped the scallops as they were sticking to the pan and that shocked Leigh as she knew the former was better than out. After Ramsay ordered a refire, a small fire erupted in the fish station, but Donya put it out. Donya tried to keep herself composed, and she got her refire accepted. Also, Ramsay gave praise to Leigh’s risotto, making Sammi impressed with the latter’s leadership.

Thirty minutes into service, Atoye served her second attempt, but that time, the lobster tail was ice cold and ragged. Dahmere asked Atoye for a time on the third attempt, but the latter was too upset to speak up. Seeing that Atoye was struggling, Dahmere asked Johnathan to watch appetizers alone while he went to the fish station to help the former. Dahmere tried to encourage Atoye, but the latter struggled to keep herself composed as this meant everything to her. When Ramsay asked for a time on Mitchell’s table, Atoye did not respond, leading the former to take her to the pantry. Ramsay told Atoye that she had done very well in the competition, and he knew how tough the journey was for her. Ramsay encouraged Atoye to do well, and she promised to keep fighting. Afterwards, Atoye’s third attempt was accepted, and Mitchell’s table got their order. As both teams pushed out appetizers, Ramsay began firing the VIP order for the red kitchen’s chef table. Carmen wanted to shine as a leader for Klineman but dragged on the lamb when Donya sent her salmon up. When Carmen did send up the lamb, it was raw, and Ramsay asked where the standards went. Carmen promised to get it fixed in a minute, but Ramsay wondered where the chef he saw the previous night went. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay gave the blue team Thuy Santos’ order, and Johnathan knew they could not do less than perfect for Sous Chef Jason’s wife. Jason said he needed twelve minutes for the lamb, but Ramsay was dismayed as the Wellingtons were resting on the tray. Jason claimed he did not forget the lamb, but Ryan prayed the former was right. Then, Jason served undercooked Wellingtons, and Ramsay was angry because the former called out twelve minutes for the order. Jason was disappointed that he served raw minutes, and Ramsay called out his disrespectful attitude towards Sous Chef Jason’s wife. Still, Jason got the refire out, and Thuy Santos’ table received their order.

One hour and fifteen minutes into service, Carmen served her lamb, but Ramsay said he did not expect that from her on their eighth service. On the following order, Donya was focused on proving to Ramsay she could work any station she was on. However, Donya served raw halibut with burnt butter, and Ramsay reminded them about attention to detail. Then, Ramsay pulled Donya to the pantry, told her to ask for help and dig deep. Donya swore she would bounce back like she had in her past and got her refire accepted. As the red team pushed out entrées to appreciative diners, both teams managed to finish that night on a high note.

Post-mortem[]

After both teams lined up, Ramsay was surprised about that night as, while they did complete service, he did not feel the need to name a winning team due to the mistakes made by several chefs. However, Ramsay singled out Dahmere for being a leader on the blue team and Leigh for being flawless on the red team. Both were named “Best of the Worst”, and Ramsay tasked them to nominate two each.

During deliberation, Dahmere knew that making tough decisions was part of being a leader before congratulating Johnathan for doing well that night. Johnathan was confident he was not going home, while Leigh did not feel comfortable having the power to nominate people. Sammi told Leigh that Carmen and Donya deserved to be nominated. Meanwhile, Dahmere reminded Jason about the raw Wellingtons he served and said he was going up for nomination. Jason was not happy with Dahmere’s decision and felt he was nominated for something he thought was minimal.

Leigh told Donya that she was going up on the chopping block that night, and the latter knew she dropped the ball that night. Still, Donya thanked Leigh for being honest with her. Elsewhere, Dahmere gave credit to Atoye for keeping her composure despite the mistakes she made that night, and was proud of how far she had come. Carmen felt she was stagnating in the competition and questioned if she came into the competition too early in her career. Leigh tried to comfort Carmen in the red bedroom, while Ryan told Dahmere he did not deserve to be nominated. Dahmere told Ryan he did not need to tell him what to do and questioned who to pick between his teammates.

Elimination[]

After both teams came downstairs, Ramsay commented how painful it was to go backwards. Leigh announced Donya as her first nominee for elimination and Carmen as her second. Then, Dahmere named Jason as his first nominee and Atoye as his second. During their pleas, Atoye called herself a fighter, and while she did not use her voice that night, she promised to do better. Then, Jason said the criticism he got from Ramsay helped him push forward, and Donya said she bounced back with her fire burning so bright. Lastly, Ramsay asked Carmen how hungry she was about winning on a scale from one to ten. Carmen said a million, as she had passion, integrity, and energy. Ultimately, Atoye was eliminated for struggling with fish and losing her composure. Still, Ramsay told Atoye that her kids would be proud of her for making it that far. During her exit interview, Atoye took her elimination well as she went out fighting and wanted to show her daughters that even in failure, someone’s dream will not die.

After Atoye left, Ramsay told the final eight that the competition was wide open as he was waiting for someone to rise. While being dismissed, Carmen said it sucked to be nominated, but she tried to remind herself that she deserved to stay. Then, Leigh felt great to be one of the strongest chefs in the competition, while Donya was determined to prove what she had left.

Ramsay's comment: "Atoye's passion was admirable, but you need more than just passion to be a great head chef."

Trivia[]

  • Title Reference: The title refers to the Creative Pasta Challenge, and is a pun on the phrase "The Possibilities are Endless".
  • With this episode, Johnathan has broken Season 20 Brynn's record for the longest period a chef has held a Punishment Pass without using it.
Hell's Kitchen Season 22 Episodes
The Dream BeginsTad OverwhelmingCitizens of Hell's KitchenGimme an H!Just Bring the DARN Fish!Fusion ConfusionAll Up in Your GrillsCooking For Your LifeMore Bang For Your BuckThe Pastabilities Are EndlessA Hellish Food FightA Hell's Kitchen Special Delivery#HellishHangoverDon't Be FooledAnd Then There Were TwoOne Hell of An American Dream
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