The thirteenth episode of Season 22 of Hell's Kitchen aired on January 11, 2024. In that episode, the final six competed in their first black jackets challenge, one Ramsay comment made a chef see red the entire day, a fragmented service occurred, and two chefs were sent home.
Intro[]
Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay and the Sous Chefs left the dorms so the final six could celebrate making it to black jackets. The final six continued to celebrate by taking pictures and drinking all night. The most drunk were Johnathan and Sammi, as both had been drinking all day.
Individual challenge[]
The following day, the final six went downstairs, where Ramsay asked Johnathan if he had sobered up after spending the previous day drinking. Johnathan claimed he sobered up but said he looked like a sack of poop on a hot day, which irritated the former. Then, Ramsay explained that the food industry has changed over the last couple of years thanks to social media, as a single photograph can go viral. To test the chefs’ ability to make eye-popping dishes, Ramsay announced the Presentation Challenge. Ramsay explained that he would take photos of their dishes and upload them to his social media account to have his millions of followers help rank the best dish of the day.
The chefs had forty-five minutes to cook their dishes, but Sammi felt unwell after drinking all night. As Sammi made pasta for her dish, she felt the dough go hard on her and hoped it would work. Meanwhile, Dahmere decided to nix his pineapple as it did not slice properly and chose to focus on his knife skills for his dish. Ryan knew the significant risk of his dish was cohesion, so he shaved some black truffles for it. With twenty-five minutes left, Carmen made a lobster tiradito but sliced the lobster to make it pretty and easy to plate. Leigh worked on her scallop dish and decided to candied kumquats to bring some sweetness to her hot sauce. Despite never candying fruit before, Leigh decided to take the risk. In the blue kitchen, Johnathan worked on his ceviche but was still mad about what Ramsay said to him earlier. Four minutes left, the chefs worked on their plating as Ryan made his look like an ocean. In contrast, Leigh was confident about her dish’s presentation due to the contrasting colors. Eventually, everyone had their dishes cooked and plated on time. Ramsay took photos of the dishes and had a selfie with everyone after taking the photos.
Kevin Meehan was invited to guest judge with Ramsay, making Leigh stunned that the latter invited another Michelin star chef to help with a challenge. Meehan explained the importance of eating with your eyes and claimed that the biggest success with his restaurant was not yelling. Meehan and Ramsay would judge each dish on a one to ten rating, twenty in total. Afterwards, the votes from social media would be added to the final score, and the chef with the most points won.
Ryan went up first and presented his porcini-dusted scallops with black truffles and butternut squash puree. Meehan thought the presentation looked great but commented that he would not have splashed the puree on the plate as Ryan did. Still, the dish was restaurant quality, and Meehan told Ryan he should be proud of himself. Meehan and Ramsay gave Ryan a nine and an eight, respectively, leaving the latter with seventeen points. When Sammi presented her beetroot pasta with crab and truffle, Meehan compared the pasta to Cheetos and said it did not look like cavatelli. Also, Meehan did not like the taste of the pasta, frightening Leigh as she did not expect that from Sammi. Sammi admitted she could have done better and ended up receiving thirteen points from Ramsay’s seven and Meehan’s six. Afterwards, Sammi regretted drinking as she did not feel like herself. Johnathan’s sea bass ceviche was criticized for the plate he used, and while the texture was good, Meehan thought it needed a little crunch to balance out the softness. Johnathan received fifteen points between Meehan’s seven and Ramsay’s eight. Afterwards, Leigh presented her pan-seared scallops and noodles in a Thai coconut broth. The dish looked beautiful, and Ramsay was amazed that Leigh candied kumquats. So, Leigh scored seventeen points between Meehan’s eight and Ramsay’s nine. Dahmere’s Artic char sashimi tasted great despite Meehan feeling that it could have been on a different plate, and he scored seventeen points as well. Lastly, Carmen’s Peruvian lobster tiradito looked retro but appealing, and the taste was good despite some spice dominating the flavors. Afterwards, Carmen scored seventeen points, making her pray that Ramsay’s followers deemed her dish the best so she could get out of the four-way tie for first place.
After tasting the dishes, Ramsay revealed that the online votes were tallied and explained the point system. Sammi’s dish was ranked sixth, and she had five points added to her score, bringing it to eighteen. Dahmere ranked fifth and scored six points, bringing it to twenty-three. Ryan ranked fourth and got seven points, ending with twenty-four points, while Johnathan’s dish ranked third, ending with twenty-three points. Between Leigh and Carmen, the former’s dish was ranked the best on social media and won the challenge with twenty-seven points compared to the latter’s twenty-six. However, a bitter Johnathan said that Leigh and Carmen’s dishes looked like they came from the nineties and said he would have won if that was the direction of the challenge.
Scoring[]
| Presentation | |
| Chef | Total Score |
|---|---|
| Ryan | 24/30 |
| Sammi | 18/30 |
| Johnathan | 23/30 |
| Leigh | 27/30 |
| Dahmere | 23/30 |
| Carmen | 26/30 |
| Results | Leigh |
Reward[]
Leigh was rewarded with a day at the Muscle Lab in Pasadena and a high tea ceremony at Langham Huntington. Ramsay offered Leigh the chance to bring someone with her, and she brought Carmen as the latter was the runner-up. Before sending the two back to the dorms, Ramsay said he had something spicy waiting for them. As the two went upstairs, Carmen said she needed some rejuvenation after the punishments they did, and the two found a Spiceology set waiting for them at the dorms. Leigh said they cooked with them in the competition and said they were flavorful.
During the reward, Leigh and Carmen got changed for cryotherapy, with the former explaining the cold as dry. Carmen was not used to the cold weather due to living in Miami, but felt good after two minutes. Also, Leigh was glad to go on a spa day, while Carmen felt in her element after getting into the sauna. At teatime, Leigh was happy to be with her friend Carmen and said all of them looked down on her earlier due to her lack of experience. However, Carmen felt the other chefs were getting cocky and knew they deserved to wear black jackets.
Punishment[]
The remaining chefs were punished by prepping 100 pounds of almonds for the lamb entrée at the following service. After hearing that, Johnathan was not pleased, especially as the comment Ramsay made earlier still stuck with him. During the punishment, Ryan felt the punishment would take five hours between the four of them, while Johnathan said he would not wish it on his worst enemy. During their lunch break, Johnathan continued to go on about Ramsay’s comment, something Sammi noticed. However, Ryan told Johnathan that he should get over it.
Before service[]
Later that day, the final six prepped for service as Ramsay reminded them that it could have been five that night. After telling the six to do their best, he asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
The dining room featured an eight-top celebrating an engagement, while Gavin Rossdale, Bob the Drag Queen, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Kate Flannery were present. Also, Zedd sat at the chef’s table. Upon receiving their first order, Ryan planned to be vocal and make sure everything was perfect, only to incorrectly call out seven items for the eight-top table. Ramsay corrected him while Dahmere walked the lobster tails as he acknowledged the trickiness of an eight-top table. Sous Chef Christina and Ramsay scolded Dahmere for feeling the lobster tails at the pass, and the latter told him that two out of the three were undercooked. As Ramsay sent an incomplete order, Johnathan brought up the two remaining lobster tails. As Ryan and Sammi pushed out appetizers, Ramsay began firing entrées. Carmen called out times while Johnathan was ready to bounce back from that morning. However, Johnathan sent up lamb garnish when the lamb was not on order, and Ramsay said he expected better from the former. Then, Carmen served a rare steak, while Johnathan served soggy fries. Johnathan hated letting Ramsay down, only to send up a refire order of fries with too much oil in them. Then, Carmen got the refire accepted.
In the following order, Carmen drove the timings for the proteins, thinking that Ramsay put her and Leigh on meat to showcase their leadership. In contrast, Johnathan dropped a sausage he was going to send up to the pass and brought the other one to the pass. Ramsay accused Johnathan of not caring, but Johnathan got irked by that accusation as he did care. The sausage came out ice cold, and Ramsay took Johnathan to the pass to feel it. Disappointed that Johnathan was not performing well, Ramsay told him to leave if he did not care. As Johnathan worked on the refire, Ryan was surprised that the former was doing poorly as he considered Johnathan his biggest competition. After Johnathan got the refire accepted, the following order was called out. Carmen did not communicate well with Dahmere as he felt the former was not talking with him, and he did not have his fish ready. Carmen served her lamb, but Ramsay said he was not slicing it until Dahmere had his fish up. As Carmen accused Dahmere of dropping the ball, Johnathan walked the halibut, but the former did not have the salmon ready at the moment. When Dahmere did send it up, Ramsay discovered it was rare, along with the lamb. Ramsay showed the raw proteins and did not understand why the trio of Dahmere, Leigh, and Carmen were not performing well. Sammi did not think things were going to get easier for entrées, while Leigh complained about working with too much meat. Then, Dahmere sent up one salmon when two were ordered, and the second was overcooked. Seeing that made Carmen frazzled as no one was on the same page compared to how the red team was. Then, Dahmere sent up a raw salmon, followed by a serving with burnt butter.
Growing frustrated by the miserable night, Ramsay brought the chefs around and asked where their standards went. He reminded the chefs that they were wearing black jackets, but Leigh and Carmen were on different islands, and Johnathan should be closer to Dahmere for support. As Johnathan acknowledged that they must do better, the order was accepted after multiple attempts. As the final six worked on the chef’s table, Leigh sliced her first Wellington, something she avoided until now. However, the Wellington was hacked up due to Leigh’s improper slicing, and Johnathan said they should know how to cook one by now. After telling Leigh off, Ramsay told Marino to stop taking orders as he decided to stop the service and give the former a lesson on how to cut a Wellington. Leigh felt her ego was blown and said it was a bad feeling. After Ramsay served the Wellington for Zedd’s order, he decided to shut down the kitchen as he felt that everyone’s confidence was shattered.
Post-mortem[]
After lining everyone up, Ramsay was disappointed that a showcase for his black jackets became a meltdown as fish, meat, and garnish dropped the ball that night. Ramsay asked them to nominate two people for elimination.
During deliberations, Carmen was disappointed that they all struggled that night as she knew they could do better. Dahmere admitted that he had a rocky night and knew he would be nominated, but he felt he did not deserve to go home after one poor night. Johnathan admitted that he was confused all night as Ramsay’s comment still bothered him, and did not understand why the latter would say that to him. While Carmen and Leigh acknowledged their mistakes, Ryan pointed out that the latter’s improper Wellington slicing was not a proper excuse as she saw it multiple times. Ryan voted for Leigh, but the latter did not want to go home as she pushed herself in the competition.
Elimination[]
After coming downstairs, Ramsay said he was still wondering what went wrong that night with the final six. Ryan announced Dahmere as the first nominee and Leigh as the second. After the two went down, Ramsay commented how shocked he was to see them there as both performed well in the competition. During their pleas, Leigh said she was passionate and said she was not done fighting. Then, Dahmere admitted that it was his first rough night in the competition, but he was not ready to leave as he felt he was Ramsay’s leader. After a tough decision, Ramsay eliminates Leigh for her poor performance on meat, destroying a Wellington and showing her lack of experience. Still, Ramsay praised Leigh for picking up the pace quickly and could not wait to see what she could do in five years. During her exit interview, Leigh received a retrospective montage of her time on the show.
After Leigh left, Ramsay said he was not done and reminded Dahmere that he could have used Johnathan to help him with the fish. With that, Ramsay eliminated Dahmere for struggling with fish and not delegating responsibilities. Before leaving, Ramsay praised Dahmere for his energy and passion. During his exit interview, Dahmere received a retrospective montage of his time on the show.
After Dahmere left, Ramsay dismissed the chefs for the evening but pulled Johnathan aside for a private talk. Ramsay knew something happened to Johnathan that night and asked what happened. Johnathan confronted Ramsay about the sack of poop comment he made earlier that day, but the latter argued that he was bantering with him. While Ramsay told Johnathan that he could not control what happened at the dorms, he must keep his composure in the kitchen as his comment was not personal. With the tension gone, Johnathan returned to the dorms. He said that once he won the competition, Ramsay could call him anything he wanted as he was determined to open his door. At the end of the episode, Leigh and Dahmere received the coat hanging and portrait burning sequences.
Ramsay's comment: "Leigh needs more experience and Dahmere needs more finesse, but they both will make great head chefs someday. It's just not today."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to Johnathan and, to a minor extent, Sammi feeling sluggish after celebrating the black jacket milestone the previous night, resulting in a sluggish performance in this episode.
- This is the first time since Season 10 where Ramsay shut down the kitchen without kicking anyone out. It is also the first black jacket service since Season 5 where he has done so.
- This is the first time since Season 16 where Ramsay eliminated two black jacket chefs in the same night.
- This episode hints that the Punishment Pass expiration date is at the black jackets, as Ramsay never asked Johnathan if he wanted to use his before sending Leigh and Carmen off on their reward. So, this makes Johnathan the first person to let his Pass expire without using it.