The first episode of Season 3 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox, on June 4, 2007. On that episode, we got to know the contestants of that season, the teams were divided, and one team's dysfunction suffered massively during the first service.
Intro[]
In the dining room, Ramsay was dressed in regular attire and stated that he would be nicer during that season, nor yell or swear. However, Ramsay admitted he was only kidding. Then, a trailer appeared with the narrator explaining what the past two winners of Hell's Kitchen have been up to, with Season 1 winner Michael Wray opening up his own restaurant called Tatou, and Season 2 winner Heather West working in her own restaurant Terra Rose at the Red Rock Resort. After, a teaser of that season's moments was shown as twelve chefs out of thousands of applicants were chosen.
The twelve new aspiring chefs were heading down to Hell's Kitchen in SUVs while getting to know each other on the ride. Tiffany wondered if Ramsay was as crazy as on TV, commenting that she was a nervous wreck around crazy chefs. Meanwhile, Rock revealed he was competing for his family and lay a foundation for them. Meanwhile, Ramsay looked over the newly redesigned Hell's Kitchen dining room while the chefs arrived at the restaurant soon enough. As a small-town girl, Jen explained no opportunity like Hell's Kitchen ever happened before and believed she was destined to compete. Jean-Philippe introduced himself, but before he could go into how he and Ramsay met, the latter appeared and told the former to stop. Afterwards, Ramsay ordered the contestants to cook their signature dishes for the Signature Dish Challenge.
Signature Dish Challenge[]
The chefs had 45 minutes to cook their signature dishes, and everybody had them ready on time. Each of the chefs created their own dishes, which Ramsay himself judged. Vinnie was up first with his chorizo-encrusted pink snapper over cucumber salsa, but Ramsay could not find the snapper until the former told him where it was and found the dish way too hot. Ramsay called it a disappointment, but Vinnie argued against it, which lead the former to call him a jerk. Joanna was up next and claimed she would flirt and manipulate to get everything from Ramsay before presenting her parmesan-crusted chicken with whole wheat spaghetti and a Raspberry Bellini. Ramsay handed her the Bellini and said that the dish was dry and salty before telling her to get her Raspberry Bellini and herself back in line. Rock's pan-seared scallops with potato gnocchi were up next, and while Ramsay was impressed with the presentation, it was ruined when the former revealed he had used premade frozen gnocchi. That disappointed Ramsay as it could have been a mindblowing dish, while Rock kicked himself for using frozen gnocchi and failing to execute his dish properly. Josh's dish was duck breast with foie gras, and he claimed that food was the same as sex, adding that he wanted people to feel that they had great sex. However, Ramsay saw the foie gras was raw, but while Josh argued that the foie gras was not raw, he begrudgingly agreed that it was salty. Bonnie was the fifth person up and presented a "contemporary cheese course", which appears more as a deconstructed mango cheesecake, although she was intimidated by Ramsay. Not only did Ramsay call the dish different, he said it showed how inexperienced Bonnie was, making her fear about the nightmares she would have of him. Eddie was up next and revealed that he was born with a rare kidney disease that stunted his growth, revealing to Ramsay that he was twenty-eight years old, much to the latter's disbelief. Eddie presented his parmesan-crusted sea scallops with a vermouth cream sauce, but Ramsay revealed another scallop dish that belonged to Brad, the latter revealing it was a scallop terrine with prosciutto and a vanilla lemon crème. Ramsay had Brad taste Eddie's dish, and while the latter claimed that they were cooked right, Ramsay made him admit that it was raw. Then, Eddie tasted Brad's dish, and while he thought it was a nice dish, he felt the vanilla sauce ruined it, which Ramsay found the most sensible comment he heard all day.
After tasting seven dishes that failed to reach the mark, Ramsay said it was not looking good so far. When Jen's dish was revealed, she did not feel so well and got nervous. Her vanilla crepe with caramelized peaches was criticized for being a thick pancake and having too much alcohol. Afterwards, Melissa was up next, remarking that everybody always judged her based on her looks, only to be proven wrong afterwards. Her peppered-crusted steak with roasted asparagus pleased Ramsay for finally tasting something delicious as everything on the plate was cooked perfectly. Then, Ramsay decided to judge two dishes simultaneously, revealing Julia and Tiffany's dishes. Julia's fried chicken cream penne was the first to be judged, but before having it judged, she revealed that she was a short-order cook, and despite never going to culinary school, she felt confident. Ramsay and Tiffany tasted the dish together, and both agreed that while the chicken was delicious, it was spoiled by too much pepper. Then, Ramsay had Julia taste Tiffany's seafood tostada, and both agreed that it tasted good. Aaron was the final contestant to be judged, but Ramsay asked him where his horse was based on his cowboy attire when he came up. Aaron claimed it was parked outside, while Ramsay said he has never seen an Asian cowboy before. Aaron presented his finger food platter, which consisted of fried and steamed dumplings, as well as duck canapés. While Ramsay liked the canapés, he said there were too many things on the plate.
Scoring[]
| Signature Dishes | |
| Chef | Rating |
|---|---|
| Vinnie | Poor |
| Joanna | Poor |
| Rock | Disappointing |
| Josh | Poor |
| Bonnie | Poor |
| Eddie | Poor |
| Brad | Poor |
| Jen | Poor |
| Melissa | Good |
| Julia | Decent |
| Tiffany | Good |
| Aaron | Decent |
Teams[]
After tasting the dishes, Ramsay admitted that the signature dish tasting was disappointing and told them that they needed to up their game. He also announced that the winner of that season would be given a head chef position at a restaurant in the Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa, in Las Vegas, with a salary of $250,000. Brad called it a phenomenal prize, and the last thing he wanted to do was to mess it up. As with the previous season, the teams were divided by gender, with men in the blue team working with Sous Chef Scott, and women in the red team working with Sous Chef Mary-Ann. Ramsay introduced the Sous Chefs for their respective teams and told the contestants to go up to the dorms and rest for the first service. Up at the dorms, the men began to bond as Josh called it important to do so as they wanted to smack the crap out of the women. On the other side, Bonnie did not want the backstabbing to begin until after the first service and after they eliminated the men. Tiffany knew that if the women did not work together, then they were all screwed.
Before service[]
The following day, both teams began to prep for service as they had fifteen menu items and over three hundred ingredients to prep. Wanting to build the men up from the start, Brad took the lead and got them organized and focused. In the red kitchen, Julia was ignored by her team despite her insistence to help but continued to try and ask her teammates. Seeing the lack of communication among the women, Sous Chef Mary-Ann told them to start communicating. Aaron struggled to make the ice cream in the blue kitchen and was starting to feel stressed, but Rock came to help him. In the red kitchen, Joanna exhibited poor leadership, pushing Julia away from prepping items and arguing with Bonnie about cooking the risotto. That left Bonnie frustrated as she wanted to hit Joanna, while Melissa and Sous Chef Mary-Ann were concerned over the lack of harmony with the women.
Once prep was completed, Ramsay gathered everyone to ask them how they were feeling. Julia admitted there was no communication in the women, but Tiffany argued that they were doing fine. Although Joanna agreed with Julia, she decided to say nothing as she wanted to appear confident. Then, Ramsay asked Aaron how he was feeling, but the latter broke down crying. While Ramsay tried to calm him down, Jean-Philippe stalled the waiting diners outside the restaurant. Eventually, Aaron calmed down as he knew he could do it, and Ramsay told both teams to show him strength and teamwork before ordering Jean-Philippe to open Hell's Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
The first order for the women came in, but Joanna found out that Bonnie already put the garlic in the risotto when she was not supposed to. That lead to an argument between the two of them, with a dismayed Ramsay asking why now on an important night, but Tiffany promised it would not happen again. It soon got worse when Tiffany's quail eggs were overcooked, with Ramsay comparing them to plastic implants, and he ordered her to bin them. While Bonnie tried to keep the women's morale up, Tiffany forced Julia to prep apples when she tried to offer help, much to the latter's annoyance as she could cook eggs. In the blue kitchen, Vinnie's spaghetti was overcooked to the point of looking like paste and was caught laughing over Ramsay's slang.
Forty-one minutes into service, no appetizers left either kitchen, and Tiffany told Ramsay that she had to restart as the eggs were not cooked well. Ramsay was in disbelief that a fried egg was stalling the red kitchen. Simultaneously, Julia wondered why she was not asked to help as she could be of assistance instead of peeling apples. Ramsay told Bonnie to help Tiffany, but the latter's nerves got the better of her as she broke the yolks in the process. That further frustrated Ramsay as he never had a bad night over a fried egg, while Julia asked Jesus to help them.
One hour later, neither team has sent any appetizers out, and the customers were getting restless. Vinnie needed more vegetable stalk for his risotto, but Rock told him that they have run out. Vinnie put water in the risotto, thinking it would work just as well as vegetables were made out of water, but Ramsay spat it out and compared the taste to gnat's piss. Then, Ramsay kicked Vinnie off appetizers, re-delegating him to washing dishes for the rest of the night, and Brad was sent there to rescue the station. Brad called it a relief to be called over as the appetizer station was going down.
Two hours into dinner service, the women's teamwork continued to sink as Julia, once again, offered help, but Tiffany continued to push her away. That caused Julia to break down in tears and told Ramsay about her dilemma, but Tiffany was annoyed that the former blamed the entire team for her two minutes of fame. Ramsay gathered the women and noted that there was more infighting going on than cooking. Melissa and Julia were reassigned to the appetizers, and Ramsay told them to get some food out while asking them to work as a team. In the blue kitchen, the blue team has sent out twenty-nine appetizers thanks to Brad's strong performance, and the diners were happy. However, Ramsay snidey asked Vinnie if he was happy on washing pots and pans, with the latter claiming he was. Now moving onto entrées, Aaron sent up his first order of chicken, but it was black on the bottom. As Aaron tried to redo the chicken, he felt useless as he could not do anything correct all day while Ramsay ordered Aaron to wipe off his snot. In the red kitchen, Julia and Melissa managed to get seventeen out for the red team, though the latter's nitpicking on Joanna's station caused another argument. Joanna went off on a tangent despite Tiffany trying to calm her down, claiming that Melissa ruined her spaghetti, but Ramsay told them to stop arguing. In the blue kitchen, Aaron started to get dizzy and left for a while, but an unsympathetic Brad wanted the former to get better at cooking and felt that Aaron gave up when the latter walked outside. Ramsay checked Aaron at the back, but the latter refused to quit as the former tried to calm him down. Josh took over the meat station but found out that all of the meat Aaron cooked was ruined, leaving the men with no meat to continue service. A dismayed Sous Chef Scott asked how they could be out of meat if they have not served any. In the red kitchen, Jean-Philippe came back with rejected spaghetti orders, and Joanna blamed Melissa for ruining them. As the customers started leaving due to the lack of food, a frustrated Ramsay closed the restaurant.
Post-mortem[]
Gathering both teams up, Ramsay said that this service was embarrassing, and they had every right to be upset. He chewed out the women for their infighting throughout service and dubbed them "Hell's Bitches". Afterwards, Ramsay reprimanded Vinnie for his risotto fiasco. Vinnie argued that Ramsay never told him exactly what he wanted, leading Ramsay to call him two-faced and lazy. That angered Vinnie, but Rock calmed him down and got annoyed that the former was arguing with Ramsay. Afterwards, Ramsay asked Aaron how he was feeling, and the latter claimed he was feeling a lot better. Deciding on a losing team, Ramsay named the women the losers for failing to keep up with the men and for their infighting. However, Ramsay named Melissa "Best of the Worst" for getting food out and told her to nominate two people for elimination.
During deliberation, Melissa knew that somebody was losing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of herself and said it sucked. Julia came up to Melissa and admitted while she was the least experienced of the women, she was bothered by the lack of communication. Melissa knew Julia was a team player but also knew going from a waffle house to a Ramsay restaurant was a big jump. Then, Joanna came by and told Melissa that Julia was the weakest chef and felt she was clueless that night. Afterwards, Tiffany did not want to go home and told Melissa to nominate Julia for working at Waffle House.
Elimination[]
Despite promising the two women that they were safe, Melissa nominated Joanna as her first nominee and Tiffany as her second. During their pleas, Ramsay asked Tiffany if that night was the best she could do, but the latter argued that she had more potential. Then, Joanna claimed that she had the best teamwork of the women and threw Tiffany under the bus for struggling on appetizers. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay eliminated Tiffany for making too many basic mistakes and being the reason for the appetizers being slow. During her exit interview, Tiffany admitted that she had no idea how intense the competition would be and did not want to go home, but she knew Ramsay made the right decision based on heart.
After Tiffany's elimination, Ramsay reminded the chefs that one of them would run a restaurant, but with everybody limping around, nobody would earn it unless they worked their asses off. Then, Ramsay added that if they thought they had their butts kicked that night, they have not seen anything else yet. While being dismissed, Joanna said that she would win no matter how many people she screwed over, while Aaron felt he dodged a bullet, hoping for the best if his body held up. Then, Bonnie thought she was lucky to be in Hell's Kitchen as she hoped to show Ramsay that she was not an idiot.
Ramsay's comment: "To be a great chef, you need great attention to detail, passion and great work ethic. Tiffany worked hard, but that was it. Nothing else."
Trivia[]
- This marks the first time a chef used pre-made food for their Signature Dish.
- The first time on opening night that all of the chef was handled on the line, without any of the chef assigned outside the kitchen.
- As of 2018, fans took notice of the mysterious thirteenth contestant J.R. finding notable clues during the Signature Dish Challenge that would validate his presence.