The fourth episode of Season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on June 25, 2007. In that episode, the annual Blind Taste test occurred, a disastrous dinner service and a shocking move by Ramsay at elimination.
Intro[]
Back in the dorms, morale was very low as Bonnie knew the women performed horribly, while Jen still felt guilty over her trash pasta incident. Bonnie managed to comfort Jen, but Vinnie railed on the latter's decision and stated that he would have kicked her out if she did that in his kitchen. Jen knew she lost her sense of judgement due to the stress of the competition, but Bonnie got annoyed at Vinnie when he continued to come down hard on Jen. Regardless, Vinnie said he would do anything to stay as he did not think there was anything wrong with speaking his mind. Bonnie admitted that the long nights were getting taxing and believed they were in actual Hell.
Team Challenge[]
The following day, both teams came downstairs to the kitchen and met with Ramsay. He asked Jen if she would stay clear of bins that day and asked Vinnie if he had any nightmares. Vinnie said he had one of him, and Ramsay snarkily wondered if it was about the quail eggs from the previous night. Then, Ramsay revealed that one of the most significant factors behind a great chef was the taste and said that none of them had yet pushed their palates. Because of that, Ramsay introduced the annual Blind Taste Test.
The first pair up was Brad against Julia. Ramsay had three different ingredients prepared for them, and both wore blindfolds and headphones with music playing. Ramsay tested the blinders and headphones by calling Brad a sack of shit and waving his hands in front of the two to see if they noticed. The first ingredient was American cheese, which Julia got correct, but Brad mistook it for cheddar cheese, which he blamed the blinders and headphones for. While both correctly guessed fried chicken, neither got carrot correct, making the score 2-1 for the women. Ramsay noted that Brad, a Sous Chef, lost to Julia, a Waffle House Chef. The second pair up was Rock against Melissa. Their first ingredient was boiled egg yolks which Rock answered correctly, but Melissa thought it was a potato. Both correctly scored on the potato, but neither could correctly guess venison, making the score a three-point tie. The third pair up was Bonnie against Josh, though Bonnie informed Ramsay that she could hear him before tasting. Neither scored on the lobster, but Bonnie was able to guess bok choy and pear correctly. At the same time, Josh failed on the two, with Rock wondering if the latter had a pear before after Josh answered mango. The score was 5-3 for the women, and Ramsay remarked he could not believe a sous chef lost to a nanny but told Bonnie that she did well. On the other hand, Josh was disappointed that he let the men down. The final pair was Jen against Vinnie. With the red team having a huge lead, Ramsay warned the men that if Vinnie got the first ingredient wrong, the challenge would end. Sure enough, Vinnie mistook tuna for pancetta, ending the challenge, and the women were declared the winners. Vinnie was pissed that the men lost again, while Ramsay said they needed to work on their taste buds. On the other hand, Jen felt the women could not be beaten after winning their third challenge in a row.
Scoring[]
| Red Team | Blue Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julia | 2/3 | 2 | Brad | 1/3 | 1 |
| Melissa | 1/3 | 3 | Rock | 2/3 | 3 |
| Bonnie | 2/3 | 5 | Josh | 0/3 | 3 |
| Jen | 0/0 | 5 | Vinnie | 0/1 | 3 |
| Results | 5-3 | ||||
Reward[]
The red team went on a special lunch excursion with Ramsay by eating in the dark. When the women went out for their reward, Bonnie told the women about Vinnie's accusations and said that any sympathy she might have had for the men was gone. During the reward, Melissa called the experience amazing, while Julia never knew people liked to eat in the dark. Bonnie complimented Ramsay's nice voice in the dark, making the women laugh in response.
Punishment[]
The blue team was forced to prep both kitchens for that night's service, annoying Brad as it was a ridiculous task. Also, because they lost the Blind Taste Test, Ramsay had them eat a platter of offal, including cow tongue, stomach lining, cow liver, and kidneys. Seeing the platter grossed Bonnie out, while Josh thought the men would have won. Back at the dorms, the men were pissed that Bonnie could hear Ramsay before the tasting began, and Vinnie accused her of cheating. However, Bonnie argued against it, accusing the men of making excuses.
During the punishment, Sous Chef Scott added to their platter with pickled palm leaf, grass jelly, and creamed pickled herring. While eating the offal, Rock almost came close to puking as the meal tasted disgusting, and Brad was concerned about the domino effect it could come to. So, Brad handed Rock a barf bag, but the latter managed to hold it in until going to the bathroom.
Before service[]
As the men were prepping both kitchens, the women returned to the dorms and relaxed for a bit. Bonnie was happy that the men had to prep their kitchen as she could rest up. Meanwhile, Josh felt sore as the men moved a lot with no sleep, and Brad yawned.
Later that evening, Ramsay had both teams lined up and reminded them that they each had a one in eight chance of becoming the Head Chef at the Green Valley Ranch Resort. Ramsay revealed that for this service, he would have the customer comment cards decide the winning team. Once everyone was ready, Ramsay told Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
As service began, Ramsay told Jean-Philippe to let him know if any tables were waiting on food. Josh sent up his first risottos, but Ramsay found that he did not cook them properly and told him to get a grip. Despite that problem, Josh knew he had to get it right. In the red kitchen, Melissa told Julia that she needed two more minutes on her appetizers, though Bonnie found out that Julia's scallops were overcooked. Despite telling Melissa about the problem, Melissa ignored Julia and Bonnie's pleas and still called for times. When Ramsay noticed the communication problem, Julia explained to him what happened. While Ramsay praised Julia for her honesty, he criticized Melissa's poor teamwork skills and threatened to kick her out if she did not improve. Melissa chewed out Julia since Ramsay expected more from her due to her skills. Josh was caught not doing anything on his station in the blue kitchen, causing Ramsay to order Rock to take over his station.
Forty-five minutes into service, and because of Rock's efforts, the blue diners were getting their appetizers. Moving on to entrées, Vinnie prepped his Wellingtons but told Ramsay that he needed fifteen more minutes as he overcooked his four initial ones. That shocked Ramsay, and he criticized Vinnie's performance as everything else was moving well. In the red kitchen, Bonnie worked on her meat, but Melissa butted in and found that Bonnie’s chicken was still raw. Then, Ramsay discovered that Bonnie sliced the chicken in half and placed it back in the pan. After Bonnie gave an unconvincing answer, Ramsay derided Bonnie's performance as she had given him nothing but dumb blonde answers and declared that the chicken was now dry. Then, Ramsay got angrier when Bonnie mistakenly lied about a refire and ordered the women to work together.
Two hours into dinner service, the women served fourteen tables of their entrées despite their problems, while the men only managed to get six. One of the blue team’s tables got impatient on the long wait, and a diner went up to the hot plate herself despite Jean-Philippe pleading her not to. Ramsay called her a giraffe and pushed her away, leading her to call him rude. Vinnie did not communicate back to Ramsay as expected but managed to bring his order of Wellingtons up. However, Sous Chef Scott revealed to Ramsay that Vinnie flash grilled them in the oven, and they were still rare. After having the men feel the Wellingtons, Ramsay derided Vinnie for not caring for the customers, making the latter feel he had hawk eyes on him. When Vinnie tried to send up another one, it had raw pastry still on as he failed to trim them. As Vinnie tried to rebound, Ramsay accused him of making all the meat entrées inconsistent, but the former believed that his new one was perfect. Curious about how much Vinnie threw out, Ramsay checked on the bin and was dismayed to see six wasted Wellingtons and a chicken in there. That caused Ramsay to warn Vinnie that he would not even open a restaurant with that amount of wasted food. In the red kitchen, Bonnie needed three more minutes for her Wellingtons to rest but admitted that she had no idea what she was doing. Melissa and Julia checked on them, and they turn out to be raw and medium, causing more frustration for Bonnie as Melissa was not helping. Ramsay complained about three cooks at the meat station and that none of Bonnie's Wellingtons were ready. Bonnie got frustrated by the lack of communication with Melissa and told a dismayed Ramsay that she had to restart.
The men started to catch up to the red team as they had served twenty-one entrées, while twenty-eight went out for the red tea women. However, one of their fish orders was sent back for being too salty, and one of Josh's crab spaghetti orders was sent back for being raw. Even after tasting it, Josh did not believe that it was raw and felt the customer was lying. Almost reaching his breaking point, Ramsay brought both teams together and reminded them that the customers held their fate that night. He got them back to work but warned them that if one more dish was brought back to the kitchen, he would shut down the restaurant. As service continued, one customer complained about dry venison, while Bonnie announced that she needed eleven minutes for the next order due to not having a chicken ready. However, Bonnie already had the Wellington ready, leading Ramsay to say he should simplify his words so she would understand him better. That caused a distraught Bonnie to feel that Ramsay disliked her and nobody took her seriously. Then, Bonnie served a dry chicken, and when Ramsay went to her station, he found a torn-up serving, making him more wounded up. Then, Jean-Philippe came back with a cold chicken, and that happened to be the final straw for Ramsay as he closed down both kitchens. While clearing down, the customers filled out their comment cards, but Josh was pissed that they closed down yet again when they were close to finishing. Bonnie broke down and believed she did not deserve to be in the competition any longer as she was not experienced enough. However, Julia tried to calm her down. Meanwhile, Rock told his team that they need to stop panicking on entrées, and any momentum they had at the start should continue.
Post-mortem[]
Gathering both teams up, Ramsay told them that he looked through the comment cards. While most customers liked the food, over 65% stated they would not return to Hell’s Kitchen because the food took too long to go out. A frustrated Ramsay said those numbers would bring down a restaurant and declared no winning team. Ramsay turned to Rock, praised his solid performance, and named him “Best of the Worst” for the blue team. Turning to the women, Ramsay made it clear to Melissa that her pathetic performance in service meant she would not be “Best of the Worst”. Then, Ramsay further criticized Bonnie's lack of straight answers. Instead, Jen was named “Best of the Worst” since, while her performance was not outstanding, it was not terrible. Both of them were asked to name one person from their team for elimination.
During deliberation, Rock said he already knew who to nominate but did not know who Jen would pick. The rest of the men were in the dark over who Rock would nominate, but Vinnie had a feeling the latter would nominate him for the mess he made on meat. Meanwhile, Bonnie packed her bags as she knew she would be going home, but Melissa felt bad for Jen as it was a hard position the latter was in. When Jen met with Vinnie, he told her to be smart and nominate her toughest competitor. However, Jen wanted to play smart but struggled to pick between Bonnie and Melissa. Vinnie asked Jen if she wanted to win, and the latter said she did before noting that people will hate her decision regardless.
Elimination[]
Rock nominated Josh as he believed that he was no longer an asset to the men, while Jen nominated Melissa based on her poor performance in service. However, Ramsay criticized both of their choices, decided to overrule them with his own choices, and called Bonnie and Vinnie down instead. Once down, Ramsay asked Vinnie why Rock did not nominate him, but Vinnie admitted that he could not explain Josh's performance because he had his head so far up his ass that night. When Bonnie was asked the same question, she was surprised as well. During their pleas, Vinnie felt he was the most qualified chef out of the group to win the prize, but Ramsay asked him to show some humility and accept that he messed up. That led Vinnie to admit that he did not have control over meat as he thought. Then, Ramsay told Bonnie that she was bad that night, and she admitted that she needed help with services, even pointing out that Ramsay made mistakes in the past. After much deliberation, Ramsay eliminated Vinnie for his poor performances and for not taking responsibility for his mistakes. During his exit interview, Vinnie admitted that he could not do what Ramsay does due to the latter's experience, and while he wanted to redo a couple of things, he knew he did not deserve a second chance.
After Vinnie left, Ramsay said that with the weak links gone, he would go crazy if he was fed with more excuses. While being dismissed, Bonnie still wanted to learn but wondered if she was ready to be a chef. Then, Josh knew that despite Rock wanting him gone, he said that only Ramsay mattered to him. Lastly, Rock said that the only person that was a threat to him was himself.
Ramsay's comment: "Vinnie talks the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk. The bottom line with Vinnie is, he's a crap cook."
Trivia[]
- This marked the first time a team lost three challenges in a row since starting the competition.
- This is the first time somebody did not have to taste anything in the Blind Taste Test. Jen did not have to guess because the women held a huge lead.
- This marks the first time Ramsay explicitly vetoed a nomination choice before the nominee went down to the front.