The seventh episode of Season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on July 16, 2007. In that episode, leftovers were the main theme, the team’s menus were put to the test, and an early front runner’s time was soon over.
Intro[]
Bonnie expressed surprise when Melissa was eliminated so quickly and compared it to seeing a character unexpectedly die in a movie on their way back to the dorms. However, Rock expressed relief as it meant one less person for him to compete against and was happy to see Melissa go home. With the teams now back to gender division, Josh declared that it was game time, but Brad felt it was more than that. Meanwhile, Jen noted the men were acting cocky. Still, Bonnie expressed surprise she was up against two Sous Chefs and an Executive Chef and was ready to beat them.
Team challenge[]
The following day, both teams made their way down to the dining room to meet Ramsay. Ramsay noted that there were six chefs left, and with it being pretty obvious that the battle of the sexes was back on, he urged them all to take their skills to the next level. Ramsay announced that they would all work with leftovers for their next challenge as a test to turn previously used food into a stunning new dish. Each team would make one appetizer and two entrées from a tray of identical leftovers in 30 minutes.
During the Leftovers Challenge, the men had a clear idea of their dishes as Brad immediately picked ingredients. Rock decided to make a surf n turf with the leftovers. The women struggled to determine their ideas and wasted nearly half of their time on them. While Bonnie suggested ideas, Jen was at a loss over what to cook. With 10 minutes to go, the men were midway on cooking their dishes while the women finally figured out their ideas. Back in the blue kitchen, Ramsay saw Josh moving faster than ever. Josh knew the challenge was meant to create flavors out of the ingredients they had but felt confident about the men's chances. Both teams finished up their dishes and plated them.
The appetizer round took place with Bonnie and Brad going head to head. Brad presented his curry bass with crustacean tomato pasta. Ramsay praised him for the amount of work he placed into his dish. Bonnie, who felt less confident after seeing Brad's dish, presented her rustic chicken stew, and Ramsay also praised it for tasting nice. Because it was hard to identify what dish edged out the other, Ramsay gave a point to both teams, and the teams tied at one each. However, Brad thought his dish was better than Bonnie's. Jen and Josh were up next in the first entrée round. Jen presented her steak and eggs dish, but Ramsay said it looked like something Julia would make at work, and he expected more from her. However, Jen knew that the dish was Bonnie's idea, and she should have done something else. Josh presented his chicken leg with pea tendrils, but Ramsay criticized the heavily acidic sauce and that the chicken was undercooked. Ramsay even stated he expected more from Josh as he was a professional chef, but the dish was crap. Disappointed in both Josh and Jen, neither of them scored a point, and it remained a 1 point tie. The final pair up was Julia against Rock for the second entrée round. Rock presented his surf and turf dish that consisted of a petit ribeye and a pan-seared bass. Not only did Ramsay call it delicious, he praised Rock for cooking it with finesse. Soon, Julia presented her fish and chips dish and felt there was nothing wrong with her dish. While Ramsay said the dish was nice, it was only just fish and chips, and he expected more. So, Rock won that round, and the men won the challenge 2-1. Rock smiled as the men put the women away in the challenge. At the same time, Ramsay deemed the women's dishes dull compared to the men's.
Scoring[]
| Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brad | 1 | 1 | Bonnie | 1 | 1 |
| Josh | 0 | 1 | Jen | 0 | 1 |
| Rock | 1 | 1 | Julia | 0 | 1 |
| Results | 2-1 | ||||
Reward[]
The men were rewarded with a paintball excursion and would compete against Ramsay in a three against one game. That excited them as they finally had a chance to get back at Ramsay for his constant yelling at them. Josh said that any employee would jump on the opportunity to shoot their boss. At the Hollywood Sports Park, the three geared up and had target practice with both the red team and Ramsay’s faces on the targets. Then, the men were ready to take on Ramsay as Rock wanted one shot at the former, Brad felt pumped, and Josh said it was time to hit Ramsay. Meanwhile, Ramsay hid in the bunker geared up. While the men were able to get some hits on Ramsay, he was able to take out Brad, Josh, and Rock in that order. Josh deemed Ramsay a sniper for moving around quickly. Despite losing to Ramsay, Josh said that it was their best reward as no one had ever got to shoot at Ramsay before.
Punishment[]
The women were punished by participating in both spring cleaning and Delivery Day. During the punishment, Julia had a bag spill on her when she picked it up, while Bonnie said that the men's reward was better than what she was doing. When they were taking in deliveries, Bonnie made sure they had what they needed. But when they brought everything inside, Julia noticed that they took in boxes of turbot skeletons instead of the whole filets. That dismayed Bonnie as the truck had already left and hated being a dumbass. However, Jen got annoyed by her dramatic attitude. After Sous Chefs Mary-Ann and Scott double checked the list, it was soon revealed that not only did they also take in snapper filets that had no skin on them, but they also took in unsalted butter instead of the salted variant they use. Julia deemed their mistake horrible as they should have checked the invoice better.
Those mistakes forced the delivery truck to be called in again, and the women had to fix their errors late in the night. When the men returned from their reward at 9:05 pm, Julia sarcastically called it perfect timing. Seeing Hell's Bitches lift the boxes made Rock happy. Jean-Philippe suggested that the men could help out the red team, but they laughed at the idea and kept walking, much to his disgust. However, Bonnie knew the men would not lift a finger to help them.
[]
The following day, both teams came downstairs and expected to begin prep for service. But Ramsay announced that for that night’s service, he was letting both teams have a hand in their own menus. Both teams were required to create a menu with three appetizers, three entrées, and three desserts. Ramsay told them that he expected both creativity and teamwork from this and sent them back upstairs, and they had 1 hour to create their menus.
For the women, Jen and Bonnie came up with their ideas, such as ahi tuna. However, Jen was concerned about Julia due to her position as a Waffle House Cook and felt she did not know fine dining. Meanwhile, Brad took the lead and pitched ideas but rejected Josh's Tuscan bean soup. Brad felt his teammates were thinking too basic and took Rock's macaroni and cheese suggestion into a cassoulet. However, Rock knew that would not work and thought Brad should keep the naming simple. Julia pitched a New York striploin dish back in the red bedroom, but Bonnie was not convinced as she felt it was a copout. Instead, Bonnie suggested rabbit as they knew how to cook it, but Jen did not know if it was classy. Also, Jen started to get angry at Bonnie as she feared it was not good enough.
Before service[]
As both teams went downstairs for prep, Jen expressed her concern to Bonnie about their menu, but Bonnie told her not to become a bitch right now, which angered Jen. When Ramsay looked at the women’s menu, he noticed that Julia did not have any input. Julia revealed her steak and shrimp dish idea, and Ramsay told the women to put it on the menu. Julia knew that it would be a big seller as it would be the kind of dish she would order. For the men, Ramsay was concerned that their menu looked very risky and asked if they could pull it off. All three men expressed confidence in it, and Brad voiced hope that the customers would order from their menu the most.
Both teams began prepping their kitchens. Bonnie asked for some suggestions for the bacon, but Jen and Julia ignored her. That caused Sous Chef Mary-Ann to remind the women that this was still a team effort. However, Jen retorted that she was okay leaving with or without a friend that night. Despite Bonnie feeling that she and Jen developed a friendship, she felt the latter was not as nice as before. With both teams ready, Ramsay ordered Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
The women's menu featured Julia's New York striploin, Jen's seared ahi tuna, and Bonnie's bacon-wrapped leg of rabbit. In contrast, the men's menu mostly featured Brad's dishes: turbot and mushroom consomme, lamb chops with herbed gnocchi, and sauteed chicken breast with Rock's truffled cassoulet. As the diners placed their orders in, it became clear that the women's menu looked more appealing to the customers than the men's. The women got their first ticket, and more orders soon came flooding in for them, which Ramsay informed the men. Julia told Ramsay that she needed five minutes on Bonnie's rabbit dish as it was not cooking right, and Ramsay had Bonnie help Julia. That upset Jen as that meant Bonnie never made the dish before. As Ramsay suggested an alternate way to cook the rabbit, Julia was upset about getting screwed by Bonnie. Ramsay reminded the women that he could not cook for them as they must match his standards.
Thirty minutes into dinner service and the men finally received their first order of tickets. Brad sent up his ravioli dishes, but they soon came back as they were stone-cold. Ramsay ordered Brad to make a shrimp salad as a replacement and told him to concentrate. However, Brad said he knew how to cook pasta and argued that his nerves got the better of him. Julia finally brought up the rabbit appetizer in the red kitchen, and Ramsay urged her to keep the momentum going. Now onto entrées, Julia's steak dish was shown to be the most requested item on the women’s menu, much to the surprise of Ramsay and Jean-Philippe. In the blue kitchen, the men began to work on their entrées. Rock noticed that Josh’s pan was not hot enough for the lamb entrée, even though the latter argued that it was. However, Brad told the two not to snap and wanted to get through service. Still, Rock retorted that he did not wish the lamb to bleed out. In the red kitchen, Julia sent up her steak dishes, and Ramsay was impressed by the perfect cooking and the size of the portions while praising her for her excellent job so far. That made Julia happy as she knew what the customers liked despite her lack of culinary education. Josh did not communicate with Ramsay on his lamb in the blue kitchen, and one of his orders was boiled. That frustrated Ramsay, and he told Josh that his actions confirmed that he cannot cook at all and that his time in the competition was running out. Ramsay showed the men the tray of boiled lamb and called Josh a donkey. A freaked-out Josh started calling for times, but Ramsay told him he would not trust him with a hot dog stand.
The women’s entrées were moving quickly, although some tables with two different menu orders had a different dining experience. When one of the female customers complained to Jean-Philippe that she felt insulted that the gentleman at her table was served first before her, he relayed it to Ramsay. In response, Ramsay yelled at Josh for his lamb. Josh's next attempt at the lamb was raw, and Ramsay ordered him to get out of the shit. Seeing that made Rock believe that Josh could not handle Vegas if he could not handle that night, which was what he said all season. Ramsay ordered Rock and Brad for at least one of them to help Josh out, but neither one of them wanted to help him as the former wanted the latter to help. Brad spent more time prepping lamb than cooking, leading Ramsay to accuse him of giving up on Josh. With no one helping him, Josh said that it sucked. Ramsay noticed that Jen was not doing much in the red kitchen and was about to clear down her station and mocked her walk. Despite feeling insulted by Ramsay's comments, Jen was ordered to get a grip. In the blue kitchen, Josh finally got an acceptable order of lamb out, and the men managed to get their entrées out to the diners. Ramsay turned to the red kitchen and informed the women that the men had overtaken them. Also, Ramsay pointed out to Bonnie that she was cooking the garnishes with no gas turned on and mocked her shocked expression. Bonnie got disappointed by her own incompetence in the competition, and Ramsay told her that she should be ashamed of her poor performance.
Two hours into dinner service, and the men were almost finished with their entrées. However, some of their dishes were sent back as Brad's sauce for the turbot was bland and salty, which Ramsay compared to baby vomit. Brad was ordered to start over. With the women on their final ticket, Julia got confused as too many people were crowding her, and Bonnie had to redo the steak's garnish as she burned the initial one. Their teamwork started to collapse, and Ramsay admitted that he was starting to get pissed off. Despite that, the women managed to communicate well enough to send their last entrée out. In contrast, the men managed to get desserts out before finally finishing. Meanwhile, women’s communication continued to collapse as Jen and Bonnie were arguing over the desserts as the latter had no idea what was going out. Even though the men finished, Josh felt he could be going home after his poor performance.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams lined up, Ramsay told the women that their performance on the last four tables was embarrassing. Then, Ramsay told the men that there was no teamwork at all. While Josh's performance was a disaster, Ramsay was more disappointed in Rock and Brad for not even attempting to help the former as the people who suffered the most were the customers. There was no winning team for that night, but Ramsay named Julia the “Best of the Worst” for the red team as her steak dish was the most popular item on the red team’s menu, and she did not get one order ruined. Ramsay told Julia to think about one person from the women for nomination while ordering the men to agree on one person for nomination.
During deliberation, Julia felt proud that Ramsay recognized her performance but weighed her options on who to eliminate. Julia knew that Jen was a great cook and knew her stuff well, but Bonnie felt her creativity was better than her performance. While Julia acknowledged that Bonnie knew her food, she felt the latter could have improved execution. Bonnie hoped she was up against Josh as she had a better chance of surviving over him. Meanwhile, Josh knew he would be an easy choice since he was up three times already, but he was tired of being the whipping boy. Rock felt he should not be nominated, but Brad argued that he should not go up. Then, Josh continued to vent how he was the whipping boy of the men for too long, but Rock felt that he would not be nominated constantly if he cooked better. As Rock left for a bit, Brad accused Josh of being bitter that the latter put him up for elimination twice in the past. Josh argued against it, but Brad said he would feel the same if he were in his shoes. Also, Brad felt that Josh was Rock's whipping boy more than the team's whipping boy. When Rock returned, the three seriously discussed who to send up.
Elimination[]
At elimination, Julia nominated Bonnie, and Brad announced that he was the men's nominee based on his menu. However, Rock argued that Brad tried to take the leadership role that night, but it led them to fail. During their pleas, Brad felt he tried to do everything when others waited too long, but Rock told him to say his name because that was where he was going. Brad argued that he wanted to be politically correct about it, but Rock reminded him that this was a competition, leading Ramsay to sarcastically liking the team spirit. Still, Brad felt he could run a restaurant and that he tried his best. Then, Bonnie knew she had the makings of being a head chef but asked for more time. While Ramsay expected more from both teams that night, he called Bonnie's name but told her to wake up. After that, Ramsay eliminated Brad for his poor leadership skills in service. During his exit interview, Brad felt that Rock and Josh nominated him out of fear he was the better chef on the men and still felt he was the best.
After Brad left, Ramsay reminded the chefs that while they should succeed as individuals, they had to be successful as a team. While being dismissed, Bonnie was shocked that Ramsay spared her but knew he saw something inside her. Then, Rock said he had to be cutthroat to win and believed he could, while Josh knew he must be ready as his time was running out.
Ramsay's comment: "Brad was a hard worker. Unfortunately, he worked with his back rather than his brain. He lacked finesse to become a great chef."
Trivia[]
- This marks the only time Ramsay has had one team agree on a nominee while giving someone from the opposing team the power of "Best of the Worst".
- With this episode, Season 3 marks the first time both teams were named joint losers in more than once in a season.
- This episode marks the first time where the blue team won more than one challenge.