The ninth episode of Season 4 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox, on May 27, 2008. On that episode, both teams created their own menus, Ramsay made a shocking move at elimination, where one chef made an even more shocking one.
Intro[]
Back in the dorms, Matt apologized to Corey for letting her down, but she said that it did not matter any longer. Then, Corey acknowledged Matt gave up and let the team down during the previous service, and suggested he should be better at something else despite enjoying cooking, like being a car salesman. Matt acknowledged he had to work his ass off in order to stay, and remembered that Ramsay said he was on borrowed time. After that, Bobby declared that from that moment on, he would let his food talk, adding that Jen was a big baby and that what she did was not impressing at all. Bobby even compared the blue team's situation with Jen as walking on eggshells.
Team challenge[]
The next morning, both teams lined up in the dining room, where Ramsay greeted them. Ramsay revealed the big issue that everybody was still struggling with, which was timing. That statement led him to introduce the Relay Challenge, where both teams would cook scallops, John Dory and chicken from the existing Hell's Kitchen menu, with only one chef in each kitchen at a time being given 6 minutes to cook and 15 seconds to communicate to the next one. The blue team having one extra member, were given 15 seconds to decide which of them would sit out. Jen immediately convinced Bobby and Petrozza to make Louross sit out. That plan worked, which annoyed Louross, questioning Jen's judgment saying that if he really got no skills, why was he still in the competition. When Ramsay asked who was sitting out, Louross angrily raised his hand, and Ramsay was surprised as he was moving fast in the kitchen. Louross declared he was surprised as well. Then, both teams lined up beside their respective Sous Chefs, with Bobby acknowledging the blue team did not win as much challenges as the red team, and that it was starting to hurt.
After Ramsay finished his countdown, Matt and Petrozza ran to their respective kitchens, and Petrozza poached the chicken during the first 15 seconds. When Matt was running, Ramsay jokingly said the earth was shaking when he did. The first thing Matt did in the red kitchen was also poach the chicken, knowing it would take 10 minutes to poach properly. Petrozza, wanting a win very badly, was looking for some pans to put garnishes in for the following person. In the dining room, Christina was nervous as they were far from the kitchen so they could not see what was going on. When time was up, Matt said 6 minutes was not a lot of time even though it seem like it was.
On the next round, it was Christina and Bobby who went up for their respective teams. During the 15 seconds relay, Matt was too quick communicating with Christina that she did not even understood what he said. On the blue side, Bobby was very satisfied with the information Petrozza gave him. In the red kitchen, Christina took the chicken out of the boiling pot, but it was still raw. So, she cooked it in a pan, and Corey saw that, knowing that would be a problem as the chicken would likely become overcooked. In the dining room, Jen was very confident and believed in herself.
On the final round, Jen and Corey finished for their teams. During the 15 seconds relay, Christina told Corey about the chicken being raw, and in the blue kitchen, Bobby did not say anything as Jen was constantly talking over him. Despite that, she was confident to finish strong as Bobby and Petrozza got all she needed right there, so it was very easy for her to plate. On the red side, Corey started panicking because there was some things that were not ready yet and were located at different places in the kitchen. Both of them rallied to plate their dishes, and in the dining room, their teammates were encouraging them. Louross stated that as long as Jen was putting herself on top saying her dishes are flawless and perfect, he would love her to prove herself. Both women plated and served their dishes in time.
The first dish that was tasted were the scallops. Ramsay noticed the red team's dish was missing the salad, which Corey said she forgot, and the blue team's eggs were overcooked. When Ramsay tasted the red team's dish, he said the scallops were nice and seasoned beautifully, and for the blue team, the scallops were raw in the middle, but Jen was in denial about it saying Ramsay did not know what he was talking about. The red team scored the first round, giving them the lead 1-0. The next dish was the John Dory. For the red team, Ramsay said all the components were there, but the sauce was too thick and the presentation was dreadful. For the blue team, Ramsay noticed the sauce was missing, and when Jen mumbled about it, he schooled her on her laid-back attitude and mumbling, saying they were in a professional kitchen and that they were chefs. Then, she declared the sauce was burnt, so she left it on the side. After deliberation, where he said the blue team was missing the sauce and the red team's presentation was shocking, Ramsay gave the point to the blue team, tying the score at 1 each. The final dish was the chicken. When Ramsay tasted the red team's dish, he said the chicken was cooked beautifully, every components were there, except the baby leaves. When he tasted the blue team's dish, the chicken was also cooked beautifully and moist, but it was missing the sauce. After deliberation where both dishes were missing one ingredient, Ramsay declared the red team winners. Matt was very happy about the win as it was another one for his team, and Petrozza knew that Jen was the only one to blame because she forgot to put the sauce. Ramsay added that if she would have put the sauce, she would have won it for her team.
Scoring[]
| Red Team | Blue Team | ||||
| Dish | Score | Total | Dish | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scallops | 1 | 1 | Scallops | 0 | 0 |
| John Dory | 0 | 1 | John Dory | 1 | 1 |
| Chicken | 1 | 2 | Chicken | 0 | 1 |
| Results | 2-1 | ||||
Reward[]
The red team was rewarded with a day at the beach, and were transported there in convertibles. Matt was so happy about that win that he even stated that red was now his favorite color. While getting ready, Christina declared she was looking so pale as she did not see the sunshine in weeks and was very excited to have a great day. Corey was excited about the convertible trip. Arrived at the beach, Matt was excited to see Ramsay wearing a wet suit and holding surf boards. All three of them put their wet suits on and learned how to surf. Matt said even though he banged his head on the bottom of the ocean, he had a great time, Christina said she was happy as surfing was an experience of a lifetime, and Corey said she wanted to keep her cool and not look like an idiot. Then, Jean-Philippe arrived and handed the red team towels. Ramsay was seen surfing on his own, with Matt thinking he was enjoying it more than all of them. After, Ramsay picked Jean-Philippe up, and threw him in the water.
Punishment[]
The blue team was punished by being the Hell's Kitchen maintenance crew, spending all day taking care of the restaurant, cleaning the red carpets as well. Louross was envious as he wanted to go to the beach as well. The first thing the team did was scrubbing the Hell's Kitchen sign outside, and Petrozza said it was a mess. At one point, Bobby accidentally sprayed some liquid soap in Petrozza's face. After, all of them got into white suits, but Louross wanted the punishment to be fun, so he entertained his teammates by putting the suit all over his head and walking around like that. Jen said she was more laughing at him than with him, and Bobby was sick and tired of her bossy attitude when she told him to hold on. Then, the two of them got into an argument where Bobby said to Jen that she was not running anything and that he was, with Jen asking who he was talking to. Later, all four of them were cleaning the red carpet, with Jen saying that she was tired of punishments.
[]
The red team arrived from their reward and entered the restaurant by walking on the red carpet the blue team have just steamed. Louross tried to tell them not to, but they did it anyway, leading him to declare he was tired to waste his breath as nobody was showing him respect.
The next morning, both teams lined up in the dining room, where Ramsay announced they would get rid of the menu for the next service, and that both teams would create their own menus. He gave one hour to the teams, who headed back to the dorms. Christina was excited about that as it was the first time they got to make some inputs on the menu. On the red side, all three members were working as a team, shooting ideas, which Matt really appreciated as they were bonding as a team. On the blue side, Jen was dictating the process, not listening to her teammates' ideas and only putting her inputs. Louross was so annoyed by this that he stopped writing down when she moved on to her desserts, and lit himself a cigarette. In the end, Matt, wearing gigantic orange plastic glasses on his head, was very happy and confident about his team's menu, while nobody was on the blue side except Jen. Louross was annoyed by Jen's way of controlling everything and shutting everybody down, and Bobby was as well, saying he wanted a good menu, but would let Jen hang herself. Louross stated it was not a blue team's menu, it was a Jen's menu.
Before service[]
In the red kitchen, both teams were lined up, and Ramsay asked them if they were excited and confident, which everybody answered they were. Christina recited the red team's menu, and Ramsay was excited, saying they would be strong contenders if they could execute it properly. Matt declared he was happy to be teammate with Christina and Corey, even stating that he wished to open a restaurant with those two. When Louross recited the blue team's menu, Ramsay was making questioning expressions at each item. Louross noticed it and understood why he was making those faces. Ramsay stated their menu sounded horrible, leading Louross to say that the zucchini and squash-wrapped halibut was Jen's idea. When Ramsay asked Louross if he was happy with the menu, he answered he was not really, discouraging Ramsay. Jen was not happy about Louross throwing her under the bus, but also wondered why he did not talk about it back in the dorms when they were creating the menu. Ramsay asked Jen what were her inputs, which she answered almost every item, leading Ramsay to conclude that she came up with nearly 70% of the menu. Ramsay thought the menu was hideous, and Petrozza said that Jen wanted to be the captain of the team but she drove the team towards an iceberg. Ramsay asked the blue team to change their menu and urged Louross to find his voice, which he did. Bobby also came up with new ideas, stating that he knew Ramsay would allow them to make some changes and that he had it all planned. After, Jen recited the menu, which Ramsay liked much more than the previous one, and asked both teams to start prep.
In the red kitchen, morale was at its best and Matt declared once again he was happy about the menu, which was a result of them working as a team. In the blue kitchen, Jen was still bullying Louross about how he had to open up and say what he was thinking, but Louross said he did but nobody listened to him. Petrozza noticed Jen could be a bitch, but acknowledged that Louross could be more vocal. While Louross was still complaining that nobody was listening to him, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell's Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Each customer would have the choice of ordering from the blue or red menu, with the popularity of the menus determining that night's winning team. The first orders came in even for both kitchens. When the first ticket got called in the red kitchen, Christina was worried that Matt could not execute her pasta appetizer, but hoped that he could. The first pasta appetizer Matt sent to the pass was too salty. Ramsay made everybody taste it and asked Matt to start again. Corey acknowledged Matt was careless as he was making stupid mistakes, and declared she would be on her ass all service long as she did not want to lose. In the blue kitchen, appetizers were going out at a good rate. However, Ramsay caught Petrozza putting lettuce in his appetizers without washing it. Ramsay schooled him on that mistake and told him to keep his station clean. Petrozza acknowledged his station was a mess as usual, and Ramsay said P was for Petrozza, but was also for Pig.
Finally, the red team's appetizers came out as well, but Jean-Philippe returned an undercooked pasta dish to the kitchen, leading Ramsay to tell Matt would have to refire one quickly. Moments later, two more pasta dishes were sent back to the red kitchen for salty sauce, discouraging Ramsay. When Ramsay found out Matt was sweating in the pasta, he understood that was what caused the saltiness of the dish. Matt put a white bandana over his head, and Corey demanded him to not let the team down and work harder, but Matt started giving her attitude. Then, Ramsay asked why he was behaving like a baby and schooled him on his attitude and the saltiness of his pasta dishes. After that, yet another pasta dish came back for being bland, discouraging Ramsay, who asked the whole team to taste it. Christina was discouraged as well, and Corey asked her to take over the appetizer station, dedicating Matt nowhere. He said to never do that to anybody as he would have wanted to keep trying. In the blue kitchen, the team moved on to entrées and were delivering them very quickly, but perhaps a little too quickly as one order of steak came back in the kitchen for being undercooked. A discouraged Ramsay told Louross about the mistake, and Louross showed a clearly disappointed face, leading Ramsay to mimic him and say he was performing for the Oscars. Ramsay schooled Louross, saying that if his cooking was as good as his acting, he would be talented. Louross acknowledged he was going downhill when another order came back. Ramsay asked him, along with Jen, to touch it, got on his knees and told it was raw, calling Louross an idiot in the process. Jen acknowledged Louross was having a horrible performance, and a minor fire erupted on his station. Another steak dish came back, and Ramsay told Louross he was putting his team in the weeds. Louross declared he was now hating the word filet mignon, and stated that if he would ever see another filet mignon, he would throw it at somebody's face. Then, Ramsay threatened Louross with the shutdown of the kitchen if another steak would come back.
In the red kitchen, Matt moved on to the garnish station trying to redeem himself, but the first Brussels sprouts he brought to the plate were disgusting. He apologized to Ramsay, who told his teammates he gave up. Matt insisted he did not give up and threw a pan away in anger. Corey schooled him on his behavior and threatened him to be kicked out the team if he would continue. This led the two of them to have an argument, where Corey said he was acting like a girl, and Matt saying that she was a bitch. For the second time of the service, Matt was kicked off a station. In the blue kitchen, Louross finally delivered a properly cooked steak, but the table who ordered it already left. Ramsay became furious, ripped that table's ticket and threw it at Louross, who declared he had never been that disappointed at himself in his life. He also added it was the first time a table walked out on him.
Two hours into service, the blue team only delivered half of their entrées, while the red team served nearly all of theirs. Corey and Christina were having a great communication while leaving Matt doing nothing on the side, sending out many entrées. Christina herself was surprised about that because of those two's problems at the beginning of the season. Ramsay noticed Matt was doing nothing and congratulated him for becoming the ass of the red kitchen. Meanwhile, the blue kitchen was moving on to desserts, but Bobby was not comfortable working on that station because it was a mess. Jen came over to clean it up, and when Bobby called her "honey", she did not like it, saying her name was Jennifer. She stated she did not know who Bobby thought he was, but needed to call her by her first name instead of "honey", "baby" or any other king of nickname like that. The first soufflé Jen brought to the plate was raw, infuriating Ramsay who broke a plate in the process, and told her to go away. Jen said it was not her fault, but despite that, Bobby rallied his team to complete their desserts. Everybody was helping, and in the red kitchen, Christina vocally led the dessert station, much to Matt's annoyance. Both teams rallied to complete their orders of desserts, and when they did, they congratulated each other.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay reminded it was really red team against blue team because every customer got the choice between either menu. Ramsay declared the teams were almost even on the quantity, so he based his decision on the quality. He reminded the chefs that they were off to a good start, but something happened halfway and food started to come back. The red team was stalled because of the pasta, and the blue team was because of the filets mignons. Then, Ramsay asked Matt to take his bandana off as he was not Homer Simpson, and told him he gave up and was sloppy because of his sweat in the food. For the blue team, Ramsay reminded the meat station was going down in flames, referring to Louross' constant mistakes. Ramsay named the blue team losers, and Petrozza "Best of the Worst" because he led the team to a strong start on appetizers despite being such a mess during service. Then, Ramsay asked him to nominate two of his teammates for elimination.
Back in the dorms, Petrozza was not happy about being in that position, saying it sucked. During deliberation, Jen said she did not do anything wrong and she was deserving to be there, by adding that Louross performed far worse than she did. Then, Petrozza pulled Louross aside, and Louross told him it would be poison if he would go home over Jen because of her attitude. On the red side, Matt and Christina talked about who Petrozza would nominate and quickly said that Jen should go because of her attitude. Bobby was not worried to be nominated because he was more experienced than Louross and Jen, not only in cooking but outside the kitchen as well. Petrozza considered Louross for being the weakest team member, Jen for her poor attitude, and Bobby for being a strong competitor.
Elimination[]
Petrozza announced his first nominee was Louross because he lacked cooking abilities, and Jen as his second because of her thought of being on top of everybody despite having a lot to learn. Both nominees were called down, and Ramsay announced he would do something he never done before. Then, he asked Petrozza who should go home. That responsibility dedication shocked everybody, and despite everybody wanting Jen gone, Petrozza said Ramsay should eliminate Louross. Ramsay agreed with that decision and eliminated Louross for being the worst performer of the night and lacking cooking abilities.
Team switch[]
Immediately after Louross left, Ramsay declared he was not done. He reminded the chefs he gave them total control of the menus, and that they let him down. Then, he called Matt, from the winning team, down, and Matt joined Jen on the chopping block. Ramsay told Jen that even though she was able to manipulate her team, she could not manipulate him, and after, he told Matt he was lucky to be there. When Ramsay told Matt he was out of his depth, Matt responded that he was not, and Ramsay asked both of them to take their jackets off. Christina was euphoric, thinking they would be eliminated, but Ramsay transferred both of them back to their original teams, much to everybody else's dismay. Before dismissing the chefs, Ramsay announced that the following day, they would start again. While going back to the dorms, Matt declared he felt his heart stopping as he thought he would be going home, adding he did not want to go back to the blue team, but needed to do what he had to do and hope he would make it to the end. Corey stated that getting Jen back would be challenging but that she and Christina would be in charge of the red team. After, Jen thought the red team were intimidated by her and stated that she was not there to make friends.
Ramsay's comment: "Louross was never short on energy. He was just short... on cooking ability."
Trivia[]
- Louross never received the walk of shame sequence, and his exit interview was never aired. This makes him the only chef that was eliminated in the traditional way to have no exit interview.