The third episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on September 29, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the fourth episode. On that episode, a breakfast challenge service took place, dinner service was mixed at best, and one of the most incompetent chefs in the show’s history finally pushed Ramsay to the breaking point.
Intro[]
Back in the dorms, Rob expressed his disbelief that Curtis was eliminated while Raj, who he referred to as a lunatic, was allowed to stay. On the other hand, Raj was extremely happy to have survived elimination twice in a row, and mocked Vinny for his decision to tell the diners not to order sides, though Vinny argued that he only recommended to the diners not to order sides. Meanwhile, Jillian and Sabrina met Russell and told him that the men was looking weak, while the women were strong. However, Jillian believed that Emily should be the next person going home due to her poor performance during the previous service. Later that night, at 2:18 am, Raj was still celebrating but Trev told him to calm down. Vinny realized that the rest of the men would have to work with Raj if they wanted to win, and Trev decided to befriend Raj as he was the only person who was listening to him.
Team challenge[]
The next morning, at 5:07 am, the chefs were asleep until multiple ambulances came to Hell’s Kitchen. Then, a group of paramedics came to the dorms, woke the chefs up, and gave them health exams. Once everyone was tested, Sous Chef Scott told them to get dressed and head downstairs. When they got downstairs, they saw Ramsay with a group of paramedics sitting at the tables. Ramsay explained that during the last service, he saw no energy from anyone, and after looking over the medical exams, he realized it was not a physical limit as they were all healthy, but a mental block. As Ramsay was looking for a mentally strong person to become the head chef at LA Market, he introduced the Paramedic Service Challenge, where each team would cook breakfast for paramedics from Los Angeles. Ramsay told the chefs that the first team to serve all of their 50 tables would be the winner.
The chefs went into their kitchens and began prep, with their dishes being an egg white omelet with turkey bacon, roasted tomatoes, and toast as the first, and scrambled eggs with French toast, bacon, and sausage as the second. However, they could not serve any of those two dishes until each table received a fruit salad bowl. Nona was determined to make sure the women would finally win a challenge. In the blue kitchen, Rob noticed that none of his teammates came to help him on the fruit salads, while in the red kitchen, half of the team was working together on their fruit salads. The results showed as the women sent out two bowls of fruit salads, while the men did not. Rob sent over his first bowl, but it did not have any pineapple in it, although he was able to quickly put them in afterwards. In the red kitchen, the women began working on their first orders, and because of the excellent teamwork, they managed to serve their first three tables. In the blue kitchen, Boris sent up his omelet, but Sous Chef Scott told Ramsay that it was burnt on the bottom. So, Ramsay refused to serve it, forcing the men to start over.
In the red kitchen, Nona and Sabrina called Emily for the bacon, but she did not respond. Sabrina went to get the bacon from the convection oven, but they were all burnt, much to the latter’s dismay, calling the former a dumbass. Despite that, Sabrina and Melissa were able to cook more bacon in time, and sent out more dishes. Meanwhile, the men has yet to serve one of their tables, and Ramsay chewed them out for looking like amateurs. Raj brought up his scrambled eggs, but Ramsay found out that there was no seasoning in them, and forced the men to taste them. When Raj was about to argue with Ramsay about the seasoning, he got chewed out for it, and Trev told him to just say “Yes, Chef.” Confused by the situation, Raj left the kitchen and put his head in the fridge to get straightened out, but Ramsay caught him and told Raj to move back in the kitchen. The men continued to look disorganized, which caused a dismayed Ramsay to ask who was in control, while calling it a disaster. Meanwhile, the women managed to get their last table out and were declared the winners. After, Ramsay told the women to go in the blue kitchen and help the men serve their tables. With the women’s help, the men were able to serve all of their tables. After, Ramsay berated the men for their disorganized performance, and Trev knew their problem was a lack of communication. Raj tried to argue that he tried to speak up, but Trev shut him up and reminded Raj that they were performing as individuals, which Ramsay agreed with. Trev even voiced his frustration that Raj was not contributing worthwhile to the men and it was hurting them a lot.
Reward[]
The women won a trip to Santa Monica where they had lunch at the Viceroy Hotel along with a secret surprise. When they arrived in Santa Monica, they saw that their surprise was trapeze lessons, which excited Melissa as she had never done that before. Later that day, they met Ramsay at the Viceroy Hotel. During lunch, Nona got splashed with champagne by accident and Ramsay dried her off. The women toasted their victory and Jillian expressed hope that the women would continue to win.
Punishment[]
The men had to polish 250 stemware glasses for the next service, and clean up both kitchens. Before leaving, Ramsay urged the men to use their punishment as an opportunity to regroup and bond because they really needed it. Louis even hoped that they would get together because if not, it would be an all-female finale at the end. During the punishment, Trev tried to urge Raj in helping out with the polishing, but Raj felt that Trev was being mean to him, and also believed that he was all alone against the rest of his team who he compared to kids. Trev saw that Raj left watermarks on one of his glasses, and an annoyed Russell told Trev to finish it for Raj.
Later on, as they were cleaning up the red kitchen, Trev saw that Raj partially covered a loaf a bread with ceramic wrap, and Trev was starting to be fed up. The rest of the men were getting fed up as well as Vinny noted that while Raj might have the most cooking experience of them all, he clearly showed that he had little experience cooking in a kitchen. Raj called that comment unfair, but an angry Trev yelled that Raj was screwing up the men and they were trying to get that through to his thick skull. However, Raj accused them of targeting him unfairly, which led Trev to tell Raj to go home and stuff his face with Twinkies until he had a heart attack. As the argument continued, Raj got enraged, yelled at Trev to shut up, inches away from his face, and called the rest of his team a bunch of snakes. Before anything escalated, Boris and Russell pulled Raj to the back hallway and Boris told Raj to calm down with some Taichi. In a confessional, Boris said he did not want any of his teammates fighting as they needed everyone to work together, but still called Raj fucking nuts.
Before service[]
The next morning, both teams began prep as Russell urged Raj to communicate. Meanwhile, Nona noticed that Sabrina was missing as the latter was in the bathroom getting herself ready. Sabrina proved to be not helpful during prep as she figured Ramsay was not looking for a prep chef, much to Melissa's annoyance.
Once both teams finished their prep, they lined up, and Ramsay told the men they were having the weakest start so far, and urged them to make a comeback that night. Then, he told Raj that he did not given up any hope for him yet, but told him to make a comeback and stay out of the fridge. Ramsay revealed that for service, they would be giving all the diners culinary styled cocktails, and dedicated Sabrina and Trev as mixologists. Once everybody was ready, Ramsay told James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
The men got their first ticket, and Vinny and Raj began working on their appetizers. Despite Vinny saying that he needed 4 more minutes on his spaghetti, Raj was about to send up his scallops until Louis and Vinny convinced him to refire them. Meanwhile, Emily tasted Jillian's appetizers and thought that they needed more salt. They sent out their appetizers to the dining room, but James came back with the dishes as they were too salty. Jillian was angry at Emily for screwing her up, and Ramsay urged the women to taste their dishes. With neither team getting food out to the diners, Trev and Sabrina were pressured by James to get their cocktails out. While both of them were annoyed by James’ pressure, they managed to serve their cocktails to their customers. Meanwhile, both kitchens managed to get appetizers out to their diners.
An hour into dinner service, and the men was beginning to serve entrées. Raj brought up his salmon, but Ramsay found that Raj cooked it in a disgusting stock that was not needed, forcing the men to start over. In the red kitchen, Melissa's Dover Sole dish was overcooked and Ramsay compared it to Gandhi’s flip-flop. Jillian found that comment hilarious and wondered where Ramsay came up with it as she believed Gandhi never wore shoes. Without any entrées coming out from either kitchen, the diners were getting impatient. In the blue kitchen, Raj said he was ready with the refired salmon, but backtracked and said he needed one minute. Ramsay criticized Raj for doing that and called him a fucking bozo. Raj managed to bring up the salmon, but it turned out to be raw and Ramsay smashed it with his hand in frustration. That frustrated Boris who claimed that Raj could not even change his underwear correctly, and Ramsay reminded Raj that they have yet to send an entrée out. Oblivious as to why the salmon was rejected, Raj attempted to ask Ramsay about it, ignoring that Ramsay had both of his ears plugged and Rob urging him not to say anything. Eventually, Ramsay angrily told Raj to cook his fucking dish and shut his fat mouth. Then, Ramsay had Vinny help Raj out, and because of Vinny, the team was finally able to get their first table out.
An hour and 45 minutes into service, both teams were sending entrées out to the dining room. Nona allowed Emily to help her on garnishes, but got frustrated when Emily did not have the gratin ready in time, calling her worthless. That forced Nona to double her efforts, and she managed to send out gratins to Ramsay’s approval. Meanwhile, Boris got his Wellingtons ready, but found out they were raw when he sliced them, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Because of that, the men were forced to start over. After, Boris saw Raj eating the rejected fish at his station and begged Raj to stop. Ramsay soon caught Raj eating and mockingly asked if he had enough, but Raj said that the food was delicious, much to Ramsay’s annoyance. In the red kitchen, Gail was distracted and did not notice that one of her ribeye steaks was on fire, much to Nona’s annoyance. Ramsay took the flaming pan into the sink and accused Gail of giving up.
Two hours into service, and Gail managed to redeem herself with a perfectly cooked beef dish, and in the blue kitchen, Raj managed to get his halibut accepted as well. However, Ramsay saw that Raj cooked three Dover Soles that were not even ordered, and Vinny told Raj that there was no way Ramsay would accept them from that moment. Ramsay called for the Dover Sole, but Raj revealed he had no more left despite the fact there was three on order. That horrified Ramsay and the men, Louis got fearful that things would get ugly, Boris called the situation embarrassing, and Raj was confused over what to do. After much thinking, Ramsay ordered Raj to go out to the dining room and inform the diners who ordered the Dover Sole what happened. Raj tried to argue that he could not go out due to a dirty apron, but Ramsay angrily ordered him to leave. Then, Raj struggled with dropping his apron off, leading Sous Chef Scott to aggressively order Raj to drop it and leave. Once in the dining room, Raj told the table about their predicament and offered other fish instead. With Raj out of the kitchen, the men managed to push entrées out and Ramsay noted that it was the first time they sounded like a team. Eventually, both teams managed to send out their last table.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told that while both teams completed service, it was painful to watch. As Ramsay could not pick a winner, he decided to use the comment cards to help with his decision. The men had a 54% approval rating from the customers, while the women had a 50% approval rating. So, the women were declared losers, and Ramsay asked them to nominate two people for elimination.
Back in the dorms, the women agreed that Emily was their first nominee for her poor performance, but Emily said she was not ready to go home. For their second nominee, Sabrina and Jillian agreed on Melissa based on her overall poor performances, but Melissa, Nona, and Emily argued that Sabrina should be the second nominee based on her poor attitude and the fact that she did not help out very much during prep. That angered Sabrina as she was not even in the kitchen during service, but Emily reminded her that a kitchen cannot run properly if none of the food was ready. That left Gail as the final vote, but she struggled on who to choose.
Elimination[]
Jillian named Emily as the women's first nominee, and Sabrina as the second, although she admitted she had no idea why. Ramsay even asked why Sabrina got nominated as she was not in the kitchen, but Melissa explained that Sabrina did not help out during prep. Ramsay agreed on the nominees and called Emily and Sabrina down. During the pleas, Sabrina told Ramsay that while Emily messed up and she sucks, Melissa should go home as she has performed horribly despite being an Executive Chef, but Ramsay told Sabrina to explain why she herself should stay in Hell’s Kitchen. Sabrina answered that she was here to grow and that she had bigger balls than the rest of the women put together. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay announced that the person leaving that night was Raj, from the winning team, as he has been the worst performer in all of the services so far and proved to be way out of his league. After Raj left, Ramsay asked the men if they were relieved, and the men thanked Ramsay, with Vinny citing Raj's elimination as a reward. Sabrina and Emily went back in line, and Ramsay dismissed the chefs for the night.
Ramsay's comment: "When the going gets tough in the kitchen, a chef puts his head down and cooks. All Raj wanted to do was put his head in the freezer, and that's why his stay in Hell's Kitchen was a short one."
Trivia[]
- Until Season 17, Raj set the record for the earliest chef to be eliminated despite being on the winning team. It also marks the first time Ramsay did so in two consecutive seasons.