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The seventh episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 13, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the eighth episode. In that episode, a Family Night dinner service was held, one team felt the pressure of cooking for Ramsay’s family, and nobody was sent home due to a terrific performance.

Intro[]

After elimination, Sabrina gathered the red team near the stairwell with full knowledge that her time was running out after being nominated four times. Gail told Sabrina that her biggest problem was her attitude, and while Sabrina tried to deny it, the rest of the red team agreed. So, Sabrina promised that she would improve her attitude, but Nona did not believe her promise, and told Gail that she still wanted to see her go home. Meanwhile, Boris felt very disappointed about his poor performance, and knew that he would have to make a major comeback to stay. However, Russell felt that Boris was on his last life, and refused to carry him any longer.

Team challenge[]

The next morning, both teams went downstairs and found Ramsay next to a large covered item. Then, Ramsay explained that all the best chefs were imaginative, quick on their feet, and had a full understating on the combination of ingredients, before pulling off the cover and revealing a roulette table, which excited everybody, especially Nona as she was a big fan of the game. Ramsay explained that for the Roulette Challenge, each chef would spin the wheel, and when they landed on one of the 18 letters on the wheel, they would have 10 seconds to call an ingredient beginning with the landed letter. Then, both teams would have to create a new dish with their five ingredients, and because the blue team was down a member, Vinny had to spin twice.

The blue team were up first, and while Vinny’s first attempt landed on K, deciding on kale, his second attempt landed on Y, and he chose yams. Boris landed on M and chose miso, much to Vinny’s dismay as miso was hard to work with. Rob landed on S and chose striped bass, and Russell landed on A and chose asparagus. The red team were up next, and Trev spun fist. He landed on R and chose rutabaga. Jillian landed on C and chose cauliflower, while Sabrina landed on B and chose bok choy. Gail landed on F and chose fennel, and Nona landed on S and chose salmon.

With both teams having their ingredients, Ramsay gave them 30 minutes to cook their dishes. Both teams got together to work out what to do with their ingredients and came out with some ideas. During the challenge, Russell checked on Boris to see if his miso was coming together as he was concerned about it, though Boris was upset that the blue team had no faith in his skills. Fortunately, Boris managed to nail the miso broth during the cooking, and Russell admitted that it tasted good. In the red kitchen, Trev got his rutabaga chips fried, but they tasted burnt and bitter, even though Trev thought they tasted good. In the blue kitchen, Rob worked on the yams and asparagus, told the blue team that he was blanching them, and while Russell suggested that they added some seasoning to the vegetables, Rob was against that. With five minutes left to go, Nona was struggling with the cauliflower purée, and decided to put more butter in it to taste creamier. Eventually, both teams got their dishes finished and plated in time.

Ramsay asked for the red team’s dish first, and Sabrina presented a grilled salmon with cauliflower purée and baby bok choy, pan roasted fennel, and rutabaga chips. While Ramsay praised the perfect cooking of the salmon and the taste of the bok choy, the purée looked broken due to Nona using too much whole butter, and the chips tasted bitter. After, Boris presented the blue team’s dish, which was a pan-seared striped bass with braised kale, asparagus, and fried yams in a miso broth. Ramsay immediately praised the presentation, and the cooking of both the bass and kale, along with the sweetness of the miso broth. However, the asparagus and yams tasted lazy as they had no seasoning on them. During deliberation, Ramsay noted it was a hard choice as both dishes had their flaws, but despite that, the red team won the challenge as their purée, despite looking broken, tasted good.

Reward[]

The red team were rewarded with a trip to The Rio, in Las Vegas, for an overnight visit. When the red team arrived there, they were shocked and surprised on how large their suite was, and had an assortment of food waiting for them, with Nona calling it the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Later that night, Nona received a call, but all she heard was heavy breathing, unaware that Penn and Teller were at the front door. Their appearance excited the red team, and the duo gave them envelops stating they won two nights in Las Vegas the next time they would come. Then, the red team took a group photo with Penn and Teller.

Punishment[]

The blue team was punished by taking a delivery of 1000 potatoes, and prepping them for French fries which would be used for a special Family Night dinner service. When Rob opened the truck’s doors, a mountain of potatoes came down on the men. During the punishment, Vinny complained that they might be doing that until the beginning of service, all because of Rob failing to season the asparagus and yams. However, Boris actually enjoyed prepping the potatoes due to his Russian background and called it a reward, though Russell thought he was doing more talking than cleaning. After the punishment, Vinny told Russell that they had to win service even if it meant carrying Boris all the way. Russell agreed with Vinny, and even said if they would lose, it would be Boris and Rob who would get nominated.

Before service[]

The next day, the blue team got to prep their kitchen, though Boris knew that he was the weak link of the team as his teammates treated him like that, and needed to bounce back that night. Meanwhile, the red team returned from their reward, and got changed into their chef jackets for prep. However, Sabrina did not pull out the meat from the fridge, and a pissed Jillian stated that she was done with Sabrina, and that she would be sent home if they would lose service.

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told them that it was Family Night, and among the diners, his own family would be attending. However, that news intimidated everybody as Ramsay would never forgive them if they would screw up his family’s order. Then, Ramsay told Trev to drive the red team forward, and revealed that there was a carnival outside. So, he wanted the diners to come in happy, eat happily, and be happy himself at the end. After, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service[]

The Family Night service was featuring the regular menu as well as a kids menu, and each table would receive a welcoming plate of French fries. Also, along with Ramsay’s family, Jerry Springer and his family were in attendance. Both Trev and Rob got the fries out to the dining room, and afterwards, the blue team got their first ticket. Vinny brought his risotto to the pass, but Ramsay found out that he cooked four servings instead of the two ordered, and lectured Vinny on wasting food, while adding on that if he was the head chef at LA Market, Vinny would have been fired. In the red kitchen, Ramsay sent back Jillian’s risotto as it needed more pea purée, but she managed to rebound and got it accepted.

45 minutes into service, more than half of the families have been served their appetizers. James handed Ramsay his family’s ticket, and Ramsay called it out for the blue team, which Boris knew that they had to get it perfect. While Rob and Russell sent over their appetizers, Vinny was slow on the risotto, and in a panic, grabbed the risotto he made for the last table and sent it to the pass. However, Ramsay instantly knew what Vinny did and irritatingly told him that risotto was for his own wife. Then, Ramsay lectured Vinny and the blue team that even if it was not for his family, they deserved better and yelled that if he was cooking for any of their families, he would make sure that they received a fresh risotto. So, Vinny quickly made a fresh risotto, and Ramsay’s family received their appetizers. In the red kitchen, they began to work on entrées, and Sabrina asked Trev to feel her meat. An annoyed Trev felt them, and told Sabrina to put them in the oven a little longer. Because of Trev, Sabrina sent over her meat which Ramsay praised for being perfectly cooked. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay was waiting on Boris for his beef, and caught him when he was about to slice the meat on a dirty cutting board. Fortunately, Ramsay stopped Boris from doing it, and lectured him to clean off the board, while calling him a dirty pig. In the red kitchen, Sabrina was about to cut her beef until Nona said that she needed one more minute on garnishes. An annoyed Ramsay and Trev pushed Nona to speed up, though Nona was annoyed at Trev for being too close to her and counting down from 15. Fortunately, Nona's garnishes came out perfectly, and the next table of entrées was sent out. In the blue kitchen, the men were working on Ramsay’s family’s entrées, but Rob got behind on garnish for the macaroni and cheese. Despite asking Russell for some help, Rob did not get any help as Russell did not want to babysit Rob. In the red kitchen, Trev found out that Sabrina was making a grilled cheese for the next table, despite the fact that it was taking two minutes to cook. Trev tried to lecture her about her mistake, but that led to an argument between them as Sabrina felt that Trev was giving her attitude, though Gail asked them to cut it out. When Sabrina sent her chicken, it was raw, and Ramsay reminded the red team that he could not drag tables as there were children in the dining room.

Two hours into dinner service, the men were still waiting on Rob’s macaroni and cheese, and Russell asked Vinny to help Rob. However, Ramsay was forced to send his family’s entrées on the hot plate at the moment, meaning that his own son’s dish did not come with the rest of his family’s dishes. With everyone riding on Rob for the macaroni and cheese, he sent over the dish, and Ramsay sent it out to his son. In the red kitchen, Trev and Sabrina put aside their differences, and got out a perfectly cooked chicken to the dining room. Both teams pushed out their final tickets and sent out desserts, and left happy about the fact that they managed to bounce back from their mistakes.

Post-mortem[]

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay said that he could not believe that he wanted the diners to leave happy, and about 90% from the comment cards stated that they were very satisfied with their experience. So, Ramsay congratulated both teams for a job well done, but despite the chefs feeling very proud of their accomplishment, Ramsay said that they would still have an elimination, and asked both teams to come up with two nominees each, based on that night’s service.

Back in the dorms, Jillian noted that it sucked that they had to nominate two people despite having a terrific service. Trev pointed out that the only thing that got sent back was the raw chicken from Sabrina, but Sabrina said that he had some responsibility for that as well, despite the fact Trev helped her. The rest of the red team agreed with him, who felt angry that Sabrina threw him under the bus. For their second nominee, Trev told Nona that she would have died if nobody would have help her on garnish, but Nona said that she busted her ass, and did not want to go home, though Jillian urged her to fight for her life. Meanwhile, the blue team discussed who to nominate, with Boris begging his teammates not to nominate him again. However, Russell said that they were not stupid, and Boris would be going home that night. Then, Boris said that Vinny should be nominated for sending up an old risotto for Ramsay’s wife, but Vinny told that he corrected that mistake afterwards, and then, he revealed that his picks were Boris and Rob as they got yelled at the most. However, Rob said that Russell left him alone despite asking for help, though Russell disagreed with that.

Elimination[]

Nona announced that Sabrina was the red team’s first nominee, and herself was the second, while Russell announced that Boris was the blue team’s first nominee, and Rob was the second. After hearing that, Ramsay decided to pull one nominee from each team, and only called Nona and Rob down. Both of them pleaded their cases, with Nona calling herself a fighter, and Rob claiming that he had no support from his team and had to push himself to keep afloat. A shocked Ramsay asked Russell if that was true, but Russell answered that it was not, as he could not help Rob every time, despite Rob saying that there were multiple times that Russell could have come to his station to help. After that, Ramsay called Rob’s name, told him to take off his jacket, but surprised everybody by giving him a clean jacket, and sent him and Nona back in line. Then, Ramsay revealed that nobody would be eliminated because it was a great service after having six horrible services before then. Everybody felt relieved while receiving high fives from Ramsay. Before dismissing them, Ramsay suggested that they all get some sleep because the next day would be a bitch, and jokingly said that he could feel Rob’s heart racing, as well as reminding Nona to bounce back.

Ramsay's comment: "Tonight, I finally got a respectable service, so I gave them a little respect and didn't send anyone home. But tomorrow, they're in for the most intense dinner service in the history of Hell's Kitchen."

Trivia[]

  • This was the 100th overall episode of the series.
  • This marks the first time Ramsay did not eliminate anyone on the grounds that the service was an improvement compared to other services.
  • This marks the only time the Craps Challenge did not use the craps board.
Hell's Kitchen Season 8 Episodes
16 Chefs Compete14 Chefs Compete13 Chefs Compete12 Chefs Compete11 Chefs Compete10 Chefs Compete9 Chefs Compete Part 19 Chefs Compete Part 28 Chefs Compete7 Chefs Compete6 Chefs Compete5 Chefs Compete4 Chefs Compete4 Chefs Compete Again2 Chefs Compete
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