The twelfth episode of Season 9 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX on August 29, 2011. In that episode, chefs worked with different timings, a bitchy chef was put in her place after losing the challenge, a private dinner service took place, and no one from the losing team was safe.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Elise was grateful to survive and wanted to bounce back from her poor performance that night while hoping her team did as well. The next day, both teams gathered at the patio, and Will pointed out that there was no more room for mistakes with six people left. Elizabeth promised to calm down as she deemed last night a fluke, but Jennifer did not believe it as the former had a poor track record of freaking out.
Team challenge[]
When both teams came downstairs, Ramsay reminded them how chefs would fight against the clock at services and how frustrated he was the previous night due to poor timings. He announced the Time Limit Challenge. Each chef would make three entrées, with one made in 30 minutes, one made in 20 minutes, and one made in 10 minutes, with all three dishes ready by the end of the 30-minute start time. Both teams had a minute to discuss who got what timings. While the men went with the order of Tommy, Paul, and Will, the women went with the order of Jennifer, Elizabeth, and Elise.
As the challenge began, Tommy and Jennifer went into their respective kitchens to start cooking while their teammates waited at the pass. However, Jennifer got distracted by Elise and Elizabeth’s questions about ingredients, irritating her as she needed time to focus. Paul and Will directed Tommy on the latter’s lamb dish in the blue kitchen as Will wanted to light a fire in Tommy’s ass. After 10 minutes, Paul and Elizabeth could start cooking, and the former was ready to prove while he was a big deal. After 20 minutes, Will and Elise began cooking their dishes, and by that time, everybody was cooking. Near the end of the challenge, Jennifer discovered that her lamb was raw and quickly got a pan sizzling to heat her protein up. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time.
Tommy and Jennifer were up first, with the former presenting his lamb with a quail egg on top of the hash. While Ramsay was perplexed about the concept, he praised the dish for having everything cooked properly and having the quail egg compliment the lamb. After, a downed Jennifer presented her lamb and even called it the worst dish she made in the competition. Ramsay disagreed, praising the lamb for not being raw as she thought and having a delicious sauce. Jennifer won that round, and the women led 1-0. Paul’s pan-seared sea bass was praised for having a great sear and having a refreshing and zesty sauce on the second round despite needing a little more reduction. Then, Elizabeth’s monkfish with couscous was praised for the cook of the fish but criticized for having a bland couscous. After, Paul won that round, and it was tied one each. In the final round, Will wanted to win to show everybody he was the biggest threat and presented his lemon seared spotted prawns. The dish was praised for having a beautiful cook on the prawns but criticized for overdoing the vegetable with garlic, leaving Elise to present her spicy calamari with a tomato pepper sauce. While Ramsay liked the heat of the sauce, he criticized the calamari for being undercooked. As a result, Will won that round, giving the men the victory 2-1. The defeat caused Elise to cry again, but Ramsay was not having any of it. After the challenge, Ramsay announced that for the first time, Hell’s Kitchen was hosting a black-tie charity dinner service with only two tables of twelve that night, and each table would be served a six-course meal.
Scoring[]
Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tommy | 0 | 0 | Jennifer | 1 | 1 |
Paul | 1 | 1 | Elizabeth | 0 | 1 |
Will | 1 | 2 | Elise | 0 | 1 |
Results | 2-1 |
Reward[]
The men were rewarded with a shopping spree at Ted Baker’s, leaving Will wanting to pimp out like Ramsay, and rode in a limousine. During the reward, the men enjoyed champagne during their limo drive. As Will was ready to spend Ramsay’s money, Paul called himself a big deal, and Tommy was prepared to have a good time. At Ted Baker’s, Will was stumped over what to buy as his wife did his wardrobe, and Tommy picked out a dress for his girlfriend, even sizing up one of the staff for measurements.
Punishment[]
After hearing the men’s reward, a dismayed Jennifer called it the perfect reward as she loved shopping. The women were punished by prepping the charity night service and bringing out two banquet tables while reorganizing the dining room. When Elise continued to cry over the women’s defeat, an annoyed Ramsay told her to stop it and bounce back. During the punishment, the three women struggled to move a banquet table from the front entrance. Jennifer was close to cracking as neither Elise nor Elizabeth was pulling their weight. Later, Elise and Jennifer argued about candlestick placements.
Before service[]
When the men came back from their reward, Tommy gave the women some handkerchiefs to use should they lose another challenge. Later, both teams began prepping for the charity night service. Sous Chefs Scott and Andi revealed that each of them was responsible for two courses each and gave them what course they were leading. Jennifer knew that one person could not do a course together without help. At the same time, Elise wanted to formulate a game plan on how to work. Still, she insulted Elizabeth when the latter wanted to focus on her chicken, with the latter losing her patience with Elise.
Before service began, Ramsay had both teams lined up. He reminded them about the charity night service and that he would be using that night’s service to decide the five chefs worthy of a black jacket. That shocked Jennifer, but she felt more motivated than ever, while Paul wanted to show what he could do. Afterwards, Ramsay asked James to let their guests in.
Dinner Service[]
Orlando Brown was a guest in this service. The women cooked for the American Cancer Society table, while the men cooked for the American Humane Association. As the guests begin going to their tables, Ramsay reminded Elizabeth to own her scallops’ course. Still, Elizabeth was stressed out about the importance of that night. When Ramsay asked the women why nobody was helping Elizabeth on scallops, the latter asked Elise for help. Ramsay told Paul to get to the plate in the blue kitchen, and he immediately became vocal with his teammates as he wanted to show what he had. However, just when Paul was about to send the scallops out, Ramsay stopped him and discovered inconsistent curry purée, a dirty plate, and a watery salad Tommy sent up, much to Paul’s irritation. Elizabeth did not respond to Jennifer’s questions about firing the cauliflower in the red team, annoying the latter as the former was sounding like crickets, leaving Jennifer and Elise to take over. Eventually, Paul and Elizabeth got their scallop course out with no other problems. Ramsay asked Elizabeth what happened to her voice and leadership back in the red kitchen and urged her to own her next course. Elizabeth agreed but dropped her chicken off, confusing Jennifer as they had two more courses before that.
On the risotto course, Elise told her teammates what to do and wanted to show Ramsay she could bounce back, with her course easily sent out with no problems. In the blue kitchen, Tommy said that his risottos would be ready in six minutes, but Will told him not to add the parmesan unless they were absolutely finished. However, Tommy told Will to go away. When he sent the risottos up, Ramsay found that there were three different tastes, but with some help from Will, the men got their refires accepted.
On the lobster capellini course, Will began working with on his course. In the red kitchen, Jennifer already had her course on the pass. However, Elise and Elizabeth were slow plating the pasta, leading to a bickering match between the former and Jennifer. Then, Ramsay saw plates with inconsistent lobster on them, leaving him incredibly embarrassed and a pissed Jennifer accusing her teammates of trying to sabotage her. However, Elise argued that she did not have to sabotage as Jennifer messed up on her own, and another bickering match occurred. Will’s calmer leadership led the men to serve their course in the blue kitchen with no problems, but after a long-time plating, the women finally sent their course out.
On the chicken course, Paul took complete control of his course once again. However, Ramsay discovered Elizabeth’s already cooked chicken in the red kitchen despite her table still on the capellini course. Despite Elizabeth claiming that she wanted the chicken to rest, Ramsay told her that she was five minutes early, and the chicken was ready now. That forced James to take plates of half-eaten capellini away from the red diners, and Ramsay frustratingly reminded Elizabeth to have Elise and Jennifer help her. At the same time, Elise accused Elizabeth of being scatterbrained. Despite that, Elizabeth and Paul’s dishes were sent out.
On the lamb Wellington course, Elise wanted to be ready in seven minutes but refused to have her teammates touch her proteins and delegated them to garnishes. Tommy once again did not respond to Will and Paul’s questions in the blue kitchen, and Ramsay warned him to get a grip as the risotto course was a disaster. That finally pushed Tommy to become vocal with his teammates. The men were able to get their course out, and Ramsay told Tommy that he finally redeemed himself. In the red kitchen, the women were beginning to plate as Elise was slicing her Wellingtons. Still, Ramsay discovered the mashed potatoes lacked salt and criticized Elise for not noticing. However, Elise accused her teammates of sabotaging her. Despite the bickering continuing, the women had their course finally sent out.
On the apple tartin tart course, both teams began working on their desserts. While Will got the men’s course out with no problems thanks to teamwork, Ramsay discovered raw apples on the women’s plates. That angered Jennifer as she had Elise cook them earlier. Ramsay accused the women of not caring for each other. That led Jennifer to accuse Elise of being petty for the mashed potato incident, but the latter said that the former would regret being her enemy. While the women eventually got their course out in time, a downed Jennifer admitted that they sucked that night.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay named the men the clear winners for having themselves together that night while commenting how the women had the opposite despite having a stronger start. While Ramsay reminded Jennifer how she was supposed to lead her team, the latter claimed that if she went home that night, she did so with her integrity as she never sabotaged her teammates. However, that led to another argument between her and Elise. Ramsay ended it and told the women to get ready to plead for their lives as he could send all of them home that night.
Back at the dorms, Elizabeth accused Elise of being in a delusional world who was the women's leader and hoped to shine through over the latter’s defeat. Both Elizabeth and Jennifer hoped for Elise to go as the latter had already been nominated five times before. At the same time, Jennifer claimed how Elise would run her over with a bus multiple times. However, Elise felt that everybody was against her and argued how everything she cooked that night was perfect.
Elimination[]
When both teams came downstairs, Ramsay awarded the men with their black jackets as Will, Paul, and Tommy picked them up from the front. After, Ramsay called the three women down to the front before irritatingly asking what the hell happened. That led to another bickering match between Elise and Jennifer over leadership that devolved into another argument Ramsay defused. During their pleas, Elizabeth claimed to be a good chef and wanted to be there till the end. Jennifer wanted to raise her confidence against stronger chefs. Elise said she was a leader and wanted to nail that night’s service. After a difficult decision, Ramsay asked Jennifer to take off her jacket. While he called it her worst service, he still believed in her and gave Jennifer the fourth black jacket, leading her to go to the men tearfully. After, Elizabeth begged Ramsay not to give up on her, but she was eliminated for her lack of leadership skills. Before leaving, Ramsay praised Elizabeth for coming into the competition for the right reasons and saw a bright future for her. During her exit interview, Elizabeth felt that she was good as the black jacket chefs but admitted that it was not her time.
After Elizabeth left, Ramsay called Elise up. While he felt she was in a downward spiral, he still believed in her due to some strong performance and gave her the final black jacket. After the black jackets team lined up, Ramsay congratulated them for their milestone but warned them that the service of their lives was about to come. While being dismissed, Elise was happy to receive a black jacket. Paul planned to slam Elise to the ground if she brought in the drama. A dismayed Jennifer realized that the men were about to experience the drama she dealt with all season long.
Ramsay's comment: "Tonight was all about charity in Hell's Kitchen, and after watching Elizabeth's performance, I'm now ready to donate her jacket to a worthy cause."
Trivia[]
- This marks the first time a Private Dinner Service took place.
- This is the first time since Episode 206 - 6 Chefs that Ramsay nominated an entire team for elimination.
- This marks the first time a winning team received black jackets in the final team dinner service.
- This episode marks the first time that a fourth consecutive female contestant was eliminated, beating the record of three consecutive females eliminated in previous seasons.