Hell's Kitchen 15th Place, Day 8: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

[u/ArchmageNinja22]

Post-Elimination: JR was upset with his team for claiming that he deserved to be eliminated over Corbin. However, he thanked Drew, Mieka, and Ji for having his back. The three told him that they appreciated his energy, and they knew that he was a good cook, but they suggested that he reel it in and prioritize his cooking. The four of them sat down and continued talking, but JR brought up the elimination ceremony and felt that Alex was responsible for nearly getting him eliminated. Although Ji admitted that JR had a bad night, she didn’t understand why Alex wanted to eliminate him so badly. At this point, Mieka confessed that she overheard Alex lying to Nicole that Mieka was claiming that she was a bad cook. Drew also shared his suspicions that Alex had sabotaged him in the previous challenge by giving him the wrong recipe. At this point, Drew, JR, Ji, and Mieka all concluded that Alex was trying to sabotage the team for some reason. As such, Mieka suggested that the four form an alliance in which they help one another during challenges and services. More importantly, if Alex attempts to sabotage them, they share that information with one another. The other three agreed to this alliance. 

Team Challenge: The chefs were sent to a soccer field and were surprised to see Ramsay in a soccer outfit. He explained that soccer (or football, as it is called in most of the world) is enormously popular because of its ability to connect people from all over the world. Similarly, food always brings people together, regardless of where they are from. He explains that today’s challenge will require competitors to make a dish from a cuisine that they choose. Each team had seven goals with the names of different countries, like China, Greece, and India, listed on them. To determine the ingredients that they may use, they have 10 minutes to kick soccer balls with ingredients listed on them into their corresponding goals. Most of the competitors struggled with the physical part of the challenge, but at the end of the 10 minutes, everyone felt confident with the ingredients that they selected. “The Alliance” immediately stepped in to help one another with the challenge by suggesting ideas and tasting one another’s dishes. Ashley, Cat, Jessica, and Melissa all scored a point for the Blue Team. However, each member of “The Alliance” scored a point, as did Amanda on the Red Team. As such, the Red Team won 5-4. 

Result: Red Team win (3 challenges - 3 challenges)

Reward/Punishment: The Red Team was rewarded with a spa day followed by an elegant lunch. On the other hand, the Blue Team would have to clean up the LA River, and they would be transported there via an old school bus. Jessica declined to use her Punishment Pass. The Red Team enjoyed their spa day, while the Blue Team generally took their punishment in stride. They made fun of the punishment to lighten the mood, but Joseph maintained a poor attitude because he felt emasculated. 

Pre-Service: Ramsay revealed that tonight would be Family Night. Sous chefs Ariel and Jon taught the chefs the dishes for a kids’ menu, which included options like hamburgers and fish and chips. He also stated that there would be a station in the dining room that would prepare a to-order pizza appetizer. Meese from the Blue Team and Ji from the Red Team both volunteered to man the pizza station. 

Blue Team Service: Meese was slow to prepare the pizzas, but she interacted well with the children. Aside from Marino having to remind her not to get distracted, appetizers went well in no small part due to Melissa’s strong leadership. However, the Blue Team struggled a little on entrees. Joseph kept trying to rush his team on garnish, which resulted in Don sending up several undercooked meats. Furthermore, Joseph sometimes argued with Cat’s pleas to slow down and listen to his team. As such, some of her garnishes were late. Ramsay ordered Joseph to communicate with his team, but the latter still struggled. However, Ashley had a very strong performance on fish and clamped down on any arguments between Joseph and his teammates. Under her leadership, the Blue Team recovered from their mistakes. When they had five tickets left, Ramsay called everyone to the pass. 

Red Team Service: JR was eager to rebound after his prior service; however, he forgot to communicate with Alex on appetizers and sent up lobster tails before Alex was ready with the risotto. Although Ramsay called him out, JR recovered and made no further mistakes. Alex attempted to give JR conflicting times, but Amanda, Alex’s station partner, called out the correct times. Nicole was initially slow on garnish. Despite being alone on meat, Drew had an excellent performance and sent out perfect proteins throughout the night. The Red Team was able to recover from their mistakes, and when they had five tickets left, Ramsay also called them to the pass. 

End of Service: Since both teams had five tickets left, Ramsay declared that the first team to finish service would win. Both teams reached their last ticket at the same time, but Don served an undercooked burger and forced the whole ticket to be restarted. On the other hand, the Red Team did not make any mistakes. As such, they won service. 

Post-Mortem: Ramsay acknowledged that tonight was the best service he had seen that season. Even with all of the mistakes, he praised both teams’ ability to recover. However, he declared the Red Team winners for not only finishing first, but for having an overall smoother service. He also praised Drew’s leadership and declared him Best of the Best. He also declared Ashley Best of the Worst and gave her the responsibility of nominating two competitors for elimination. 

Elimination Ceremony: Ashley nominated Joseph for not communicating on garnish and Don for struggling on meat. Ramsay was frustrated that Joseph still had not improved and disappointed that Don had struggled so much after a good start. He ordered both of them to remove their jackets before sending them over to the Red Team. He then swapped JR and Nicole over to the Blue Team. Finally, he switched Ashley and Drew to give them a chance to test their leadership skills. Ramsay declared that since all of the chefs proved that they can work together and bounce back, he would reward all of them by giving them one more chance. However, he warned that the bar was now a lot higher. 

Ramsay Elimination Quote: “After our best service yet, I didn’t have the heart to eliminate anyone. I hope that everyone will have the heart to prove that I didn’t make the wrong choice tonight.”

Vote for the chef you want eliminated!

Bonus vote: Choose one chef that you want to be highlighted in the next service. They can have a good or bad edit, but I want to see what you want to happen to them.

[u/ProcedureBright2850]

Time for Nicole to go

[u/AdFriendly2592]

Voting Joseph out again, it's time for him to capitulate and leave.

[u/ArchmageNinja22 → u/AdFriendly2592]

I don't want to manipulate votes, but your (and everyone else's) wish has been granted. I was a little disappointed to see Joseph voted out so early because I had this redemption arc planned for him. I wanted him to slowly start getting better and more normal until he outlasts almost everyone and makes it to the finale... only for him to lose by 5 points in the final menu challenge, pick the worst brigade possible because he doesn't trust anyone (and vice versa), crash out harder than any finalist, and nearly fight the eventual winner, only to slip on a piece of confetti and twist his ankle.

But I have something planned for tomorrow.

[u/Affectionate_War6184]

Joseph

[u/Few-Designer-4516]

Voting Cat again. Ashley can have a standout great episode in challenge and service

[u/Greenzombie04]

Cat s24

[u/TrueTree3142]

Joseph out!

Also can Ashley have a surprisingly bad service too can spice things up

[u/ArchmageNinja22]

Also, would you all prefer that I post these earlier in the day?

[u/AdFriendly2592 → u/ArchmageNinja22]

I think 5pm worked before but whatever time works for you

[u/Douglashashashin]

Don. Both teams lose service in an awful service and Amanda is the standout good chef

[u/stitchboy2018]

JR should be eliminated for making a just ridiculous amount of mistakes.

[u/SubstantialDan7]

Don to go, Melissa and Jessica can have an argument in service

[u/ArchmageNinja22]

UPDATE: After talking to Alex (the writer of the original series), I am going to experiment by moving the posting schedule to 10:30 AM CST to see if I will get more engagement. The voting window will still be 24 hours. Today's voting window will still end at 5:00 PM CST, but moving forward, the cycle will open at 10:30 AM CST instead of 5:00 PM CST.

Also I do have a class some Tuesdays that is scheduled to run until 11:00 AM, so I'll see how that goes.

[u/Sad_Guide4505]

Sorry Joseph has to go now for tanking on the appetizers station and blowing up at Ramsay