The ninth episode of Season 14 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on April 28, 2015. In that episode, exotic proteins were the main ingredient, Ramsay gave the chefs progress reports, and two of them competed in an individual challenge to stay in the competition.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, Milly noticed the men were not in a good situation as they lost two of their strongest chefs. He said he would love to trade Randy and Josh for Bret and Adam. Later, Nick told Christine and T that he was happy Bret was gone as he felt the latter was a clown and made a mocking impression of him. T found that hilarious and called Nick a character. When Nick called himself a catty, sarcastic, sassy little bitch, T said that all queens were like that before calling him one. Nick said that he and T bonded over the Bret situation and because they were both gay, and T said that her girlfriend would get along with him.
Team challenge[]
The next day, the chefs went downstairs. They were all shocked to see live animals in front of them, with Meghan saying that she would have a mental breakdown if she was forced to touch any of them. Josh was frightful of the snake eyeing him down. Ramsay explained that some cultures deemed the animals in front of them as delicacies, using deep-fried tarantula from Cambodia, iguana stew from El Salvador, and rat soup from Vietnam as examples. However, T refused to eat the rat even though it was a delicacy. After, Ramsay noticed that one of the snakes have gone missing, causing the chefs to get nervous, and a rubber snake dropped between the teams, spooking them. While T stated that she wanted to leave, Randy was the only one that was not afraid of the snake. After Ramsay commented that if the chefs moved that fast, he would have a dream team, more rubber snakes fell on the chefs. However, an annoyed Meghan threatened to use her teammates as a shield if it would happen again. Then, Ramsay revealed the Exotic Protein Challenge. Each dome contained a protein. The first chef from each team claimed it would cook, and Christine stated she was more comfortable cooking with something other than a tarantula. After, Ramsay revealed that the first protein was ostrich, and Randy and Christine were the first from their teams to claim it. The second protein revealed was alligator, T and Milly claimed the protein for their teams. Milly revealed that he watched Crocodile Hunter a million times before saying that he wanted to make it tasty. The final two proteins were wild boar and elk, with Josh and Meghan claiming wild boar, much to Randy’s dismay as he saw a lot of boars when he was in service and felt that he screwed himself with the ostrich. Nick and Alison claimed the elk. That left Michelle the only person without a protein. When Ramsay asked her what protein she wanted to cook, she chose alligator.
The chefs had 40 minutes to cook their dishes and had a selection of ingredients to use. Michelle asked Meghan if she knew what to do with the alligator, but the latter said she did not. Christine was relieved that they were not cooking with tarantulas. Fifteen minutes remaining, Randy decided to make an ostrich burger, but Nick deemed him a one-trick pony and wanted Randy to step outside the box. Michelle admitted that while she never cooked with alligator before, she hoped Ramsay would like her dish. Eventually, the chefs cooked and plated their dishes. After, Ramsay asked the women to decide between T and Michelle’s alligator dishes for judging. They went with T’s dish, much to Michelle’s annoyance as the latter did not even taste her dish and was disappointed that her hard work was being ignored.
Chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo served as guest judges, each of them would score on a scale of 1-5, and the team with the most points would win. Alison and Nick competed in the first round, and he presented his warm spiced elk with parsnip purée. While the dish was praised for looking beautiful, it was criticized for tasting bland, and Nick scored 6 points. Then, Alison’s pan-seared elk with potatoes and sautéed bok choy was criticized for having an amateur presentation. Nick knew that people ate with their eyes first, but the dish was praised for tasting better than it looked. So, Alison scored 8 points, and the women led 8-6. On the second round, Meghan’s seared boar with vegetables was deemed safe by Shook. Dotolo criticized the dish for tasting both salty and flat, and she scored 8 points. Meghan was disappointed to have served safe food to chefs that she deemed rock stars. Then, Josh’s pan-seared boar accented with roasted pepper sauce, and served on a bed of cauliflower purée, was criticized for having the purée muddle everything else and being slightly undercooked. So, Josh scored 7 points, and the women led 16-13. In the third round, Milly’s blacken alligator with grits was criticized for lacking salt despite being in the right direction, and he scored 9 points. T’s fired alligator tacos were praised for having a great flavor, acidity, heat, and crunch. So, T scored 11 points, the women-led 27-22, and she said she wanted the W. On the last round, Christine presented her marinated ostrich on a bed of orzo. While the garnishes were praised for being good, Shook and Dotolo criticized the meat for being bland and safe. She scored 6 points, and a dismayed T said that if Christine had a bag of tricks, she should have used them. After, Randy’s bacon greased ostrich burger was criticized for having a crap presentation. Josh got concerned that he would not get a 12 or higher. Still, the dish was praised for tasting great. So, Randy scored 12 points, the men won the challenge 34-33, and Milly was happy that Randy pulled out a win with an ostrich burger. After, Ramsay asked Michelle to bring up her dish, and she presented her Asian-inspired alligator curry with coconut rice. Dotolo and Shook called Michelle’s dish the best they tasted all day and revealed that if it was not dropped, she would have scored a perfect 15. However, that annoyed T as she knew the women would hear Michelle complain about it for the rest of the competition.
Scoring[]
| Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick | 6/15 | 6 | Alison | 8/15 | 8 |
| Josh | 7/15 | 13 | Meghan | 8/15 | 16 |
| Milly | 9/15 | 22 | T | 11/15 | 27 |
| Randy | 12/15 | 34 | Christine | 6/15 | 33 |
| Results | 34-33 | ||||
Reward[]
The men were rewarded with a day at the Lounge Spa. During the reward, Josh revealed he never had a professional facial before and was ready to pop his cherry. While Randy was happy they won the challenge, he admitted he was not a spa guy and did not need a massage as he was not tense. Milly felt Randy was not relaxing and told the latter to chill out as it was time to.
Punishment[]
After hearing about the men’s spa reward, Michelle was annoyed she could not join them despite having a hypothetical perfect score for her dish. The women were punished by deep cleaning both kitchens and drink a protein shake with some interesting stuff inside. Back in the dorms, T and Meghan complained they would have loved to have the judges rate their dishes higher, while Michelle complained she would have liked to have had her dish count.
During the punishment, Alison complained it was a long day due to the amount of work and noticed there was not much talking due to everything needing to be scrubbed, calling it intense. Then, Sous Chef Andi presented the women with their protein shakes. While they looked delicious, Meghan knew things were not what they appeared to be in the competition. Sous Chef Andi revealed the protein shakes contained the leftover protein used from the challenge, which disgusted T because it was a meat milkshake. Still, Sous Chef Andi added that one of them was a regular milkshake, which Alison compared to the lottery. While Michelle got the regular milkshake, Meghan described her milkshake as a chunky fish shake with other proteins inside it. T said her milkshake tasted very gamey. However, Michelle reminded the women had her dish been chosen, they would not be in their current situation and told them to swallow their milkshakes. Eventually, T and Alison threw up, and Sous Chef Andi told them to get back to cleaning.
Progress reports[]
Later, the men came back from their reward. While Josh allowed Michelle to touch his robe, the latter stated that she would rather get a facial than giving the oven a facial. After the women completed their punishment, they relaxed in the dorms, with Nick flaunting his spa day. However, Alison accused the men of not even appreciating their reward and then received a phone call from Ramsay. He asked her to get everybody downstairs. Arriving downstairs, Ramsay announced that he wanted to meet everybody individually in his office. That concerned T as she did not know what to expect, and Ramsay told them to head back to the dorms as he would call them each down when he was ready. Michelle was excited over the meetings as she wanted to know what Ramsay thought of her.
Back in the dorms, the chefs were waiting anxiously before Ramsay called T down to his office. There, Ramsay remarked that T had been a fierce competitor since the beginning. When he asked her where the desire came from, T revealed that she wanted to make a better life for her 12-year-old daughter. Knowing that T was very determined to get to the end, Ramsay advised her to be more focused, disciplined, and vocal. Randy was the second person to be called down. After Ramsay called him a proud man, Randy explained that the competition meant a lot to him as his wife used to send him tapes of the show when he was stationed in Iraq. Then, Ramsay revealed to Randy that his concern was the latter waiting to see what his teammates would do, and that was not causing them to screw him over but also caused him to doubt his skills. Then, Ramsay asked Randy if he had what it took to become a leader. Randy admitted that despite not being the most experienced chef in the competition, he was trying to give 100% and never stopped that. After, Ramsay told Randy that he had become one of the biggest surprises, urged him to stop worrying about his team, and worry about himself. Back in the dorms, Josh was freaking out over talking with Ramsay, and the latter called down Michelle for her meeting. Ramsay asked Michelle if she fought for her dish. When Michelle admitted that she did not fight enough for it, Ramsay revealed that it was one of the things that bugged him as it almost felt like she was accepting the fact she was the youngest and was not being heard a lot as a result. Then, Ramsay told Michelle that she had the tools and credentials but wanted her to become a little Rottweiler. During Nick’s meeting, Ramsay urged him to stand out more and stop being reserved, and he agreed with it. During Meghan’s meeting, Ramsay recalled some of her incredible dishes but warned her that playing it safe would not move her forward. During Christine’s meeting, Ramsay remarked that while her journey has been highly bumpy, her performance in the last service made him a lot better. Christine said it was starting to click for her, and she was becoming more confident. Ramsay urged Christine to become more aggressive, which boosted her confidence. During Milly’s meeting, Ramsay remarked how emotional he got over food, and he explained that food was the first love connection he ever had, and he never got it from any other human being. While Ramsay praised Milly for being one of the most passionate chefs he had ever seen, he told him that he was too quiet and needed him to step up as a leader. During Alison’s meeting, Ramsay said that while she started as one of the strongest chefs, she stepped backwards during her previous services and told her to stop accepting either third or fourth-best. Back in the dorms, Josh was the only person left and wondered when Ramsay was going to call him. Eventually, Ramsay called Josh and told him that he was finished with everybody else’s meetings. However, Josh took that as Ramsay not wanting to meet him, but Ramsay told him to get his ass down to his office. There, Ramsay told Josh that while there were times he had the potential to win the competition, there were other times where he wanted to throw him the fuck out for making some stupid mistakes. Josh promised that he would give Ramsay the brilliant side of him and that he wanted nothing more than to win the competition. Still, Ramsay retorted that he wanted to see it. At the end of the meetings, Ramsay asked each chef how they would rank their teammates from best to worst, and each of them had their own ideas on what the rankings were.
Cook For Your Life Challenge[]
Later that night, Ramsay called the chefs to get downstairs and said that while he was glad to have done those meetings, he found out that some of them did not have the support of their teammates. So, Ramsay announced that the two lowest-ranked chefs from each team would compete in the Cook For Your Life Challenge, with the loser of that challenge eliminated. After polling up the rankings, Ramsay announced that the women deemed Christine as their weakest chef, which annoyed her as she did not feel she was the weakest, and the men deemed Randy as their weakest chef, but he felt that his team was wrong about him as he knew how confident he was in his skills. Then, Ramsay gave Christine and Randy 30 minutes to cook three dishes from the menu: lobster risotto, halibut, and bread pudding.
While Christine and Randy’s teammates could encourage them, they were not allowed to give specific directions. While Christine was annoyed that her teammates picked her as the weakest chef, she decided that they would not break her if they loved or hated her. In the blue kitchen, Josh felt that Randy was confused on what to do based on his eyes, but Nick felt that the latter was mad at them for deeming him the weakest chef. Indeed, Randy said that he was furious at his teammates and knew that he had to be on point to prove them wrong. Christine decided to make the dessert first in the red kitchen to focus on the more difficult dishes. Still, she did not see the crème anglaise base that Ramsay prepared for the bread pudding. So, Christine decided to make her own base. While Michelle said that it sucked not being able to help her, she noticed that Christine had a lot of confidence. In the blue kitchen, Josh decided to support Randy as he felt that the latter was still nervous. Still, when Nick told Randy not to get frazzled, Josh said not to say that as it would make Randy nervous. However, Randy ignored his teammates' support as he was focused on his three dishes. In the red kitchen, the women continued to support Christine. Still, T was concerned as Christine was out in the open without anybody to hide behind. Then, Christine cut the inside of the lobster, poorly butchering the lobster tail, which concerned Alison. Still, Christine felt they were not as supportive as they put her in that situation. Eventually, Christine and Randy cooked their dishes and plated them in time. While Randy was confident in his cooking, he knew that he was poor at plating.
Ramsay judged Christine’s dishes first, and while her lobster risotto was praised for looking beautiful and being seasoned beautifully, Ramsay told her that it lacked the tomato confit taste, she admitted that she forgot to mix it in. Alison was dismayed by that as it was a life or death situation. Then, Christine’s halibut was praised for having a great sear and nailing every component. Christine revealed that she did not use the base Ramsay provided for the bread pudding as she thought they were supposed to make their own. While Ramsay was impressed that she made her own crème anglaise, it tasted dry due to being cooked rapidly, and Josh deemed Christine’s downfall as a lack of finesse. On Randy’s turn, he knew that he could be going home if he did not nail the three dishes. His risotto was praised for having a beautifully poached lobster and being seasoned beautifully, which gave Milly confidence. For his halibut, Ramsay noticed that the plating was different than what it was supposed to be. While Randy admitted that he was not sure about where the mussels and clams were supposed to go, Ramsay reminded him that the halibut was supposed to be the jewel of the dish. For the bread pudding, Ramsay said that it tasted good but felt that it was missing a couple more tablespoons of the crème anglaise. As Christine and Randy made some mistakes on their dishes, Milly was confused about what would happen.
Elimination[]
After, Ramsay explained that the challenge was designed for Randy and Christine to work under pressure, as he felt it was an appropriate way to judge them properly. In the end, Christine lost the challenge to Randy and was eliminated for forgetting the tomato confit in the risotto and presenting a dry bread pudding. During her exit interview, Christine still thought that she was not the weakest chef on the women. While she considered herself an easy target, she said that she had a great experience.
After Christine left, Ramsay reminded the chefs about the feedback he gave them in their interviews and urged them to use them for the second half of the competition. While being dismissed, Randy said that he experienced the challenge as a wake-up call and that he had to start taking charge. Alison realized that there were only four strong individuals in the women and called them a force to be reckoned with. Milly knew that it was time to get perfect as even the minor mistakes could get them in trouble and wanted to lead the men to more victories.
Ramsay's comment: "Christine clearly didn't have the faith and confidence of her team. After giving her a chance to cook for her life, she didn't do enough to change their mind or mine."
Trivia[]
- The voting process on who was the weakest from both teams were as shown:
- Blue team:
- Randy: Nick, Milly
- Nick: Josh, Randy
- Red team:
- Christine: T, Meghan, Alison
- Alison: Christine
- T: Michelle
- Blue team:
- Until Season 20, this was the last episode where Ramsay had one-on-one meetings before the Cook For Your Life Challenge.