The first episode of Season 5 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX on January 29, 2009. In that episode, the sixteen new chefs were introduced, the signature dish challenge occurred, and the opening service became a train wreck.
Intro[]
The episode began with a recap of the first four seasons, mentioning some notable moments and recalling the past winners of those seasons. Season 1 winner Michael Wray, Season 2 winner Heather West, Season 3 winner Rock Harper, and Season 4 winner Christina Machamer.
In the series biggest turnout, thousands of chefs auditioned for Hell's Kitchen. However, only three hundred arrived at Hell’s Kitchen and met Jean-Philippe and Ramsay. Out of the three hundred, sixteen were selected to compete. Jean-Philippe began calling out the chefs chosen to compete. These included Lacey, Charlie, Carol, Seth, Andrea, and Paula. When Danny was called, he said he would dwarf everyone and make them look like nothing compared to the God of cooking he was. The eighth chef was Ben, who said he was more passionate about food than anyone else. For Colleen, she did not believe there was anyone out there who would work harder than she would. Afterwards, a teaser of the season was shown.
Signature Dish Challenge[]
After the selection, the sixteen chefs immediately got to work on the Signature Dish Challenge, where Ramsay would judge their dishes. When Ramsay walked by LA, she got goosebumps even though she was a lesbian. For Lacey, she wanted to prove she was a hard worker and that she could hang with the big boys. In the blue kitchen, Giovanni said he got into cooking to get dates to his house. He called food an aphrodisiac. Eventually, everyone had their dishes cooked and plated on time.
When the chefs lined up, Ramsay was anxious to taste their dishes because it gave him a first chance of getting to know them. The first dish was Carol's veal roulade over caramelized onions. Carol said she started cooking professionally at age twenty-five, and her previous job was at a Beauty salon. Ramsay told Carol she ended up in the right place as he praised the dish for being delicious. Carol said she wanted to dance and sing after hearing that. When Ramsay opened the second dome, he thought it looked like it was dropped. Wil said it was his dish, explaining it was rabbit two ways, braised and grilled, with farro. Ramsay took notice of Wil's pin, and the latter said it was his pride pin, meaning he was openly gay. Still, Wil said he was one of the guys as he had "the same plumbing but different wiring." Although Ramsay liked the taste of the rabbit, he criticized the dish for its poor presentation. Ji’s dish was a miso sake-marinated Chilean sea bass with noodles. She explained that she cooked for her family all her life but added that her father had no time for his children due to his culinary career. Ji wanted to show her dad what she could do in the kitchen. Ramsay said the sea bass was cooked perfectly and thought it tasted like Ji had fifteen years experience rather than the four years she told him. He even told Ji to cook her father the dish when she went home.
When Ramsay unveiled the fourth dish, he asked who made the camel hoof. Robert said he did and told the viewers he did not care about his weight problem. Robert called himself an underdog like Rocky. Robert's potato and white truffle-wrapped Chilean sea bass was cooked nicely but had a disgusting sauce. Ramsay said the dish was clumsy like Robert. When Robert went back in line, he said he was not an oaf like Shrek because he could bang it out. Lacey's chicken and blackberry sauce was the next dish, but Ramsay asked her where it came from. Lacey said it was from her workplace, a corporate dining buffet-style restaurant. Ramsay spat it out, claiming that somebody would come and eat it, but vomit straight after. Still, Lacey said the dish was not her on a plate and hoped Ramsay gave her a chance to stick around and prove she could do better. The next dish revealed was Danny's. He called himself a redneck who hunted animals and cooked them. Danny's Mahi Mahi with grilled bananas was criticized for its poor creation, and Ramsay said he went bananas making the dish. Danny arrogantly knew Ramsay was looking for a rise out of him, and the latter asked him where the idea came from. Danny said he pulled it out of his ass, but Ramsay told him to put it back in there because it sucked.
Afterwards, a series of dishes were seen. Giovanni was criticized for his poor rice paired with his cheese-crusted filet, Charlie's dish of mashed potatoes with zucchini and lamb chops arranged in a circle was compared to a Ferris wheel and called a joke, LA's fish and chips were deemed terrible, and J's shrimp risotto got an "F". When Ramsay asked who cooked a dish that resembled diapers, Colleen spoke up. Colleen said it was smoked chicken enchiladas with poblano cream sauce. She revealed that she was a culinary instructor who charged $300, despite not going to culinary school. However, Ramsay was shocked by the size of the dish and said it tasted like crap. Ramsay could not believe Colleen charged $300 to teach people and said he needed some plastic wrap on his ass. Feeling insulted by Ramsay's critique, Colleen retorted that she also taught manners. In response, Ramsay told Colleen, calling her Ms. Manners, to "fuck off back in line."
After that, Andrea's ostrich steak with rice and carrot sticks was praised for its flavor, Coi’s crab tortellini was perfectly cooked, and Paula’s butternut squash soup was seasoned beautifully. By that point, it became clear that the women were the team to beat, but two dishes were left to taste. Seth’s dish was up next and revealed to be a big fan of Ramsay. Seth made a cinnamon-crusted rack of lamb with an aubergine ratatouille. However, Ramsay found the ratatouille too sweet due to the honey and called it the worst dish he had ever tasted in his life. When Seth giggled about it, Ramsay threatened to eliminate him immediately. Ramsay warned Seth to understand how serious he was as the latter would cook better. Seth promised to try harder but knew his presentation was good. Ben was the last person up and called himself a machine in the kitchen. He made pan-seared peking duck breast with potato hash. It was praised for looking attractive and nice. Ramsay deemed it the best dish from the men’s team. That led Ben to call himself a force to be reckoned with.
Scoring[]
| Signature Dishes | |
| Chef | Rating |
|---|---|
| Carol | Good |
| Wil | Mixed |
| Ji | Good |
| Robert | Mixed |
| Lacey | Poor |
| Danny | Poor |
| Giovanni | Poor |
| Charlie | Poor |
| LA | Poor |
| J | Poor |
| Colleen | Poor |
| Andrea | Good |
| Coi | Good |
| Paula | Good |
| Seth | Poor |
| Ben | Good |
Team names[]
Ramsay revealed that the winner of that season would become the head chef of a restaurant at the Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. It would be next to some of the best-known chef’s restaurants, such as Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck, with a salary of $250,000. Hearing that excited Robert as his friends went to the Borgata, while Andrea wanted to stand next to the big boys. Then, Ramsay told the chefs that Hell’s Kitchen would open the following night, and based on their signature dishes, they were the best to come into the competition so far. So, he expected that opening night to be the best. Then, Ramsay dismissed the chefs and asked them to develop a dynamic team name.
The chefs made it to the dorms and looked around while getting to know each other. Lacey called the dorms awesome and wished she could live in them forever. The men got together to come up with their team name. Despite Ben's insistence of not turning into the leader, his team name, Blue Balls, was not well received. Seeing that Ben wanted to keep the word Blue in the title, Robert suggested Blues Brothers. Seth liked the name. On the other side, Coi wanted to name the women's team after a spice. However, her suggestions did not sit well with Lacey, who called them stupid. Colleen suggested flames of hell, LA suggested smoking reds, and Paula suggested sizzling spices. Andrea brought up spice rack as a name, and the women found it funny enough to use it.
Before service[]
The contestants came down to their kitchens and began prep for the opening night the following day. A few minutes in, Lacey's attitude started to annoy her teammates when she did not want to be on a station until she knew where everyone else was. Also, Lacey's constant complaints while prepping did not help, annoying Andrea in the process. Lacey had no idea what to do and left during the middle of prep to go back up to the dorms, declaring she was quitting. That decision angered the women even more. Carol called it pathetic, and LA said that Lacey's lack of self-confidence was not winning them over. In the blue kitchen, Seth showed his lack of experience working in a kitchen and asked many questions while barely doing anything. That led Giovanni to call Seth useless and told him to pay attention. Ben got agitated because Seth peeled baby carrots for thirty minutes. Meanwhile, Lacey decided to come back to the red kitchen, but LA was still disgusted with her decision to leave.
Ramsay had both teams lined up ten minutes before service began and asked their team names. The women said Team Saffron, but Colleen stated she liked Spice Racks more, so Ramsay had them change the name. The men called themselves Blues Brothers, which Ramsay admitted he liked. Then, Ramsay noticed that sixteen chefs were too much and asked one team member to volunteer for a task. Those people were Giovanni and Carol. They were assigned as waiters for that night’s service, which neither was excited about. Still, Giovanni was ready to do it while Carol said it would be hard to show Ramsay her skills. After, Ramsay turned to Charlie and told him to get to the dorms to trim his beard, as he claimed he did not want a complaint about a 12-inch ginger pubic hair in someone's crème brûlée. As Charlie went back to trim his beard, he refused to give Ramsay the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him.
While Jean-Philippe was briefing Carol and Giovanni on their waiter roles, Coi asked Lacey for some help on the soufflés. But, the two argued about Lacey leaving for most of the women's prep and not getting them prepped earlier. Lacey did not like Coi's attitude, but the latter threatened to come after the former if she was responsible for her elimination. Coi was angry that Lacey did not set up her station compared to the others, but Andrea told the latter to calm down as they needed her. However, Lacey said arguments happened every time she worked with women and started another fight with Coi. Ramsay saw what was happening, and Coi told him that the dessert station was doomed. Still, Ramsay had to defuse another argument and ordered them to get a grip. Then, Ramsay told Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen before another fight occurred.
Dinner service[]
Giovanni and Carol began working as waiters. While Carol had no problems, Giovanni struggled with his role when he could not describe polenta. Jean-Philippe reminded Giovanni that he represented the blue team that night, so he should not panic. Carol sent over her first ticket, but the women did not respond until Ramsay called it out again. LA felt excited and nervous because services were when Ramsay went crazy. Twenty minutes into service, Giovanni finally got the men’s first tickets to his team. Robert started loudly repeating the appetizer order in the middle of Ramsay’s call out. After being forced to call it out, Ramsay threatened to send Robert to a hot boiling bath if he would do it again. The first scallops Lacey sent to the hot plate were raw in the red kitchen. Lacey wondered if there was something wrong with the oven, but Ramsay told her she did not have her gas on. Ben and Robert sent up their first spaghetti order in the blue kitchen, but it also turned out raw. Seth was appaled that Ben could not cook pasta despite his experience, while Ramsay told Robert to move his butt. Colleen was getting her risotto ready in the red kitchen, but Ramsay found out she put mascarpone cheese in it when it was not needed. After that, a power outage occurred in the entire restaurant. Despite the blackout, the ovens were still working, and both teams continued cooking. Ramsay found Danny's scallops on the hot plate, which were overcooked. Ramsay said it was not rocket science, but Danny rudely said it was not. Angered by Danny's attitude, Ramsay ordered him to be a team player with the men.
Soon afterwards, the whole power went off. Ramsay told Jean-Philippe they could not cook in the dark and told him to apologize to the customers for the delay. However, Carol was still serving wine to the customers to keep them happy. Robert told Danny to keep his words to himself in the blue kitchen and never argue with Ramsay again. Danny knew he had a big mouth, but he was surprised that Ramsay did not pull him from the line. Still, Robert knew Danny had to learn to shut up.
Twenty minutes later, the power came back. Ramsay gathered both teams up and told them to put their lousy start behind. As service resumed, Ramsay saw that Colleen was about to make a new pasta dish in a dirty pan in the red kitchen. After disbelievingly remarking that Colleen taught cooking for a living, Ramsay showed her multiple clean pans that she did not see before. In the blue kitchen, Ben and Robert were finally sending out appetizers. However, Giovanni forgot which customers ordered which appetizer in the dining room, much to Jean-Philippe's annoyance. While Giovanni admitted he was unorganized, he argued he was not a waiter.
Two hours into dinner service, the men began working on entrées. Seth and J were ready with their lamb entrée, but Wil burnt the gnocchi garnish, forcing a stall. Robert and Seth came to help Wil. In the red kitchen, Colleen was cooking way more spaghetti than needed and was told by Ramsay that less spaghetti in the pot would cook faster. Worse, Ramsay soon found pasta in the bin and ordered another spaghetti. Colleen admitted to being older than most of the chefs, but she was not nervous about taking criticism. Seth sent up his lamb in the blue kitchen, but Sous Chef Scott revealed to Ramsay that the former sliced the lamb when it was still raw, seared the chops, and they were mangled. That caused Ramsay to chew Seth out for his blunder, giving him the nickname of "Forrest," referring to Forrest Gump. While Seth found it funny and called it a great nickname, Ben said there was no excuse for the charred lamb. Ramsay asked Seth if he would eat the lamb, but the latter said he would not. Still, Seth believed that he and Ramsay would be friends at the end of service.
Two and a half hours into service, Colleen finally got her spaghetti properly cooked and sent it along with the risotto. However, Ramsay found the risotto odd-looking, tasted it and spat it out. Ramsay called it the worst risotto he tasted in his cooking career and asked why it was sweet. Ramsay said sugar was in the risotto and asked who put it in. Colleen admitted to doing so but thought she used salt when cooking. However, LA was in disbelief over that answer, and Ramsay tossed the pan into the bin. Wil continued to struggle in the blue kitchen on the garnish station, which caused a big stall on entrées. Wil forgot the mashed potatoes for the order and asked for a cold sizzling pan. Ramsay called Wil terrible, and Robert came to help the latter. However, Ramsay noted that Charlie and Robert were on the garnish station, and Wil was on Planet Cuckoo. Charlie called the garnish situation ugly, and Ramsay told Wil that he had a partner all night on garnish. Wil said it sucked to be on Ramsay's bad side.
Three hours into service, barely any of the entrées have been served, and impatient customers eventually left. Carol was shocked to see that, and Giovanni informed Ramsay that his table had left. After witnessing that, Ramsay decided to switch off both kitchens. He showed them the empty dining room and deemed it embarrassing.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams lined up, Ramsay said called service embarrassing and stated that both teams were equally weak. Ramsay went through the comment cards based on the service to pick a winning team. Carol had an 88% rating above average from the customers. At the same time, Giovanni was told that over 90% of his customers thought his performance was below average. Therefore, the men were declared the losers, and Ramsay told them to agree on two nominees for elimination.
During deliberation, Charlie said that nominating someone was harsh, but he knew it was the reality of why they were competing. Danny picked Wil as the worst performer of that night, and the latter decided to nominate himself. While the men were taken aback by that decision, Wil was willing to own up to his mistakes. Charlie believed that Seth was the weakest chef for prep, but the latter argued he thought he did great. Ben and J objected to Seth's argument, with the latter telling him he had a lot to learn. Seth pointed out Giovanni and asked him what went wrong in the dining room, but Giovanni aggressively told him he was not a waiter. Still, Seth wondered what Giovanni said to make everyone turn against him and said the latter was why they lost. However, Giovanni refused to be eliminated for his performance as a waiter.
Elimination[]
Seth announced that Wil was the first nominee and himself was the second. Still, Seth did not understand why he was nominated. However, J interjected and revealed that Seth was the first nominee and Wil the second. Ben agreed with J and stated that Seth did not care about what to do, and Robert added that he would trust Wil more than Seth. While Robert offered to take Wil's place on the chopping block, he chose not to, declaring that Wil nominated himself and that he was respecting Wil's decision. However, Seth called that decision stupid. Ramsay allowed the initial nominees and called Seth and Wil upfront.
During their pleas, Seth said that he had the heart despite his teammate's opinion, and he knew a lot about Ramsay. Wil said he wanted to undo the damage he did that night and show Ramsay his true skills. After listening to both of their pleas, Ramsay eliminated Wil for his poor performance on the garnish station and nominating himself for elimination. Wil admitted he messed up during his exit interview, but he felt humbled to be eliminated.
After Wil left, Ramsay called that night bad from both teams and ordered them to raise their game the following service as he knew they could do better. While being dismissed, Robert was mad that Seth survived over Wil, but the latter said the restaurant was his no matter what the men thought. Then, Lacey thought she did well on the line and told the doubters to kiss her ass.
Ramsay's comment: "I found it quite strange that Wil didn't even have the will to succeed. He clearly didn't belong in Hell's Kitchen."
Trivia[]
- This is the first time the electricity went out during mid-dinner service.
- This marks the final time the Signature Dish Challenge was done as an individual challenge.