The tenth episode of Season 5 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on April 9, 2009. On that episode, the final six earned their black jackets, and one chef made the biggest mistake during that service by talking back to Ramsay.
Intro
Back in the dorms, Ben was relieved to have survived elimination as he was ready to take his jacket off, while Robert claimed he was not here to make any friends in order to get himself further in the competition.
Individual challenge
The next day, both teams went downstairs to meet Ramsay, who asked Paula and Danny who were their weakest chefs on their respective teams. Paula answered Andrea, and Danny answered Ben. Ramsay called Andrea and Ben down, which shocked everyone as it looked like a surprise elimination. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay ordered both of them to take their jackets off, but instead of eliminating either of them, he gave them black jackets. The rest of the chefs received black jackets as well from Sous Chefs Scott and Gloria, and Andrea and Ben were relieved by that surprise, while Ramsay congratulated everyone.
Later on, Ramsay introduced the final six to their first individual challenge, revealing that the winner of the challenge would be going with him to San Francisco, one of the top culinary cities in America. For the 14 Ingredients Challenge, each chef had the same fourteen ingredients to cook with, and must use all of them to create a new dish in 30 minutes.
The chefs went to the kitchens, and each chefs worked their own dishes, managing to complete them on time. Andrea was up first and presented her rosemary chicken kebab with rosemary ague and caper tomato sauce, but while Ramsay noted it tasted better than it looked, there was not a lot of chicken on the plate. Giovanni’s pasta pumaduro with stuffed chicken murlo and chicken sauce was praised for the sweet and rich taste contrast, while Paula's wine based chicken with pasta was also praised for being delicious. Robert's chicken catchatori with deep fried capers was a little dry but flavorable, and Danny's rosemary roasted chicken with shallots and salad was praised for its execution and being easy to eat. Ben was the final person to be judged, and his stuffed chicken breast was deemed delicious, being the only chef to cook the drumstick, although Ben annoyed everyone with his long description again. Ramsay noted that it was a tough choice, and after singling out Danny and Ben, he named Ben the winner of the challenge.
Reward
Ben went to San Francisco with Ramsay, and decided to take Robert with him, much to Danny's anger as he knew Ben chose Robert out of spite for choosing him as the weakest of the blue team earlier that morning. The three men flew on a private jet to San Francisco, and took a private trolley tour around the city. Then, they arrived at the One Market restaurant to eat lunch at the chefs table, and toasted to their reward.
Punishment
The four remaining chefs had to participate in Delivery Day. During the punishment, Giovanni accidentally broke a box of bottled water and had wine bottles come out of the bottom of another box. Soon, he got irritated by carrying everything, and at one point, refused to go out again, much to Paula's annoyance. While picking up their last delivery, Paula noticed that they were two lobsters short, and Giovanni rushed to stop the truck as Danny was signing off on everything. However, Andrea found out that they had the correct amount, and ran off to tell Giovanni about it. Later that night, Ben and Robert came back from their reward, and Ben once again annoyed everyone with his explanation of the reward.
Before service
The next morning, the final six came down to the red kitchen at 6 am to begin prep for that night’s service. In addition to the regular menu, Ramsay also added Ben's stuffed chicken dish as a special. With service almost about to begin, Ramsay had the six chefs lined up and declared he wanted that night’s service to be their best in order to prove they deserved to be the final six. After, Ramsay told Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service
Giovanni was caught opening and closing the convection oven a lot, and was warned by Ramsay that it may lead to consequences later that night. Robert brought up his scallops, but they were overcooked and rubbery as the scallops were smaller than normal. Andrea was caught getting her garnishes ready before entrées were, and was called out for cooking potatoes in a cold pan. Despite those problems, appetizers were leaving the kitchen at a great pace because of Paula's performance on that station.
30 minutes into service, all of the diners were enjoying Paula's appetizers. Giovanni sent up Ben's chicken special, but it had a raw drumstick on the plate, and Giovanni said that he needed one minute on the refire. Ramsay called out the next order, but when Andrea did not respond, Ramsay confronted her and asked her to repeat what he said. However, Andrea could not remember what was called out, and Ramsay got even more frustrated when everyone else stumbled on the order. Moments later, Andrea still could not recite the order back, which caused Ramsay to eject her out into the dining room. Andrea was about to walk out through the front door, but Jean-Philippe stopped her from leaving and urged her to fight back. Andrea came back to the hot plate, and after correctly reciting the order back, Ramsay allowed her back into the kitchen, but told her to wake up. After, Robert was caught cooking bacon and John Dory in the same pan, which caused Ramsay to chew him out as it could lead to someone having an allergic reaction. Giovanni's next attempt on Ben's dish had a chewed up drumstick on the plate, and Ramsay informed Ben that his special was being ruined because of Giovanni, who was called "dickface" by Ramsay. However, Giovanni argued he was not "dickface", which enraged Ramsay to the point that he screamed in Giovanni's face and threatened to eliminate him if he sent up more poor chicken. Then, Ramsay sent Ben over to the meat station to help Giovanni out on his own special. However, Ben cut the chicken into pieces due to it not being fully cooked, even though Ramsay warned him that it would turn out dry. After lecturing him on that mistake, Ben promised not to do it again.
Two hours into service, the black jacket chefs have only served five tables of entrées. Andrea brought up her garnishes, but Giovanni did not have his meat ready, causing Ramsay to ask where their teamwork has gone. Giovanni's stuttering communication did not help matters for Robert and Andrea, which caused Ramsay to pull all three of them aside to order them to work together. Robert tried to help Giovanni out on the Wellingtons, but accidentally burned his hand on an uncovered hot pan in the fridge, and left to see a medic. When it turned out Robert sustained a second-degree burn, Ramsay chewed Giovanni out for his careless mistake. Seeing that everything was spiraling out of control, Ramsay has had enough and left the kitchen, which ended service.
Post-mortem
Ramsay was extremely disappointed in the six chefs, as they turned his dream service into a nightmare. Then, he chewed out Andrea for being a disaster, Robert for his mediocre performance, and Giovanni for being mentally gone from the competition. Ramsay named Paula “Best of the Worst” for her solid performance on appetizers, and told her to nominate two people for elimination.
Back in the dorms, Giovanni apologized to Robert for his burn, but Robert chewed him out for leaving a hot pan in the fridge uncovered. The chefs all agreed that service was terrible, with Paula noting that Giovanni performed closely to how Lacey used to perform, and also chewed out both Andrea and Robert for their poor performances. Paula knew that she had to pick two of those three for that night.
Elimination
Paula announced that Giovanni was her first nominee, and Andrea was her second. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay eliminated Giovanni for his poor performance that night, along with arguing back at him. Giovanni received a retrospective montage of his run during his exit interview.
Then, Ramsay sent the remaining chefs back upstairs, with the five of them realizing how close they were to the grand prize. At 2:14 am, everyone was in bed sleeping, but a phone call from Ramsay woke up everybody. Ramsay ordered everyone back downstairs, with their jackets on, immediately. Once downstairs, Ramsay stated that he was very disappointed in their poor performance and, much to everybody’s shock, announced he was shutting down Hell’s Kitchen, ending the episode in a cliffhanger.
Ramsay gave no comment on Giovanni's elimination, and Giovanni did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.