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The first episode of Season 6 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 21, 2009, airing as a double feature alongside the second episode. On that episode, the new contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen, one of them did not make it through dinner service, and they welcomed a former contestant who got a second chance of winning the competition.

Intro[]

The season began with a quick preview, telling everybody was in a fighting mood and the contestants would be the most dedicated yet. It also announced some injuries, people being emotional, and fights against Ramsay himself.

The planet Earth was seen from space, zooming to Los Angeles, and further to Hell's Kitchen, where Jean-Phillippe was seen pacing in front of the restaurant and complaining that the contestants were late. Then, the bus containing the contestants arrived, with Ariel being excited, and Louie stating he was ready to do a backflip. Before entering the restaurant, Jean-Philippe explained that in the past seasons, contestants were giving him a nightmare with some stupid mistakes, leading him to be physically assaulted by customers, yelled at by Ramsay and ran into doors. So, he decided to give the contestants some tips, before asking them to follow him inside the restaurant.

Inside the restaurant, the contestants lined up in the hallway, and former contestant Bonnie, from Season 3, appeared in one of the televisions. She told that during her time in Hell's Kitchen, she broke some rules, and a clip of her cooking without gas was shown, with Tennille mocking her. Bonnie revealed the first rule, which was to always turn the stove on before start cooking. After that, Colleen, from Season 5, appeared in another television, where she declared she had advice for the chefs, and a clip of her putting sugar in a risotto was shown, with Amanda worried that she would eventually do it as it was her kind to do those kind of mistakes. Colleen announced the second rule, which was to always taste the food before serving it. When the rule was shown at the television, Joseph mocked the concept by sarcastically saying he would love someone would tell him how to tie his shoelaces. Finally, Aaron, also from Season 3, appeared on the last television, where he declared he was so excited for his first dinner service, and then, a clip of him crying before the opening night was shown, where Van called him a sissy. Then, Aaron revealed the last rule, which was that there was no crying in Hell's Kitchen. After the tips were given, Ramsay's voice was heard asking if they were ready and repeating that question three times, before Ramsay himself appeared in front of the chefs and ordered them to cook their signature dishes.

On that episode, the opening sequence featured Dave at the end, holding and blowing on a torch.

Signature Dish Challenge[]

Before tasting the signature dishes, Ramsay revealed the grand prize of the season, which was a Head Chef position at the Araxi Restaurant & Bar, in Whistler, British Columbia, with a salary of $250,000, where the winner would welcome the world for the 2010 Winter Olympics. While learning what the prize was, Kevin said it was tremendous and could not ask for anything better, and Jim joked he was already polishing his skis. After that, Ramsay divided the teams into genders, women in the red team and men in the blue team, and announced that for the first time ever, the Signature Dish Challenge would be performed as a team challenge, with the dishes going head-to-head.

During the first round, Suzanne went up against Dave. She prepared a fontina fonduta risotto, being already very confident saying she could kick anybody's ass. But, Ramsay immediately saw that her rice was looking undercooked, which she categorically disagreed, and when Dave tasted and described it having a chalky texture, she continued to disagree. But, when Ramsay spat it out, he declared it was undercooked as the rice was crunchy and bright white in the center. After that, Dave presented an ostrich in cherry sauce with pan seared Brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes. Ramsay liked the cooking of the ostrich as well as its seasoning, but found the Brussel sprouts were undercooked. Dave was heartbroken as Ramsay did not like his dish, and no points were scored. On the second round, Tek faced off Louie. Tek presented a chipotle honey shrimp over grits, and declared she was unemployed at that moment, adding she needed the job as she got a family to support. Ramsay called her dish nice, saying the prawns were beautifully cooked. Tek was proud and padded herself on the back. Louie presented a sausage gravy over biscuits with roast potatoes, which shocked Ramsay when he saw it, and when Louie revealed he was owning a diner, Ramsay asked him how much he was charging for that dish. Louie answered he was charging $4.75 with coffee. Ramsay took one bite and spat it out, declaring it was tasting like gunk. Louie did not think it was worthy of being spat out as hundreds of customers were eating that dish every week at his diner. Tek scored the first point for the red team, giving them a 1 point lead. On the third round, Tennille and Joseph faced off, and Joseph revealed he was feeling like a dog who was just taken off his leash, in the fact that he was hungry for the prize, stating he wanted it and that none of the other chefs would get in his way. He served his roasted bone-in veal with roast vegetables to Ramsay, who praised the colors and the cooking of the meat, but his Brussel sprouts were also undercooked. When Ramsay asked him to taste his vegetable, Joseph requested a fork, saying he was not an animal and that he was not eating with his bare hands. He went extremely defensive, declaring war to Ramsay by saying both of them would go head-to-head without a doubt by training him in the parking lot at some point. For the red team, Tennille's balsamic lamb chop with spaghetti was deemed nice by Ramsay, and she extended the red team's lead by 2 points. While getting back in line, she jokingly told she would take autographs later.

For the next round, Amanda went against Tony, but before Ramsay would taste her dish, Amanda got back in line to grab tequila shots, hoping to take one with Ramsay, and returned to Ramsay. He asked what was it, which she answered tequila, and when she revealed her dish, which was margarita French toasts with tequila butter, Ramsay was shocked and thought she was joking, but Amanda really hoped to take a tequila shot with him as it was going with the dish. Ramsay was disappointed as French toasts would take only 3 minutes to make. After that, Tony declared he was cooking at home and never went to culinary school, by adding that he did not need to go there because if he had a passion for cooking, he would succeed. His mussels with chorizo and toast received praise from Ramsay for having potential, and he scored the first point for the blue team, closing the gap at 2-1. On the following round, Melinda faced off Jim, and Melinda presented her poached lobster tail with Portabella mushrooms. She started to be very flirtatious, but Ramsay could not find her lobster tail, which she stated having challenges over during the cooking process. He called it absolutely fucking pathetic and threw it in the trash. Jim declared he was not intimidated by anybody, but after being told to take off his coat, he said he was a little bit intimidated by Ramsay. He served his seared Ahi tuna with a soy ginger vinaigrette over mashed potatoes and bok choy, which was deemed delicious by Ramsay and tied the score at 2.

The following round featured Kevin and Ariel's dishes, but Kevin was criticized for putting coffee sauce over a perfectly cooked filet steak, and Ariel's duck breast was undercooked, therefore none of them scored. After that, neither Andy, with his pork tenderloin over succotash, or Lovely's fish burger with fries scored a point. So, the final round was a tiebreaker between Sabrina and Van. In line, Lovely prayed Lord for a prize, and then, Sabrina presented her chipotle wrapped pork tenderloin with rice pilaf, but it was too spicy for Ramsay. For the last dish, Van served his seared Foie Gras with minted caramel, which was praised for its creativity and complexity. Van clinched the victory and the blue team won the challenge 3-2. Kevin was impressed because Van was having talent underneath his muscles.

After announcing the reward and punishment, Ramsay introduced the contestants to his Sous Chefs, which were Scott for the blue team, and Heather, the winner of Season 2, for the red team.

Scoring[]

Red Team Blue Team
Chef Score Total Chef Score Total
Suzanne 0/1 0 Dave 0/1 0
Tek 1/1 1 Louie 0/1 0
Tennille 1/1 2 Joseph 0/1 0
Amanda 0/1 2 Tony 1/1 1
Melinda 0/1 2 Jim 1/1 2
Ariel 0/1 2 Kevin 0/1 2
Lovely 0/1 2 Andy 0/1 2
Sabrina 0/1 2 Van 1/1 3
Results 3-2

Reward[]

The blue team was rewarded with a three-course meal on the Hell's Kitchen patio, featuring dishes from Ramsay's London West Hollywood Restaurant. Arrived on the patio, they were greeted by Jean-Philippe and toasted with their champagne glasses. Then, the dishes were served, and all of the men enjoyed them, with Tony saying that the flavors were exploding in his mouth. Later, Louie took a splash by jumping in the hot tub, and the men continued to serve champagne to each other.

Punishment[]

The red team was punished by cleaning both kitchens ahead of the opening service the following night. When he learned the red team's punishment, Louie made a sexist comment, stating that women were better at cleaning than men, so it would be right up their alley. During the punishment, when Sous Chef Heather revealed their dinner, which were Bologna sandwiches, Tennille was confused, saying she thought Bologna was illegal in California. After their punishment, the women came up to the dorms and found their uniforms, knives, and cookbooks, which they had to learn by heart. Because of that, Tek declared she would not sleep very much that night. Then, every woman read and studies the cookbook.

Before service[]

The next morning, both teams got down in their respective kitchens to begin their prep, and the blue team was given their knives by Sous Chef Scott. In the blue kitchen, the men were slow to prep, as they were still hungover from the previous night. Van declared that something in the champagne was good, and Jim asked Dave where was the pesto on one of the recipes, which none of them could find. In the red kitchen, the women were going full steam ahead and were confident as they studied the menu the previous night.

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told he was expecting a bloody good service, which the chefs were ready to perform, but when they got on their stations, Ramsay found already overcooked fondants on the red team's hot plate. Lovely admitted she cooked them, and Ramsay got confused, stating she already screwed it for her team, while Tennille said it was all they had to work with, and Suzanne called her team a bunch of circus clowns and added she would have to bust her ass to make sure the red team would win. Despite that mistake, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell's Kitchen.

Dinner service[]

When Ramsay called the first ticket out in the red kitchen, the women responded appropriately. But, when he called out the first ticket in the blue kitchen, the men did not respond at all, discouraging Ramsay, and when he asked Tony to recite the order back, the latter struggled, thinking Ramsay would eat them alive. Ramsay told the blue team to call back "Yes Chef" after an order was called, which they did. In the red kitchen, Tek brought her first order of scallops to the hot plate, but they were raw, and Ramsay schooled her for that mistake. Seeing that, Ariel was embarrassed as Tek was not able to properly cook scallops. Because of Tek's mistake and her pasta being overcooked, Lovely was forced to start her capellini over and trash it in the bin, saying that she would make sure that she would be synchronized with Tek so they could bring all the appetizers together. In the blue kitchen, Jim sent his first scallops, which were perfectly cooked, but Ramsay noticed only four pieces were there instead of the six needed. So, he asked Jim to count to six, which he did twice because he was not loud enough the first time, and told him to wake up. Jim acknowledged his mistake, and jokingly said he thought he was playing Yahtzee. After, Ramsay clearly asked Jim to drop six pieces of scallops on his next order. In the red kitchen, there was lack of communication between Tek and Lovely, and in the dining room, customers were starting to lose patience. Moments later, Season 5 Robert made his way in the dining room with his wife, invited as a special guest for that service. But, unbeknownst to him, Ramsay planned to give him a second chance to compete in Hell's Kitchen after his departure on the previous season. Ramsay greeted him and his wife, and told both of them to have a seat and enjoy themselves, which they did.

40 minutes into service, in the blue kitchen, Kevin and Jim succeeded to get the first appetizers out to some very satisfied customers. But in the red kitchen, the women were still trying to get their first order out, and Tek was berated by Ramsay for sending rubber scallops to the pass, which he compared to something one would expect Tiger Woods to tee off with. They were forced to start over several times after the pasta was overcooked and the scallops were undercooked, annoying Tennille, who compared the situation as an apocalyptic chaos. She took vocal control of the red team, and meanwhile, in the blue kitchen, the team moved on to entrées, but Ramsay caught Louie putting lamb in the oven without any seasoning or searing it first. Ramsay told Louie why he should sear lamb, which was to give color and improve the flavor, prompting Jim to say that as he was a man, there was a primal instinct inside him that knew how to cook meat, and that he needed to find it. As the blue team rallied behind Louie on the meat station, an impatient Ramsay asked the red team for the eighth time if they could bring their first order of appetizers (scallops and capellini). Tennille vocally motivated the team and when she asked Melinda if the pasta was cooked, she answered it was, but Ramsay disagreed and found it undercooked. So, Melinda mistakenly tossed it in the trash, which upset Ramsay as he meant for her to just put it back on the stove and cook it a little bit more. Sabrina acknowledged Melinda was having a "deer in the headlights" look and that it would kill her. Then, Ramsay found out she trashed a lot of pasta since the beginning of the night, and started to take all of it out, while angrily asking Melinda how much did she trashed, but she was too shocked to give an answer. Ramsay said that she was making him very mad, and Tennille said Melinda would lead the team to destruction, calling her stupid in the process.

In the blue kitchen, the men have served eight tables of appetizers, but Louie was caught doing some of Joseph's job by cooking spinach. Ramsay asked Joseph why Louie was doing that, which he answered he did not know, but Louie said that he thought he should put all the dish together. Then, Ramsay told him to not touch the spinach as they already got enough problems cooking lamb. After that, Joseph asked if he could cook the lamb himself, but Ramsay refused to, saying he was looking like an idiot, but Joseph aggressively told he got it. That led Jim to tell that Joseph went on a war despite being only in a kitchen. So, he told to calm down and cook some carrots.

In the dining room, some red customers got impatient because of their missing appetizers, and then, Ariel noticed that Lovely was missing. Lovely went to the back store to sit down and drink water. She revealed she drank a total of four bottles of water because her body was craving hydration. Despite her absence, her team began preparing entrées, but Ramsay noticed a piece of shit lying on the counter, and when he asked what it was, Tek revealed it was supposed to be a salmon. Ramsay took the salmon in his hands, compared it to a bison's penis, and asked who put the salmon in the freezer. Amanda admitted that she fucked it up as she misplaced the freezer with the fridge. That mistake caused the red team to take out the salmon from the menu, and when Sous Chef Heather revealed there were five orders of salmon waiting, Ramsay ironically congratulated Amanda for a good job. Then, Lovely made a heroic return by coming back to the appetizer station. Her team asked if she was all right, which she answered she was, and got back to work.

Automatic elimination[]

In the blue kitchen, Louie finally managed to send up his lamb to the pass, but Ramsay schooled him on not cutting it properly, with one piece being butchered, even asking if he bit in it. Joseph acknowledged Louie was lost and out of his league. Then, Ramsay discovered a huge pile of wasted lamb on the meat station. He angrily tossed all of it on the station, asking what he was doing, and finally, he eliminated Louie on-the-spot. Louie went back to the dorms and pack his bags, before telling Ramsay to kiss his fucking ass and leaving by the delivery dock.

With both kitchens at a stand still, and Van comparing the situation to a bad dream, Ramsay was forced to shut down both of them, much to the chefs' disappointment. While clearing down, Tennille said that was not as easy as it looked, and Joseph declared he never had a service like that before and that it was a complete and utter nightmare.

Robert's return[]

After both kitchens cleared down, Ramsay went to the dining room and met Robert and his wife. He stated it was good to see him, and noted that he lost the opportunity during the previous season because of his health problems, before inviting him back to compete again in Hell's Kitchen. Robert stated that second chances in life were not happening often, and, with the blessing of his wife, accepted the offer, with Ramsay declaring he was deserving it as he was a talented cook. His wife became emotional, and Ramsay asked her to not be upset, which she responded she was happy instead. Robert hugged his wife goodbye, while declaring his plan was to win Hell's Kitchen.

Post-mortem[]

When the teams were lined up, Robert joined the blue team, and Ramsay introduced him to everybody, while telling why he came back. After that, Ramsay said he never had a service like that in his life, with nothing positive and being pathetic. After that, he sarcastically congratulated Amanda for screwing up her team by freezing the salmon, and warned Melinda and Lovely that both of them were running out of time in the competition. After that, Ramsay decided on a winning team, while noting that both teams had shocking services, but added that the blue team managed to get a few entrées out, compared to the red team's zero, therefore making them the losing team. Ramsay concluded by asking the red team to nominate two people for elimination. While being dismissed, Lovely declared she did not know who her team would nominate as they all performed badly.

Back in the dorms, Suzanne immediately targeted Melinda for lacking the passion and the knowledge, but Melinda declared she was not done with Hell's Kitchen yet. Then, Tennille pointed out that the team never got passed appetizers, inclining towards Lovely as the second nominee. However, Lovely said that she would fight for her place, and stated that she admitted her mistakes and was a strong chef on the team, while Tennille recalled her leaving for 45 minutes during service. Then, Tek recalled Amanda's mistake of putting the salmon in the freezer instead of the fridge and considered her as well, but Amanda was convinced she was not deserving to be nominated for that. Because of that, the red team deliberated on Melinda, Amanda, and Lovely.

Elimination[]

Tennille declared Melinda as the red team's first nominee, and Amanda as the second. Ramsay asked Amanda if she agreed with that decision, which she did not and said Lovely should be up instead of her. Then, Ramsay asked her if she knew the difference between a freezer and a fridge, which she answered she did. After both of them pleaded their cases, Ramsay eliminated Melinda for being the worst performer of the night, the reason why her team lost, and her lack of desire to be in the competition.

Team addition[]

After Melinda left, Ramsay announced that he decided to strengthen the teams by sending Robert to the red team. He also reminded Robert that even though he was a hero on the previous season, he would be treated like everybody else that season. While being dismissed, Ariel was excited as Robert was the end of the red team's losing streak, and Tony declared elimination was sounding scary, while hoping he would not be next.

Ramsay's comment: "Melinda was completely lost in space, so I sent her back to whatever planet she came from."

Ramsay gave no comment on Louie's elimination, and he did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.

Trivia[]

  • This marks the only time the intro featured the first 16 chefs of the season. This was likely done to prevent Robert's return as a spoiler for the audience.
  • This marks the first time the Signature Dish Challenge was used as a team challenge after the previous seasons used it as an individual assessment.
  • This marks the fourth time Ramsay eliminated a chef in the middle of service and the earliest he did so.
  • This marks the first time a chef from a previous season came back. It also marks the only time they joined the competition after the opening night.
  • The situation with Louie marks two interesting points:
    • Because of Robert's return, Louie becomes the first and only chef to go down a placement retrospectively.
    • For Melinda, she becomes the first seen chef that was eliminated in the first elimination ceremony, but did not place last.
Hell's Kitchen Season 6 Episodes
16 Chefs Compete15 Chefs Compete14 Chefs Compete13 Chefs Compete12 Chefs Compete11 Chefs Compete10 Chefs Compete9 Chefs Compete8 Chefs Compete7 Chefs Compete6 Chefs Compete5 Chefs Compete4 Chefs Compete3 Chefs CompeteWinner Announced
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