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The eleventh episode of Season 6 of Hell's Kitchen aired on FOX, on September 22, 2009, airing as a double feature alongside the tenth episode. On that episode, the remaining chefs were merged into the black team, an exuberant celebration happened after the challenge, and half of the chefs let Ramsay down during service, leading him to do the unthinkable.

Intro[]

Back in the dorms, Van claimed that he fought for his life to stay as it meant everything for him to stay and win, while knowing that he could not make any more stupid mistakes. The next day, Van was still upset over his previous performance, but knew that he had to let it go. Then, he went to the living room, and found gift boxes. When he showed them to Dave and Kevin, it was revealed that they were containing black jackets. The rest of the chefs opened their black jackets, with Suzanne comparing it to Christmas morning, and they knew that while it was a great milestone to get to, it also meant that it was time for the individual game to begin.

Pairs challenge[]

The new black jacket chefs came down in the kitchen, and met Ramsay who was cooking a dish. As Ramsay was plating his dish, he noticed that there was no more red or blue teams, and gave them the dish to taste. The dish everyone tasted was one of Ramsay’s signature dishes, and after Ramsay explained how he would always try and imagine what the dishes ingredients were, he announced that the next challenge would be the Taste It Now Make It Challenge. Then, the six chefs were broken up into three teams of two, consisting of Van and Ariel, with the latter being concerned as Van has been nominated twice before, Tennille and Kevin, much to Tennille’s happiness, and Dave and Suzanne, which Dave decided to reluctantly go with. After, Sous Chef Scott brought a dish that was cooked in one of his own Los Angeles restaurants for the chefs to taste.

Each pair had thirty minutes to recreate Ramsay’s dish, containing fish, garnish, purée, and sauce. Everybody crowded around the dish as Dave decided to taste every fish to guess what the correct match was. Ariel could not figure out what the fish was, and while Van wanted to use sea bass, everybody went with turbot. For the garnish, everybody chose calamari. For the purée, Ariel and Van used celery root, while the remaining pairs used parsnip. For the sauce, Ariel and Van went with starfruit, Dave and Suzanne went with passion fruit, and Kevin and Tennille went with grapefruit. With their ingredients chosen, the pairs worked on their dishes, but Van accidentally dropped the turbot on the ground, forcing him to cook another one. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated in time.

The first pair that was judged by Ramsay was Kevin and Tennille, followed by Van and Ariel, and finally Dave and Suzanne. After tasting their dishes, Ramsay revealed that while all of them got the protein correct, nobody got the purée as it was actually white onion. While calamari was the correct garnish, Tennille and Kevin forgot to plate theirs, and automatically lost. In the end, Dave and Suzanne got the right fruit sauce, and won the challenge. However, Suzanne openly gloated about their victory until Dave made her shut up, much to the other chefs' annoyance.

Scoring[]

Taste It Now Make It
Chefs Score
Dave and Suzanne 3/4
Kevin and Tennille 1/4
Van and Ariel 2/4
Results Dave and Suzanne

Reward[]

Dave and Suzanne were rewarded with a trip to the London West Hollywood, along with Ramsay, where they would eat lunch with Season 4 winner Christina. While Dave was not happy to be with Suzanne for most of the day, he decided to make the best of it. On the ride to the restaurant, Dave asked Ramsay what to do for black jacket services, and Ramsay reminded them that while they were still cooking as a team, they had to focus on the individual aspect now. When they arrived at the restaurant, Ramsay gave Dave and Suzanne a tour before a meeting with Christina. During lunch, Suzanne asked her a lot of questions, but when Dave tried to say something, Suzanne talked over him. Then, Christina told them that they had to think ahead now as Ramsay could throw a wrench in any plans, as Suzanne felt that she could win the competition.

Punishment[]

The remaining chefs were punished by prepping for a Couples Night Service, as well as helping Jean-Philippe to decorate the dining room. During the punishment, Van was pissed that he did not get the chance to spend some time with Ramsay, and instead had to be with Jean-Philippe, who he called whistle britches. Jean-Philippe gave them instructions on decorating the dining room, but Tennille quickly got annoyed by his precise instructions.

Before service[]

While prepping for service, Van noticed that the mood has changed as everybody was eyeing up their competition, and announced that he was ready to take advantage of that. Dave and Suzanne came back and got to work, but when Dave asked if he could help anyone, he got cold shoulders and realized that they were all gunning for him. While Tennille said that they were playing individually now, they still had to work together because every mistake could hurt the team, and she caught Dave up to speed.

When everybody was lined up, Ramsay said that he was expecting the six chefs to be the dynamic team he hoped for. Also, Ramsay reminded them the theme of Couples Night for that service, and to help keep the romantic mood, he put Kevin on the tableside station. Once everyone was at their stations, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service[]

The menu of Couples Night featured a chopped salad appetizer, and a porterhouse steak for two that would be served tableside by Kevin. Ramsay called out the first ticket and reminded Kevin not to make the salad portions reasonable. Despite feeling confident on her station, Suzanne served two tortellini portions instead of three ordered, as Kevin tried to buy time in the dining room because of that mistake. Despite Suzanne saying that she needed two more minutes, it took way longer, and she screwed the timing of the whole team. Despite that, she managed to fix the tortellini refire and the synchronization between her and Kevin was fixed. Van was determined to make sure his fish was cooked properly, but Ramsay caught him searing a sea bass instead of cooking the scallops, and he warned Van that he would be watching him like a hawk. However, Van started to sweat in his scallops, and Ramsay yelled at him for that, before forcing the team to start the ticket over. Because of that, the kitchen received an overflow of tickets as very little food was being served, and Ramsay yelled at both Suzanne and Van for that.

Working on appetizers and entrées, Tennille took the lead and communicated with Van and Ariel, much to Ramsay’s praise as she was the last person he would have expected to do so. Then, Ramsay praised Tennille’s perfectly cooked lamb, but Van was late on the halibut, and placed it in a non-sizzling pan. While Van sent his halibut, it was raw and Ramsay bemoaned that it was too much as Van was disappointed by his poor performance. Then, Ramsay pulled Van into the pantry room and urged him to get a grip, with a warning that one more mistake could get him ejected. When they came back, Ramsay noticed that Ariel’s lettuce was burnt, which she did not notice, and Ramsay continued to go into despair. Eventually, Ramsay called Sous Chef Scott and both of them walked out of the kitchen, much to the shock of everybody, and Jean-Philippe asked if they would come back.

Without any Head Chef or Sous Chef, Tennille knew that if Ramsay would shut down the service, everybody could go home. So, she took the lead for the chefs, and communicated with Ariel and Van. However, Ariel was slow on garnishes and despite wanting five minutes, Tennille reminded her that they needed three minutes. Dave came to help Ariel and despite noticing that she was looking defeated, her garnishes made it up to the pass, and the only thing left was plating. Kevin got the first few dishes plated and sent out before returning to the dining room, leaving Suzanne in charge of plating. However, she refused to plate the dishes as she did not want to screw up, much to her teammates' annoyance. So, Van decided to plate the dishes and send them out to the dining room. However, Van did not communicate with Tennille on the timing, and did not like how he was being treated like a girl. Despite that, food was leaving to the customers as Ramsay and Sous Chef Scott came back to the kitchen, with Dave noting that Ariel, Van, and Suzanne were horrible, even fearing that they would get shut down. Then, Ramsay yelled that nobody has ever pushed him to leave his own kitchen, before ejecting Van, Ariel, and Suzanne from service. Back in the dorms, Van went off that he worked his ass off despite getting yelled at Ramsay, much to Ariel’s concern, and went off to calm himself down. Meanwhile, Dave, Tennille, and Kevin managed to serve their last ticket, and when they were getting desserts ready, Ramsay pulled Tennille aside to praise her, saying that she gave the best cooking of meat he ever saw, much to her pleasure.

Post-mortem[]

When Dave, Kevin, and Tennille were lined up, Ramsay noticed that it was the first time in five years that he ever walked out of Hell’s Kitchen, and while he remarked that it was not those three's fault, he called that night one of the most frustrating services he ever had. Then, Ramsay told the three of them that because they cooked their hearts out that night, neither of them would be going home, and asked them to agree with two nominees of the three people that got ejected from service.

Back in the dorms, Tennille told the rest of the chefs the news, and berated Suzanne for refusing to plate the dishes. Despite Suzanne arguing that she did not want to screw up the plating, Kevin remarked that she should know by that moment what her own standards were. While the three of them agreed that Suzanne was the first nominee, they were torn for the second. While Tennille noted that Van had a miserable night on the fish station, Dave brought up Ariel’s name as it was her burnt lettuce that drove Ramsay to the edge, though he secretly admitted that his decision to keep Van was a strategic one. However, Ariel did not want to be thrown under the bus, even though she knew that her night was not great, and while Tennille knew that nominating Ariel for one poor night was not fair, she struggled on who to choose. Despite that, they agreed that Suzanne and Ariel were the nominees that night.

Elimination[]

Dave announced that Suzanne was the first nominee, and Ariel was the second. However, when Ramsay asked Tennille for her opinion, she said that Van should be nominated instead of Ariel. Since Ramsay had mixed feelings of the three problematic chefs of that night, he called all three of them down. During their pleas, Ariel said that she wanted to prove that she could bounce back, Suzanne said that she was nervous, with Ramsay warning her that she was spiraling down, and Van said that he was trying his best and hated being nominated again, along with getting ejected from service. After, Ramsay sent Ariel back in line, noticed that Van and Suzanne have been nominated three times each, and eliminated Van for his back to back struggles on the fish station. But, before Van left, Ramsay told him that while he could cook, he needed to keep it cool and let his food do the talking. Van received a retrospective montage of his run during his exit interview. After Van left, Ramsay sent Suzanne back in line, and told Tennille that he appreciated her telling him the truth about Van. However, Dave was not happy that Tennille threw Van under the bus, and said that she should watch her back as he was determined to win.

Ramsay's comment: "Van may be a poissonier, but his performance on fish was anything but Van-tastic."

Trivia[]

  • This marks the introduction of the rare pairs format for the Taste It Now Make It Challenge.
  • While not the first time Ramsay left the kitchen in the middle of service, this marks the first time a Sous Chef left with him as well.
  • This episode marks the last time the black jacket chefs received their coveted black jackets as gifts after six straight seasons. This format would not return until Season 11.
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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