Recaps
Episode 106
The teams head back to the dorms after another rough night. Elsie can't believe Chris was eliminated and not her. Ralph takes the decision as a wakeup call to the more experienced chefs. At 7:15 the next morning, the teams return to the kitchen. Chef Ramsay tells Elsie that he's proud of how she's doing, but then tells Ralph he's surprised Ralph was so sloppy. After making sure his message got through, Chef Ramsay presents the teams with their next challenge, a blind tasting. Each person will taste four different foods. The team that gets the most right wins.Jimmy and Andrew step forward first. They get blindfolds and start the test as Chef Ramsay puts a morsel in their mouth. Andrew correctly guesses chicken. Jimmy, however, guesses that it's meat tortellini with sweated onions in the background. After the guys miss the next two foods, they're given white radish. Jimmy gets it right, but Andrews goes with parsnip. Tied at 1 after one round.
Jessica and Elsie are next. They're started with ox tongue, but both guess pork. Next are scallops, which Elsie gets. Jessica misses her second when she says liver. Third is Caesar dressing, which Elsie also gets. Jessica again whiffs, this time by guessing vinaigrette. Lastly is hamburger, which Elsie again gets. Jessica goes 0 for 4 when she guesses filet mignon. After two rounds, the Red team is ahead 4-1.
Ralph and Michael square off last. Their first food is veal sweetbreads. Ralphs calls it beef and fat, and Michael calls it something disgusting he shouldn't be eating. Perhaps brains. Second is a spinach leaf, which Ralph guesses is Romaine lettuce. The Blue team loses. They have to scrub the hundreds of pots and pans in the restaurant. As a reward, the Red team is treated to a wine tasting with Chef Ramsay at one of LA's finest restaurants. When the Red team returns from their pleasant afternoon diversion, the Blue team is still scrubbing away.
That night, at 7:30pm, Chef Ramsay calls the dorms and orders the teams into the kitchen in ten minutes. He has a huge announcement for them. Tomorrow night, the teams will create their own menus of three starters, three main courses and three desserts. The customer will look at the two menus upon arrival and decide which one they want to order from.
The teams head off to create their menus. The Red team works together, but over on the Blue side, Ralph seems to be running the show, shooting down Jessica's and Andrew's ideas in favor of his own. The next morning, the teams get into their kitchens early to start prep work. And again, Ralph is barking orders at Andrew and Jessica.
Only thirty minutes remain before the doors open. Chef Ramsay announces to the chefs that the number of orders from each menu and the reviews of each will determine tonight's winner. Oh, and as an additional punishment for the Blue team, their storeroom is locked. With their chickens inside. He quickly gives them the combination, with a warning that they're only getting it once. They rush to the storeroom, successfully open the door and retrieve their chickens. Before the door closes, Andrew props it open, takes some masking tape and covers the latch the keep the door open. Unfortunately for him, Sous Chef Scott stumbles across his con job. Scott tears into Andrew, then takes the chickens back into the storeroom.
Dinner time. The orders start coming in, with some for each team. Jimmy quickly plates a scallop wrapped in bacon starter, but the scallop is undercooked. Chef Ramsay sends it back. Thirty minutes into service, the Red kitchen is backed up, while starters fly out of the Blue kitchen. But then things turn bad for the Blue team when a starter is sent back with a hair in it. After Jessica proclaims that it's not her hair, Chef Ramsay excoriates for trying to find blame.
Meanwhile, Jimmy is now overcooking the scallops. Michael volunteers to take over on the scallops and solves the problem. On the other side, Andrew takes his first main courses to the hot plate, but the bowls are cold. Chef Ramsay sends it all back. Ralph pulls Jessica aside and says they have to help make up for Andrew's problems.
Ninety minutes into service, all tables have ordered and the Blue team had 11 more orders. However, the diners aren't thrilled with their overcooked, tasteless halibut. Over on the other side, Michael is sending out main courses that diners are loving.
With fifteen minutes remaining in service, Chef Ramsay notices Ralph waving to two girls in the dining room. After ripping into Ralph, Chef Ramsay decides to shut down the kitchens. With only four tickets remaining, Michael is disappointed that they didn't get to finish, and complains that Jimmy's scallop problems held them up.
The teams are gathered for a review. Chef Ramsay compliments Michael as outstanding on the evening, but criticizes Jimmy for getting off to a slow start each night. Chef Ramsay also calls Jessica consistently average and again tears into Ralph for flirting with customers. After announcing that the Red team received 42 orders against 53 for the Blue team, Chef Ramsay declares the Blue team the losers. The halibut, the most popular item ordered that evening, had six dishes returned. Chef Ramsay asks whose idea the halibut was and Andrew says it was Ralph's. But Ralph claims it was a team effort. Having noticed that Jessica didn't touch a main course all evening, and that the starters and desserts for the Blue team were highly rated, Chef Ramsay asks Jessica to choose one teammate for elimination.
Back in the dorms, Andrew rails about Ralph's duplicity, complaining that he's tired of taking blame for his teammates. Jessica, speaking to Ralph privately, assures him that she'll be eliminating Andrew. The teams return to the dining room, where Jessica does indeed nominate Andrew. Chef Ramsay tells Jessica he has to respect her choice, but the final decision is his. He then orders Ralph to step forward. Given a chance to defend himself, Andrew says the halibut wasn't his idea. Ralph counters that it was still Andrew's job to cook it properly. After hearing some more defenses, Chef Ramsay then decides to eliminate Andrew.
