Hell’s Kitchen Season 9 - Episode 9 Recap: “9 Chefs Compete”

Hell's Kitchen Episode 9 Contestants

On this week’s 9^th episode of Hell’s Kitchen, the competition sweetens up and Chef Gordon Ramsay gives a well-deserved boot to a sloppy chef.

For the team challenge of this episode of Hell’s Kitchen, each member of the Red Team and the Blue Team was asked to create a “sexy, delicious dessert” (a romantic dessert). As judges, Ramsay brought in dessert experts WayLynn Lucas (Chef/Owner of “(fōnuts)”) and Jordan Kahn (Chef/Owner Red Medicine). Each judge could give a minimum of 1 star and a maximum of 3 stars. Since the Red Team had 5 members (Carrie, Elise, Elizabeth, Jamie, and Jennifer), while the Blue Team only had 4 (Natalie, Paul, Tommy, and Will), Ramsay asked the Red Team to choose one dessert NOT to be judged.

After a quick, but contended argument, Jennifer managed to keep her dessert in the competition. The decision was then to choose between Carrie and Elise. We all know how much drama these two bring to the show, which means that the confrontation that ensued was mostly expected. Elise’s dessert was the one chosen to be kept out. At the end of the competition, the score was 8 points for the Red Team and 13 points for the Blue Team with Jennifer as the LAST dessert to be presented. Jennifer needed a perfect score (of 6 stars) to win the competition for the Red Team. After tasting the fine dessert presented by Jennifer, Jordan Kahn said it was the “best one we’ve had so far.” She received 3 stars from each judge and won the competition for the Red Team. Phew! Good thing Jennifer’s fought for her dessert!

As a reward, the Red Team got to go to Vegas, stay in a villa at Caesar’s Palace, with 5 rooms, and butlers to serve them! Holly Madison (one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends on The Girls Next Door) stopped by unexpectedly with presents. The presents were signed copies of her book and a coupon for the Red Team (and a guest of each member) to go back to Vegas for 3 days and 2 nights. As a punishment, the Blue Team had to decorate Hell’s Kitchen for a romantic date night. The Blue Team also had to prep the raw bar for the menu. None of the contestants appreciated the task of preparing the raw bar.

The dinner service was a “date night” for a variety of couples. Some of these couples were married for years, while some were on their first, blind date (awkward).

While prepping the dinner service:

Ramsay finds a hair in Jamie's dish… Disgusting!

Jamie missed a hair on a dish. The hair was black, hinting that it probably belonged to her. When confronted about it, Jamie stood there open-mouthed, without a legitimate excuse. Jamie then started sulking and Ramsay, rightfully so, called her on it. She was causing a scene, much like a five-year-old who doesn’t get cookies at the supermarket!

Tommy, as usual, was characteristically distracted and seasoned the scallops too early.  Ramsay scolded Tommy for dehydrating the scallops by seasoning them too early (the seasoning sucks up the water from the scallops). Then, as if one mistake per episode wasn’t enough, he cooked the sea bass too early, while the guests were still on their appetizers! “Uh… I just got ahead of myself.” Ramsay told him to “piss off” for a breath of fresh air. Unsurprisingly, unfocused Tommy stopped to speak to the dining guests on his way out. At least he has people-skills, right? When Tommy returned to the kitchen, Ramsay was working on Tommy’s food. Tommy did not want to interrupt Chef Ramsay, which angered the latter who told the former to yell if he had to work on his food. Tommy gladly yelled at Ramsay, but who wouldn’t?

Carrie burned the sea bass and was kicked out of the kitchen by Ramsay. Carrie also threw a tantrum worthy of a five-year-old, refused to leave the kitchen, and yelled at Chef Ramsay to give her another chance. She cried and said “it hurt deep,” for her it was the hardest thing to do, “to walk out of those doors.” She defended to the end of the show that she had not noticed the fish was burnt. Pride is a terrible thing. It’s hard for someone to help you out if you’re yelling at them.

Paul served raw chicken and was kicked out. He couldn’t believe himself since not serving raw chicken is pretty much cooking 101.

Ramsay scolds Elise for adding lobster to a vegetarian dish

Elise cooked vegetarian capelleni… with lobster. The dish was called “vegetarian lobster capellini.” I guess I can see where she got confused, but when she overcooked oysters for appetizers, she was done.

By the end of the service, it was clear that the Red Team had lost. The team was asked to choose two members to get kicked off the show, and they picked Carrie and Elise for constantly fighting with each other. Jennifer, the level-headed team leader for the night, was tired of the drama that destroyed the Red Team’s dynamics. When deciding who to kick off the show, Ramsay said “both of you…

…both of you back in line.” He then chose to send Jamie home because she was “going downhill” and because “I can’t go further with you, I’m getting no response.” Chef Ramsay was right, at this point in the season it has become painfully clear that Jamie was regressing rather than progressing. Nobody wants to see a chef’s dander on their dinner plate.

With only 8 chefs left, I can’t wait to see who’s sent home on next week’s episode of Hell’s Kitchen (Episode 8)!