LAST EDITED ON 06-21-05 AT 10:45 PM (EST) Hell's Kitchen, Ep 4 Summary, aired 6/20/05
You Complete Me
Last week's Hell
Cue the intro that ends with the Ohio players "Fire", followed by a recap of last week's show where Jeff and his Kidney Stones called Satan (bleep), then stormed off, and Wendy "I thought cold water was supposed to boil faster than hot water" was eliminated over Andrew.
Hell Continues This Week
Jessica is upset over the loss of her buddy, Wendy. "We're down to 8 people now and Hell's Kitchen is definitely changing."
The Red Team is coping well with the loss of Jeff and his Kidney Stones. Elsie and her cigarette credit their win to Jeff's departure. She's quite happy that he's gone. "He's been more of a problem than he was a help."
Ralph and Andrew have a discussion: Ralph asks, "Are you trying to acheive the role of smart ass?"
Andrew counters that he stood up for what he believed tonight. Ralph counsels him to keep his (bleep)ing mouth shut.
Hell's Kitchen, 6:58 AM
Scott and Maryann return to the dorms to wake the sleeping babies with air horns. The teams dress hurriedly, not even having time to brush their teeth or clean themselves up. The Sous Chefs teach them all some food prep in the kitchen, then Chef Ramsey takes them to the dining room where Jean Phillipe instructs them on the fine art of setting a table.
8:33 AM - Jean Phillipe continues his lecture on setting a table, while 8 tired Chef wannabes can hardly keep their eyes open. The lecture continues for about half an hour.
After Jean Phillipe is finished, Chef Ramsay tries his hand at an old magic trick, and pulls the tablecloth off of the example of a perfectly set table, thus destroying the 2 teams "cheat sheet".
Challenge
The two teams have 5 minutes to set the perfect table, arranging 96 pieces of china, silverware, and glassware on a table.
Chris observes that Jimmy is a lumox who can't fold napkins.
Mary Ellen complained that Andrew keeps readjusting the plate, which throws off the alignment of the silverware.
Note to Fox: I find the tease before commercials to be tedious, unnecessary, and rather (bleep)ing stupid.
Okay, now it's time for Chef Ramsey to examine their table setting skills. The Red Team left some chairs out from the table, and didn't line their plates up correctly. Chef Ramsey tells Jimmy that his napkins look like something from the ladies toilet. Their are fingerprints everywhere. The Red Team has a total of 4 mistakes.
Chef Ramsey tells the Blue Team they have glasses too close to the plates, then whispers to Jean Phillipe while they wait for a verdict. He announces the Blue Team has won this challenge, with only one mistake, much to their delight. Their reward is waiting for them in their dorms.
The Red Team will have to polish silver, glass, and plates for tomorrow night's dinner service.
Ahhhh, Our First Reward
The Blue Team is greeted and congratulated by Scott the Sous Chef, who hands out fresh white terry cloth robes to everyone. The treat is an afternoon of rest, relaxation, and spa treatments. This is so exciting and the team settles down to receive their massages.
Jimmy is busy in the kitchen breaking stuff. Jean Phillipe tells Chris to take champagne up to the winning team. The Red Team has no idea what the Blue Team has won.
Chris delivers and pours the champagne for the Blue Team
Ralph offers Chris a taste, but he declines because he has work to do.
Ralph proposes a toast to the Blue Team's success. Chris returns to the kitchen, telling the Red Team wht they are missing out on. Elsie is very envious and would like a massage and facial. Poor Elsie! She is missing out on looking like this:
8:44 PM - The teams gather after a hard day. They discuss and make fun of Jean Phillipe. Elsie can't help but notice the huge red billboard with Chef Ramsey's image on it, right above them. Lots of laughter and (bleeps) from both teams because they can't seem to get away from Satan's sight.
7 AM, 12 hours until opening
Through 3 dinner services, neither team has served even 1/2 their diners a full meal. Expecting improvement, Chef Ramsey has added 2 new menu items tonight - frog's legs and pigeon. He holds up a fully feathered pigeon and demonstrates the preparation by pulling out feathers and taking out the innards. First Jessica, then Elsie, complain in narrative about the awful nasty smell. Chef Ramsey in narrative says they have to learn prep from the beginning, just like a proper chef.
During the prep, Jessica gets frog juice in her eye.
Famous Last Words
Mary Ellen: I don't want to go home tonight.
Andrew: None of us are going home tonight. (He means the Blue Team, in case you were wondering.)
Pre-dinner
In the Red Kitchen, Elsie is cleaning pigeons while trying not to hurl, saying that she is prepared to do or die.
6:15 PM - Chef Ramsey reviews the 3 previous dinner services and their failures.
6:30 PM The Chef calls both teams together. He declares that tonight is comeback night. The first team to serve all of it's customers their full meals will be saved from elimination tonight.
He tells the Red Team the second part of their punishment for losing the challenge. They will have to set all of the tables for tonight's service, while the Blue Team is busy in the kitchen getting a head start on meal prep. Jean Phillipe informs them that they have to get it right before they can return to the kitchen.
6:50 PM - Scott compliments Mary Ellen on her food preparations. With just 5 minutes to go, the Red Team can now return to the kitchen to begin their food prep.
Since Andrew is having a hard time remembering which garnish goes with which dish, Ralph marks the garnishes for each dish on masking tape placed at Andrew's station.
7:00 PM Opening
Jean Phillipe greets the guests. Chef Ramsey is desparate for the teams to complete a dinner service for a change.
7:11 PM - First order for the Red Team. Elsie is responsible for all meat dishes for the first time, and Michael is concerned that she might mess up.
7:13 PM - First orders for the Blue Team. Mary Ellen works quickly to get up her first appetizers. Chef Ramsey compliments her tuna, and no that is not code for anything. He tells her to keep it coming like that, also not code. Elsie gets a little rattled when the Chef asks her for spaghetti, maybe because she is used to her kids calling it sketti or something. She opens up a can of spaghetti-o's. Okay, just kidding. He ultimately asks her to get it under control.
7:48 PM Beef Wellington, which I have never eaten, and I so wish Chef Ramsey would cook for me someday, comes out of the Blue kitchen with compliments to Jessica from Satan, but it seemed to me that Ralph helped her get it right. Andrew is having a difficult time remembering what dishes he has to garnish, so the cheat tape isn't helping him much. Chef Ramsey becomes very irritated and chides Andrew about it. The main dishes have to go back now because the garnishes are not ready.
By 8:30 PM, the Blue Team has served all of their appetizers and some of their main courses. Elsie on the Red Team has delivered her first entrees to the hot plate, but Jim is late with the garnishes. Chef Ramsey complains that the garnish is stone cold. He threatens Jim that if he gets another stone cold garnish, Jim will be washing pans for the rest of his life, so Jim promises it won't happen again.
In the Blue Kitchen, Ralph is starting to serve desserts, completing their first three tickets, but they still have a long way to go, having 12 more tickets left.
Andrew messes up the garnishes again, and it's back to square one. Chef Ramsey takes issue with Andrew about garnishes again, asking him to explain to Jean Phillipe why table 26 has not yet received their main courses.
Andrew has heeded Ralph's counsel about not being mouthy, but his memory problems or ADD have put the Blue Team behind. The team now has 10 more tickets to serve.
In the Red Kitchen, Elsie has found her groove and turn out a perfect Beef Wellington, with compliments from Chef Ramsey.
One hour left to service, and the Blue Team has only 5 tables left to serve. One table complains the risotto is too mushy, so back to the kitchen it goes with Jean Phillipe explaining the problem to Chef Ramsey. After tasting it, he asks Ralph and Mary Ellen to taste it. Ralph says it is too bland. After throwing the 3 stacked plates of risotto at Mary Ellen, Satan asks for 3 plates of beautiful risotto, one spaghetti, and one tuna. Chef asks Andrew to stop cooking the garnishes because that table needs to be served before anything else happens. This holds up the rest of the tables for the Blue Team.
The Red Team rallies, with only 6 tables left to serve. Over in the Blue kitchen, Mary Ellen has gotten the order mixed up, forgetting the tuna. Satan sends the rest of it back for a do over and she's quite upset.
11:02 PM Last table. The Red Team has done quite well. Elsie is so proud that it brings her to tears in a confessional. The Red Team is jubilant they finished their service first and avoided elimination this week.
Satan tells the Blue Team to stop cooking. In confessionals, Andrew declares Mary Ellen a disaster, and Mary Ellen claims that Andrew always has had problems at every meal service.
Chef Ramsey congratulates both teams for the comeback meal because it was the best service yet. The shock for Satan was that the Red Team had the task of setting up all the tables before they could even begin their food prep, and they still fed every one of their tables all of their courses. He declares the Red Team the winners.
Turning to the Blue Team, Satan tells them 5 of their tables did not receive their main course. That's not good enough.
Chef: Ralph, you won't be nominating anyone tonight. There's a new talented cook - Jessica.
Jessica: Thank you, Chef.
Chef: An you had the toughest section. Jessica, I want you to go back to the dorms and nominate 2 candidates for elimination, Think about your nominees and let me know.
Among other comments, Jessica says it sucks. Mary Ellen tells Jessica to chill. Mary Ellen doesn't think she will be nominated because she's such good friends with Jess.
Ralph and Jimmy talk. Ralph thinks he could be nominated tonight for strategic reasons as he is a strong competitor.
Andrew: What are the chances of surviving the guillotine twice? He blows raspberries and gives a thumbs down to indicate his chances of survival.
Jessica: A strategic move would be to vote Ralph off. He's obviously my biggest competition. Maybe I do need to be a little more strategic. (bites her nails) You know, I've probably got a chance to win this. I've made my decision. It is what it is.
Because they successfully served all of their tables, the Red Team sits safely on the sidelines. (Try repeating 3 times fast for some tongue twister fun.)
Jessica nominates Andrew first, because "he was on veg tonight and seemed to have a bit of a hard time getting the final product out on the plate and on time. It affected the whole team."
Chef: Second nominee and why?
Jessica: The second nominee is... (time for a commercial break) OH.THE.DRAMA, copyright Volsfan.
Jessica: The second nominee is Mary Ellen. Today in the kitchen she had a bad bout with the risotto and she wasn't able to bounce back as hard as we would've liked.
The Chef asks the 2 nominees to step forward and tell him why they should stay. Jessica and Ralph nod in agreement to each other over Jessica's choices.
Andrew: Um, I kept my mouth shut tonight, Chef, and that shows that I am a learning machine.
Chef: "a learning machine"? I think being here twice in a row clearly indicates the Blue Team don't (sic) like you.
It's Mary Ellen's turn to speak her piece.
Mary Ellen: Well, Satan, um, I mean, Chef, this evening I felt like I was doing a very good performance on starters until I let myself down, let my team down, and let you down. How do you get down from an elephant anyway?
Chef: You don't get down from a (bleep) elephant, you (bleep), you get (bleep)ing down from a duck! Tonight you shut the kitchen down. We had to stop cooking on the back of those risottos.
Chef: I'm disappointed in you both. The person leaving Hell's Kitchen tonight is... Mary Ellen. Take off your jacket. You're leaving Hell's Kitchen.
Jessica looks shocked and begins to cry.
Mary Ellen's final comments: I think that Chef Ramsey's decision tonight was the wrong decision. I think Andrew was the weak link. I think he will be joining me shortly for a fun time in Barbados.
Chef: You are a lucky boy. Very lucky. That's enough for tonight. Good night.
Andrew: The most important lesson I've learned tonight is when you're facing the devil in Hell's Kitchen, shut your (bleep)ing mouth.
The 666 glows brighter on Andrew's forehead, giving further indication for his not being eliminated tonight.
Chris: I think everyone thought Andrew was going. It makes you realize the obvious is not always the choice he is going to make.
Jessica: It wasn't the right decision. Mary Ellen, she's like this sweet innocent girl. I think as a team, she's one of the best.
Chef thoughts: Mary Ellen has left Hell's Kitchen because of her inconsistency. The rest of the team should understand that's it's very crucial to get better and more consistent. That didn't happen with Mary Ellen. That, and she's a woman. Oops, did I say that out loud?
Next Week, if you care dare to watch:
Chef Ramsey forces both teams to use their noodles. (Shots of them making and wearing pasta. Who does he think he is? Tommy Hilfiger?) There will be 2 dinner seatings. One team will cook and one team will serve. The teams are schooled by Jean Phillipe in the dining room.
Jean Phillipe to Jimmy: Stop touching yourself! (Nobody wants to see that anyway, Jimmy.)
Chef Ramsey is doing the grading in the kitchen, asking Ralph for 4 tortellini. Nothing (bleep) more. Michael has plans to sabotage the Blue kitchen, unless they do it to themselves first. Note to the Blues: Stop touching yourself!!!
Sea ya in 2 weeks!