HK:NY Episode 4

## Intro

While going back to the dorms, Lauren on a red team is so happy that one of the weaker members of the team, Pamela, was eliminated during the last episode. She wanted someone like Pamela gone ever since the competition started because of her untalented performances in almost every occasion. Lauren was a bit lopsided on the fact that there were more weak links on the team, being Katie and Rebecca. She wanted them out but to make sure they don’t lose anymore services. On the blue side, Jacob pulled Omar aside for a talk about his abrupt attitude towards those who may have been moving at a slower pace than him and told him he needs to calm down. Omar instinctively yet politely refuted saying that he was just trying to be a strong link on the team. Jacob understood but he knew that if he acts cocky but has nothing to show for it, he will leave the competition pretty soon. Omar grew a little uncomfortable after being told about this.

## Team Challenge

The following day, both teams came downstairs to see a giant chalkboard behind Gordon consisting of a multiple of recipes to common Hell’s Kitchen dishes and a giant alarm clock. Ramsay said the previous night’s worst problem was teamwork and trying to focus on themselves. A group of guards came out with a series of platters. Ramsay explained that there were five domes with five ingredients each, and he would set the alarm clock , reveal the dome, and the chefs from each team would grab the ingredient they wanted for their dish from each team. But with only limited ingredients, Diego knew that it would get ugly very fast.

With 30 minutes of cooking time, Ramsay revealed the first dome as it was protein, Omar pushed through for the protein, who got pork. Cedric was unfortunate and got the back of his pack and got lobster, which he said was scary because it was such a hard dish to master. Katie was happy to get veal chop because she practiced cooking it all the time. On the other hand, Brittany was bummed to get cod which wasn’t too exciting of a dish to make. The clock went off, and the second dome contained a series of starches. Natalie, who got salmon and tapioca, wondered how she would create a dish with her first two ingredients. Diego was excited to get legumes since it’s one of his favorite starches to cook with. Then, Ramsay revealed the third dome, which was vegetables. While Jacob grabbed broccolini which came to his delight, Mike got chicken, walnuts, and sweet potatoes which work amazingly together. Then, Ramsay unveiled the fourth dome, which contained an assortment of random ingredients. Katie was surprised to grab parmesan cheese, since her main protein was a new york steak. Taylor was celebrating with joy due to his getting truffles, which was a good finishing touch to his dish. Eventually, the chefs got their dishes cooked and plated on time.

Once it was time to judge, Gordon threw a wrench into the spokes by adding a surprise twist. The twist being that only the three best dishes from each team would be chosen for tasting. He then told each team to discuss who would be picked. Omar pleaded to his team that his dish needed to be up, but Seth objected to that because his pork chop looked dry. Omar was not happy with that conclusion. On the other side, Rebecca was disappointed with the look of her duck because she was afraid that it would be overcooked. Holly was surprised at how fast Rebecca turned down her offer after her fast and energetic personality. Both teams picked their dishes and Gordon asked for the first two dishes on each team. The red team put up Brittany while the blue team put up Franky. Brittany presented her take on Chilean sea bass with a Chilean cod dish which was made the same way, along with asparagus and a gin cocktail sauce. Gordon loved how creative she went with the cocktail sauce on a cod. Franky presented his duck breast with portobello mushrooms and a couscous puree. Gordon praised him for managing to make the duck and the mushrooms taste smooth but was told that the use of the couscous was unnecessary. With that comment he gave the first point to Brittany and the red team.

The next two sent up for tasting were Natalie for the red team and Cedric for the blue team. Natalie brought up a bourbon grilled salmon with a sweet potato hash, tapioca puree. Gordon praised her for having a great cook on the salmon and the potatoes, but was a bit off on the cold creamy taste of the tapioca. Cedric plated a poached lobster tail with jasmine rice, bacon bits , and asparagus. He was praised on the sear on the bacon bits making a salty taste to the sweet lobster. Cedric and the blue team were given a point.

To break the 1-1 tie, Lauren from the red team and Taylor from the blue team were sent up. Lauren started with a filet mignon with braised swiss chard and cauliflower, and sundried tomatoes. She was praised for the dish looking beautiful, and the filet being nailed, with the only nitpick being that the sauce was not reduced enough. Taylor ended the tasting with his pan seared sea bass with mashed sweet potatoes, corn, and truffles. He was given good notes for the sea bass and the mashed potatoes being nailed, but needed help for having overcooked corn. Gordon sent the two back in the kitchen, and had to make a very hard decision. Ultimately, Lauren was given the point and the red team won the challenge. Jacob was upset at this but said that a winning streak can’t last forever.

## Reward & Punishment

The women were rewarded with a day on a private yacht with champagne and eating dinner at the Penthouse Restaurant. Rebecca said she was so happy to win another reward, believing that she made the right decision to stay behind. During the reward, Katie was amazed at the size of the yacht and believed that size did matter. At dinner, Ramsay joined the women, which excited Emily, and as they discussed his cuts, Lauren was stunned that they were talking to Ramsay as a person and believed that nothing would touch him for the rest of his life.

The men were punished by prepping chicken for the following service. During the punishment, Seth tried bringing up the mood by joking and talking with his teammates, which almost everyone enjoyed. However, Omar was a little disturbed by that. Mike tried agreeing with that by saying it can be a little distracting but had some laughs here and there too. Later, Sous Chef Aarón informed the men that chicken will be a specialty dish for tonight and wanted them to help improve by helping that dish.

## Service

After the women returned, Ramsay had both teams lined up and announced that he was opening the chef’s tables for some VIP guests for that night's service. The women would be serving actor, comedian, and judge on America’s Got Talent, Howie Mandell, and the men would be serving actor and pop singer, Kat Graham. After telling both teams to make sure their guests had a memorable dining experience, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.

 Meat
 Fish
 Garnish
 Tableside

A special tableside chopped salad appetizer and chicken entrée were served by Emily from the red team, and Taylor from the blue team. After prepping up the kitchen, both Kat Graham and Howie Mandell arrived at the chef’s tables. The men received their first ticket which was immediately for Kat Graham’s VIP Table. It was an order of 1 crab cake and 2 risotto. When Gordon called out the ticket, everyone but Franky responded which made Gordon annoyed. He called out for Franky and this time he responded.

In the red kitchen, the women received the appetizer for Howie’s VIP Table, but Brittany told Holly to get the oil out of the pan to not get the future entrees tasting wrong. When Ramsay tasted the capellini, he said it lacked salt. Gordon told Holly that salt in pasta isn’t rocket science and should be the one of the most major things to put in pasta. Holly acknowledged this. Holly said that she didn’t like having to start the team off to a bad start. Natalie was able to help her refire the capellini.

In the blue kitchen, Mike called for a minute on his ravioli, but Franky asked if he could bring the ravioli’s up right then and there because he was done with the other appetizers of the ticket. However, Ramsay asked why Franky wanted to bring up an appetizer when Mike just called a minute, to which Franky replied that he wanted to make sure that things went out fast. Ramsay told Franky that things coming out too fast will have a higher chance of being undercooked.

In the red kitchen, Rebecca was struggling on the scallops as there was no color on the bottom, stalling the red team. Then, Rebecca sent overcooked scallops, which infuriated Ramsay.  Lauren took over and helped Rebecca out by not setting the stove on a higher setting. This made the women begin their entrées tickets

In the blue kitchen, Omar sent a pork that Frank deemed raw, and Ramsay showed the men Seth’s perfectly cooked halibut. Gordon forced the men to start the pork over. Omar was angry about him performing low. After some discussion with the teammates, Cedric came in and was able to help Omar get through the pork ticket.

In the red kitchen, the women continued to push their entrées, but Lauren sent an overcooked salmon, and she revealed that she had two other portions fired for the next table. Fortunately, Lauren’s refire was accepted, and the women continued to serve entrées.

In the blue kitchen, Ramsay reminded the team that the ticket they were on was a six top and should be a frantic ticket, even though the kitchen seemed quiet. Franky joined the fish station to help Seth and Mike. However, Ramsay revealed that the salmon that he and Mike brought up was raw, which forced Ramsay to ask the team if they were doing okay. Despite Cedric hoping for a comeback from his earlier mistakes, Jacob and Omar sent up raw steak, and a fed-up Ramsay kicked Jacob, Omar, Franky, and Mike out of the kitchen, leaving Cedric, Diego, Taylor, and Seth left in the blue kitchen. Gordon assigned Taylor to take over the meat station.

In the red kitchen, the women were working on their final tickets, while in the blue kitchen, the men were on their last ticket. Diego said that the plan sort of worked, despite getting half the team kicked out. Eventually, both teams finished service.

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay said that despite both kitchens having a good start, he felt that they were limping through and getting weaker near the end. Afterwards, Ramsay named the blue team the losers for finishing service with half of them in the dorms, and told the women that their victory was hopefully a wake up call for the team. Finally, the blue team was asked to nominate two people for elimination.

## Deliberation

In the dorms, the men were deciding to send up. The first option they brought up was Franky not only messing up on the appetizers but also on fish. Even though he wasn’t happy being put up, Franky knew that he messed up. The next option that was brought up was the meat station, being Jacob and Omar. Taylor brought up that he thought that Omar personally did worse than Jacob, which prompted Omar to interrupt and refute against Taylor. Omar and Taylor then had a verbal fight about the nominations. The rest of the team ended up trying to cool the two of them down.

## Elimination

At elimination, Seth announced Franky as the blue team’s first nominee, and an angry Omar as the second. Ramsay called them down. Ramsay reminded Franky that he was worried about his inconsistency and frantic mistakes in the kitchen. Franky promised to keep improving his skills and said he wanted to “weather the storm”, Ramsay was doubtful about his strange choice of words. Afterwards, Omar acknowledged that he had a bad night, especially with the pork incident, and claimed that he was not done yet. His words surprised his teammates since he had a fight about not being put up. In the end, Ramsay eliminated Franky for his poor performance on meat, not improving since the beginning, and feeling that he has given up. During his exit interview, Franky said he was disappointed that he wasn’t able to prove anything. He said he wanted to keep cooking but to calm down before entering the heat of a kitchen.

After he left, Ramsay dismissed the chefs, Mike said he was not happy about having the most destructive member of the team, Omar, still standing. Finally, Katie said that the men were falling apart, and that they are going downhill from here.

***Gordon’s Comment: “Franky said he wanted to weather the storm, but tonight the storm weathered him. There is no chance he could ever succeed at this rate.”***