Episode 4: Shop Till You Drop

Following Kaylee's elimination Chelsea was left conflicted as her nominees of Cora and Saraya had been overruled by Ramsey but Ashley assured her that they wouldn't be able to hide behind other chefs forever, Xander complemented Chelsea on managing to bounce back so quickly after that bad challenge which she appreciated, Saraya tried to form an alliance with Cora but Cora was still pissed over Saraya's comment towards her during elimination, bluntly telling her to fuck off.

## Individual Challenge

The next morning the chefs were greeted by Ramsey in the dining room who asked them if they knew what cooking on a budget was like,Chelsea asked if this was a trick question as she was still fresh out of culinary school but Ramsey responded that that was the point, for their next challenge both teams would be taken to a local food market where they would each be given a hundred dollars to spend on ingredients to turn a budget shop into a profitable dish.

Once the teams arrived at the market the chefs split off in different directions to get what they needed, the ones who spent the most was Chelsea (who couldn't find individual salmon fillets and decided to get a whole salmon side alongside some middle eastern ingredients whilst Cora had to go to an import shop to get some Greek ingredients, Ashley was able to keep it relatively cheap by getting ingredients for her take on spaghetti and meatballs and the rest of the chefs were able to keep it within the budget.

When the chefs returned to Hell's Kitchen they had another surprise waiting for them, former Hell's Kitchen contestants Max Huntington, Zara Chandler, Troy Hunter and Season 28 winner Jazz were going to serve as the guest judges and Ramsey had brought them in early to inspire the chefs before they started cooking, the former contestants quickly recognized Chelsea when she brought her salmon dish up and she tried her best to keep it together as she admitted to being nervous whilst filleting her salmon which prompted Ramsey to tell her to go back to the Red Kitchen and get the salmon that she had filleted, revealing a beautifully filleted salmon and fittingly her dish was one of the best of the day, other standouts included Ashley's Spaghetti and Meatballs. Xander's take on Spaghetti Carbonara and Ava's veal permisan but there were some serious missteps as well, Jake's attempt to keep things as cheap as possible backfired when he revealed that he had brought premade tomato sauce and Zara and Troy realized that none of the prawns (out of ten) had been de-veined "awarding" him the honor of the chefs saying that they wouldn't pay anything for his dish and whilst Cora's dish wasn't that bad, her attempt at a Greek-French fusion dish of French Toast backfired as they French Toast was undercooked and the sides didn't make sense, in the end though McKenna's Italian Sausage and Polenta won the Red Team their first challenge.

## Reward

The Red Team were flown out to Hell's Kitchen Las Vegas where they got private cooking lessons from Jazz and her team alongside enjoying a meal with the other former contestants, Chelsea, Ashley and McKenna were focused on taking in as much info as they could whilst the rest of the Red Team were there to enjoy the meal an that's it.

## Punishment

The Blue Team were tasked with doing trash day, a fact that had Xander was regretting not using his punishment pass on, once they got cleaned up the Blue Team were tasked with prepping both kitchens for service.

## Before Service

The Red Team returned in high spirits and were ready to continuing their momentum into service, things were still tense between Cora and Saraya to the point that Christina tried to get them to hash out their differences in the pantry but it didn't have much effect.

## Dinner Service

 **Appetizers** | Cora and Saraya
 **Meat** | Ashley and Fiona
 **Fish** | Chelsea and Sophie
 **Garnish** | Lisa and Ava
 Dessert

McKenna and Dylan would serve a tableside appetizer of lamb kofftas, the tension between Cora and Saraya almost boiled over into service as they argued whilst working the apps but Chelsea and Ashley got them to put their differences aside to focus on not losing to the Blue Team again, leading to the women having an almost flawless service, in the Blue Team though there were problems all over the kitchen as Grant, Jake and Tai struggled on apps, meat and fish respectively ending in all three men getting kicked out and their station partners to take over, however when one of Xander's chicken orders came back burnt the Red Team (sans Ashley who stayed behind to work desserts) were called in to help them finish service, sealing the Blue Team's fate.

## Post-mortem

The Blue Team were declared the losers of the service with Ramsey praising the Red Team's efforts, however Ramsey was so angry with how the service had gone that he told the Blue Team to name three chefs for elimination, the choice was easy as Jake, Tai and Grant were the most at fault for that night's service.

## Elimination

Once the men returned to the dining room Miles named Jake, Tai and Grant as the Blue Team's nominees, whilst Tai and Grant gave the impression that they still had plenty of fight left in them Jake gave off the opposite, making Ramsey and the other chefs think that this was all a game to him, that combined with his poor performance in the challenge and service was enough to get him eliminated.

Jake's elimination statement: *"I didn't come to Hell's Kitchen to make enemies or get into fights, I came into this competition to be the best chef I can but I guess that wasn't enough for Ramsey! Grant and Tai are on their last legs and I'll be shocked if they last much longer!"*

Ramsey's elimination comment: *"Jake treated Hell's Kitchen like it was a game, unfortunately for him, he ran out of lives tonight."*