Episode 102 - 17 Chefs Compete (Unown Realm)

The second episode of Season 1 of the Hell's Kitchen reboot series aired on NBC on April 15, 2033. In that episode, the chefs are rudely awoken for a challenge testing their consistency in prep, one team has a fun reward, the other faces a difficult punishment, and one chef shows they don't have the passion to continue.

## Intro:

As the chefs returned to the dorms, Aaron said that Knox lit a fire under his ass, and he had to get a grip unless he wanted to leave. Noah was scared his decision would anger both Aaron and Barry, as the last thing he wanted at this point was for the blue team to be split by ego, but when he arrived in the dorms Barry patted him on the back, and told him not to worry, as he knew now was not the time to be salty over a nomination. Charlee was happy for the red team's performance that night, as she felt they kicked ass and there was more where that came from, before then hugging Bri.

Once the chefs were in the dorms, Roy held a meeting which Noah, Aaron, Barry, Doug, and Joel attended. Roy told the other 5 men that they needed to name a leader, and that he personally wanted either himself or Noah to take control. Joel agreed, believing Noah to be the strongest at that point. Doug meanwhile didn't care who lead, as the blue team would still get destroyed if they didn't get rid of the weak links. The red team, on the other hand, celebrated their victory in the hot tub with drinks, and Carmen said her husband would love to be around the other women at that point, referencing their skimpy clothing.

## Challenge:

The following day, the chefs were asleep until about 5 A.M., when they were awoken by drummers from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas marching band. Joel called the drumming obnoxious and he didn't understand why Knox had them woken like that. Denise, on the other hand, loved the drumming waking her up, as she had also been the drummer in a marching band during college. Sous Chefs Matt and Tina then arrived, telling the chefs to go downstairs immediately. When the chefs arrived downstairs, Knox was seen holding a chicken in his hands. He then explained he wanted the chefs to get up close with their product, and produced a cutting knife, and Candice prayed they wouldn't have to kill anything. Knox then swiped his knife, missing the chicken deliberately. Knox then explained the chefs would not be working with live chickens, much to the relief of Allison, as Sous Chef Matt produced a rack that had dead chickens hanging on it.

Knox then introduced the Chicken Cutting Challenge, which he hoped to use to get the chefs to respect the products they used, which he felt lacked in the first service. After a demonstration on properly cutting the chicken into eight pieces, Knox gave the contestants five minutes to cut their chicken. In order to even the teams out, Stephanie was forced to sit out, frustrating her, as she wanted to show to Knox she could handle challenges. When the challenge began, Veronica felt confident about making the chicken look perfect, believing the men's chickens would be sloppy. Brenden, meanwhile, wanted to prove to Knox that Brent was the only issue they had that night, and that they were better without him. 1 and a half minutes in, most of the blue team was finished, but Kenny was still trying to cut. Joel described watching Kenny cut the chicken like watching a car crash in slow motion, as the latter kept fumbling the knife. On the red side, Crystal saw how slow Kenny was going, knowing he'd have to hurry for the blue team to stand a chance, as the red team had already finished cutting. Soon, time was up.

Knox started judging the blue team first. Joel was first, and he believed cutting up chicken shouldn't be that difficult. But Knox noticed that Joel had cut the drums way too low, and that took two pieces out, giving him a total score of six. Brenden did worse with four, as his chicken's thighs were gashed, as were the breasts. Knox then called up Kenny, who said that this would be a piece of cake. But Kenny got all but two of his portions rejected, and Knox questioned if the former was drunk. Next for the blue team was Aaron, who didn't do much better, getting only four of his portions accepted. However, the blue team then caught a break as Barry, Roy, Noah, and Doug got all the portions accepted. Roy was still nervous that Kenny may have screwed them, and claimed he was gonna kill the latter if they lost. It was then the red team's turn. Crystal started the challenge, only getting four pieces accepted. Next was Allison and Charlee, who both got all of their pieces accepted. Veronica only got six of hers accepted, but Bri continued the perfect streak for the red team. Next was Carmen, who, like Kenny had been slow cutting the pieces, which were almost all sloppy except for two that were accepted by Knox. Bri then became concerned that Carmen would be a liability on the team in the future. The latter then told the final two members of the red team, Denise and Candice, that they'd have to be near prefect for the win. Denise kept hope up, getting six of her pieces accepted. Candice was last, and she got all of her pieces accepted, winning the challenge for the red team.

## Reward:

The women were rewarded with a helicopter tour of Las Vegas and the surrounding areas, along with an overnight stay in a private villa at Casers' Palace. After hearing that, Denise thought she would faint, because she had an extreme fear of heights. But Allison and Stephanie convinced Denise to go on the trip. During the reward, Denise couldn't believe how high they actually were at that point, and she questioned how anyone would be able to hold themselves from puking while looking down. Candice also felt this was the perfect time for the red team to bond, as she felt the team was on top of the world.

Later, the ladies entered their private villa. Charlee was amazed at how gorgeous it looked, as she said she had never seen any house quite as luxurious as this before. During the night, Bri looked at Vegas skyline from the balcony, saying how beautiful the city was, and she couldn't wait to brag about it to her family in Louisiana.

## Punishment:

The men were punished by being forced to do hard labor in a farm. When seeing the clothes they had to wear during the punishment, Brenden groaned as he hated wearing clothes that were not made for the city. Joel told him to suck it up, as he had been one of the worst performers of the challenge. Joel felt there were so many chefs pointing fingers at each other, while the person they needed to point at, was themselves.

On the way to the farm, the men also had to ride in a school bus without a/c. Doug was groaning as he thought the heat was going to kill him. When they arrived, the farmer told them all the things that had to be done, and Kenny questioned how they were going to be able to finish everything. Later, Barry and Kenny got into an argument over water, with Barry getting and drinking the water.

## Before Service:

Afterwards, the blue team returned to Hell's Kitchen. Aaron said the day was brutal for the team, and they had to get their shit together for the next service, or else, Chef Knox would start eliminating the men faster. Barry also voiced concerns to Roy and Noah that Kenny had a severe attitude problem, which the latter two agreed with, as Roy felt Kenny was arrogant, and Noah felt stupid for not nominating Kenny the night before.

The following morning, the women returned, with Candice feeling their confidence was at a all time high. Charlee was hoping for the ladies to continue their win streak in service, while Joel knew that this was the moment the blue team had to break out of their shell. Knox then lined the teams up. He told the red team to keep up their streak, while urging the men to bounce back after three rough performances. Knox then told Quincy to open Hell's Kitchen.

 Garnish
 Meat
 Fish
 Desert
 Tableside

## Dinner Service:

In addition to the normal menu, a tableside special entrée of Prime Rib would be served by Kenny and Stephanie. The men soon received their first ticket, and Joel hoped to impress Knox after being tableside in the last service. But not only was his carbonara undercooked, but Brenden's scallops were burnt, and Knox warned both of them to wake up. On the red side, Charlee called out a time for Allison on her risotto, which Allison said she could match for her scallops. When they sent them to the pass, Knox called them beautiful, and Allison did a small dance in the confessionals. On the blue side, Joel sent his refired carbonara, which was accepted by Knox, who deemed it much better. Roy complimented Joel, telling the latter he was doing great. Joel later sent an order of risotto for approval, which Knox also accepted. Joel then admitted while he had some stumbles at the beginning, he felt he had an overall good service. He then called times for Doug, who was cooking scallops, and they got their next orders accepted as well. Charlee then gave timing for Denise, who was, cooking her flatbread, and later their order, too, was accepted.

35 minutes into dinner service, appetizers were flying quickly out of both kitchens, and Charlee complimented the speed the red team was going at on their appetizers. Both teams had then moved to entrees, as Kenny got the cart with his prime rib. Barry felt Kenny would be more of an asset out of the kitchen than in it, if only for him not having to yell at him. But Kenny couldn't find the right table for his order leading to Quincy having to help him find the table. Aaron was shocked that Kenny wasn't even in the kitchen, and he was still causing problems. Thankfully, these problems did not stop progress on the blue side, as Barry had his New York strip accepted and Doug found similar success on his sea bass. On the red side, Crystal asked Candice for a time on her garnish, but she didn't respond. Crystal asked again, but again Candice gave no answer. Crystal was getting frustrated with Candice, as the former felt the latter's communication skills were nonexistent. Later, Candice finally gave a time for Veronica, who was cooking her wellington. When they sent the food to the pass, Knox called the red team to the pass, as the wellington was raw and had terrible pastry, and the garnish was burnt. He warned the team to wake up. But on the next refire, while Candice's garnish was improved, Veronica's wellington once again, was raw. Knox gave a final warning to the red team to wake up.

1 hour and 15 minutes into service, and while the blue team was sending out entrees at a solid pace, the red team was stuck due to Veronica's mistakes and Candice's silence. The former then sent up a chicken order to the pass, and Knox started slamming his head on the pass. He then called the red team up, presenting that the chicken was completely raw, and he then told Veronica she could've killed someone. This mistake, along with undercooked garnish from Candice, gave Knox no choice but to kick out the red team, and he called Roy, Joel, Barry, and Aaron over to the blue kitchen to finish the red team's service. When the red team got upstairs they argued about who was to blame, with Charlee and Crystal getting angry at Candice for her lack of communication, while Bri and Allison got mad at Veronica for her mishaps on the meat station, including the raw chicken. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Roy called Aaron for a time on his salmon, which Aaron said would need 2 more minutes. When they sent the food to the pass, Knox called Aaron's salmon perfection, and Aaron fist-bumped the camera in the confessionals. The blue team stayed on a roll to end the service.

## Post Mortem:

When Knox lined up the teams after service, he praised the blue team for bouncing back during service, and berated the red team for falling apart on entrees. However, he praised Charlee's performance on the appetizers and named her Best of the Worst, giving her the power to name two nominees from her team.

In the dorms, Allison felt the decision for Charlee was simple, as Veronica and Candice had by far performed the worst for their team. Charlee agreed, as she was pissed at Candice for having no communication. Veronica knew her service wasn't great at all, but Candice had no communication at all that night, and she had burnt and undercooked her garnish multiple times. Stephanie knew the wall was about to be tumbling down, and that the team just needed to face the music if they were nominated.

## Elimination:

When the red team arrived downstairs, Knox asked the red team what happened as they fell off a cliff. Carmen believed there was a lack of communication that brought the team, and Charlee seconded this. Knox then asked the latter for her nominees. Charlee named Candice as her first nominee for her lack of communication on the garnish station, and Veronica as her second nominee for her lack of effort and control on the meat station. During their pleas, Veronica said she didn't deserve to leave, as while she had mistake on the meat, Candice had no voice in the kitchen and was dead when not in challenges. During her plea, Candice said she had a voice, and services like these didn't define her as a chef. After a long decision, Knox eliminated Veronica for her lack of effort and passion. During her exit interview, Veronica claimed Candice deserved to be out there instead of her, she then proceeded to threaten Charlee with blackmail, as it was her nominating of her that led to Veronica leaving.

After Veronica left, Knox warned Candice to get a grip fast. Charlee declared the right person went home that night, and if she had it her way, Candice would be next. Candice felt embarrassed with her performance, and knew another night like it would get her eliminated. Knox then dismissed the chefs. On the way to the dorms, Joel said he was feeling good about the blue team despite Kenny being a liability, and Noah said the fortune for the blue team was changing for the best.

Knox's Comment: "Veronica had very little passion. In fact, the most passion I saw from her was in her plea, which by that point, was much too late."