(Personas) Episode 2 - 17 Chefs Compete

The second episode of Hell's Kitchen: Personas was published on May 16, 2020. On that episode, the chefs go back to basics with cooking eggs, both teams complete service successfully, and Chef Ramsay sends home a chef that lacked finesse.

## Intro

While going back to the dorms, Eddie storms ahead, not saying a word to anybody, clearly pissed off. Sonny follows after him and tells Eddie that he needed to show some tenacity and prove to the team why he's here, and Eddie notes that being nominated was a wake-up call and that he needs to prove himself. Meanwhile, Josiah hosts a meeting with Louis, Chas, Robin, Lukas and Norm, where they go over the menu items, with Chas noting that people were screwing up because of not knowing the menu properly. Eddie soon joins them, and Lilly finds it hilarious that they're still studying when the Red Team were ready.

## Team Challenge

The next morning, at 4:32 am, the chefs are asleep in their beds, when a group of Japanese taiko drummers sneak into the dorms and wake everybody up. Sous Chef Jay appears and tells everyone to head downstairs to meet Ramsay, who says that the opening service was memorable for all the wrong reasons. He then introduces the Egg Relay Challenge, in which the chefs would form pairs to cook four egg dishes, which were poached, soft-boiled, sunny side up, and scrambled. Being the strongest performer from the previous night, Chantelle is asked to sit out, so goes upstairs. Eddie claims he's ready, as he's determined to redeem himself from the previous night, and Lilly claims she's confident, as this is a simple task.

### Teams

When the 5 minute countdown started, Eddie tries again and again to convince Norm to let him do all of it, and saying that Norm was their weakest link, and that his team needs a win. Louis and Sonny are moving smoothly, working out what was best for them. Meanwhile, on the Red Side, Nella and Tia are in a bit of a fight, and Lilly is distracted, saying this kind of conflict could botch the challenge for them. Meanwhile, Scarlet continually tries to take over for Ali, but Ali remains tenacious, not letting Scarlet ruin her chances. Eventually, everybody gets their eggs cooked and plated in time.

On the first round, Eddie and Norm score all but their sunny-side-up, and Scarlet and Ali only score their scrambled, which Ali had cooked, leaving the score at 3-1 for the men. Josiah and Lukas score the sunny-side up and soft-boiled, which were the ones that Josiah cooked, and Lilly and Halle score the poached and scrambled, with one cooking each, leaving the score at 5-3 for the men. Nella and Tia have all of theirs accepted, which surprised Lilly, and Robin and Chas have all but the poached egg accepted, leaving the score at 8-7 for the men. Karie and Christa score all but the soft-boiled accepted, while Louis and Sonny got all of theirs accepted, winning it for the men 12-10.

## Reward

The men are rewarded with a helicopter trip to Geoffrey’s in Malibu for a seafood lunch, with Ramsay deciding to join them. Chas expresses concern as he had never gone on a helicopter before, and thought it might damage him. During the reward, the men enjoy their helicopter ride, with Robin claiming that he saw Cher's house, and Lukas claiming that he was about to shit his pants. At lunch, Chef Ramsay urged the men to take in the view. Eddie is amazed over the white beach and calls it the best reward they could've gotten. Louis remarks that it was his dream to have lunch with Chef Ramsay for ages, and compares it to a movie moment. Then, Ramsay tells them to bring their focus to service.

## Punishment

The women are punished by prepping squid for a calamari dish in that night’s service. Chantelle is given the option of sitting out of the punishment as well, but she refuses, as she feels bad for her team. She expresses disappointment that she had to sit out as she felt she could've helped a lot more in the kitchen than out of it. Christa tells Ali to up her game, while Ali retorts, stating that Scarlet was too busy trying to take over her job than get her stuff done. Scarlet and Ali argue over whose fault it was, and Tia steps in, saying that she and Nella were the victims in this situation, but were behaving more professionally than them. Lilly comments on how Scarlet was behaving like the victim when she was doing fuck all for the team.

## Before Service

When the men came back, Eddie seems to stay quiet, and Josiah commented how a victory seemed to lighten Eddie up. The women are exhausted from preparing the squid, so join them in the dorms. Halle confides in Josiah that she'd rather be on the men's team, as there were a lot of egos going around but Josiah warns her of the biggest ego on the Blue Team, referring to Eddie.

At prep, Karie was struggling with setting up her station, and Nella says she wanted to help, but felt Karie was pushing her aside. Tia, being done with the fish station, goes over to help Karie. On the Blue Side, Eddie and Robin get into an argument, with Robin losing his temper and walking outside for a bit. Chas follows after him and tells him that he needs to hold it together, and work with Eddie, even if he doesn't like him.

After prep, Chef Ramsay lines the teams up, and told them that tonight was their comeback night, and expected both teams to finish service, even if he had to kick people out. The first team to finish their tickets tonight would win the service. After everyone sets up their stations, Ramsay told Marino to open Hell's Kitchen.

## Dinner Service

### Stations

A special of chicken enchiladas will be served by Sonny and Louis for the Blue Team, and Christa and Ali for the Red Team. Robin tries to take charge of the appetiser station, but Eddie keeps trying to butt in and cook it for him. Robin sends a lobster spaghetti up to the pass, but Ramsay brings it back, calling it gluey mush. Eddie lays into Robin about this, and the two continue to bicker. Josiah tells them from the other side of the kitchen to stop fighting, and they send their spaghetti up a second time. Ramsay brings it back again, saying that there was missing sauce and lobster. They quickly fix this and have their second attempt accepted. Meanwhile, in the dining room, Ali clearly struggles as she keeps going to the wrong table, with Marino having to step in and help her. She serves raw chicken on the enchiladas to one table, overseasons the sauce on another, and Christa feels frustrated and believes she should be doing tableside on her own. A fire erupts from the dining room, and Ramsay tells her not to burn the place down. Christa comes over to help her, and they eventually get acceptable enchiladas to the diners. Ramsay tells the Red Team that they need to push out appetisers at a faster rate in order to make up for the damage caused by tableside. Ramsay then calls Christa and Ali over and tells them to wake up.

In the Blue Kitchen, Josiah ends up swamped with scallop orders. Chas asks him if he needs any help, but Josiah says he's got it under control. He sends 6 orders of scallops up to the pass, and they're all accepted. Ramsay states that the customers are going to freak, and commends Josiah for his effort, but Josiah just says he was determined not to lose again, and he'd be damned if he was responsible for it. Chas notes how Josiah is killing it on the fish station, and that he's oozing with raw talent. In the Red Kitchen, Karie and Nella are struggling to send their appetisers out. Karie states that Ali had fucked them over, and that they were having to rush in order to get the appetisers out. Ramsay brings back a slew of appetisers. The risotto is loose, the spaghetti is crunchy and missing components, and Ramsay is bewildered that they screwed up tuna tartare. Karie apologises, and the two quickly fix their appetisers. Ramsay accepts this and sends them out. Meanwhile, in the Blue Kitchen, they have now moved on to entrees. Josiah continues his perfect fish streak, and is working well with Chas. Chas suddenly stops cooking, and leans against the counter. He breathes heavily, and Ramsay asks if he's okay. Chas doesn't respond, and Robin rushes to his aid. However, Chas just raises his hand to tell Robin to stop. Ramsay calls for the medic, but Chas refuses, and gets back to work, saying that he has a job to do. He sends his garnish, while Josiah sends his salmon. Both are accepted, and Ramsay compliments Josiah and Chas for getting the kitchen off to a great start.

In the Red Kitchen, Tia tells Scarlet that the salmon she's cooking has burnt skin, and that the scallops are overcooked. Scarlet doesn't listen to her, and brings them to the pass anyway, while Halle sends her meat up. Ramsay calls both Scarlet and Tia, and asks who cooked all the salmon and the scallops. Scarlet doesn't answer, so Ramsay asks how much she's wasted. Scarlet doesn't answer, and Tia answers 5 orders worth of each. Ramsay tells them to piss off, and Tia is pissed that Scarlet wasn't taking responsibility. Ramsay reminds them that because of Ali's fuck ups in the dining room, they needed to push it out big time. He then points out that Halle's meat was beautifully cooked. Halle offers to switch places with Scarlet, but Ramsay refuses, as he needs Halle on the meat station. Meanwhile, in the Blue Kitchen, Chas asks Lukas and Norm how long for the New York Strip. They yell that it's ready at that moment, and bring it up to the pass. Ramsay brings it back, and says that it's so raw it's still moving. They refire, and this time, Norm uses a meat thermometer to make sure it's cooked correctly. Ramsay yells at Norm, telling him to use his fingers, because that way he has more control. Lukas deems this as Norm lacking confidence, so takes over the meat station. He sends his steak to the pass, but it's still undercooked. Ramsay asks who's responsible, and after being a deer in headlights for a time, Lukas admits to his mistake. They go back to their station, and Norm tries to take over the station, leading to him and Lukas getting into an argument over control of the station. They then burn the steak. Ramsay tells them to get a grip. Meanwhile, in the Red Kitchen, Scarlet and Tia get into an argument over who should run the station, and they end up sending up raw salmon. Ramsay has enough of their nonsense, and comments that they cook as if they hate each other. He kicks the pair out, much to Tia's anger. He then accepts Halle switching to the fish station, and Lilly says she hopes she can cover for the meat station. Halle and Lilly send their components up, and Ramsay accepts them, and the two women high five on their way back.

Norm and Lukas keep sending up burnt meat, overcooked meat and raw meat galore, and Ramsay finally has enough, and kicks the pair of them out. Josiah is relieved, as now they can pick up the pace. Ramsay calls Louis into the kitchen and puts him on meat, and the three of them rally to complete service. They send out a six-top, and Ramsay thanks them for sending out good food for once. The two teams race to the finish line, with Halle emerging as a strong leader, and the trio of Chas, Josiah and Louis carrying the Blue Kitchen to the end. In the end, the Red Team beats the Blue Team by one table. The remaining Blue Team is overtly dismayed, with Chas even collapsing on his knees from disappointment.

## Post-Mortem

Chef Ramsay congratulates the Red Team on finishing all their tickets, and praises the Blue Team for rallying after the major mishaps on meat. He notes Chas' strong effort despite how much pain he was clearly in, and proving just how committed he was to the competition. He then calls Scarlet and Ali very lucky for being on the winning side. Chef Ramsay asks the Blue Team for two nominees, then tells them to piss off.

During deliberation, Eddie calls it "not a hard decision", and the Blue Team sits around while not discussing anything. Lukas asks why everyone's so quiet, and Chas remarks that they've made up their minds already. Meanwhile, the girls toast to another victory. Chantelle mentions that there will likely be a team switch, and how it would be an awesome opportunity, with Halle being really hopeful.

## Elimination

Josiah names Norm as the first nominee, and Lukas as the second, both for the same reasons. Ramsay calls the two down, remarking Lukas' poor performance after the opening night. Ramsay asks what happened, and Lukas proposes that he and Norm's egos were clashing. During their pleas, Lukas says that tonight's performance was just a fluke, and that he would improve from that moment forward, and Norm says that he's a strong team player, and that he thinks Eddie or Robin should've been nominated. Ramsay reminds Norm that Eddie and Robin were able to bounce back from their rough start. Ramsay then eliminated Norm for his poor performance on meat and getting worse. During his exit interview, Norm felt he shouldn't have gone home as he was far more an asset to the team than the hot-headed individuals, and felt Eddie would be joining him soon.

After Norm left, Chef Ramsay says that because the Blue Team were down two members, a member of the Red Team would have to join them. Robin objects the idea, but Chas tells him to keep his mouth shut. Chef Ramsay then called Halle forward and told her to take off her jacket, before handing her a Blue Jacket. He instructed Halle to bring the Blue Team together, and if she were to rise as a leader, now would be the perfect opportunity. He once again congratulated both teams on their solid performances, and wished the Blue Team luck. Upon being dismissed, Lukas felt relieved to have survived the chopping block, and knew he needed to step up his game, Eddie was glad that Norm left as he was definitely the weakest link, and Halle was excited to have moved to the Blue Team.

Ramsay's comment: *"I told Norm to get better, and he got worse, so I got him a ticket back home."*