Episode 4: Southern Heart

Following Tyler's elimination Jamie confronted Jazz and Kimmie about their argument during that night's service making it clear that they should be better than that if they wanted to last in the fine dining world, whilst the two women called a truce for the moment Zara started to wonder if she was in over her head despite slipping under the radar in the first two services.

## Individual Challenge

The following morning the chefs were called down to the dining room which was full of country singers, Ramsey announced that the next challenge would see the chefs paired off against each other to reinvent classic Southern Cuisine dishes, Zara and Troy were both excited to have a chance to cook the cuisine of their respective states and Amy was eager to make use of her training, Zara and Troy received Shrimp and Grits, Jazz and Max got Southern Fried Chicken, Amy and Vince get Chicken Fried Steak, Carlos and Zoey got Mac and Cheese, Harper and Mike got gumbo, Jamie and Kenny got Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, Carson and Kayla got Po Boy, Steve and Kimmie got Nashville Hot Chicken and due to the number discrepancy Mike and Tyson teamed up to take on Kayla in the Jambalaya round.

Chef Ramsey was joined by fellow MasterChef judge Chef Aaron Sanchez for the challenge and both teams produced mixed results, Max and Jazz produced delicious dishes and both were awarded a point even though Jazz had steered off course and produced a Korean Fried Chicken Platter rather than stick within the brief, Amy used pre-made BBQ Sauce and undercooked the ribeye for her dish allowing Vince to pull ahead despite his Italian-Southern Fusion Dish of Chicken Fried Steak Saltimbocca being overseasoned, Carlos and Zoey both recieved praise for their loaded Mac and Cheese but Zoey's was judged to be better by the slimmest of margins. Harper and Mike meanwhile both missed the mark with their gumbos as they underseasoned and overseasoned their dishes respectively awarding none of them the point and Jamie and Kayla were able to pull back the women's load with their upscale takes on Sausage Gravy and Biscuits and and Po Boy Sandwhiches respectively, Steve easily won the hot chicken round when Kimmie produced chicken that was raw in the center tying the score.

It came down to the battle of the Shrimp and Grits that pitted Southerners Zara and Troy against each other, both received praise for their flavors but Troy's decision to put a Tex-Mex spin on the classic deviated from the brief too much allowing Zara to wow the judges with her creative fusion of Nashville Hot Sauce and Shrimp and Grits, winning the Red Team their first award of the season and getting her dish on the menu that night.

## Reward

The Red Team were awarded with a day of drag racing, at which point Steve decided to use his punishment pass, Amy quickly volunteered to stay behind, explaining that she didn't have a driver's license due to being a lifelong New Yorker and that she wouldn't feel comfortable behind the wheel. the red team had a fantastic time behind the wheel of their cars and eventually Zara won the day.

During a break in between races Zara admitted to Jamie that she was feeling nervous about having to teach a bunch of chefs one of her recipes, explaining that whilst she has done cooking tutorials on her channel, it was usually just her and her cameraman/boyfriend, Jamie encouraged the younger chef by telling her to treat it like it was one of those YouTube videos and like the chefs weren't even there which Zara appreciated.

## Punishment

The men were tasked with cleaning up the dining room and prepping the kitchen for that night's service, Vince was especially annoyed at this, at one point suggesting to the men that they'd leave the cleaning to Amy since she was a woman and an outsider though this was shot down by not just the other Blue Team members but Chef Jason as well.

During prep Vince made an off color remark about the women within earshot of Amy and the two nearly came to blows, only being separated by Max and Carson, once she calmed down Amy asked the Blue Team how they put up with that dickbag (as she called Vince), something that not even the older members of the Blue Team had an answer for.

## Before Service

Zara demonstrated how to make her challenge winning Shrimp and Grits dish to the other chefs and despite some initial nerves she managed to get through it without issue, after that Chef Ramsey called both teams in for a meeting and announced that they would be serving two VIPs at the chefs tables for the first time this season: the Red Team would be serving several members of Megadeth (something that excited Jazz who admitted to being a huge fan of the band) whilst the Blue Team would be serving James and Kirk from Metallica that evening which excited the men equally.

Zara sheepishly admitted on a confession cam that she wasn't very knowledgeable about rock, being more of a pop music fan and stated that she knew several Metallica songs before remembering that they were in the Blue Team's kitchen and asking for someone to look up Megadeth songs for her.

## Dinner Service

 **Appetizers** | Kayla and Amy
 **Meat** | Kimmie and Kenny
 **Fish** | Jazz and Jamie
 **Garnish** | Zara
 Dessert

Alongside service the teams would be serving a tableside dish of shrimp and scampi, being served by Zoey of the Red Team and Steve from the Blue Team, both teams got off to a slow start on appetizers thanks to their garnish stations as Zara sent up the wrong garnish twice before getting it right the third time and Kenny sent up garnish that was either raw or burnt, despite these setbacks Amy and Troy were able to rally their respective teams to getting past appetizers with orders for Zara's shrimp and grits dish flying out the kitchen, something that gave Zara some well earned pride.

Things fell apart for the Red team during the entres section though as Kimmie failed to serve up any acceptable meat orders and Zara was lost on garnish at several points, something that angered and frustrated Jazz who felt tempted to throw them out of the kitchen herself, it came to ahead when Megadeth gave their entre orders and Kimmie sent up raw chicken and pork, Zara meanwhile had sent up garnish for both Jazz's salmon (the only perfectly cooked piece of food on the order) and Kimmie's meat that was cooked to fuck! Chef Ramsey had enough at that point and, despite a visibly upset Zara begging for another chance, booted both women to the dorms before moving Jamie and Amy to their respective stations.

Up in the dorms Zara and Kimmie agreed that they were likely going to go up for elimination after their nights on meat and garnish, Kimmie pointed out that since Zara had never worked on the line before she couldn't have known what to expect but Zara countered that this was her first bad night and that she thought she adapting to the challenge up to that point.

Back in the kitchen both teams managed to successfully complete service without further issues.

## Post-mortem

Gordon wasted little time in declaring the women the losers of the challenge pointing out that Zara (who was trying to hold back tears at this point) had gotten kicked out on a night where her dish was on the menu as the reason.

When Ramsey told the Red Team to get tissues for "the crybaby" Zara interrupted him to declare that she wasn't a crybaby, much to the shock of both teams (and with Jamie trying to stop the young chef from digging herself a deeper hole), when Ramsey asked Zara what she had just said she repeated that she wasn't a crybaby and was frustrated over her performance at which point Ramsey reminded her that he had to throw out hundreds of dollars worth of food because of her mistakes on garnish and then flatly telling the Red Team that Zara had just volunteered herself for nomination after warning her about interrupting him again.

## Elimination

The Red Team wasted little time in declaring Zara and Kimmie as their nominees, something Zara admitted that she had seen coming, Jamie called her out on talking back to Chef Ramsey in particular and Zara responded that she felt like she needed to say something, when asked by Jazz if she really counted as a chef Zara showed her true colors, admitting that she made no money from the pop-up restaurants and that that they were all in the name of charity. Whilst Jazz conceded that this made Zara a decent person she questioned if Zara could operate in a real restaurant environment pointing out how much experience the rest of the team had (making Jamie feel her age in the process) and Zara said that she was here to learn, something Jazz questioned as to whether Gordon would have the patience for.

Come elimination Gordon asked the Red Team if they had peaked which they declined before Amy named Zara and Kimmie as their nominees, Zara apologized to Ramsey for her conduct in the debriefing before giving an impassioned speech as to why she should stay in the competition, something that impressed both the Blue and Red Team and Vince especially, before pointing out that despite her inexperience, this was Zara's first bad night and Kimmie's third in a row, Kimmie defended herself as best she could but Gordon ultimately eliminated Kimmie feeling that she was on a downward spiral that she couldn't recover from, before dismissing the teams Gordon warned Zara that she was on thin ice and the next time she's up for elimination Gordon might not be so generous, he then called Kenny down from the Blue Team and announced that he was on a similar trajectory to Kimmie, however he ultimately spared Kenny, instead moving him to the Red Team in the hopes that he would find his voice.

Kimmie's elimination comment: *“I’m definitely disappointed to be leaving this early! I busted my ass every day and it still wasn’t good enough! Jazz is a toxic influence on the Red Team and I hope she goes home next.”*

Ramsey’s Elimination Comment: *“Kimmie thought that competing on Hell’s Kitchen would be a dream come true, unfortunately for her, I live in reality.”*