(Personas) Episode 3 - 16 Chefs Compete

The third episode of the Hell's Kitchen: Personas was published on June 22, 2020. On that episode, Ramsay gave the chefs an exercise in communication, the team switch proves somewhat successful, and a chef finally shows how weak he is on the line.

## Intro

While being dismissed, Eddie warns Lukas that he has one more chance, and that he better prove himself quickly, and says so in a rather aggressive manner. Lukas compares Eddie to a bully and admits that he fucked up that night, but states that Eddie was being way too over the top with how he was treating him. Meanwhile, Josiah charmingly welcomes Halle into the Blue Team, and Chas demands that she find a way to get Eddie under control.

## Team Challenge

The next day, the chefs go downstairs to find the lights dimmed, like at elimination, much to Lilly’s confusion. Then, Ramsay says that the errors from the previous night were all because of poor communication from both teams. After a difficult decision, he orders Ali and Lukas to step forward, and tells them that he could not work with chefs that would not work with their team. After, Ramsay tells them to take off their jackets, much to Eddie's relief, thinking that the latter would be eliminated next. However, instead of being eliminated, they receive new jackets for the next challenge, and Sous Chefs Christina and Jay give the other chefs new jackets. Ramsay explains that for the Jacket Challenge, each chef has one recipe on the back of their jacket, but the only way they can properly cook them was that one of their teammates would read it to them.

Both teams have 45 minutes to cook their dishes. Halle deciphers Eddie's dish to be a frittata, and Eddie deciphers Halle's as a Shepherd's Pie. Karie deciphers Chantelle's as Spaghetti and Meatballs, which frustrates the latter as she wanted to do something more complicated. Robin told Chas that he’s making spring rolls, Lukas told Louis that he was making lettuce wraps, and Chas told Robin that he was making an empanada. Tia told Christa that she was making a burger, and Lilly and Ali were making Shepherd's Pie and empanadas respectively. Chas notes that Eddie seems a lot less angry, and was even helping Halle, and says maybe he needs a female in his life. Eventually, everybody got their dishes cooked and plated in time.

Ramsay explained that because he gave both teams the same ingredients, he felt that it only made sense that each chef would go head to head on the same dishes. In the first round, Sonny and Nella presented their enchiladas. Sonny won the point. In the second round, Eddie and Karie presented their frittatas, and they both received a point. On the next round, Halle and Lilly present their Shepherd's Pie, and while both impress, Halle scores the point. Lukas and Christa present their burgers, but Lukas' burger is undercooked, so Christa wins the point. Chas and Scarlet present their Spring Rolls, but neither score, as Chas has lost some spring rolls, and Scarlet went against the recipe. Tia and Louis present their spring wraps, but Louis' is slightly broken, so Tia wins the round. Chantelle and Josiah present their spaghetti meatballs, and while both impress immensely, Chantelle wins the round. Robin and Ali present their empanadas, and Ali's has little filling, so Robin wins the round. The scores are tied, and Ramsay let it come down to the best dish overall, and gave it to Chantelle, winning it for the Red Team.

## Reward

The women are rewarded with a trip to the Venice Beach boardwalk, receiving a zip line experience, and eating lunch on top of the Erwin Hotel. While most of the women enjoy their zip line ride, Nella remembers her experience on the first reward, but is coached by Karie to go with it anyway. After, Marino makes his presence known on top of the Erwin greeted the women, and serves them lunches while describing them. Chantelle compares themselves to royalty as a lot of the ingredients were expensive, and Ali says that she did not feel like a loser. For dessert, Marino gives them a dish that Co-Owner of Fonuts Waylynn Lucas made for them.

## Punishment

The blue team are punished by taking in a delivery of 100 pounds of sea bass, and prepping it for the following service. Back in the dorms, Eddie is pissed at Lukas for serving a raw burger to Chef Ramsay, and Chas remarks that Eddie always seems to target Lukas, even though Chas and Louis were also responsible for the challenge's loss, yet they were getting no heat.

During the punishment, Robin complains about how terrible cleaning out the sea bass was, but Josiah doesn't mind it, saying he was appreciating the roots of his kitchen. Later, **Sous Chef Jay** announces that it’s lunchtime, and introduces a fish head soup for them to eat. While most of the men struggle to keep their lunch down, with Louis commenting that it sucked, Halle’s eating it quite quickly, though she admitted that it was horrible. As the blue team continue their punishment by zesting lemons, Louis notes that Eddie is behaving himself, and wonders if Halle was making him nervous, and Chas jokingly remarks that Josiah had "already filled that spot".

## Before Service

The women return from their reward, and are very loud, causing Eddie to flip them off as they go back into the dorms. Chas tells the Blue Team not to look them in the eye, and Christa teases Halle for switching to a team that loses. Halle gathers the Blue Team and explains why the Red Team was winning. She mentions how if someone flopped on a station, they'd jump to each other's aid.

After prep, Chef Ramsay lines the teams up, and asks how Halle felt about the new team. Halle says that she understands the flaws in the team and is ready to fix them. Chef Ramsay then tells Marino to open Hell's Kitchen.

## Dinner Service

### Stations

A dish of tempura prawns will be served tableside by Eddie and Chas for the Blue Team, and Karie and Chantelle for the Red Team. In the Blue Team, Ramsay asks how long for the risotto and scallops, and Josiah answers one minute. Ramsay doesn’t believe them, but then Josiah and Halle send up their components. To Ramsay’s surprise, the scallops are perfectly cooked, and the risotto is delicious. Ramsay claims that the customers are going to freak out, and thanks them for the huge start. Meanwhile, on the Red Side, Christa attempts to take control of the appetisers station. However, she does so in a way that pushes Lilly away and seems attention-grabbing. In response, Lilly attempts to shout over Christa, and the two get into an argument over who should be doing what, where Lilly calls Christa an attention-whore. Ramsay calls out another ticket, but the two both shout over him. Ramsay orders Christa to read out the ticket, but the latter struggles to do so, so Lilly snatches the ticket and reads it out fluently. Ramsay reminds them that they’re doing more arguing than cooking, and that this is slowing the kitchen down. Tia remarks on the communication problems and hopes that they can recover from this.

Thanks to Halle, Josiah and Louis’ impressive teamwork, the appetisers were finished in record time, and they then moved onto entrees. Halle asks Lukas how long for the garnish, but he seems stuck in his head. She asks again, and he then responds two minutes. Despite this not working for Halle, she manages to send up perfectly cooked fish, and the garnish is accepted. Sonny and Robin send their meat up, and it’s also accepted. Ramsay thanks the Blue Team for getting off to a good start, which Chas overhears, and mutters “don’t jinx it”. Meanwhile, in the Red Kitchen, Scarlet takes a long time to cook the scallops. She sends them up, but they’re way overcooked. Ramsay then points out how her pan isn’t nearly hot enough, and reminds her that it has to be screaming hot. Scarlet turns the flame up, and her station erupts in flame. Ramsay tells her to stand back, before putting the fire out with a cloth. Out in the dining room, Chas seems to be the life of the party, as he charms the diners with his witty sense of humour and natural charisma. Suddenly, he keels over, and then collapses, letting out a silent scream of agony. With the cart unattended, a fire erupts from the stove-top, and Eddie runs over to put it out. Chas manages to get up, and claims that he’s okay. The medics come over, but Chas tells them to piss off. He later struggles to put the tempura together, but the customers don’t seem to mind. Meanwhile, in the Red Kitchen, Ali recalls how everyone mentioned her poor communication in the challenge, and how she needed to work on it. She is shown to have improved her communication to the point where she can walk her garnish up at the same time as meat. Ramsay notices this and reiterates to Ali that that’s what teamwork looks like, and to keep that going. Tia claims that she’s happy Ali is starting to show her value to the team, but wonders if it might be too little too late.

In the Blue Kitchen, Sonny and Halle send their components up after Lukas does. However, Ramsay brings back the meat *and* the garnish. He notes how the garnish is underseasoned, and that the steak is undercooked. He asks the pair of them to refire, and they do so. While Lukas’ garnish is now accepted, Sonny’s meat comes up raw again. Ramsay asks what happened to Sonny as he had started to switch off. Sonny claims he’ll get his rhythm going again, but when Halle asks him for a time, he doesn’t respond, and Robin has to cover for him. Sonny then asks Robin if the steak is cooked right this time. Robin replies that it is, so Sonny brings it up. Ramsay finally accepts the steak, and tells Sonny that he’s on his last legs, and he should stop relying on Robin. Meanwhile, in the Red Kitchen, Ali asks Scarlet how long for the salmon, but Scarlet doesn’t respond. Scarlet says that she’s intending to use Ali as a meat shield in case of losing the service, so is going to bring her fish up early to try and make her look bad. She sends her fish up, and Ramsay asks where the garnish is. Ali says that Scarlet never told her that she was walking, and Scarlet attempts to claim that she had. However, Ali reveals that her garnish was already ready, and that Scarlet was stalling her. Tia then backs Ali up by calling Scarlet out for not saying anything. In response, Ramsay asks Lilly to watch over Scarlet, stating that a chef who tells lies is worse than a chef that can’t cook. Lilly starts to cook the fish for Scarlet, and it’s eventually accepted.

In the Blue Kitchen, Robin has completely taken over the meat station. Ramsay notices this and asks if Sonny has any faith in himself. Sonny replies that he does, and says in a confessional that he was already in the weeds, so chose not to put himself any further in. Robin and Halle send their components up, but Lukas sends his garnish up late. Ramsay also brings it back because it’s burnt, and brings up how every time he sends him something good, it’s followed by something shit. Eddie, who’s done with tableside, makes a comment about how Lukas seems to always be the one struggling. It’s now a race to the finish as Lilly’s performance on fish has complemented Tia and Nella’s performances on meat, and were now moving faster than the Blue Team. Robin claims that Sonny’s struggles on meat had slowed them down, and that they were fucked. Eventually, the Red Kitchen got their final ticket out before the Blue Team’s.

## Post-Mortem

Chef Ramsay lines up the teams and compares the two teams. He notes how the Blue Team started strong, noting how Josiah, Halle and Louis could be their own small team, and then how the performance dwindled once entrees came to pass. He says that he looked at Sonny, and saw someone with no faith in himself. He then moves on to the Red Team, and notes their weak start, mentioning Lilly and Christa doing more arguing than cooking, and making fun of Scarlet for her high talk but terrible performance. He then says that Ali stood out as she had a good performance for once. He then names the Blue Team the losers, but as they were heading out, tells Halle not to be discouraged. Tia is really shocked by this, as she felt that her team should’ve lost due to the dysfunction.

During deliberation, Robin points out how Sonny all of a sudden was the worst performer of the evening. Sonny accepts that he would be nominated, but Eddie has other things to say. He notes Lukas' poor performance on garnish, but Lukas argued that he didn't sink the kitchen. Robin then asks what happened with Chas out in the dining room. Chas says he just felt a bit of pain and moved on, but Eddie doesn't buy it, and says that he ruined the mood out in the dining room. Chas holds his ground, not letting a word seep out, saying that they can nominate him if they want, and that Chef Ramsay will see through their bullshit.

## Elimination

Halle announces Lukas as the first nominee, and Chas as the second. Ramsay is disappointed by that decision, and asks why they nominated him. Chas explains that he has a genetic disorder that causes toxic proteins to build up in his blood, and such an episode caused a minor scene in the dining room. Disappointed, Ramsay calls Lukas forward, but calls Sonny forward instead of Chas. During their pleas, Sonny says that he had been performing well thus far, and was overall an asset to the team, and Lukas says that he had improved since his last service, and would continue to fight back. Ramsay then calls Lukas' name, but tells him to fight back, before eliminating Sonny for his poor performance on meat and failing to fight back. During his exit interview, Sonny expresses how disappointed in himself he is and comments on how Hell’s Kitchen is stricter on the stronger performers.

After Sonny's elimination, Chef Ramsay praises Halle for her leadership and hopes to see victory in the coming few services. While being dismissed, Halle says it was a shame to see Sonny go so early as he seemed like a decent guy, but acknowledges that the team has to move forward, Chas says that his porphyria wasn't affecting his performances, so wondered why bother telling it, Josiah mentions that he saw a bright future for the Blue Team, and Lilly expresses worry about the Blue Team starting to fight back.

Ramsay's comment: *Sonny took the easy route of tableside the last two services, but his performance on meat showed me just why he hid so much.*