Episode 8: Birthday Blowout

Following Lisa's elimination the chefs retired for the night though the next morning Chelsea was awake ahead of the following chefs, she made sure to not wake up anyone else as she made her way out to the main room of the dorms and sat down at a table with a notable gleam in her eye.

She was soon joined by her former Red Team Teammates Ava and Cora and Chelsea asked them if they'd consider letting the Blue Team win the impending challenge and service, the two older women scoffed, with Cora outright asking Chelsea why she would even consider that after Cora had rocked the meat station during the previous service, at which point Chelsea dropped the Bombshell:

Today was Chelsea's 21st birthday.

Once Cora and Ava realized that she wasn't kidding they excitedly congratulated Chelsea on her birthday as did Ashley and Xander when they overheard the celebrations, soon the rest of the remaining chefs were wishing Chelsea happy birthday setting off the eighth episode in a positive tone.

## Individual Challenge

Once the celebrations calmed down the chefs went downstairs for that morning's challenge, Ramsey greeted them and announced that they would be hosting a prom night in Hell's Kitchen before asking if any of the chefs had memories related to prom night, Chelsea awkwardly admitted in a confession cam that no one had invited her to prom and that her prom night also happened to fall on her birthday but aside from that the chefs shook their heads.

They were tasked with cooking a beef entree, a chicken entree, a fish entree, a vegetarian entree and a hot app and given sixty minutes to do so, the only restriction was that none of the dishes could contain alcohol in any form, Chelsea's plan to do a slider trio hit a snag when her attempt to work around the no alcohol restriction by way of a beer batter for her onion rings was caught by Chef Jason (who had just heard about her birthday from Chelsea's teammates) and earned a stern warning (though Jason still wished Chelsea a happy birthday afterwards, this proved to be an easy fix for Chelsea as she instead did a tempura batter for her onion rings and the rest of the chefs were able too complete the cooking part of the challenge without issue.

Judging the dishes alongside Ramsey would be the prom king and queen Chad and Gabrielle and the chefs brought their a-game for the most part, Ashley's savory take on a Tiramisu wowed the judges and earned her an easy point over Sophie (who had made the same mistake as Chelsea but didn't get caught) whilst Stephan and Miles' chicken dish easily trounced Tai's creation, Xander's fish entree won the blue team back a point when his salmon was perfectly looked whilst McKenna's halibut was overcooked whilst Ava's vegetarian dish trounced Devon and Dylan's efforts, the final round came down to Cora and Chelsea's beef entrees and Cora took the time to tell Ramsey and the judges about Chelsea's birthday at which point Gabrielle assured them that she wouldn't give the Blue Team the point just because it was Chelsea's birthday.

Chelsea's slider trio proved to be a massive hit with the judges and when Cora's beef tartare was found to be bland and her wasabi mayo lacking in actual wasabi flavor the Blue Team won the challenge.

## Reward

The Blue Team were rewarded with a trip to a ranch valley resort complete with a meal, Chelsea was glad to get such an award on her birthday and enjoyed it with her teammates.

## Punishment

The Red Team's punishment came in two parts, first they had to prepare the dining room for prom night and then they had to prepare a birthday cake for Chelsea whilst prepping the kitchens, Cora took charge of the cake, explaining that she was usually called upon to bake such cakes for her niece and nephew, allowing the rest of the team to focus on getting the prep work done.

The cake indeed turned out to be delicious and Cora was instructed to keep it hidden from view until the time came.

## Before Service

Once the Blue Team returned Ramsey called out Chelsea, telling her that she couldn't take it easy just because she had turned twenty one today which Chelsea had anticipated.

## Dinner Service

 **Meat** | Sophie and Ava
 **Fish** | Miles
 **Garnish** | Stephan
 Dessert

Both teams got off to a strong start with Cora continuing her comeback streak with McKenna on apps and Dylan and Devon doing good as well, Chelsea proved to be a rockstar in the blue kitchen rocking the fish and dessert stations solo but the Red Team's meat and dessert stations were a disaster with Sophia and Ava making multiple mistakes and getting kicked out, Ava for serving a version of Chelsea's slider trio that were completely raw and Sophie for being completely lost on desserts, both teams managed to finish service though.

## Post-mortem

Before Ramsey announced the losers he had Cora present Chelsea with her birthday cake before the chefs sung her Happy Birthday, Chelsea admitted in the confession cam to being embarrassed and that some chefs were definitely worse singers than others but appreciated the sentiment all the same.

The Red Team were declared the losers for the second service in a row and told to come up with two nominees, a choice that proved to be easy thanks to Sophie and Ava's mistakes.

## Elimination

Miles named Sophie and Ava as the Red Team's nominees and they were called forward, Sophie claimed that she hadn't peaked in the competition despite the evidence suggesting otherwise and Ava insisted that tonight was a one off.

Ramsey then eliminated Sophie for her declining performances before announcing another team switch, Cora and Xander were swapping teams as Ramsey felt that the Red Team needed a strong leader and Cora could blossom even more while surrounded by strong chefs.

Sophie's elimination statement: *"It's tough to get eliminated on any day but to get kicked out on the birthday of one of the sweetest girls in the competition? I know I fucked up tonight but I bet Chelsea was hoping that no one would be eliminated,! Chelsea? Have a killer birthday girl, and hopefully your twenty second birthday will be a lot less chaotic!"*

Ramsey's elimination statement: *"As Chelsea blows out the candles on her birthday cake tonight, she had better wish that Sophie finds her cooking talent!"*