In Hell’s Kitchen 5 Episode 6, the previously largely invisible Coi (aside from her occasional flipping out at Lacey) was eliminated.
Carol is surprised she wasn’t put on the block. She should have been.
Today’s challenge is tapas style cooking. First, they’ll need to even the teams. The chef fakes out Lacey, who has performed well since leaving the women (who have not performed well since she left). They’re relieved, as is she. Giovanni, however, will be moving over to the ladies. Good luck.
The teams will have 20 minutes to create their dishes. Lacey doesn’t think she’ll go very much further if she can’t even come up with a dish, which she can’t.
Paula: pepper steak and eggs
Danny: filet mignon with mushroom ragu
Both get a point.
Lacey: mushroom bruschetta (Ben’s suggestion) on top of uncooked sauteed leeks
LA: asparagus and ginger soup – looks and tastes like it came out of the bottom of a dishwasher
Neither get a point.
Carol: ginger seared tuna with fried leeks glazed with a ginger soy reduction (bad news… there wasn’t actually any soy sauce in the kitchen, so what she actually used was balsamic)
Robert: pasta with butternut squash – good flavor, albeit too large
Point for Robert.
Andrea: lobster and asparagus ravioli – boring looking but delivers in taste
J: lobster with fennel and leek broth – too simple
Point for Andrea to tie at 2.
Giovanni: surf and turf style tapa
Ben: grilled tuna and asparagus
Both are called extraordinary, but thanks to their new chef Giovanni, red team has won.
Punishment for the blue team is a double prep with service that night. Red team, meanwhile, will go to Hollywood Park horse racing.
Giovanni wants his new team to stop bickering. If they don’t, they’ll lose again.
Lacey’s not overly interested in the punishment. Time to slack off and whine. She and Robert hate each other (still), so she says she’s leaving if anybody fights with her. Ben has to babysit her. J is okay if she just leaves. She says she quits and walks out. Robert wants her to go be a chef in a psycho ward so she can get some free therapy. Ben goes to talk to her. Again. Telling her they need her. Again. She’s not buying what he’s selling, but she agrees to go back inside.
With a positive attitude following his challenge win, Giovanni hopes he will rub off on the rest of his team. Not likely.
Chef Ramsay tastes the women’s rice, which is overcooked and mushy. J cooked it during their punishment. That means the blue team’s rice is messed up, too.
Half an hour later, appetizers are leaving the kitchen. Then they’re being brought back since they’re undercooked. Andrea and Carol hate each other again. Before going back to service, they’re forced to eat the uncooked pasta.
J’s messing up again, with cold/burned fish.
LA’s sleeping or something, so Ramsay calls her a cow.
Ramsay has finally had enough of J. He’ll be leaving the kitchen now. Not just that, he’s off the show. That was… sudden.
Giovanni seems to actually be making progress on pulling the red team together, even if they still hate each other’s guts.
Ben is struggling to cook the wellingtons, so Ramsay tells him he’s next. He’s watching him because he wants him out. Paula, however, is told that hers are perfectly cooked.
After the service, Carol and Andrea return to bickering. Carol’s about to lose her cool. Funny, I thought she already lost it.
Blue team has lost, which doesn’t surprise anyone. Ben acknowledges he performed poorly. That said, he doesn’t understand why Lacey would consider nominating him. Speaking of Lacey, Robert is tired of dealing with her emotional issues.
Robert nominates Lacey because she doesn’t care. Lacey nominates Robert because he nominated her. Danny nominates Lacey due to her attitude and threats to quit. Ben nominates Lacey for the reasons already mentioned. Regardless of the nominations, Ramsay wants Lacey to step forward along with Ben.
Ben admits that he was the worst performing chef on the blue team tonight. He’ll tell the truth no matter what. Ben gets one more chance. Lacey can also get back in line. Since J was already booted, nobody else is going home. Lacey agrees to work with her team, even though she hates them like she hated the red team.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 8, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.