Hell's Kitchen Season 17, Episode 5

Hello everybody!

I had so much fun writing about Hell’s Kitchen last week, that I am going to do it again right now! And seeing how I finished off last weeks post with a cliffhanger for the next episode, I am going to talk about Season 17, Episode 5! 

The episode started where the previous one left off, where Robyn and Josh had swapped teams, and The Red Team could not have been less excited to have Josh on their team, as Elise did not want to listen to a single thing he had to say, and when Michelle tried to warn him about how there were some strong personalities on the team, his exact response was “You worry about you, I worry about me,” which is not the best thing to say when you have joined a new team and are trying to get on their good side. 

Meanwhile, Robyn was upset about having been switched over to The Blue Team, but some of the other contestants, from both The Red Team and The Blue Team, were letting her know that it was a good thing, as it meant that he wanted to see her at her best. 

The following morning, all the chefs had to report outside to the front of Hell’s Kitchen, and right outside waiting for them was a pen full of various farm animals. I know, it seems like I have just given away what the challenge was, but I assure you, I have not. This is simply just yet another instance of Chef Ramsay introducing a challenge with something that is not related to it. 

In a truly cute moment, Jared said that as an executive chef, none of the animals were cute to him, as he looked at them and was thinking that the Duck would bring him $26 a plate, the Cow would bring him $28 a plate, and the Goat would bring him $18 a plate.

Chef Ramsay then asked some of the chefs what they would cook with if they could cook with any of the animals in front of them, and they responded with Lamb and Cow. Chef Ramsay then told them that those were reasonable choices, but a great chef apparently thinks outside the box, or in this instance, the pen. He then said that he would cook with a Cedar Plank. Yes, you read that correctly. If you think that it’s not an actual plank of wood, here’s a picture to show you that you’re wrong.

For the challenge, all the chefs would be working with either Cedar or Hickory Planks. Now, for those of you thinking that the chefs would be cooking literal actual wood, they were not. Instead, they would be using these Cedar and Hickory Planks to cook Fish, and the choices were Wahoo, Salmon, Cod, and Barramundi. 

The way that this challenge would work is that all the chefs would be working in pairs, minus one chef who would be working by themselves on both teams, as each team had seven chefs. 

The Blue Team decided very quickly who would be cooking which Fish, while things were not as simple for The Red Team, as Manda and Barbie decided they would cook Salmon, but then Elise immediately jumped in and declared that she was going to cook Salmon. 

Chef Ramsay then showed the chefs that they would all be cooking their Fish on Cedar and Hickory Planks outside over a fire pit. 

During the cook time, all the chefs experienced the challenge of getting their planks in the fire, while also making sure that everyone else’s planks fit. And they didn’t just cook their Fish on these planks, they also used them to cook their garnishes. 

Also at this time, Josh noticed that there wasn’t enough fire to cook anything, and he also said in the confessional that Chef Ramsay put him on The Red Team because he believed in him, and he knew he could take them to victory. As you will soon find out, this could not be further from the truth. He then proceeded to unintentionally smother their fire by dumping a ton of cold coals on it, but thankfully Barbie managed to get it back.

After cook time was up, Chef Ramsay brought in a guest judge to help with the challenge. The guest judges was Chef Ben Ford, one of the country’s plank cooking experts, and Harrison Ford’s son. No, I’m not joking, Harrison Ford’s son is a chef and was a guest judge for this challenge on this episode of Hell’s Kitchen. 

Up first was the battle of the Cod. The dish that Michelle and Jennifer made was seasoned with Mediterranean Spices and served with Charcoal Eggplant and other garnishes. I’m not sure how much I would want this dish, or really any of the dishes that were made in this challenge, considering I am not the biggest fan of Fish. If you’re curious, here’s a picture of it.

Chef Ramsay said that the Cod was seasoned beautifully, but Chef Ford said that he would have held back a little bit on the Vinaigrette on the Eggplant, but the Mediterranean flavors were good.

The dish that Nick and Robyn made was a Chimichurri Basted Cod with a Fresh Salad of Smoked Oranges and Fennel. Here’s an image of what the dish looked like.

Chef Ford really liked the dish, and awarded a point to only The Blue Team for this round. 

Up next was the battle of the Wahoo, which is a type of Fish for those of you that don’t know. 

Manda and Barbie presented their dish first, which was a Cedar Smoked Wahoo with Leek Ash. Here’s an image of what the dish looked like. 

Chef Ford liked the dish, especially the fact that they used Leek Ash. 

Jared and Benjamin then presented their dish, which was a Hickory Smoked Wahoo with Salsa Verde. Here’s an image of what their dish looked like. 

Chef Ramsay told them that they got the balance right with the acidity, and Chef Ford told them that the flavor of the Wood was perfect, which is not a sentence that I ever thought I would ever hear anyone say on a cooking show. Chef Ford then ended up giving both teams a point each, to which Jared said in the confessional a truly disturbing and disgusting statement about how ties are like kissing your sister, and I am not going to say any more about this because it genuinely has me worried about what he has done.

Up next was the battle of the Barramundi.

Dana and Josh presented their dish first, which was a Cedar Smoked Barramundi with Poblano Vinaigrette. Here’s an image of what the dish looked like.

Chef Ford said that the Barramundi was cooked beautifully.

Van then presented his dish, which was a Cedar Smoked Barramundi and Nicoise Salad. Here’s an image of what the dish looked like.

Chef Ramsay and Chef Ford were especially impressed by his Nicoise Salad, as he literally boiled Eggs in the fire pit, which is something that I don’t think anyone has ever done before or since.

Chef Ford then gave a point to both dishes, which led to Jared making another disgusting and concerning comment about kissing sisters.

Last up was the battle of the Salmon.

Elise presented her dish first, which was a Cedar Grilled Salmon with Mustard Aioli. Here’s an image of what the dish looked like.

Chef Ford liked the Aioli, and Chef Ramsay said the Salmon was cooked beautifully. 

Milly and Giovanni then presented their dish, which was a Hickory Smoked Salmon with Brandy Glaze. Here’s an image of what the dish looked like. 

Chef Ramsay told them that he personally wouldn’t put Brandy on top of a Fish, and Chef Ford said that he didn’t love the Glaze. 

This meant that only Elise scored a point in this round, meaning that the score was tied by the end of it, to which Jared made another disgusting and horrifying comment about kissing sisters.

What was going to happen then was that Chef Ramsay and Chef Ford were going to break the tie with the overall best dish from the challenge, and they determined that it belonged to Robyn and Nick from The Blue Team, giving The Blue Team the win. 

After that, for the first time in Hell’s Kitchen history, both teams went to the same location for both the reward and the punishment. They went to Apex Farm in the California Foothills, and while The Blue Team got to enjoy a horseback ride, The Red Team had to clean horse manure in a pen. Because that’s a reasonable punishment for a bunch of chefs who have lost a challenge on a cooking show. :)

The rest of The Red Team was mad at Josh for dumping cold coals on their fire, and as Manda said, they were now stuck with him until they lost a service. Josh tried to defend his actions by saying that they needed fire, and there wasn’t any, so coals create fire, which Elise immediately responded by saying that cold coals don’t do that, to which Josh responded by questioning why she bullies everyone, to which I’m thinking to myself, that is not what she was doing. At all. I mean, yeah she is very mean to other contestants, but that was not happening here. She was literally just giving you basic knowledge that you somehow didn’t know. Josh also proceeded to talk to everyone else on The Red Team in the most condescending way imaginable, and asked Elise if she got a dose of HGH that day, which is not an okay thing to say at all in any circumstance.

After the reward and challenge were over, and Josh continued to be very condescending towards Manda, it was time for Dinner Service. In some services, there is a special item on the menu for that night, which will be served tableside by one chef from each team. In this case, the special was a Smoked Salmon Rillette. For those of you who don’t know what that is, Rillette is a preservation method in which Meat is seasoned, submerged in fat, and cooked slowly over the course of four to ten hours. Here’s an image of what this dish actually looked like. 

When it comes to how each team performed during service, The Blue Team did fairly well, with the only problems being Benjamin mistakenly putting Oil in a non-stick pan to cook his Scallops, Benjamin annoying his teammates by constantly responding “Oui Chef” to Chef Ramsay, Robyn accidentally dropping an order of Chicken, Robyn undercooking a Beef Wellington, and Milly having trouble communicating with Nick on Garnish. Okay, I realize that this sounds like Service did not go well for them at all, but I assure you, this is a good service for this show’s standards. 

The Red Team also did fairly well in this service, though Elise did annoy some of her fellow teammates by literally standing around and doing nothing. Normally, I would say that I am surprised that Chef Ramsay did not call her out for this, or even kick her out or eliminate her, but there is one big reason why I think he overlooked her doing nothing. And that reason is Josh.

Josh’s performance in this episode, to put it lightly, was an absolute disaster. He was slow with the Fish & Chips, resulting in Manda continuously taking over the Garnish station, then he delivered salty Spinach and liquid Mashed Potatoes, which is impressive in a bad way if you’re a chef. The final straw came when he was handling cold Garnish with his bare hands, and the protein it was supposed to go with was already at the pass, which resulted in him getting kicked out of the kitchen. Oh yeah, by the way, rather than kicking an entire team out, there used to be a time when Chef Ramsay would kick a single chef out of the kitchen. And funny enough, I’m pretty sure this was the final time he did that. 

Now, all that being said, Josh was not in a situation he couldn’t come back from yet. His team could have still won Dinner Service, in which case someone from The Blue Team would have been eliminated. His chances weren’t that great, but they weren’t gone. Then he did something that completely ruined his chances. While he was sitting in the dorms, he was thinking that he had given up his life to be there, and he refused to go down without a fight, and made his way back to the kitchen. When he entered the kitchen, literally the only thing Chef Ramsay could say, aside from calling out orders, was “What are you doing here?” Chef Ramsay then ordered him into the back room and asked him what he was doing there again, to which Josh responded that his body told him to come back and that he believed in himself, which is definitely the smartest thing you can say when Chef Ramsay is yelling at you. Chef Ramsay then in the nicest way he possibly could have all things considered, eliminated Josh on the spot and made him leave through the front door while all the customers were still there. 

Josh then said in his exit interview that he knows Chef Ramsay still appreciates him, he wouldn’t be surprised if he called him up again, and that not many people in the world get second chances, but if anyone were to get a third chance, it would be him. 

So, while I’m sure Chef Ramsay does still have some level of respect for Josh, there is no way he is going to call him up again, and he is also not going to have a third chance, because he is literally no longer a chef. In fact, I don’t really know how much of a chef he was by the time this season originally aired. 

As a result of Chef Ramsay eliminating Josh on the spot, he declared both teams winners of Dinner Service, and he asked both The Red Team and The Blue Team if they were going to miss Josh, and everybody said that they wouldn’t. In fact, Michelle even thanked Chef Ramsay for eliminating him. 

Overall, this was another fun episode for me to write about! I hope you all enjoyed reading what I had to write, and I’ll see you all soon with another blog post!