Episode 5 Recap

[PlatypusBen]

Back to the dorms after another emotional elimination. Jessica can’t believe Chef Ramsay got rid of Mary Ellen. Meanwhile, Andrew is shocked he’s survived the chopping block twice now. The next morning, the teams are called back to the dining room. Chef Ramsay asks Ralph who his team’s strongest and weakest links are. He names himself and Andrew, respectively.
On the Red team, Chris gets the same question. He also picks himself as the best and opts for Jimmy as the weakest. Chef Ramsay then announces that, tomorrow night, Hell’s Kitchen will be a pasta restaurant. He orders them into the kitchen for a lesson on pasta making. Then he gives them 20 minutes to make as much perfect pasta as possible. The twist is, one teammate has to hold their arms out so their team can drape the pasta over them.

Both teams race to the finish. Chef Ramsay examines the offerings. The Blue team has made 2.41 pounds of acceptable noodles. The Red team gets up to 2.32 pounds, but has a huge clump in its last batch. After Chef Ramsay bins it, the Red team finishes with…2.45 pounds. The Red team wins. Chef Ramsay promises them an amazing afternoon as a reward. However, as a punishment, the Blue team has to roll all of the pasta for tomorrow night’s service.

The Red team is treated to a wine and cheese party during a gondola ride. Meanwhile, the Blue team is still rolling pasta and grumbling about the clumps in the Red team’s pasta. Hours and hours later, they complete their task and all of the pasta is made for the next service.

The next day, Chef Ramsay gathers the troops and explains that the restaurant is double booked. They’ll have two full sitting that night. One team will cook and one team will serve each two-hour sitting. The teams head into kitchen to start prep work. One hour before the first service, the Red team decides they want to cook first, another reward for winning the previous day’s challenge.

The doors open and the first diners begin pouring in. Jimmy tries to rush out his first starters, but has soup on the side of the bowl. Chef Ramsay sends it back and orders him to clean it. The Red team struggles to get the first entrees out. Chef Ramsay is not pleased. With 30 minutes remaining, Chris and Elsie are slowly but surely getting out entrees. Michael, rather than bail out his teammates again, has decided to focus on impressing Chef Ramsay with his desserts. And with 10 minutes left, Jessica starts handing random entrees to her diners so they have something to eat before they leave. Chef Ramsay closes the kitchen and tells the Blue team to prepare. But not before berating the Red team for taking so long to get entrees out.

As the Blue team prepares for their service, Michael hatches a plan to drown them. The Red team will push lasagna to their tables, knowing that it’s a pain to prepare and the Blue team will quickly run low on it. Ralph, meanwhile, is about to snap. The second sitting arrives and the lasagna orders begin to pour in. The Blue team quickly figures out what’s up. Forty minutes into the service, Jimmy is running from table to table and sweating like a blacksmith. If that’s enough, he mistakenly serves the two tortellini dishes ordered by Table 24 to Table 23. Ralph has to quickly whip out more tortellini starters.

With 20 minutes left, the Blue team is way behind on their main courses, thanks to a night of serving lasagna. With only 10 minutes, another young wise guy thinks he should ask Chef Ramsay what the problem is. Predictably, it does not go well. In the kitchen, Jessica and Andrew are simply unable to deliver entrees at the same time. Plates become cold and Chef Ramsay sends them back. After two hours, Chef Ramsay closes the Blue kitchen.

The teams are gathered for Chef Ramsay to discuss the services. Although the Blue team left 42 diners without an entrée, the food they served was rated higher than the food the Red team served. Additionally, their table service was good, whereas the Red team’s service was dismal. Chef Ramsay declares the Red team the losing team. He asks Michael to nominate two teammates for elimination. After some deliberation, and after asking Chris for some advice, Michael decides to nominate Elsie and…Chris. Chef Ramsay listens as Elsie and Chris defend themselves, and then eliminates Chris. Michael smiles as his primary competition goes down.