Hell's Kitchen episode 11

Hell's Kitchen Episode 11 aka 6 Chefs Compete

Recap: Chef Ramsey in Canada, Blue Team wins the challenge, Teams create their own menus, Ariel drops the ball, Van and Sabrina fail on Fish, the Kitchen is shut down, no winners, Sabrina is eliminated.

Back to dorms. Van knows he can do better.

The contestants wake up to presents: the black coats that the final six receive. The contestants start to joke about not being able to be friends anymore.

Chef Ramsey is cooking as they come into the Kitchen. The dishes are passed around for the contestants to sample. This is the challenge! Now that they've seen in and tasted it, they need to recreate the fillet and truffles they've just eaten. He puts them in teams of two: Van and Ariel, Tennille and Kevin, Suzanne and Dave. Sous Chef Scott brings out another dish and this is the one they are to recreate.

There are four pieces to the recipe and we watch the teams run about trying to work it out. All three teams pick the fish correctly as turbot. All three teams also believe there is calamari involved in the dish. Ariel and Van believe the puree is a celery root. The other teams believe it's a parsnip puree. For the sauce, each team picks a different fruit. Ariel and Van – Star Fruit, Kevin and Tennille – Grapefruit, Dave and Suzanne – Passion Fruit. With seconds left, all the Teams rush to get their dish up.

Chef Ramsey goes through all the dishes, hearing what's in them, looking at them, and tasting them. Turbot – right. Puree was white onion, no hits. Kevin and Tennille forgot to add their garnish to the dish. They made it but forgot it. Fail. It's down to whomever got the fruit correct. Commercial, of course.

The fruit is... Passion fruit! Suzanne and Dave win! Reward: lunch in Chef Ramsey's LA restaurant with it being cooked by Christina, winner of Hell's Kitchen 4! Punishment: prepping for tonight's 'Couples Night' service.

Dave's not thrilled about spending the day with Suzanne. Van knows it and is amused by it in Interview. He's not thrilled he has to deal with 'whistle-britches' JP though. So, you know, balance.

Christina chats with Dave and Suzanne as they eat. The girls seem to be of a similar disposition, leaving Dave clearly displeased. Christina does give them good advice based on her experience and notes 'It's called Hell's Kitchen for a reason'. When they return, Dave enters a minute or so before Suzanne, allowing Van the opportunity to tease Dave with 'So how was your date?' Dave ignores him. Returning to the kitchen, he asks what needs to be done and he's ignored. Dave goes off in Interview, ending with 'they can sit and spin'. Wow!

Tennille finally says 'we need more scallions cut' and Dave gets on it. In Interview she notes that they still need some teamwork otherwise Chef Ramsey will get them.

On couples night, there will be table side cooking done, a tossed salad for two and a porterhouse steak for two. Kevin is assigned this duty. There are no winning teams, just winning chefs.

Suzanne is working the appetizer station. She needs to coordinate with Kevin if a salad is ordered at the same table as a hot app. She manages to mess this up on the first table. Kevin gets through it with his charisma but it means he can't trust her either.

Van is back on fish. He drops an entree before appetizers and then gets yelled at for sweating in the scallops. Well, it is hot.

Tennille gets them back on track. She communicates well from the Meat station, coordinates the team,and gets her order perfectly cooked. Chef Ramsey compliments her.

Van rushes and brings another raw fish order to the pass. Chef Ramsey starts pacing and muttering. In Interview, Van says he feels bad that something he's not done right has lead to Chef Ramsey being curled up in a corner of the kitchen. Chef Ramsey takes Van in the back, tells him he needs to do better, and the next time, he's out. Both men are surprisingly calm through this, even though Chef Ramsey is clearly mad. He returns to the kitchen, calls out an order, and sees a pan of burning garnish from Ariel. He's stunned. She notes in Interview that it was an accident and that she didn't think the burner was on. Chef Ramsey calls Scott over and they walk out of Hell's Kitchen. It's not worth it. We go to commercial with them walking down the street. Wow! I've been that guy and wanted to do that at times. Wow!

The chefs are stunned but Tennille keeps them moving. Ariel is struggling and is upset that they're not slowing for her. Dave tries to help but refers to her as looking 'defeated'. They get food ready, but without Chef Ramsey and Sous Chef Scott, there's no one to plate the food and decide it's good to go out. Kevin takes charge of this before popping back out to the floor. Suzanne is left behind to take change and she won't. Van takes the responsibility. He still struggles with fish but the Team continues to push.

Chef Ramsey and Sous Chef Scott return. Chef Ramsey calls them together and kicks Ariel, Van, and Suzanne out of the kitchen, leaving the other three chefs to complete service. Upstairs, Van is pissed because he's working hard and continues to catch flak. Van has had enough. As we go to commercial, it looks like he's decided to leave.

Well, he's not leaving as he's not a quitter. Van tries to calm himself down.

Kevin, Dave, and Tennille finish service. Chef Ramsey calls Tennille forward and compliments her performance. Speaking to Tennille, Kevin notes “I think we found the A Team”.

The post-service meeting is just Kevin, Dave, and Tennille. He compliments them, thanks them, and explains that his frustration tonight had nothing to do with them. None of them are going home tonight. As a group, they are to select two of the other three chefs as nominees for elimination.

They return to the dorms and explain the situation. Tennille jumps on Suzanne for not plating at the pass. She tries to defend herself by saying she wouldn't know if it's right but Kevin believes she should know by this stage. He offers Suzanne and Dave agrees. They've selected one. Tennille mentions Van but Dave mentions Ariel as the burnt garnish was the last straw for Chef Ramsey. Dave uses the logic that he's trying to pick 'who Chef wants to see up there' but notes in Interview that eliminating a strong chef like Ariel is a good strategic move. Tennille agrees both in public and in Interview, using the logic that Chef Ramsey expects better from Ariel. They select Ariel and Suzanne.

Nominees for elimination: Suzanne for refusing to push things out and Ariel for the burnt garnish. After Dave reports this, Chef Ramsey seems a bit surprised. He asks Tennille is she thinks they are the weakest chefs in the kitchen and she answers honestly, stating that Ariel is not the weakest chef in the kitchen, that it should be Suzanne and Van. Commercial.

Chef Ramsey notes that he has mixed feelings about all three of them and calls them all forward. Ariel's defense is that she's disappointed with herself and wants the chance to redeem herself. Suzanne blames her failings on her 'nerves' which Chef Ramsey doesn't think much of as a reason. He believes she's out of her depth. Van flips out a bit, expressing his frustration with his failings, knowing he's better than this, and how he's tired, tired of being on the chopping block and being yelled at and just tired. It's a passionate outburst.

Ariel is sent back in line. Van is eliminated. Chef Ramsey shakes his hand and compliments him. Van still has confidence in himself, He's still young and feels he can do it. Good man. It's not a 'Chef Ramsey is dumb for cutting me exit' or a 'I don't care what anyone says I can cook' exit but a simple ' I will get better and can do this' exit. Very nice.

Chef Ramsey thanks Tennille for being honest but we see she's crying at this point. Emotions run high in Hell's Kitchen! In Interview, Dave expresses his displeasure with Tennille for 'blindsiding' him. In Tennille's Interview, she expresses a lot of love for Van but that she had to be true to herself.

Trailer: Dave and Tennille fight. Kevin works to get in Dave's head. Dave knows that the others are hoping his wrist will give out. Service does not go well. Another bad week for Chef Ramsey.

I'm not sure who's going to win this anymore. Ariel's been dropping off. Tennille's been rising. If Dave can gut through it he has a chance. Kevin is solid and could do it. Suzanne... yeah, that isn't happening.