Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 3)

Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 3)
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 11
Release
Original network Fox
Original release June 4 (2007-06-04) – August 13, 2007 (2007-08-13)

This article contains contestant information and episode summaries from Season 3 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen. Cast during February 2007, the third season started airing on the Fox television network on June 4, 2007 and concluded on August 13, 2007.

The Hell's Kitchen set moved from a building at LaBrea and Willoughby, where it was located for seasons one and two, to a Century Studios building on La Cienega Place, off West Jefferson Blvd for season three. During Episode 9 (aired July 30, 2007), a casting call was announced for the fourth season of the show.[1]

This was the first Hell's Kitchen season to be filmed in high definition.

The season finale was a record high for the show's ratings, drawing 9.8 million viewers.[2] Executive Chef Rahman "Rock" Harper won the season and was awarded a US$250,000 per year head-chef position at a restaurant in the Green Valley Ranch resort and spa in Henderson, Nevada, near Las Vegas.

Sous chefs and Maître d'hôtel

Contestants

The third season features the following 12 contestants, who were separated by gender into two teams:

Contestant Age Occupation Hometown
Joanna Dunn 22 Assistant Chef Detroit, Michigan
Vincent "Vinnie" Fama[3] 29 Nightclub Chef Milltown, New Jersey
Melissa Firpo 29 Line Cook New York, New York
Rock Harper[4] 30 Executive Chef Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia
Edward "Eddie" Langley[5] 28 Grill Cook Atlanta, Georgia
Brad Miller[6] 25 Sous Chef Scottsdale, Arizona
Bonnie Muirhead 26 Nanny/Personal Chef Santa Monica, California
Tiffany Nagel 27 Kitchen Manager Scottsdale, Arizona
Aaron Song † 48 Retirement Home Chef Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Joshua "Josh" Wahler 26 Jr. Sous Chef Miami Beach, Florida
Julia Williams 28 Waffle House Cook Atlanta, Georgia
Jennifer "Jen" Yemola 26 Pastry Chef Hazleton, Pennsylvania

† Indicates that contestant died after filming ended

Contestant progress

Each week, the best member (as determined by Ramsay) from the losing team during the latest service period is asked to nominate two of their teammates for elimination; one of these two is sent home by Ramsay.

Original teams Switched teams Individual Finals
No. Chef 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310/11
1 Rock WIN BoW BoB BoW WIN LOSE LOSE NOM IN WINNER
2 Bonnie LOSE WIN LOSE NOM[n 1] NOM WIN NOM BoB IN RUNNER-UP
3 Jen LOSE BoB NOM[n 2] BoW BoW WIN LOSE IN OUT
4 Julia LOSE WIN NOM LOSE LOSE WIN BoW OUT
5 Josh WIN NOM WIN NOM[n 3] WIN NOM[n 1] LOSE OUT[n 4]
6 Brad BoB LOSE WIN LOSE WIN NOM[n 1] OUT
7 Melissa BoW WIN LOSE NOM[n 3] NOM OUT
8 Vinnie WIN LOSE WIN OUT[n 1]
9 Joanna NOM WIN OUT
10 Aaron WIN LOSE LEFT[n 5]
11 Eddie WIN OUT
12 Tiffany OUT

Keywords
  • WIN = Won the dinner service
  • LOSE = Lost the dinner service
  • BoB = Best of the Best, usually exempt from nomination
  • BoW = Best of the Worst, sometimes exempt from nomination
  • IN = not nominated for elimination
  • NOM = nominated for elimination
  • OUT = eliminated
  • LEFT = withdrew from competition
Color key
     Chef was eliminated after nomination
     Chef was eliminated without nomination
     Chef was eliminated during service
     Chef withdrew from the competition
     Chef was retained after nomination
     The winner of Hell's Kitchen
     The runner-up of Hell's Kitchen

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 Chef was nominated by Ramsay
  2. ↑ Chef nominated themself
  3. 1 2 Although nominated, chef was not called down by Ramsay
  4. ↑ Chef was eliminated by Ramsay during service
  5. ↑ Chef was hospitalized and withdrew for health reasons

Episodes
No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Original air date
231"12 Chefs Compete"June 4, 2007

For this episode, FOX added a parental advisory notification to the TV14 rating. The episode opened with Gordon Ramsay seated at a table in the restaurant, telling viewers he was going to be nicer this time around. After a few seconds, he admitted he was joking. The contestants arrived, and maître d’ Jean Philippe Susilovic began to brief the chefs, until Ramsay interrupted, instructing the contestants to get to the kitchen and prepare their "signature dish".

Signature dishes: Each contestant prepared their signature dish for evaluation by Ramsay. He declared Melissa's peppered steak and asparagus and Tiffany's seafood tostada as the best. He also had some praise for Julia and Aaron's dishes, but felt that Julia's dish was spoiled by an excessive amount of pepper, and that Aaron had over-complicated his dish with a needless amount of garnishes. Ramsay was also initially impressed with Rock's scallop and gnocchi dish but refused eat it when he learned Rock served him frozen gnocchi as Rock didn't have enough time to make it. The remaining dishes were all felt to be generally unimpressive. Ramsay found Vinnie's dish too spicy and disappointing with Vinnie revealing an open disagreement and lead to Ramsay saying to himself out loud "What a fucking jerk!", Joanna's dish was dry and salty, Josh's foie gras was too undercooked and salty, Ramsay could recognize Bonnie's lack of experience in her dish Brad and Eddie both made under-par scallop dishes and Ramsay was aggravated when Brad thought Eddie's scallops were "cooked right" since Ramsay found the scallops raw, Eddie (whilst thinking Brad's dish wasn't bad) felt the vanilla ruined it for him and Jen's pancake was too thick and there was too much alcohol in her dish as well.

Pre-Service: Whilst Brad got the team organised during prep, Aaron however struggled to prep the ice cream with Rock showing him how to prep it. The women completely isolated Julia due to her being a waffle house cook. To make matters worse, Joanna attempted to dictate over the team and annoyed the women (and Bonnie in particular) for telling them that they were incorrectly prepping the stock for service when they were actually doing it the right way. MaryAnn even showed worries for the upcoming service due to Joanna's horrific leadership.

Service: Before service, Julia told Ramsay that she didn't think the team was ready, but Joanna and Tiffany reassured him that they were. Aaron also became over-emotional, forcing Ramsay to calm him down and holding up the restaurant's opening. In the service, Vinnie couldn't successfully cook any appetizers for the blue team, and was thrown off the station for using water rather than vegetable stock. Brad got the remaining appetizers out without any trouble, but Aaron had trouble on the meat and had to leave service because he felt exhausted, whilst Ramsay had to again calm him down. Josh took over the station, but found out that Aaron had overcooked the team's entire supply of chicken, making it impossible for the team to proceed in service. The red team also had trouble on the appetizers, as both Tiffany and Bonnie failed to cook eggs for the scallops, while Joanna repeatedly berated and insulted Julia when she tried to help out leading her to cry. Ramsay then ordered Julia and Melissa to take over the appetizers, after which they were able to get some of the appetizers out, but progress was still slow due to Joanna continuing to argue with the other women. After seeing this, Ramsay shut the service down. During the post-mortem Ramsay asked Vinnie a question which Vinnie gave an arrogant response to, and Ramsay called him a "two-faced lazy little fucker" this angers Vinnie and he replies saying "Lazy!?". Ramsay declared the blue team as the winners since they at least served all their appetizers, while the red team couldn't even manage that. Melissa, who had stepped up as a leader, was named the red team's best of the worst and told to nominate two women for elimination.

Elimination: Melissa nominated Joanna for her bad attitude, and Tiffany for not getting any appetizers out. The two had tried to persuade her to nominate Julia for not having professional experience, but she ignored them, feeling Julia was at least a good team player. Ramsay eliminated Tiffany for making too many basic mistakes.[7]

Ramsay's comment: "To be a great chef, you need great attention to detail, passion and great work ethic. Tiffany worked hard, but that was it. Nothing else."
242"11 Chefs Compete"June 11, 2007

Team challenge: The teams were woken up early to retrieve and prepare Dover sole for dinner service. While bringing the fish in, Aaron claimed to suffer from cramps and Ramsay excused him from the challenge, automatically balancing out the teams. The teams had 30 minutes to carefully remove the skin and extract the roe from as many fishes as possible; Ramsay inspected each one and made a pass/fail determination. The women won with nine perfectly prepared fish after Joanna's three were all prepared correctly; the men only got eight, and although Josh single-handedly preparing all four of his fish correctly, they were let down by Vinnie not successfully preparing even one.

Reward/punishment: The women spend the day fishing with Ramsay. The men prepared the remaining sole for the dinner service.

Service: Ramsay instructed Aaron to work in the dining room by deboning the dover sole when served, but was found talking to diners, took too long, and left large bones in their fishes. The men had other problems in the kitchen; Eddie didn't speak up loud enough when his teammates swarmed his station. He also cooked too much pasta at once and used too much pepper in the risotto, causing Ramsay to dismiss it as "inedible" and something he "wouldn't even serve to a fucking pig". Vinnie also met Ramsay's wrath when Ramsay said that Vinnie's dover sole that he was going to bring to the pass was burnt, but Vinnie said it wasn't. When it reached the hot plate the fish was burnt, while Josh undercooked some of the meat courses and tried to obscure this information from Ramsay. Brad took over Eddie's starter station, but that didn't help much because he made an overcooked, peppery risotto that was just as bad as Eddie's. When Josh overcooked a chicken, Ramsay smashed the chicken from the plate. The Red team worked well, despite Joanna making several mistakes on the garnishes , and was able to complete their dinner service. Ramsay (near the end of women's successful service) threw the men out of the kitchen and had the women complete the service for them. After the service, the women were deemed the clear winners, and Ramsay singled out Aaron, Eddie, and Vinnie as the worst of the men's team and singled out Rock as the only good player on his team since he didn't make any mistakes, instructing him to nominate two people for elimination.

Elimination: Eddie was selected for not being able to handle his station during dinner service and for being the "little man" on the team. Josh was selected because Rock saw him as a person who was all over the place. Josh thought Rock was out to get him. Eddie was ultimately eliminated, something Eddie admitted was his own fault and Aaron was surprised Rock didn't put him up for elimination.[8]

Ramsay's comment: "Eddie's got a big heart. Sadly, he couldn't even hold his own section. He made far too many simple mistakes and he didn't merit running his own restaurant."
253"10 Chefs Compete"June 18, 2007

Team challenge: The teams' challenge was to make breakfast for the Army and Navy. The winner would be the team that completed their breakfast service first. Julia's short order experience led her team from start to finish. After the women completed their service, Ramsay requested Julia to help the struggling men's team, commenting on her skills on getting the men together (or in his words, "finally a leader").

Reward/punishment: The red team enjoyed a helicopter ride and a meal with Ramsay aboard the USS Midway. The blue team's punishment was KP duty, preparing a thousand pounds of potatoes and onions for a military base. Aaron fainted as the men began KP duty and was transported by ambulance to the hospital for treatment.

Aaron's exit: Before the Dinner service, Ramsay called a hospitalized Aaron and said he could no longer participate on the show due to his ongoing illness and doctor's orders. After Ramsay finished the telephone conversation with Aaron, he hung up Aaron's jacket and burned his photo.

Service: Without Aaron and under Brad's leadership, as Rock and Josh could not agree, and with Rock being fast on apps, the men got off to a good start but got bogged down with the entrees. At one point, an exasperated Ramsay smashed an egg on Vinnie's chest though the latter managed to restrain himself from retaliating. Brad was trying to scrap the burnt part of the pastry of a beef wellington that he burnt, but Ramsay saw him and said he would shove the wellingtons up his rear-end if he tried to serve them. Josh was accused of trying to sabotage Brad with timing on main courses. The women kept running into problems with appetizers, and didn't complete its service. Bonnie sent a raw scallop to the pass which Ramsay caught. Joanna failed to notice that she was using rancid crab, to which Ramsay shouted "You'll kill someone" and fired her from the station. Jen overcooked the spaghetti but when she discovered that their side had run out, she tried to retrieve it from the trash and wash it, but she was stopped by Julia, while Ramsay didn't notice. The apps were so far backed up in the Red Kitchen that all of Jen's wellingtons got overcooked. In the end, patrons of both kitchens walked out due to the delayed service, and Ramsay crumpled up the orders and ended the service. Neither team won, with Ramsay criticizing Brad's leadership but praising Rock's efforts. The red team was chosen the worse of the two, with Ramsay accusing Joanna of being uncaring about the rancid crab, while saying that he could no longer trust Bonnie to properly cook seafood. He instructed all the women to nominate two people for elimination.

Elimination: The team initially agreed on Joanna and Julia, but when the nominations were being given to Ramsay, Jen admitted she should be nominated instead of Julia. Ramsay called the three women up, then immediately sent Julia back in line and told the other two to justify why they should stay. Jen defended herself, but Joanna said nothing in her defense and instead said that Jen deserved to go home for considering serving spaghetti from the trash. However, Ramsay instead eliminated Joanna since she actually did serve the rotten crab and refused to accept responsibility for her mistake.[9]

Ramsay's comment: "Not only did Joanna serve rancid crab that could've seriously made a customer ill, she completely gave up, screwed her team, and if you can't handle one individual section, you got no chance of running a business."
264"8 Chefs Compete"June 25, 2007

Team challenge: Team members were blindfolded and wore headphones as Ramsay tested their palates with various foods. Julia and Brad went up first, and Julia got two items of food while Brad only got one. The next duo were Rock and Melissa, and Rock got two while Melissa got one, leaving the score tied at 3. The next round was Bonnie versus Josh, and Bonnie got two items while Josh got every single one wrong. The last duo was Jen and Vinnie, and with the score at 5-3, Ramsay pre-emptively announced that he would rule in favor of the women in the event of a tie since the men had misidentified so many basic foodstuffs, meaning that the women were guaranteed victory unless Jen missed all her items and Vinnie correctly identified all of his. Vinnie immediately misidentified tuna, and Ramsay declared the women the winners, meaning that Jen didn't even have to taste anything. Afterwards, the men accused Bonnie of cheating due to an incident where her headphones weren't working, even though it was Bonnie herself who had pointed that out. This was the first time in Hell's Kitchen history that the men's team lost the first 3 challenges, this same scenario was later repeated in Seasons 10 and 11.

Reward/punishment: The red team were treated to a dining service in the dark with Ramsay. The blue team had to prepare both kitchens for the next dinner service in addition to eating offal such as cow's tongue, liver and kidney. Rock almost threw up and Brad was worried about the domino effect of throw up if Rock threw up.

Service: For this service, the customers would fill out comment cards on their food, which would decide the winner. Melissa started off moving too quickly ahead appetizers; she tried to push Julia on preparation time even after Julia told her when they would be done. Ramsay commented that this did not show good leadership. Bonnie would not give Chef a clear answer on whether or not her chicken was ready and eventually broke down crying. Melissa tried to help Bonnie on meat but she confused Bonnie more than anything. Bonnie had trouble understanding Ramsay's instructions, and over the course of the evening he called her a "stupid cow," a "dumb blonde," and a "stupid nanny". Vinnie had trouble with his beef wellingtons and was caught trying to flash grill rare Wellingtons in the oven to make them appear medium. After wasting six Wellingtons and a chicken, the Chef accused him of "not caring." Josh made risottos that were not cooked the right way, Rock also had to most of his work on the starter station. Josh wasn't convinced when a customer sent back his spaghetti for being undercooked.[10] Both kitchens had numerous dishes returned due to poor quality. Ramsay warned that if one more dish was brought back from either kitchen, the service would be aborted. After a customer complained of cold chicken, Ramsay smashed the returned dish on the floor, stuck to his promise and shut the kitchen down. While cleaning up, Bonnie had completely cracked under the pressure and wanted to leave the competition. Ramsay said while the customers enjoyed most of the food, however, over 65% would not return due to the wait for their food; for this reason, both teams lost. Ramsay picked Jen and Rock as the "best of the worst", and strongly suggested that they should choose the teams' weakest members.

Elimination: Jen nominated Melissa and Rock nominated Josh, both as tactical moves to keep weaker chefs in the competition. Ramsay immediately saw through this however, and instead called out Vinnie and Bonnie. After hearing from the two, Ramsay eliminated Vinnie, since Bonnie had at least taken responsibility for her errors, while Vinnie showed no signs of learning from his many mistakes.[10]

Ramsay's comment: "Vinnie talks the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk. The bottom line with Vinnie is he's a crap cook."
275"7 Chefs Compete, Part 1"July 2, 2007

Team challenge: Ramsay informed the teams that Hell's Kitchen would be hosting a wedding reception, and that Carlota and Cyrus, the bride and the groom, would be stopping by to judge their dishes, with an appetizer, a meat entrée and a fish entrée requested. The teams were sent to a supermarket and told to buy ingredients for one appetizer, one meat entree and one fish entree in 30 minutes in addition to receiving a $100 budget, with the blue team initially being over the limit and forced to ditch items at the check-out counter. The teams then had one hour to prepare the dishes, with the men managing by consensus, while Melissa tried to take control of the red team's entire menu. The blue team took the point on the appetizer due to the red team's appetizer being too sweet and dessert-like, while the red team's fish entrée won out due to the blue team's dish being served with a sauce that the couple hated. On the meat entrees however, the blue team served up a perfectly cooked ribeye steak, while the women served a burnt duck breast with no sides whatsoever; Melissa had put the breast back in the oven after Julia initially cooked it, but then forgot about it and left no time to add sides. Jen was embarassed to present this, feeling the couple would blame her for Melissa's mistake. Upon seeing the result, Ramsay and the couple didn't even bother tasting the red team's dish and immediately declared the blue team as the clear winners. Before punishment, Melissa got into an argument with her team mates and formed a barrier with them. In a deleted scene, Gordon acknowledged Melissa's rudeness towards Bonnie told Bonnie that she should have argued with Melissa and stood up for herself.

Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded was a day of pampering at the Exhale Spa while the red team decorated the dining room for the reception. The red team acknowledge that Melissa is their weakest link and that she lost them the challenge.

Service: Both teams would have to serve the three winning dishes from the challenge, and the men were given the privilege of cooking for the wedding couple. Melissa repeatedly cooked the potato dish incorrectly and kept accusing Rock of not teaching her the recipe, so she again earned the wrath of Ramsay, who replaced her with Jen on the potatoes. The women also quickly got agitated with Melissa because she continued to dictate orders. In one instance, Melissa claimed to Bonnie and Jen that she would be four minutes, though immidiatly after she said she was ready. Josh initially screwed up on the risotto, which held up Brad's crab and the entire Red Team, as the wedding couple had to be served first before the rest of the guests. During a moment of inattention, Melissa set down her sabayon, and it promptly fell over in its water bath. She went over to the men's kitchen asking for some of theirs. Upon seeing this, Ramsay yelled at her to get back over to her side and fix it from scratch, saying the boys didn't make enough for both sides and it wasn't their fault she made the mistake. Also, when the wedding planner questioned Jean-Phillipe on why the parents of the bride weren't served, he was directed to Ramsay who promptly told him to get out of the way. The kitchens eventually managed to complete their first service. The red team was picked as the losers as the blue team finished three minutes ahead of them. Ramsay's wedding gift to the couple was a stay at the Green Valley Ranch resort and spa. For the second service in a row, Jen, despite Ramsay not believing it to be her strongest service, was the red team's best of the worst.

Elimination: Jen instantly decided on Melissa but then struggled, feeling that neither Bonnie nor Julia had had a bad service that night. After much consideration, Jen chose Melissa, for her attitude and mouth, and Bonnie, despite her impeccable service, for previous problems. Jen later admitted that Bonnie was only chosen because she would be more likely to be safe than Julia.

Team change: Ramsay told Melissa to give him her coat, but instead of eliminating her, he gave Melissa another chance and she was sent over to the men's team, marking the first time in Hell's Kitchen history where nobody was eliminated. However, Ramsay ended on going to put Melissa's red jacket on the coat hook, but stopping short of actually doing it.[11]

Ramsay's comment: "I've never seen anyone go from being a strong chef to being such a terrible chef so quickly and that's why tonight I'm giving Melissa one more chance. Her only hope now is that she's feeling better with boys than she did with the girls."
286"7 Chefs Compete, Part 2"July 9, 2007

Team challenge: The two teams are required to make three lobster dishes in one hour. To even out the teams, and in punishment for failing to identify lobster from episode 4's taste test, Josh is excluded from the challenge. He is allowed to coach the team, but he is not allowed to touch a lobster. Also, both teams must start with fresh lobsters from a tank, which worries Bonnie. Ramsay takes notice of this and barks at her, at which point she reveals that she does not like to kill living things. She states that "I cry whenever I kill one." To which Rock retorts "so do the lobsters." She does, however, overcome this fear, and successfully boils her own lobster. The first head-to-head is Bonnie vs. Melissa on the salad. Bonnie made a grilled lobster salad with baked apples. Melissa had a citrus herb salad with poached lobster. Bonnie wins. The second is Julia vs. Rock. Julia made a lobster risotto. Rock had a buttermilk fried lobster tail. Rock wins. The last is Jen vs. Brad on the bisque. Jen made a lobster and crab bisque. She used some saffron and thyme. Brad had a lobster bisque with Disaronno chantilly. Ramsay compliments both chefs, but he chooses Jen's and the Red team triumphs. He later mentions that this was the hardest decision so far.

Reward/punishment: Since the blue team lost their challenge, they have to go through the garbage, separating out the recyclables. Rock is visibly angry with the Chef's decision and grumbles that, although he grew up in a poor neighborhood, he thinks this punishment is a bit extreme. Meanwhile, the red team is taken to a photo shoot for In Touch magazine. Rock is infuriated about the loss and goes off on a tirade about it, he is singled out for further punishment. He is then summoned to the photo shoot and ordered to separate the recyclables from the trash there as well. Brad felt being singled out for further punishment made Rock angrier, further complaining about it and boasting about how he never tells his cooks to sort through the trash.

Service: Ramsay informs the teams they will be making familiar dishes such as risotto, sea bass, beef wellington, spaghetti and also featured Bonnie's newly created lobster salad. As punishment for losing, Josh had to fetch lobster for both teams. The red team had an almost flawless performance, their only problems being Bonnie setting a pan on fire and then failing to put it out quickly and Julia sending up the wrong order before breaking down after Bonnie consulted her about a dish. Despite this, they communicate well and get their food out quickly. The blue team does not perform as well, as Melissa's scallops were too thin, Josh's mashed potatoes were gloopy and runny, and Melissa overcooked monkfish causing Ramsay to say it looked like "regurgitated dog shit". Brad also overcooked risotto later on. The blue team struggled on appetizers and an entire table of six sends back their food because their lobster and wellingtons are overcooked. This enrages Ramsay and he orders the kitchen closed. Ramsay mentioned that the red team had the best dinner service and points to the blue team saying "Sous Chef (Josh), Executive Chef (Rock), Sous Chef (Brad), Line Chef (Melissa). You got beaten by a nanny (Bonnie), a short-order cook (Julia) and a pastry chef (Jen)." Ramsay points to Brad saying it was worst performance yet and tells Josh he is the only one remaining who hasn't a decent performance.

Elimination: The men agree to put up Melissa, though struggle between Brad and Josh for nomination - Brad had had the worse service but Josh had had more bad services. However, Ramsay eliminates Melissa without even asking the men who they chose or asking her to justify why she should stay "You, madam, have had more chances than anybody." He then calls up Brad and Josh and threatens to eliminate both of them as well but decides to give them another chance. Ramsay later comments that he was surprised how fast Brad and Josh fell apart.[12]

Ramsay's comment: "That was really difficult today because Brad and Josh were absolutely horrible. With Melissa, she's very assertive and she sounds like a leader but unfortunately, she doesn't cook like a leader."
297"6 Chefs Compete"July 16, 2007

Team challenge: Each team was given an identical tray of leftovers and instructed to make three courses: one appetizer and two entrees. The winning dishes were judged by Ramsay. Both teams produced equally good appetizers. Brad had curry bass with crustacean tomato pasta. Bonnie started by saying she made rustic tomato, but she sulked and said she made a rustic chicken stew. Chef granted them both a point. Josh and Jen were up next. Jen did a classic take on steak and eggs for breakfast. Josh had the chicken leg and some pea tendril and stuffed inside of the chicken with it. Neither receive a point because Jen's lacked originality and Josh's tasted horrible. Rock and Julia were last up. Rock had surf and turf with a petite ribeye and the pan seared bass. Julia had deep fried seabass. Julia's fish and chips which were tasty but not as elegant as Rock's. Ramsay mentioned that it was "just fish and chips". The blue team won the challenge.

Reward/punishment: The blue team was given the chance to participate in a 3-on-1 paintball match against Ramsay. They jumped at the chance saying how no one ever got the chance to take out frustrations on their boss. Target practice had pictures of the red team posted. During the competition, Ramsay managed to beat the three men, taking out Brad, then Josh and Rock last. The red team was required to receive, check, and bring in the food delivery for the evening service, with Bonnie in charge of checking/marking the packing slip. Notably, Bonnie missed the fact that unsalted butter and turbot skeletons were delivered instead of the correct salted butter and turbot filets and got over-emotional about it. The errors meant that the Red team had to arrange re-delivery of the missing items, working longer than they had expected. Bonnie felt horrible and thought that she would be sent home for her mistakes.

Service: Each team had to create a menu of 3 appetizers, 3 entrees and 3 desserts. The diners were allowed to select from either menu for their meal. During the brainstorming of the menus, Bonnie and Jen took control for the red team while deriding Julia's 'Waffle House background'. The blue team was subjected to Brad's leadership who offered such dishes as 'scallops with horseradish spaetzle' and 'macaroni & cheese done as a cassoulet'. The red team's dishes were mostly standard fare, including Julia's last minute add-on of steak and shrimp, while the blue team's dishes were generally fine dining meals created mostly by Brad. Both teams were able to make it through the dinner service, but both had significant problems. Ramsay noted the women lacked stamina and was upset that they refused to communicate with each other. Jen had an attitude most the night and kept snapping at Bonnie. Julia begged the girls to keep their service positive while struggling on the last set of entrees in order to make it through. The blue team, led by Brad, had difficulties with a lamb dish and had several plates come back with complaints on Brad's ravioli and then his gravy. While Chef was mad at Josh for messing up the lamb, he was also equally mad at Brad and Rock, because they did not help Josh with the lamb when he was in the weeds. They made Josh get himself out of the mess which slowed them down, but Josh eventually rebounded and managed to successfully serve all of their entrees, but Ramsay was angry at Rock and Brad for abandoning Josh, and told them that the customers were suffering because of them. Ramsay declared neither team a winner, but noted that Julia was the most consistent chef during the service and that her steak and shrimp dish, while initially rejected by the Red team, turned out to be the most popular without a single order being returned. He had her nominate a player from the Red team for elimination, while he instructed the blue team to come up with a nominee for elimination on their own.

Elimination: Julia selected Bonnie for elimination due to some of the mistakes she had made in service and the way she seems to get flustered during service. Rock and Josh both decided to vote Brad up for elimination, feeling that his leadership was responsible for the failure of their service. Ramsay called Bonnie's name giving everyone the impression that she was about to be sent home but he followed that by telling her to "wake up" and then eliminated Brad because while he had stepped up as leader, he only performed "as a cook" during the service, and also because he had attempted to sabotage Josh in the service, which Ramsay considered to be proof that Brad was not a team player.[13]

Ramsay's comment: "Brad was a hard worker. Unfortunately, he worked with his back rather than his brain. He lacked finesse to become a great chef."
308"5 Chefs Compete"July 23, 2007

Ramsay congratulated the chefs with champagne flutes, then sprayed them with champagne, with Josh being the only one brave enough to catch it in his mouth. He then told them to go upstairs and put on their black jackets, as they were all now one team.

Challenge: Each chef, individually had to prepare 100 portions of a dish for "trendsetters" with meals planned at least one week in advance[14]). They later learned the "trendsetters" was a high school class at Alhambra High School in Alhambra, California. Rock made Kobe beef hamburgers, Josh did salmon with pineapple salsa, Jen served baked chicken fettuccine with an herbed butter sauce, Bonnie made fried goat cheese on salad, and Julia prepared a grilled chicken and cheese sandwich with onion rings. Julia won the challenge with 51% of the votes (the DVD release of the season revealed the full results; Rock finished in second place with 25% of the votes, Jen and Bonnie got around 10% each, while Josh did not get a single vote and finished in last place), and her prize was to visit the Green Valley Ranch. She was allowed to pick one chef to go with her and eventually chose Jen.

Reward/punishment: Jen and Julia got a chance to see the Green Valley Ranch Resort, and also went to the Red Rock Resort to meet Heather West, the winner of the second season who gave them recipes she had created for her restaurant, and tips for the competition. The losers had to clean the dining room.

Service: During prep, Bonnie threw away monkfish and MaryAnn quickly found out. The united black team was tasked with serving all 100 tables in the restaurant. Josh got off to a bad start by pre-making too many risottos. Julia also struggled with forgetting things on the garnish station. Josh then pre-cooked spaghetti twice, bringing Ramsay to the edge. When he finally did get risottos out, every single one was returned because they were all undercooked. Chef had enough and kicked Josh out of the kitchen and off the show, but Josh was eliminated. Even Rock overcooked some scallops early in to service and after Rock forgetting to cook a turbot this lead Chef to say "Rock has hit rock-bottom". As service continued, Jen and Bonnie performed strongly, but Rock's short temper once again got the best of him, as he and Jen quarreled during the desserts stage repeatedly leading Ramsay to hit the overhead to break up their argument, to which Rock later admitted privately that he was at fault and apologized to Jen. Julia had more troubles on garnish, but recovered. In the end, the four chefs were able to successfully complete the dinner service.

Automatic elimination: Josh was eliminated during mid-service due to his consistent inability to serve a successful appetizer. This marks the first time in Hell's Kitchen history that a contestant was eliminated mid-service. He cooked risotto and spaghetti too early twice despite Chef telling him not to. The risottos he did get out were all sent back because they were undercooked. Ramsay was brought to the end of his patience and eliminated Josh. In fact, Josh did not even get a full elimination sequence (i.e., jacket hung on a spike and photo burned). Josh was shown leaving Hell's Kitchen via the delivery entrance, with his bags. In Fox Reality Channel's Reality Revealed, Josh thought that he wasn't getting kicked off immediately, so Josh turned around and was returning to the kitchen at the same time Ramsay went to the corridor and ordered him to hand over his jacket. If Ramsay never went to the back to see if Josh really left or not, Josh would have gone back into the kitchen and the confrontation would have escalated. At the start of episode 10 during a recap of the past episodes, Josh and Julia's pictures were burned side-by-side and their jackets got hooked simultaneously.

Elimination: Chef made it clear that even though Josh was already eliminated, one other chef would still be sent home tonight. Bonnie was declared the best of the service, and had to choose two for elimination. Nominating Rock was predictable as he was disliked by the other three women, but Bonnie was uncomfortable with putting up either Jen and Julia, as she had become close to them, mainly as they united against Melissa. While Jen and Julia had an even stronger bond, Bonnie did get along better with Jen while often arguing with Julia; Julia's weak dinner service further made her vulnerable. The choice wasn't easy as Ramsay was visibly troubled by the dilemma of picking between a very driven and talented chef and a chef that had grown and exhibited great potential. In the end, much to the shock and devastation of the other contestants, Ramsay eliminated Julia, though in a break from his usual heavy criticism, he heaped praise on how far she progressed in spite of her Waffle House background. In an unprecedented move so far on Hell's Kitchen, he said he would personally send Julia to culinary school and invite her to come back and win it all once she has finished.[15]

Ramsay's comment: "To become a great chef you must have a natural ability. Clearly, Julia does have it. All she needs is a little more experience. After that, she will be ready to run her own restaurant."
319"3 Chefs Compete"July 30, 2007

The episode started with Rock clearing the air with Jen, they reconciled. Bonnie states how she feels guilty about Julia being eliminated.

Challenge: Ramsay started the challenge by bringing in his mother and having her present her own macaroni and cheese and then producing his own in a more elegant version. He then told each chef to randomly select one of the 5 covered dishes and change it to a gourmet dish. Rock's turned out to be spaghetti, Bonnie's was Franks and Beans, and Jen's ended up being fried chicken. Bonnie carried on for several minutes about not knowing what Franks and Beans even was. After having 1 hour to complete their dishes Ramsay brought in their mothers to judge. Bonnie did an Italian version of beans and franks, mini bruschettas. She served it with a mushroom cream leek sauce. Rock did what he called a study of spaghetti, there was three different spaghettis. A cream sauce, a veal and a spicy chorizo and pork. Jen did a fried chicken roulade stuffed with crab meat, spinach and goat cheese. All three contestants were in tears at this surprise. Their mothers were sat with their backs to the chefs so that they did not know who made which dish which made the judging unbiased. Jen won the challenge after all three mothers chose her stuffed fried chicken breasts as the best dish.

Reward/punishment: Jen and Ramsay went to lunch with their mothers. Ramsay then dropped her off at a kitchen supply warehouse and gave her $1000 to go shopping with. At the end of the episode, Jen was shown spending almost $300 buying Kasumi steak knives for Bonnie and Rock. She felt like she really gained an edge in the competition by having this alone time with Ramsay. Rock and Bonnie had to work together to clean the dormitories where Bonnie complained the whole time. Rock noted that she knew surprisingly little about cleaning for being a professional Nanny. Bonnie admitted that she is really only a "Nanny" in that she sometimes watches her clients' kids while performing as their personal chef.

Service: Before dinner service, Ramsay had each contestant practice their angriest dressing down to his face. Bonnie noted how satisfying it was to have the rare opportunity to curse at Ramsay for a change. Jen struggled being serious but included many expletives to get her point across. Rock also struggled with coming across effectively. During service, Ramsay made each contestant work the pass, calling out orders and putting the finishing touches on dishes before handing them off to the servers. Ramsay tested each contestant on their leadership, time management, and quality control. He had sous-chefs Scott and Mary Ann deliberately sabotage dishes to see if the contestants would catch the mistakes. Jen was the first to work the pass, where she missed a spaghetti dish that went out without any crab, though she recovered her composure and caught a poorly prepared risotto. The others passed their quality control tests, though there were some problems as Rock was slow to pass dishes to servers and Bonnie became flustered when calling out orders. Nevertheless, Ramsay did not criticize the contestants as harshly as he had in the past and they completed the service effectively.

Elimination: Ramsay said that their service was the best ever in Hell's Kitchen and he would have a very difficult decision. All three went back to the dorm and Jen questioned Bonnie's motive for wanting to stay asking her if this is really what she wanted. Jen didn't feel as though this was a serious dream for Bonnie. All were called before Ramsay and explained their reasons to stay. Ramsay called Rock's name first, giving everyone the impression that he was about to be sent home, and said that he had made the final two. Ramsay then decided to eliminate Jen, recalling memories of her fine performances in the latter half of the season. After the elimination, Ramsay surprised Rock and Bonnie with a visit from Rock's wife and kids and Bonnie's parents. A tarp rolls down from above, symbolically splitting the restaurant into two sections for the next show.[16]
3210"2 Chefs Compete"August 6, 2007

Before the episode started, Josh's jacket was hung and his picture burned.

Remodeling: As with the previous seasons, Hell's Kitchen is separated into two sides, red side for Bonnie and blue side for Rock. Both chefs begin planning for their side of restaurant, including decor, staff uniforms and menus. Both chefs get to meet an architect which would help them complete what they want for their side of the restaurant, while Jean-Phillipe assists both with selection of their servers' uniforms. Bonnie wants to go with a French bistro feel where nothing matches, there are no booths, and servers are required to wear all black. Rock wants a simple black/black design with servers in jeans which Jean-Phillipe quickly dismissed. Bonnie's menu is reflective of her favorite dishes with her signature dish being her Prawn Fettuccine while Rock's is based on southern food with his Surf and turf of fried chicken and crab cakes as his starter. Bonnie seemed to flow with ideas about her restaurant while Rock struggled with deciding on most of the aspects.

Challenge: After they have selected their restaurant's decor, the two chefs travel to Las Vegas with Ramsay on a private plane and are given a tour of the Green Valley Ranch Resort. In a surprise challenge, Ramsay tells the final two they have thirty minutes to create their specialty dish (listed above) and present it to the top chefs of Las Vegas. The dishes are judged by seven judges, including other chefs from Las Vegas restaurants, Robin Leach, seasons one and two Hell's Kitchen winners Michael Wray and Heather West, respectively, and the duo of the owner and head chef of the Green Valley Ranch Resort who cast the deciding vote. Bonnie wins the challenge four votes to three.

The last six eliminated chefs Julia, Jen, Brad, Josh, Melissa and Vinnie are reunited with the final two. Julia was very emotional, struggling with the disappointment of not making it to the finale plus the fact that Bonnie chose Julia over Jen to be up on the chopping block in the first place and she privately admitted that she was rooting for Rock. Rock and Bonnie chose their team for the Season Finale, with Bonnie selecting first for winning the previous challenge. Bonnie chooses Jen, Melissa, and Julia, while Rock chooses Brad, Vinnie, and Josh. Bonnie's choosing of Melissa instead of Julia contributed to reopening Julia's bitterness. Rock passed over Julia knowing he would end up with Josh, saying that he understood Josh and more importantly because Julia's feelings could be a liability even though he considered her better than Josh. Ending up both retain the same team members they had from the start of the season and resulting in all-male and all-female teams. However, this episode ended with a cliffhanger of sorts.[17]
3311"Finale"August 13, 2007

Preparations: Continuing from previous episode, Rock organized his team like a military commander while Bonnie took a relaxed laid back approach. In the kitchen while planning recipes, Julia frequently snapped at Bonnie, while Rock convinces Josh that he is capable and just needs self-confidence to perform well. The two finalists present their appetizers and entrees to Ramsay; Bonnie's goat cheese salad and her signature prawn fettuccine, Rock's surf and turf (fried chicken and crabcakes) and rib eye steak, and Ramsay has only a few minor suggestions. However, he tells Bonnie that her truffle assortment is on the small side, while advising Rock to serve his milkshake (and cookies) in martini glasses instead of a huge tall glass. Ramsay then toured their halves of the restaurant asking for their redesign explanations and had no complaints. Before service starts, Ramsay presents Bonnie and Rock with their own head chef’s jackets.

Service: Rock's team struggled early with Josh overcooking the crabcakes and putting them 30 minutes behind. After a warning from Ramsay that Josh was ruining everything, Rock made a decisive move and switched Josh and Vinnie's positions, and from then on there were no more major problems. Rock pledged that he would work every station to make the food perfect and even started cooking dishes himself when the others couldn't handle. Bonnie's team started out strong on the appetizers, save for Melissa overcooking the prawns. However, they were soon plagued by lack of communications, particularly as Jen and especially Julia didn't take Bonnie seriously, and an emotional Julia defied orders which led to Bonnie tuning her out. They also began running out of fettuccine and prawns for the prawn fettuccine, while some dishes were being returned because they were undercooked or cold. Dessert went smoothly for both sides.

Winner: During the debrief, Ramsay asked each chef what they would have changed. Rock stated that he would have won the challenge to get Jen with the first pick, complimenting her cooking skills (which made Jen feel honored), while saying that Josh "really screwed up" and would have been left off his team (which slightly angered Josh). Bonnie admitted that she was not careful in monitoring portion sizes and thus running out of ingredients. Ramsay has no substantial criticism for either chef, only saying that "You both came out with leadership qualities", noting that Bonnie has improved her assertiveness while Rock was considered "rock-solid". Ramsay considered all aspects in making his decision, including how each chef ran the kitchen and every customer feedback card. Both Rock and Bonnie stood in front of the two doors and whoever's door opened would be the winner. Rock broke down in tears when his door opened and was declared the winner of Hell's Kitchen Season 3.[18]

Ramsay's comment: "Rock deserved to win Hell's Kitchen because he's a very confident cook and he has become a really good leader. He can motivate staff, he can create, all those qualities are not easy to find in one chef. Rock holds all of them."

Epilogue

Rock began working as the head chef of Green Valley Ranch's Terra Verde restaurant on September 10, 2007. After Rock's one-year contract expired, he left Green Valley Ranch's Terra Verde restaurant and as of December 2008 began working at Ben's Next Door in Washington, D.C.[19]

Rock later appeared during the show's fourth season on the June 3, 2008 episode, having dinner at his restaurant with that season's contestants, Jen and Corey, who won the challenge for the week. He also was one of the special VIP guests for Hell's Kitchen's "black-tie" 100th dinner service on October 13, 2010 alongside Christina Machamer (season 4), Danny Veltri (season 5) & Holli Ugalde (season 7). Rock made a guest appearance in the first episode of season 10 with Season 6 winner Dave Levey. Rock appeared with other previous winners, Dave Levey, Christina Machamer, Paul Niedermann, and Nona Sivley, in Episode 18 of Season 11 to face off with the final five in a dinner service. Ultimately, his team won. He then returned again in Season 12 along with Season 9 winner, Paul Niedermann and Season 10 second runner up, Dana Cohen where the three of them, along with Ramsay, judged to final seven contestants' dishes to decide which one to put on the Hell's Kitchen calendar. Rock also appeared in Season 13 as a guest at the 200th dinner service as a diner.

Aaron, who left the show early in the run for medical reasons, became a regular at the Saddle Ranch Chop House, a western-themed restaurant on Hollywood's Sunset Strip. Ramsay, along with members of Season 4's Red team, paid a visit to the Saddle Ranch during the show's fourth season and ran into Aaron there. In the first episode of Season 6, Aaron made another appearance in a video shown to that season's hopefuls, which showed him bursting into tears prior to that season's first dinner service. At the end of the video, Aaron told the contestants that "There's no crying in Hell's Kitchen." Aaron died on November 30, 2010 of diabetes-related complications.[20]

Bonnie later returned in the first episode of Season 6 and made an appearance in a video on the season's hopefuls, which showed her on using a pan on a stove with no gas on. Bonnie also returned in the 10th season, to face that season's final six chefs, along with other runners-up, who won by a narrow margin.

References

  1. ↑ "Hell's Kitchen casting". Fox.com. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  2. ↑ "Finale Ratings". Realityblurred.com. 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  3. ↑ "Graduates Compete in Top Cooking Shows". The Culinary Institute of America. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  4. ↑ Telvock, Dan (2007-06-05). "Spotsy man feeling the heat in 'Hell's Kitchen'". The Free Lance-Star. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  5. ↑ Ho, Rodney (2007-06-04). "The trouble with bubbles: A bored band". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  6. ↑ Harding, Margaret (2007-06-15). "'Hell's Kitchen' chef getting local taste of fame". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  7. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.01 recap Archived June 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.02 recap Archived June 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.03 recap Archived August 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. 1 2 Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.04 recap Archived June 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.05 recap Archived July 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.06 recap Archived July 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.07 recap Archived September 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ "Two Get Sent Home from 'Hell's Kitchen'". MSN. 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
  15. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.08 recap Archived August 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.09 recap Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  17. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.10 recap Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ↑ Fox.com - Hell's Kitchen - Episode 3.11 recap Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ↑ "TV Chef Brings Heat To Chili Bowl Venture". Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  20. ↑ "Aaron Song (1959 - 2010) - Find A Grave Memorial". Find A Grave. August 21, 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

External links

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