Hell's Kitchen: Head Chefs Only episode 9 recap: “Lonely In the Kitchen”

Catching up on the latest episode of Hell’s Kitchen? Here are the main points from episode 9, titled “Lonely In the Kitchen.”

It’s rare in Hell’s Kitchen when everyone succeeds in impressing Chef Ramsay on a challenge. Usually, you would have a couple of people make one big mistake, ultimately costing the losing team the challenge. But this episode saw a rare time when everyone’s dishes were good.

When this challenge required one chef to leave the kitchen each time while everyone was preparing a menu, some contestants were less than confident with their dishes, like Brittany, who chose to make dumplings fresh instead of using the wonton wrappers due to the 45-minute time limit.

Even Whit admitted she should’ve used the wonton wrappers from the start. Thankfully for Brittany, her Wagyu pork dumpling earned her a point. Everyone made Ramsay an innovative dish, making it a 5-5 tie in the final round. To break the tie, Ramsay chose the best dish of the day: Hannah’s pan-seared scallop, a play on cioppino that won the challenge for the women.

Lulu’s very awkward elimination

That night’s dinner service was terrible for the Blue Team. Lulu, who was at the meat station all night, struggled to get any of her Wellington out, sending up an ice-cold Wellington and a raw New York strip that got the blue team kicked out of the kitchen. Lulu also struggled to communicate with the rest of her team, especially Kyle, who also failed to communicate with the team when asking about scallops for an order.

Kyle also sent up a raw halibut as well. Of course, Lulu and Kyle were both nominated and gave their pleas. Since Lulu was already in the cook-for-your-life challenge in the last episode, there was a much higher risk of her getting eliminated, and tonight proved she wasn’t ready to be Ramsay’s next head chef and the winner of Hell’s Kitchen: Head Chefs Only in Foxwoods Resorts. She was sent home.

We did get to see a little bit of awkwardness after she got her jacket and went to the door, as she just stood there for several seconds until Ramsay told her the door wasn’t automatic and had to be pushed open. Yikes.