By Stephen Ur –
Season 24 of Hell’s Kitchen, also known as Battle of the States, continued over the last two weeks at Foxwoods Casino and Resort in Mashantucket, CT. So far, only one chef had been eliminated from the competition – Maddy, the sous chef from New York.
In the second challenge, both teams cooked a breakfast for all different police departments from around the state of Connecticut. The blue team won the challenge, finishing service before the red team, and were rewarded with a tour of the Mystic Aquarium.
Despite winning the challenge, one chef on the blue team still wasn’t feeling high spirits. Chase, the executive chef from Montana, was feeling the pressure of the upcoming dinner service.
Feeling as if he would have as bad a performance as he did opening night, Chase told Gordon Ramsay that the pressure and stress of Hell’s Kitchen was spiraling him into a mental space he had got himself in when he went through a divorce two years prior. Due to this, he stepped down from the competition.
For the second consecutive dinner service, both teams were kicked out of the kitchen and were asked to choose two nominees for elimination. The red team chose Alexandra, the executive chef from Oregon, and Elaina, the line cook from South Carolina, while the blue team chose Antonio, the executive chef from New Hampshire, and Paul, the sous chef from Colorado.
Paul was eliminated, but Ramsay wasn’t done. Elaina wound up being the third chef of the episode to hand her chef’s jacket to Chef Ramsay, ending her dream of becoming the head chef at Foxwoods Casino and Resort.
In Episode 4, the chefs went out to Stonington, CT, where on a dock, they had to identify seven different types of fish out of a pile dropped out of a net. The women identified all seven before the men, but the challenge wasn’t over yet.
The chefs then had to cook all seven fish, each team going against each other. The men outlasted the women, earning an overnight stay at a mansion in Newport, RI.
Anaiya, the sous chef from Delaware, used the punishment pass she won in the second challenge to join the men on their reward. Antonio, who bested Anaiya in the challenge, was picked to replace her in the red team’s punishment.
In the third dinner service, both teams were able to complete a full service, but Cat, the private chef from Maryland, was eliminated due to her struggles on the garnish station.
As it had been in the prior elimination, Ramsay wasn’t done yet. Despite winning service, he asked Bradley, the co-owner of a restaurant from Louisiana, to step forward. Ramsay then sent the rest of the chefs back to the dorms.
This would conclude episode 4 with a ‘to be continued’ running across the screen. Will Bradley be eliminated? Find out next week on an all new Hell’s Kitchen: Battle of the States. Episode 5 will air Thursday, Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.