by Stephen Ur
In Episode 7 of Hell’s Kitchen: Battle of the States, the chefs were welcomed by a mariachi band in the dorm with the last man having a sign on his back that said “follow me” on it. The chefs followed the band downstairs, where Chef Gordon Ramsay surprised them with a wack-a-mole called Guac-a-Mole.
In the challenge, each chef stood in a hole in the middle of a table shaped as an avocado and had to smack an avocado that popped out of a bowl with a protein written on it. They were then to use those proteins to make a Mexican dish.
Joining Ramsay in the tasting portion of the challenge was Garbiela Camara, owner of the Contramar Restaurant. Las Vegas chef Ellie went against Georgia chef Jon in the battle of pork tenderloin, and it was John who took the point for the blue team.
In the end, with the blue team in the lead, it came down to Florida chef Jada going against California chef Lisa in the battle of the skirt steak. The point went to Jada, giving the blue team the 5-3 victory.
Their reward consisted of a Mexican lunch, a spa trip, and a fiesta pool party. Meanwhile, the red team’s punishment had them making tortillas by hand.
At dinner service, Massachusetts chef chef overcooked the lobster for the lobster risotto, but was able to quickly bounce back. The red team, meanwhile, undercooked their first scallops.
The blue team then began having appetizers flying out of the kitchen while the red kitchen had very little coming out. After Lisa sent up a second messed up order of scallops, Ramsay sent Jada back into the red kitchen momentarily to try and motivate them.
Back in the blue kitchen, Jon put Mexican cheese in the fries instead of parmesean and the pork came up raw. As they did with the lobster, however, they bounced back on both misfires.
The red team sent up dry pork themselves and once again, Ramsay called on Jada to try and talk them out of the funk they found themselves in. Once again, they were able to bounce back.
On his next order of fries, not only did Jon not put parmesean cheese on his fries – he didn’t put any cheese on them at all. Chris then sent up overcooked New York strips, but was also able to come back on his refire.
The red team’s troubles continue, missing cilantro on one of their garnishes and raw salmon and chicken. This forced Ramsay to kick them out of the kitchen.
Unfortunately, the blue kitchen also saw themselves kicked out of the kitchen, and both teams were told to pick two chefs to put up for elimination.
The red team chose Alexandra and North Carolina chef Cyndi while the blue team nominated Jon and Texas chef Henry. In the end, it was Jon who saw his dream of becoming a head chef at Foxwoods Casino and Resort in Mashantucket, CT.
Episode 8 will air next Thursday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. The episode will also be available for streaming the next day on Hulu.