Hell’s Kitchen S18E8: One Hell of a Party

In Hell’s Kitchen S18E8 recap, we meet Gordon’s charming daughter and see yet another veteran HK contestant crash and burn. Or maybe more fittingly, go out raw.

Hell’s Kitchen S18E8 recap opens this week with a reminder of the festering dislike between Trev and Scotley. These two really rub each other the wrong way. Trev is talking to Bret about how he needs to see Scotley go home. Bret obtusely asks if it is because Scotley is too talented. Trev tries to explain that he thinks that Scotley has the wrong attitude and is unprofessional, but I think it mostly has to do with Scotley’s teasing.

We move on to the first challenge. Ramsay calls the chefs to the dining room and tells them that most chefs will tell you their love of cooking started at a young age. He asks them to close their eyes and remember back to being young and first falling in love with cooking.

While their eyes are closed, Marino brings in a large screen. When they open their eyes, they are treated to larger-than-life photos of their young selves on the screen. Ramsay even includes Marino, Christina and Jocky in the embarrassment. The best photo is young Jocky in his kilt. Marino then surprises Ramsay with photos of a young Gordon, looking quite handsome, so I’m sure the photos were carefully selected for minimal embarrassment to the chef.

Ramsay then explains that they have a guest who also fell in love with cooking at a young age. “She comes from a culinary family. Her father is a well-known chef, a restauranteur. And at just fifteen years of age, she is already making a name for herself in the culinary world.” He then introduces his daughter Tilly.

All the interactions with Tilly are frankly adorable. He asks her how her flight was (long) and how her boyfriend is (I don’t have one!) and then says, “good, good! Keep it like that!”

Dinner service will be Tilly’s sweet sixteen birthday party. The challenge today is to create a selection of two appetizers and three entrees (one vegetarian) in forty-five minutes for her to sample. Tilly will have the one and only vote and can choose as many or as few of the options presented as she would like. The team with the most acceptable dishes wins.

HELL’S KITCHEN: Veteran Heather Williams in the “One Hell of a Party” episode of HELL’S KITCHEN airing Friday, Dec. 7 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2018 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX

As the teams cook, Gordon has a private meeting with Tilly. Well, private plus a camera crew and all of us. Tilly asks him to control his temper- no swearing! He can only tell her that he will try his best. He also asks what she wants for dessert. She wants every guest to have their own four-tiered cake. He tells her, “OK. You’ve just given me an idea for a punishment then.” Knowing that making cake will be the punishment and guessing that they will also have to decorate for the party, I predict the men will lose. It is always more fun to watch the men fumble with décor.

It is time for tasting. The appetizers are up first. Motto’s seared tuna with vegetables cut into cute fireworks shapes and Kanae’s Asian kebab are both accepted. Roe’s pan-seared scallops with pesto shaped in a T for Tilly is refused for the addition of a blob of ricotta. Scotley’s scallops crudo is also rejected.

For entrees, Mia’s creamy mushroom fricassee with crispy tofu and rosemary foam receives a yes. Also accepted are Jose’s fish and chips with mango mojo, Heather’s filet mignon with red onion jam, and Ariel’s haystack of crispy sweet potato threads over chicken. Refused are Trev’s broccoli and bok choy masala with tofu and Bret’s meat sauce baked ziti.

The women win four to the men’s two dishes and are rewarded with a day at a Malibu mansion complete with trampoline, pool, and artisan ice cream truck.

HELL???S KITCHEN: (L-R) Veteran Ariel Fox, rookie Kanae Houston, rookie Mia Castro, veteran Heather Williams and veteran Roe DiLeo in the “One Hell of a Party” episode of HELL???S KITCHEN airing Friday, Dec. 7 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2018 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX

The men must make all the cakes and also create tissue paper flowers for the backdrop of the photo booth. As expected, the men struggle with the tissue paper and before long, Bret says he feels like he is having a heart attack. He goes back to the dorm sweating and complaining of chest pain. The medic comes in followed by an ambulance but this time, Bret refuses to leave. In his original season, he left early due to a back problem. He refuses the recommendation to go to the hospital and goes back to work. He later says he thinks it was anxiety rather than a heart attack.

It is time for dinner service. Ramsay tells them that “you guys devised literally two thirds of the men so I’m looking for a smooth service.” The menu consists of the Hell’s Kitchen staple items plus the new dishes the teams created today. Considering that a lot of the menu is brand new and probably not being cooked by the chef who conceived it, this seems like a naïve hope for Ramsay.

HELL’S KITCHEN: (L-R) Host/chef Gordon Ramsay and Matilda Ramsay in the “One Hell of a Party” episode of HELL’S KITCHEN airing Friday, Dec. 7 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2018 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX

We start the night off with Ramsay posing with Tilly in the photo booth. And that is where his smiles end. Right away, the women struggle as Kanae butchers the tuna as she cuts it. Heather has to take over cutting all the tuna for the rest of the night. Other than that, the appetizers seem to go out smoothly, but things begin to spiral for the women once entrees come in.

Roe is on the meat station. Her first strip steak is raw. She sends up a refire. Throughout the night, we get narration of the action from Tilly who, for a girl who asked her dad to tone it down, seems to delight in the traditional HK temper tantrums.

She watches him slice the refired steak. “Oh, he smiled. That’s a good thing. On no. It wasn’t a smile.” Tilly then puts her drink down and swivels in her chair to watch what happens next. Ramsay tells the women, “I’m not gonna *beep* swear in front of the *beep* kids” and brings them to the pantry. The refire is raw, too.

Roe tries again. This time, her refire is OK and goes out.

HELL’S KITCHEN: Host/chef Gordon Ramsay in the “One Hell of a Party” episode of HELL’S KITCHEN airing Friday, Dec. 7 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2018 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX

Now it’s Mia’s turn to stumble. She gets a couple of her fish and chips sent back for lack of batter, and then she gets the batter right and sends up raw fish. Gordon is clearly aggravated with the women’s team at this point, and now they have been given Tilly’s table.

Ariel is cooking halibut for the table and accidentally sends up the wrong halibut. The one she sends is undercooked and it is the final straw for Ramsay. He throws the raw fish (much to the delight of Tilly) and kicks the women out of the kitchen.

Ramsay calls Motto, Scotley and Jose to the women’s kitchen to finish dinner service, which they do brilliantly. In general, the men did exceptionally well in service.

HELL’S KITCHEN: Matilda Ramsay and Host/chef Gordon Ramsay (C) with contestants in the “One Hell of a Party” episode of HELL’S KITCHEN airing Friday, Dec. 7 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2018 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX

After much debate, the women nominate Roe and Mia. Roe accepts her mistakes but Mia blames Kanae for setting up her station. She claims that Kanae did not have batter on the station before dinner service. The rest of the team disagree and assure Ramsay the batter was there, and even if it had not been, they say it is Mia’s station so it is her responsibility.

Despite her deflection, Ramsay saves Mia and sends Roe home. As we have seen with past exiting veterans, Ramsay just doesn’t see the fire and hunger in Roe anymore. We end the episode with the men excited to see Mia staying as they are sure her blaming others for tonight will cause rifts in the women’s team.

Best line tonight goes to Tilly who tells her tablemates, “he’s never shouted at me. He’s not scary at home.” Seeing Ramsay interact with his daughter was really cute, and I hope she had fun. This was certainly a unique version of bring your daughter to work day!