We've had quite the start to this season, as the ladies lost the first dinner service, and Polly found herself being the first one sent home.  Then, after Larry was sent to the hospital and out of the competition as a result, the ladies rebounded and it's the guys that found themselves on the losing side, with Gabe sent packing despite not being nominated.  Already, 1/4 of the initial dozen is gone, and for the remaining 9, it will only get tougher.

Fallout from a shocker

The teams return to the dorms after the shocking elimination of Gabe.  Garrett was especially stunned, as he was the one that nominated Tom and Giacomo, and both are still here.  Keith wishes that Tom would have been gone instead, because he felt Gabe only messed up that one dinner service.  Tom expressed how relieved he was when he was told by Ramsay to "get back in line".  Meanwhile, the ladies are expressing how shocked they still are, and Rachel said it best: "Just because you're not nominated, it no longer means that you're safe."

A cooking relay

The next morning, at 6:15AM, Heather is showing her previously-burned hand to some of the others, as we see that one of her fingers still has a bandage on it.  Then, the next minute, the phone rings.  Tom answers it...  Guess who?  Ramsay says that he wants everyone dressed and in the dining room immediately.  And with that, everyone moves as fast as they can, and at 6:20AM, everyone is in the dining room, lined up.  Well, almost everyone.  Sara is still in the dorms, taking some time to get changed.  She thought it was tacky that no one waited for anyone else.  Um, I wouldn't call "getting out into the dining room as fast as possible because Ramsay said so" tacky.  She finally gets out there 4 minutes later, and as far as Ramsay is concerned, it's about time.

The head chef then explains that in the past couple of dinner services, the same mistakes kept happening, and that communication and timing are 2 crucial elements for any team.  So, with that, the challenge this time is for the teams to each cook 3 entrées from the current menu.  The catch is that only one person per team can be in their respective kitchens cooking at a time.  Ramsay then asks the ladies to decide who is sitting out, to keep things even.  Heather volunteers herself, since her hand was burned the day before, and she wants to make sure that hand will be ready for the next dinner service.  Sara thinks it's not that much of a big deal.  Yeah, try saying that when your hand gets burned.

So, with the teams ready, Tom and Virginia step into the kitchen, and we hear that each person on a team will have 5 minutes in the kitchen to cook.  Ramsay then reveals what entrées they'll have to cook, but only to those 2: Chicken, Tortellini, and Salmon.  The other team members will each have to wait until they get into the kitchen to find out what the entrées are.  With that, the 20 minute time limit starts, and Tom and Virginia get going.  Tom finds some tortellini that was already prepared, and seems to plan on using them, while Virginia gets hers going from scratch.  With about 16:30 to go, Ramsay sees what Tom is doing, and says he's supposed to make fresh tortellini.  I guess we know who was doing it right, then.

15 minutes remain, and Giacomo and Rachel are up next.  Tom and Virginia each have 15 seconds to tell their teammates what needs to be done next.  They get the info through just fine, before they leave their teammates to continue the cooking.  Giacomo finishes up the tortellini, while Rachel takes care of some sauce for the salmon.  Giacomo does finish making the tortellini, ready to be cooked, before we reach the halfway mark.  Keith and Maribel are next.  Giacomo and Rachel get their info to their teammates, but despite Rachel mentioning what the 3 dishes were, Maribel only heard 2.  Uh-oh.  As a result, she only deals with the chicken and salmon, unaware that the tortellini is in a pot right in front of her.  Meanwhile, Keith, despite being told by Giacomo that the tortellini is ready for cooking, is making a new batch of it!  Geez, this is not looking good for either team.

Back in the dining room, Heather is trying to quietly encourage Sara, but she apparently didn't appreciate it.  Okay, Sara seems really annoying to me right now.  In the red kitchen, Ramsay tells Maribel that something is burning (the tortellini in the pot), and she looks everywhere to find out what it is.  Everywhere except the pot right in front of her, that is.  Methinks she needs glasses.  Then, with 5 minutes left, Garrett and Sara enter, and while Keith is getting his info to Garrett, Maribel complains to Sara about being cut off before finding out what the 3rd dish is.  Yeah, if you actually listened, you'd know that that wasn't the case...  So, with that, Sara goes to finish up the chicken and salmon without any idea about the tortellini.  And in the blue kitchen, Garrett didn't seem to understand what Keith said about the tortellini, and he starts making yet another new batch of it!  I'm starting to hope no one orders tortellini in the next dinner service...

When the time is up, Ramsay calls for the dishes to be put on the hot plate.  While Garrett brings up the 3 dishes, Sara only brings up 2.  Upon seeing this, Maribel knew that she screwed up, and Tom figured that the blue team had this one won.  Ramsay then notes that the men's tortellini doesn't have any sauce.  Tom asks to speak up, but Ramsay tells him to stand up straight, before mocking what Tom was doing (leaning on the counter).  Tom says Ramsay is lucky he had to sign a waiver saying he wouldn't hit anyone.  Frankly, I'd say Tom would be the lucky one.  Anyway, on to the chicken.  Both teams' chicken are nice, but the blue team's chicken has no sauce and a burnt lettuce.  Finally, the salmon.  Ramsay tastes the salmon, then declares that the winners are... the red team!  Ramsay compliments the ladies on at least pulling off 2 complete dishes, then mentions that the men's salmon was missing a few things.

With that, Ramsay gives the men their punishment: Cleaning laundry.  And man, is there ever a lot of it!  He then tells the women to get changed, as they're heading out for the day.  They then run to the dorms, obviously excited, and after some dancing, they get changed.  Meanwhile, Tom is thinking that the ladies should have lost, due to what the punishment is.  He says he's not being sexist, but after hearing what he said, I'm not so sure...

The battle of the sexes really heats up

Later that day, the ladies meet Ramsay at Marina Del Rey, CA, where he tells them that they'll be staying on a nice boat for the day.  And man, is it ever nice!  JP serves them champagne as they board the boat, and they are in awe of what's inside.  They then have a toast to the "laundry boys".  Speaking of whom, we see the guys in the back, having to wash everything by hand!  For a bit, Tom is standing there, and despite his saying in a confessional that he's not gonna use a washboard, we see him using one.  Yeah.

Back on the boat, Ramsay tells the ladies that whoever wins this thing will be dealing with not 4, but about 15 or 20 cooks in the kitchen.  After giving them some more insight, Ramsay says he has to get going.  As he leaves, Virginia says to him, "Miss me!"  I know I've said this before, and I have a feeling it won't be the last time I say this, but I'll just leave it at that.  And the guys are still doing the laundry.  But as they do, they seem to also verbally getting themselves ready for the next dinner service.  Well, at least they have plenty of determination.  As they get the laundry on the clotheslines, the ladies are relaxing on the boat, and generally having a good time.

As the guys are ironing, while continuing to verbally prepare for the next dinner service, the ladies return, and they're telling the guys what they did.  Then, as the ladies head back to the dorms, Garrett makes a comment about "women having the men's dinner done when they get home from work".  This offends Heather.  She feels that that comment crossed the line.  (Frankly, I may be a guy, but I'd have to agree.)  So, later, after the guys are done doing the laundry, Heather heads over to confront Garrett about it.  Garrett is busy writing something while Heather explains how it offended her.  Garrett then says that he doesn't really care if it's a man or a woman.  Um, okay.  Heather says that the ladies have to work twice as hard, but Garrett says he feels he's not getting enough respect from them.  And that's all we'll see from that, as Heather says she wants to see Garrett gone next.

Garrett then explains to the other guys that the women seem to be rallying behind the whole "men vs. women" bit, saying that they feel they have something to prove to the world, and the guys need to figure out whether they want to really be here.  And it turns out that the women are hearing this, and Sara thinks they're "talking smack".  But Garrett says that he has something to prove to the world, and Keith says he does too.  Garrett tells them to think about that.  And Heather just mockingly brags in private that the girls are whippin' the guys' butts.  I'd say that essentially proves Garrett's point about them rallying behind the whole "men vs. women" bit.

The drive to win

The next morning, a focused blue team is looking to get an early start on their prep, while the red team is waiting for Maribel, who is starting to feel homesick.  She misses her family.  But the other ladies are trying to get her to hurry up.  She eventually gets out there, and the ladies begin their prep.  Maribel is still feeling blue due to her homesickness, but Heather doesn't seem to care, as she wants the team to pull together.  Meanwhile, the blue team shows that they're really focused this time, and they certainly don't plan on losing again.  In the red kitchen, the ladies plan on winning, but Heather says to just worry about getting the food out, and deal with winning later.  I'd say that's a good idea.  But Sara shows in a confessional that she pretty much hates Heather.  Can we say "rivalry brewing"?  Ramsay then gathers the teams and tells them that they need to complete this service, before getting them back to their positions.

Could it get any worse?

It's 7PM.  The doors are open.  The customers file in and start ordering.  Sara and Keith are on appetizers, so it's up to them to get things going.  Ramsay tells Keith not to slop things up, then we see Keith tasting some of the food.  A customer sees this, too, and mentions it to the others at his table.  Ramsay then tells Keith to not just stuff his hand into the food.  Ramsay keeps talking to him, and at one point, tells him to pull his pants up.  After seeing Keith bending over to get something, that seems like a good idea.  Heck, the table that saw him like that says that they hope they're not getting their food from that guy.  I don't blame them.  Garrett then starts whistling, and Ramsay tells him to stop.  Garrett explains that he's just trying to focus, and Ramsay basically says that's good, as long as he doesn't whistle.  In the red kitchen, while Sara is trying to cook, Heather is continually giving advice.  Ramsay then calls for an order, asking for a time, and both speak up.  Ramsay asks for a time again, but only from Sara this time, and she says "1 minute".  Ramsay then explains to Heather that it's Sara's section, so it's Sara's call.  Sara seems happy with that.

At 7:30PM, both teams have started out well, with appetizers flying from both kitchens.  But soon enough, Giacomo seems to have a problem; an oven that he needs to use is cold, and has been cold for a while.  He says this to sous-chef Scott, who then points out the cause: it's not on.  Yeah, how can you not notice that?  Sure enough, Ramsay yells at Giacomo for this.  Garrett whistles again, and is again asked to stop.  With that, he starts quietly humming.  He'd better not let Ramsay hear that...  Back in the red kitchen, Heather is getting entrées prepared, and when Ramsay asks where the red-wine sauce is, she points it out.  But he then asks what it looks like to her.  Heather says "colored water".  Ramsay yells at her about making sure that what she cooks is perfect.  And during this, Sara is smiling.

Over with the blue team, Keith is getting the last of the appetizers ready, and he asks Tom to make some more tomato sauce since he's running low.  Scott says there's not enough time, and Garrett ends up finding more sauce for him.  But Tom already started, and he's a bit annoyed when Keith says it's not needed anymore.  Yet, he continues, and Ramsay wonders why.  Tom says he was asked to do it, but Keith says he didn't need it anymore.  Tom isn't happy with that one bit.

At 8:10PM, Sara and Virginia are helping Heather with the entrées for their 5th table, but the men are waiting for Giacomo.  Again.  He is asked by Ramsay how pink a duck is, and he says it isn't.  He is then asked if there's another duck resting, and he says yes.  But he is unable to prove it, and Ramsay asks him why he's lying.  Giacomo apologizes, and Ramsay calls him useless.  With that, the team is at a standstill, and Ramsay has had enough.  He then says he's gonna do something he had never done in Hell's Kitchen before.  What he does is has the members of the team switch sections.  Wait a minute, this seems familiar...  Oh, that's right; he did this last season as well, with the final 4!  Hmm...

Anyway, he has Giacomo go from meat to fish, and Keith ends up on the meat section.  When he tried to find out where some Wellingtons went, Giacomo said he threw them out, due to being overcooked.  Um, yeah.  And then, Tom burns his hand on a pan.  He's hurting for a bit, and the others look at it.  But it turns out it's not nearly as bad as Heather's burn from last week.  It still seems to be hurting Tom, though, but he then gets into a bit of a verbal fight with Keith, in which the tomato sauce situation is brought up again.  And we then see customers who have been waiting at a blue table for 2 hours.  They seem to enjoy the bread, but they would really like something different.  Like, oh, I don't know, entrées?

Speaking of which, at this point, the ladies have managed to serve half of their entrées.  And the lamb Wellington has been a popular item, putting pressure on Maribel, who is on meat.  Heather reminds her that 8 people ordered that dish, but upon checking to see how many she has, she's 2 short.  Heather then says that Maribel should let Ramsay know about this, and Maribel does so.  Ramsay doesn't like the sound of that, but then, Sara tries to tell him "We're good".  Bad move, Sara.  Needless to say, she gets yelled at.  He then tells Maribel to make the remaining 2 Wellingtons from scratch, before calling her "useless".

At 9:05PM, the guys have finally gotten 2 entrées out.  And Tom is still complaining about his hand.  Ramsay notices, and gets a good look at it.  Ramsay says the hand looks okay, then goes on and calls Tom a "big drama queen".  Then, JP heads over and says that the customers at Table 37 are threatening to walk out.  Ramsay calls for a time for the entrées at that table (1 Wellington & 1 duck), and Maribel says 7 minutes.  Ramsay asks JP if the table can wait that long, and he goes off to ask.  Then, Ramsay calls Maribel over, and has her check the meat in a Wellington.  It's supposed to be cooked rare, but it's not even cooked.  It's cold.  Ramsay yells at her some more, telling her to "get a grip".  At Table 37, one of the customers asks to speak to Ramsay.  JP is hesitant about it.  I don't blame him for that.

Meanwhile, at the blue kitchen, Tom is dealing with the veggies, but when Ramsay is asking about what's going on, Tom says they ran out of mashed potatoes.  Ramsay yells at him for it, as he tries to say he's looking for it.  At this point, we see that some customers are paying attention to the yelling from the blue kitchen.  Ramsay asks Keith where the potatoes went, and he said they were burned.  Ramsay then asks Tom if he burned them, and Tom says yes.  He then asks Tom if he stopped caring, and after a bit, Tom says he cares about making a fool of himself.  Ramsay congratulates him for doing so.  At this point, Tom may want to care about hoping his team wins, or he could be the next to go.

Back to Table 37.  One of the customers from that table comes to the hot plate with JP, and of course, she's wondering what's taking so long.  Ramsay tells Maribel that she's there, and asks for a time; Maribel says 45 seconds.  The customers says she'll walk out if it takes longer than 45 seconds.  The countdown starts.  Soon enough, Maribel brings the entrées to the hot plate in time, but Ramsay notes that she screwed it up again.  And with that, without waiting for the 45 seconds to run out, the ladies from Table 37 leave.  Maribel tries to say she has some ready, but it's too late.  Ramsay then yells at her about having given up so easily.  Yeah, I'd say he's really irate at this point.  So irate, in fact, that he has the kitchens shut down early once again.

Yet another disaster

The teams are again lined up in the blue kitchen, and Ramsay expresses his disappointment that they again failed to complete the dinner service.  He then says that Sara was by far the best on the women's team on this night, and they would have been on the verge of completing the service if it wasn't for Maribel.  He then calls Giacomo's performance "phenomenally bad", and wishes that Tom would cook more.  And with that, the men lose again.  Ramsay then decides to do this a bit differently this time; he asks each of them to nominate one teammate for elimination, since none of them were good enough to be considered safe.

Back at the dorms, Keith isn't sure whether to pick Tom or Giacomo.  Though Giacomo feels that he did the worst tonight, he essentially pleads to Keith that he doesn't want to go home.  Tom says he won't lobby, as he's apparently willing to accept whatever fate comes to him this time.  He then goes and tells Keith that he didn't quit.  But Keith still doesn't like how Tom worked on this day.  Then, a bit later, Garrett and Keith talk for a bit, and Garrett says it's like Tom did quit.  They then talk about how hard it is to pick between 2 quitters, even though Garrett already seems to have made up his mind (Tom).  And they don't seem to mind seeing both Tom and Giacomo leaving, and having 1 or 2 of the ladies possibly switch to their side.  Yeah, I don't blame them one bit, though if it does happen, Garrett may want to hope Heather doesn't switch to their side...  And Tom is outside, talking to himself about how he screwed up.

Do they really "equally suck"?

Again, the men line up in the dining room, ready for elimination.  As the ladies again watch, Ramsay starts by asking for Tom's nomination.  Naturally, he chooses Giacomo, simply because "the oven wasn't on".  Giacomo, naturally, chooses Tom, because he feels he's a loose cannon.  Garrett chooses Tom (as expected), because when talking to him, Tom kept saying what went wrong, and said nothing about how they could fix it.  Keith chooses... Tom, because he needs someone on his team that won't give up.  So, that makes it 3 votes for Tom, and 1 for Giacomo.  But in the end, it's still up to Ramsay to decide who leaves, so he has both of them step forward.

Ramsay then gives each of them 10 seconds to convince him that they should stay.  Giacomo says he'll learn from his mistakes, and he'll do everything that he can for the team.  Tom claims to he the "sharpest, smartest guy here", though he's not the best cook.  Um, okay.  We then see flashbacks of Giacomo's apparent lying, and Tom being asked if he stopped caring.  Ramsay then says that it is a tough decision, but the one that will be going home this time is... Giacomo.  Yeah, I think not knowing that the oven wasn't on was one of quite a few reasons as to why he was sent packing.  Ramsay then tells Tom that he dodged another bullet, and he has Giacomo to thank for being a little worse.

Next week, the restaurant opens for lunch for the first time ever, and the chefs will have to feed a group of kids.  Plus, things get ugly, as one of the chefs will apparently sabotage the others.  Things will really get intense, and they say that no one will be safe this time...