Last time, Aaron had to drop out due to an illness, and Joanna was given the boot for not knowing that the crab she was using was spoiled.  There are 8 left, and there's still a long way to go...

Life in Hell('s Kitchen)

As we see the teams return to the dorms, Bonnie says that the ladies' morale was down, after how terrible they were.  And just about everyone agreed that Jen taking spaghetti out of the trash and attempting to cook it was a stupid move.  Even Jen knew that it was dumb, as in an aside, she says the pressure caused her to lose her judgment.  In the end, Bonnie said it best; they're running on no sleep, and they're in Hell.

The importance of a good palate

The next morning, the teams are lined up in the dining room, and Ramsay asks Jen to stay away from bins this time.  He then asks Vinnie if he had any nightmares, and he pretty much confirms it.  Ramsay says they still have a lot to learn.  He explains the importance of taste, and they're about to push their palates to the extreme.  That's because it's time for the blind taste test.  Each chef will taste 3 different foods while blindfolded and wearing headphones playing loud music, and they must identify those foods using taste alone.  Whichever team gets the most wins.  Julia and Brad are up first, and after getting the blindfolds and headphones, Ramsay makes sure they can't see or hear him (by calling Brad a "sack of ****" and waving his hands in front of them).  With that, it's time to begin.

Round 1: Julia vs. Brad

1. American Cheese - Julia gets it, but Brad says cheddar.  Close, but not close enough.  [1-0 Red]

2. Fried Chicken - They both got it.  [2-1 Red]

3. Boiled Carrots - Brad thought it was papaya, and Julia thought it was radish.  [After 1 round: 2-1 Red] 

Julia gives the ladies an early lead, going into the next pairing...

Round 2: Melissa vs. Rock

1. Egg Yolk - Rock nails it, but Melissa goes with potato.  [2-2]

2. Boiled Potatoes - Simple enough for both of them.  [3-3]

3. Venison - Rock says "either chicken or turkey"; Melissa says "steak".  [After 2 rounds: 3-3]

Thanks to Rock, the score is now tied, as we continue...

But before we do, with blindfold and headphones on, Bonnie suddenly says that she can hear Ramsay!  This spooks him, and gets some laughter from the others (except Josh, who can't hear).  Ramsay makes an adjustment to her headphones, then asks Bonnie if she can hear him this time.  Bonnie says, "What?"  This prompts Vinnie to whisper that she can hear him.  Considering the timing of her "What?", I'd say he had a reason to be suspicious.  Then, Ramsay asks again, and this time, gets no response.  That's better.  Now, moving on...

Round 3: Bonnie vs. Josh

1. Lobster - Bonnie thought it's langoustine, and Josh thought it's scallops.  [3-3]

2. Bok Choy - Bonnie got it, but Josh says it's radish.  [4-3 Red]

3. Pear - Bonnie didn't have a problem with it, but Josh did, going with mango.  [After 3 rounds: 5-3 Red]

Well, with 1 round left, the guys are in a pickle.  Down by 2 points with 3 to go, they can still win, but Vinnie needs to get all 3 to stand a chance, though he can still possibly tie it up with 2.  Of course, that's assuming Jen doesn't get any; she can get 1 to guarantee at least a tie, and 2 will seal a victory for the ladies.  With that in mind...

Round 4: Jen vs. Vinnie

1. Seared Tuna - Vinnie takes his time, then says "Pancetta".

At this point, Ramsay ends the challenge.  Now, I know what you're thinking: "Okay, so now, the best the men can do is a tie.  So why end it now, when a tie is still possible?"  Frankly, I don't know.  Maybe Jen got the seared tuna right and they just didn't show it, maybe Ramsay forgot that a tie was still possible, maybe there's a rule where a tie goes to whoever won the previous challenge...  Again, I don't know.

Either way, the red team has won another one.  Ramsay says that as a reward, they'll get an amazing dining experience.  As for the blue team, their punishment is to prep both kitchens for the next dinner service, which happens to be tonight!  Oh, but first, they'll get a unique dining experience of their own; their lunch consists of "beef liver, tongue, pigs' feet, tripe, kidneys"...  Stuff like that.  Gross stuff.  With that, everyone heads back to the dorms; the ladies to get dressed, and the guys to prepare for an icky lunch.

Cheating?

In the backyard, Brad and Vinnie bring up the fact that, for a moment, Bonnie could hear Ramsay despite the headphones.  Vinnie adds that there's too many conspiracy theories going on.  He then goes and asks Bonnie about her saying that she could hear Ramsay, adding that she even identified the part of the bok choy that Ramsay mentioned.  Bonnie gets ticked that it sounded to her like an accusation of cheating.  Vinnie tells her that he wasn't calling her a cheater, but she's apparently thinking otherwise.  Then, as the ladies are on their way to the reward, she mentions this to the other women, and they couldn't believe it.

In the dining room, the guys have dishes in front of them, and Scott tells them exactly what is on their plate, before giving them barf bags, just in case.  Meanwhile, the ladies meet Ramsay at a nice place, and promises them a unique dining experience.  It turns out that they're at Opaque, and the experience is dining in the dark.  So, we get infrared cameras to see what they can't see.  After being led to their table, Ramsay decides to throw bits of a dinner roll at them, just for fun.  Yeah, that definitely qualifies as a unique dining experience.  Back at Hell's Kitchen, the men are eating the disgusting food, and Rock is clearly disgusted.

At Opaque, Ramsay and the ladies manage a toast, despite not seeing where each others' glasses are, then one of them compliments his voice.  Bonnie thought it was easier to talk to Ramsay in the dark!  On the other hand, Rock seems like he's ready to throw up.  Brad was afraid of a domino effect; if Rock threw up, then one by one, the rest of them would as well.  Soon enough, Rock gets up and heads to the restroom.  Soon enough, the red team returns, and they head straight to the dorms to rest up for the dinner service, as the blue team does the prepping for both kitchens.

With a few minutes to go, both teams line up in the red kitchen, and Ramsay announces that tonight, their fate is in the hands of the customers.  Their comment cards will determine the winner this time.  With that, Ramsay gets them going in their kitchens.

Trying to get the Wellington right

Once again, the doors of Hell's Kitchen open at 7PM.  Orders are taken, and Ramsay likes the current atmosphere.  He then tells JP to inform him immediately of any complaining from the customers.  In the blue kitchen, Josh has a risotto ready, but Ramsay says to put it back on, because it's not cooked properly.  He shows how it's supposed to be done, then tells the guys to get a grip.  In the red kitchen, Bonnie looks at Julia's scallops, and says that they're overcooked.  Melissa asks if Julia is ready, and she says she needs an extra minute.  Melissa doesn't seem to be listening.  Ramsay asks what's going on, and Julia mentions the overcooked scallops.  He then yells at Melissa for trying to get ahead of everyone else.  But at least she's doing something, unlike Josh.  At this point, he doesn't have anything going, and Ramsay yells at him about it.  With that, he gets Josh and Rock to switch stations.

At 7:45PM, customers at blue tables are now enjoying appetizers thanks to Rock.  So, it's on to entrées for them, and Vinnie is on the meat station.  But he's struggling with it; he needs more time for the Wellington, because he overcooked 4 of them.  Ramsay is obviously disappointed.  Back in the red kitchen, Bonnie is also struggling with the meat station, but with chicken.  But when Ramsay asks if she just cut some chicken in half and put it in the pan, she doesn't seem to know what he's talking about.  This causes Ramsay to yell at her about the answers that she has been giving during service.  And there's more problems; the chicken is dry, and there appears to be uncertainty about which chicken is for what.  Bonnie said a moment ago that a certain chicken was in, but it turns out that it wasn't in yet.  Now, Ramsay is yelling at her about lying!  This isn't looking good for her at all.

2 hours in, and despite everything that went on, the red team has served 14 entrées, compared to 6 from the blue team.  We see JP telling customers at a table about a delay in main courses, and one of them has decided to head up to the hot plate herself to find out what's going on.  I was wondering when we were going to see this happen...  Ramsay asks JP which table she's from, confirming that it's from the blue side.  He then tells the maitre d' to "take the giraffe back to the table".  Needless to say, the customer was offended.  Back in the blue kitchen, Vinnie is still trying to get the Wellington right.  Some food is brought up, and Ramsay sees a problem.  He asks the blue team to stop, and tells them that the Wellington is rare, when it's supposed to be medium.  Yep, that's Vinnie's fault again.  Vinnie tries again, and once again, it's not done properly.  Ramsay tells him to trim it properly, with a serrated knife.  He then wonders how much Wellington has been overcooked and thrown out, and he sees a private garbage bin at Vinnie's station!  And it's getting quite full!  Ramsay tells Vinnie that a restaurant wouldn't open with that much garbage.

Meanwhile, Bonnie is trying to get her Wellington done right, but she says she needs a bit more time.  Melissa then helps her with it, but they run into a problem; one is medium, but the other is still rare.  Ramsay wonders what is going on, and sees that there is some apparent confusion at the station.  Bonnie finally says that she has to start over, which is not good news.  So, the ladies remain at 28 entrées served.  Can the guys catch up?  They do make it to 21, but the fish on one dish was found by a customer to be salty.  The dish is returned, and the men are the ones having to redo that.  But that's not the only one they'll have to redo; another dish is returned, due to not being cooked enough.  Ramsay tells Josh to taste it, but in an aside, he says he doesn't believe that it was undercooked.  Hmm.

Ramsay then gathers both teams, and reminds them that the customers are deciding who wins, before letting them know that if one more dish is returned, the service is over.  As they are sent back to their kitchens, a customer is complaining about dry venison.  Uh-oh.  Ramsay calls for a time in the red kitchen, and Bonnie says 11 minutes, because the chicken is still cooking.  And yet, the Wellington's ready, according to her.  From what Ramsay said, the Wellington was supposed to take longer than the chicken, so... yeah.  Soon enough, Bonnie brings up some chicken, but Ramsay says it's not good enough.  He checks the other chicken at her station, and is clearly disappointed.  But not as disappointed as he becomes when JP returns yet another dish from the dining room; this one has cold chicken.

With that, Ramsay gathers the teams over and tells them of it, and drops it on the ground before telling them to shut everything down!  Yep, this service is over.  As customers are filling out their comment cards, Bonnie is crying.  She says she's not cut out to be there.  Julia tries to encourage her, but it's not working.  She seriously wants to go home.  Meanwhile, Rock kept saying that they panicked.  He does feel that everyone should have performed better, including himself.

A clear disaster

With teams lined up, and with comment cards in hand, Ramsay goes over what was said on those cards.  The customers enjoyed the majority of the food, but 65% won't come back, because the food took too long to be served.  Ramsay says a restaurant would fail with those numbers, so there's no winning team tonight.  He then tells Rock that he was solid, so he'll nominate one teammate.  Ramsay adds that Melissa won't nominate anyone, because she was bad tonight, then mentions how he couldn't get a straight answer from Bonnie.  So, Jen will be nominating one teammate, since though she wasn't brilliant, at least she wasn't bad this time.

Back in the dorms, Jen asks Rock what he'll do, and he says he knew what he'd do before the service even started.  He feels that Jen's decision will be more difficult than his.  Meanwhile, Vinnie tells Josh and Brad that he feels he'll be nominated, since he clearly did the worst.  I can't really argue with that.  Elsewhere, Bonnie feels that she'll be nominated, having said this to Melissa.  Again, I can't really argue with that.  Moments later, Jen is talking to Vinnie, and he says that maybe she should nominate her toughest competitor.  Hmm.

Smart decisions?

No one is sitting at the nearby table this time, because both teams are lined up in the dining room, ready for elimination.  Ramsay asks Rock for his nomination, and he chooses... Josh?  Rock says he maxed out his potential.  But I think this has to do with a rivalry between the two, which was mentioned in an earlier episode.  Ramsay then asks Jen for her nomination, and she chooses... Melissa?  Jen says she didn't think her leadership qualities were there, based on that night's dinner service.  Ramsay then expresses his disappointment in both Rock and Jen for not nominating the worst people.  So, he decides to overrule their nominations, and asks Bonnie and Vinnie to step forward!  Frankly, I'm not surprised.

Ramsay asks why they weren't nominated, and Vinnie says he didn't know how Josh did, due to having his own head up his ***.  Bonnie says she was surprised that she wasn't nominated, and she knows she screwed up.  As for reasons why they think they should stay, Vinnie says he's the most qualified chef there (yeah, right), and Bonnie says she's able to guide her team during prep, and she's learning from her mistakes.  After flashbacks of Bonnie being yelled at for lying and Vinnie being yelled at for the constant screwing up, Ramsay has decided that... Vinnie is gone.  Thanks to being unable to get any Wellington right, he has to take his jacket off and leave.  Ramsay then tells the others that most of the weak links are gone, but he'll go crazy if he hears any more excuses.  He then sends them back to the dorms.

Next week, the teams run through a supermarket, and apparently, Hell's Kitchen will host a wedding reception!  With the teams still struggling in the kitchen, the bride and groom may have made a mistake...