'Hell's Kitchen' Season 9, Episode 11 Recap - '7 Chefs Compete'

As part one of this two-hour block ended, we saw the elimination of Carrie (finally!), but a cliffhanger ending: Elise was told to hand over her jacket as well! Why? Here's why:

Ramsay doesn't think Elise is ready. In fact, he doesn't think any of them are ready. So all of them have to take their jackets off.  After some very forced reaction shots of the contestants (I'm shocked! I'm so very shocked! You can tell because of my shocked face!), Ramsay explains.

They need some inspiration: so they're traveling to New York first thing in the morning to have the chefs see BLT Steak up close. Before they get there, though, they're taken on a full tour of the many culinary offerings of NYC. If the times are to be trusted, they eat about 12 courses in the span of two hours.

The challenge is for the chefs to basically roll the giant slot machine to find out which type of ethnic cuisine they get, and which ingredients they have to work with. Natalie has Jamaican, Jennifer gets Greek, Will gets Italian (in the bag for him), Elizabeth gets Mexican and sneers about it, Tommy gets Indian is has a look of doom, Elise gets Chinese (in which she has zero experience), and Paul gets a nice roll with French.

Ramsay, who's getting a little trigger-happy with unveiling things, pulls a sheet off of a stool. The best dish will determine the "king of the hill," who will win the challenge for their team. Tommy is first up and actually does well with his Indian dish. He's soon replaced with Elizabeth, though, who gets to stay another round when Natalie's Jamaican dish fails. But Paul's French dish gives him the spot...that is, until Elise's Chinese dish gets her the spot. Then Will takes the chair...can Jennifer's Greek take him down? Yup. Red team wins, and Ramsay's little judging experiment turned out to be basically sending each person up to the chair.

The ladies get to take a trip to the beach while the blue team preps the kitchen. The big surprise for the red team is that they get to go "zorbing" with James. That involves strapping oneself to the inside of a clear plastic ball. Like a hamster. Not the best reward thus far.

When dinner service starts, Natalie is off to a rough start...she actually serves up scallops that were only seared on one side. Elizabeth has trouble has well, but Elise helps her get things going. Are the red team's troubles over now that Carrie is gone? Apparently not. Elizabeth is so frazzled that Ramsay has to pull her into the closet to calm her down. And Elise's wellingtons are falling apart, which she blames on Tommy's scoring. Check the tape, Elise: Tommy didn't score any of them.

Natalie is a disaster on fish, though, as tables are returning plates of the bass back to the kitchen for either being overcooked or undercooked. But Elizabeth isn't doing any better, and when Elise turns in some dry steak, Ramsay's had enough: he kicks Elizabeth and Elise out. So Jennifer is left alone to work with Ramsay and Candace, which makes Jennifer quite happy.

Both teams have to nominate someone, and Natalie is crying already: she knows she's probably going up. Sure enough, Will announces her as the team's nominee. On the other side, Jennifer chooses Elise. They both state their cases, and they both turn on the waterworks...but ultimately, Natalie's the one to go home.