Hell's Kitchen starts with highlights from the twelfth episode seen previously. Please see the recap from Episode Twelve for more details. We begin Episode 13 with the final four chefs heading back to the dorms to settle down after their dinner service.

After discussing their strengths and weaknesses, the scene goes to Dave getting up early. The other three join him in the kitchen and they see a silhouette of Ramsay screaming about lunch service.  At this point, a mini-Ramsay comes through the door and he comes down the stairs to chastise the team, calling them donkeys, etc. The real Ramsay then comes in and tells them that he was having a little fun with them. Then he announces the challenge of the day, which has to do with vegetarians. He wants each to cook a stunning vegetarian dish. They have an hour to make one dish with 80 portions. As they all get along with their cooking, Dave injures himself but proclaims that he will not show weakness. At the end of the hour, the guests arrive and its 80 screaming kids busting through the doors of HK. At this point, we come to our first commercial break of the night.

When we return from the break, we get a review of Ramsay’s challenge to the group to prepare 80 portions of a vegetarian dish from each chef. The chefs are perplexed as none of them supposedly do well with children. Each chef serves their dish on a different colored plate. The chefs aren’t ready with all of their portions and the kids begin demanding “We want food!” The chefs begin dishing out their creations and finally all of the kids are eating. A lot of them are shown not enjoying their food, but must vote for their favorite. Ramsay then comes in to tell the kids that for being such great guests, that they get sweet goody bags. The kids love that and finally settle down for the reading of the votes. Kevin’s dish was least liked by 40% of the kids. The top two dishes were from Dave and Tennille. Ramsay then says that the number one dish, with 55% of the votes belongs to Tennille and she wins the challenge. J.P. and Ramsay then dismiss the children.

After the challenge, the punishment for the three losers is to clean up the disaster of a dining room, since the kids trashed it. Tennille gets to have her hair done and being “spruced up” and she and Ramsay are going to lunch to have sushi in Beverly Hills. An old timey limo is outside waiting for Tennille. After she leaves, they talk about how she won because she is an “elementary” cook. Meanwhile, Tennille gets to have champagne while being made over and she loves it. The losing chefs are having a miserable time cleaning up. J.P. shows that there is gum underneath the tables and they have to scrape that off as well. Dave, however, finds some nice treats within the rubble. Tennille, meanwhile, arrives to meet Ramsay at NOBU. After she enjoys the sushi, Chef Nobu gives her a brand new set of handcrafted Henkel knives. She is thrilled. Tennille then comes back to HK while the others have finished cleaning up and are now prepping the kitchen for dinner service. Ramsay eventually comes in to ask if they are ready for service, and Tennille gives him a look of disbelief as she is behind in prep. At this time, we come to our second round of commercials.

After the second commercial break, we see the chefs getting ready for dinner service. Ramsay calls them all together for the pep talk. He tells them that although they are in the final four, he knows they can do better, and that their passion needs to be put on the plate. He orders J.P. to open HK. Orders begin coming in. Kevin starts off well with his risotto passing Ramsay’s test. The appetizers are moving out quickly and at a record pace. Tennille unfortunately has overcooked scallops. She starts working on another two portions. Ramsay calls her up with the second portion, and as he appears to be getting ready to blow a gasket, he tells her she should know the difference between perfect scallops (her replacement portion) and the first ones that she botched. Meanwhile, Dave is trying to get some lamb to the pass, and he breaks down on the floor clutching his wrist. He is seen going to the back of the kitchen as we hit the third break of the episode.

Upon return from the break, we get a review of Dave re-injuring his wrist and going to the back and Ramsay follows him back there to tell him that he needs Dave to get back out there. A medical tech was in the back to check him out and then he comes back into the kitchen. He is shown wincing in pain but manages to complete the first entrees. During the next round, Tennille burns the halibut. After he sees a lot of burnt fish, Ramsay calls everyone over and can’t understand why it isn’t cooked properly. This causes a stall in the entrees going out, leaving diners wondering where their food is. Tennille then turns in another raw set of halibut. All of the chefs have to start over on their entrees at this point. Tennille continues to struggle, and Ramsay calls her over to tell her that she is “seriously starting to piss (him) off”. At this point, we come to our fourth commercial break of the evening.

When we return from the fourth commercial, Ramsay and Tennille are shown in the back room of the kitchen where he urges her to pull it together. She comes back onto the floor and she starts cooking the sea bass and halibut. She rebounds and delivers fish that is cooked to Ramsay’s standards. Diners love the food. Finally, the service is completed and the four are standing in the kitchen prepared for Ramsay’s comments. He said at the beginning, there was teamwork. He then tells Dave that he has never seen someone suffer that much pain in a service and it have Ramsay concerned that he cannot continue. Dave urges that he is fine. He says if he is not a good enough chef, then he should leave, but not because of his one arm. Ramsay then tells Tennille that she had a bad service. He doesn’t allow a nomination ceremony and doesn’t want to prolong her agony and he eliminates her on the spot. He tells her that he is proud of her and that she needs to use her talent and make something of it. She hugs the rest of the team and high-fives Ramsay on her way out of the kitchen. He says that she had one of the biggest comebacks ever, coming back from a lot of adversity in earlier episodes. Ramsay then tells the chefs to go get some rest, that they will need it.

Dave says that he dodged a bullet. Ariel is excited to be in the final three. Kevin says he knew that he would be there and there’s only two people left in his way. They begin celebrating and the phone rings. It’s Ramsay on the line and wants all three downstairs and that there is some unfinished business. Ramsay addresses Dave and says that he wonders if he made the right decision or not. As Ramsay is about to make another comment, we come to the fifth and final round of commercials of the night.

When we return from the final commercials, we get a review of Ramsay’s pondering of his decision to eliminate Tennille instead of Dave. He says that after long thought, he knows he made the right decision. He congratulates them for making the final three. For reward, Dave’s fiancée and sister come through the door. Ariel’s fiancé and mother come through the door. Kevin’s wife and son come through the door. They all get to spend some quality time with their families because Ramsay says they deserve it. The contestants are speechless and enjoy their time. They feel re-energized to continue. They all thank Chef Ramsay. He then tells them to get some rest and he teases Dave that this time it’s final, and high-fives all the contestants on their way out of the kitchen.

At this point, the thirteenth episode is finished. Scenes from the fourteenth episode are then shown. Tune in next week on FOX for the fourteenth episode.

Keith Cooke (cps10) is also a national travel writer for Examiner.com. You are invited to read more of his writings at http://www.examiner.com/x-4933-Charlotte-Cruise-Ships-Examiner  and his newest venture at http://www.examiner.com/x-23220-Charlotte-High-School-Sports-Examiner