It's usually around the fourth or fifth episode of a reality show that you're really able to decide who it is that you'll be cheering for over the duration of the season, and who you'll be wishing would trip and fall into a deep fryer full of boiling oil. Hell's Kitchen is no different, and I've officially got my picks for the season, both for who I'll be cheering for to go far in the competition and for who I think will actually win the thing. More on that, plus the full recap, after the jump.
This week for whatever reason we were presented with two back-to-back episodes of Hell's Kitchen, because if there's one thing we need more than one full hour of Gordon Ramsay yelling at a bunch of idiots it's two full hours of Gordon Ramsay yelling at a bunch of idiots. Following last week's elimination, the teams returned to the dorm, and Ben claimed that Jason should have been eliminated. Jason started yelling at everyone in his ridiculous ghetto-speak, saying that "we 'posed to be crew, we 'posed to be down for each other," and that "we don't do that shit where I'm from." Jay, who has established himself as a fairly strong and level-headed chef, immediately pointed out that it was outbursts like this that were harming the team, and that Jason was "ridiculous to work with." Of course Jason lost it, cursing left and right, contemplating breaking a chair, and making himself look like a complete asshole.
The next morning Ramsay addressed the teams' lack of teamwork, and announced that Hell's Kitchen would be open for lunch with a simplified menu (salads, burgers, chicken sandwiches, and French fries), and that the first team to complete their lunch service would win the challenge. Their customers for lunch were the USC marching band and cheerleaders (interesting that they would feature USC so prominently in the show, considering the sanctions that have recently been handed down to USC. I assume it's because the show was taped well before these sanctions were decided). Jason sulked in the kitchen, causing the Blue Team to fall behind, and the women ended up winning the challenge by a few seconds. As a reward, they were taken to the Malibu Beach Inn for a day of relaxation during which they played soccer with Ramsay and his family. Getting ready for their reward, Fran put on her "MILF outfit," and then explained to Nilka waht a MILF was. I think some other stuff happened, but I was too busy vomiting to notice. As punishment for losing the challenge, the men had to assist the "Heal the Bay" organization, cleaning up the river and "basically helping them pick up pieces of shit," as Ramsay put it. Despite the miserable setting of their punishment, the men actually seemed to bond over the course of the afternoon, and came back to the kitchen ready to compete.
Before dinner service, Fran, who was nervous about actually being in the kitchen for once (she was kicked out her first night and worked the floor the second), accidentally spilled boiling water on her arm. Rather than getting the medic to take a look at it like a normal person, she opted not to tell anyone that she'd been injured and attempted to make it through dinner service. Ramsay assigned Holli and Salvatore to be assistant matire d's, and while Holli had no problem with the task, it quickly became evident that Salvatore was in trouble. When Ramsay yelled at him for his completely illegible handwriting, Salvatore revealed that he didn't know how to write in English, and Jean-Philippe ended up having to write his orders for him. Over the course of the service, in the Red Kitchen Maria, Jamie, and Fran kept making stupid mistakes, while in the Blue Kitchen Jason was in complete denial about his constant errors, ignoring everyone's advice and hurting his team in the process. After multiple errors on the meat station, mostly because Fran was distracted by the pain in her arm, Autumn noticed that Fran was really hurt. Fran kept ignoring her injury, however, and told Autumn to "shut your fucking mouth and leave me alone" when Autumn tried to help. Autumn, being incapable of minding her own business, ran and told on her, and Ramsay sent her to the medic.
Out on the floor, Salvatore was having a lot of difficulty with his task (since he couldn't write the orders down properly), and soon enough he forgot to write something on one of his tickets. When the food was sent back, Ramsay lost it, since the only reason the order was wrong was because Salvatore had written it down incorrectly. He yelled at Salvatore for a while, and Salvatore walked out, ready to leave Hell's Kitchen. Fortunately Jean-Philippe convinced him to stay, but Salvatore declared that if the Blue Team lost that night, he would be putting himself up for elimination, because he didn't want to be there anymore.
Eventually, both teams finished dinner service, and Ramsay declared that the Blue Team had won, saying that they should "thank their lucky stars there's someone called Benjamin" on the team, as Ben had performed flawlessly. The women nominated Fran and Jamie for their poor performances, and amazingly Ramsay eliminated Jamie (I say it's amazing because from what was shown, Fran's performance had been much worse). In his standard dickish reason for elimination, he claimed that "To be a great chef, you need creativity, leadership qualities, and passion. Jamie had passion."
The second episode began with Ramsay pulling Salvatore aside following the elimination and explaining that when he yells at him, he needs Salvatore to bounce back, and that he hasn't given up on him yet. It was one of the moments where we see that while Ramsay acts like an asshole on a regular basis in the kitchen, it's primarily because he's obsessed with the quality of the food he's serving, and is easily infuriated by stupid mistakes.
Early the next morning, Scott spent some time with Salvatore going over the menu, which was nice of him, and then encouraged Salvatore to listen to his advice, as Scott believes that he's God's gift to cooking. The chefs all went downstairs and Ramsay presented them with their next challenge: Hell's Kitchen Craps. Each chef would roll a giant die on a craps table. The die would come up with a letter, and that chef would have 10 seconds to think of an ingredient that started with that letter. Each team would do this until they had 6 ingredients, and then they would create a dish using those ingredients. The difficulty came in the fact that the chefs who rolled later would have to not only think of ingredients that started with the letter they had rolled, but would also have to take into consideration the ingredients that had already been chosen (as you didn't want to choose an ingredient that wouldn't go with what had already been selected). The men ended up choosing halibut, endive (what?), salsify (what?), crab, peas, and bacon. Almost every one of the women choked when trying to think of an ingredient, and thus were unable to pick ingredients that naturally went well together, ending up with beets, shallots, mango, ham, turnips, and duck. Despite the Red Team's disadvantage, both teams ended up creating dishes that Ramsay liked, but in the end the Blue Team won the challenge. Ramsay declared that the men would be going skydiving, and all of them started cheering except for Jason, who apparently is a giant pussy. It actually turned out that they weren't really skydiving, but instead going in a wind tunnel that would simulate the skydiving experience.
As punishment for losing the challenge, the women had to clean the entrance hall and prep both kitchens for dinner service that night, but cleaning took so long that they weren't able to fully prep the kitchens, and Maria ended up breaking down and crying. Sous chef Andi gave Maria the most emotionless pep talk ever, telling her to stop being emotional and to get back into the kitchen. Ramsay announced that there would be a chef's table in each kitchen. The Red Kitchen would be hosting Kevin Fraser (the host of Entertainment Tonight) and his wife, while the Blue Kitchen would host Debi Mazar (Shauna from Entourage) and her husband. The restaurant actually had quite a few quasi-celebrities dining there during this dinner service, including several Playboy playmates, football players, and actors. Those with sharp eyes may have noticed Brian Unger, the Lawyer from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. If you don't know who I'm talking about, you're clearly a goddamn idiot. Come on, man, get your life together.
As dinner service progressed, Salvatore redeemed himself for his past errors by performing perfectly on the fish station, while Nilka impressed everyone in the Red Kitchen with her work. Scott, as usual, tried to boss everyone around and then denied that he was doing anything wrong when he kept making mistakes. Despite a few hiccups, the dinner service actually went fairly well, and even Ramsay admitted that he was amazed at how well everyone had done, specifically commenting both Nilka and Salvatore for their good work despite their less-professional backgrounds (she's a line cook and he's a pizzeria chef). He instructed them each to nominate one person from their team. Nilka nominated Autumn, and despite the fact that Scott is basically Salvatore's only friend on the show, Salvatore took the impartial road and nominated him because of his poor performance. Ramsay commented on Autumn's lack of performance, calling her "soulless," and told Scott that "you're not as good as you think you are," and called him "full of shit." In the end, Ramsay told them both to take their jackets off, but instead of eliminating them, put Autumn on the Blue Team and Scott on the Red Team.
All said, these were two fairly good episodes. Like I mentioned earlier, I have my picks for who I do and do not like this season, and here they are (subject to change):
Like
Salvatore - Despite his amateurism and his multiple mistakes, the Italian is clearly dedicated to improving himself as a chef, and I think Ramsay sees that passion in him. If nothing else, he's been the source of some of the funniest lines this season. I don't see him actually winning the whole thing, but if he can get his act together and stop making stupid mistakes, he has a chance to make it pretty far.
Jay - The blue-haired executive chef is my pick for this season's winner (and I know I probably just jinxed him, but whatever). He hasn't had a bad service yet, aside from a few small missteps, and he isn't afraid to speak his mind and put others in their place. His only real flaw that I've seen is that he hasn't stepped up as a leader, but at this stage in the game those that step up as leaders tend to just be bossy, and don't have what it takes to make it to the end.
Nilka - Her sass can get a little grating at times, but she's proven herself to be a fairly strong chef, and I see her being a real threat in this competition, perhaps even being a candidate for winner of Hell's Kitchen.
Hate
Jason - He's a terrible chef with a terrible attitude, and his ghetto-speak makes me want to punch a hole through my screen. His constant refusal to own up to any of his mistakes is irritating, and it guarantees that he won't get along with his teammates.
Scott - I initially liked Scott, and my opinion may change, but right now he seems to think that he's the greatest thing that ever happened to the culinary world, and that everyone else on the show should simply bow down and bask in his glow. Rather than actually do anything useful, he tends to run around the kitchen barking orders, and then, like Jason, goes into denial when he makes mistakes.
Maria - Every time she's on the screen I start grinding my teeth together. She's established herself as an insufferable bitch who can't keep her goddamn mouth shut, constantly talking shit about everyone else (although everyone on this show does that) and ignoring her mistakes, trying to throw everyone else under the bus.
Fran - *Vomits* Fran just sucks in every way. She's an awful chef, she's an idiot, and she gets in stupid fights with her teammates over the dumbest things (like not going to a medic when she has a serious fucking burn on her arm).
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