Hell’s Kitchen - The Winner

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We all knew it was going to be a crazy finale, you had two of the most unlikely candidates competing for the spot as Ramsay’s Executive Chef at his new London - LA Restaurant.  We all knew some of the horrible chefs who competed would be coming back to help these two candidates, but which ones?  What we saw in this finally would surprise us and, quite frankly, make this finale one for the books that we will talk about for years to come.

Week of June 28th

Christina - Set a record on Hell’s Kitchen because the women won almost all the challenges, but when they went to individual challenges, she won three consecutive giving her 9 total victories in the challenge department. Christina wasn’t the most qualified, as she was “just” a culinary student, everyone from Day One wanted her out, especially Jen; but she used that to her advantage and put her heart into every performance and made it to the Final 2.

After Corey was eliminated, she went to her room to create her “OWN” menu.  This menu was extremely important as it defines her as a chef.  Christina amazingly did it before the sunrise the next day.  She created her menu with simple yet tasteful dishes, and if you ever watched Kitchen Nightmares or know Ramsay at all, you will know she is doing exactly what he would do… keep it simple.

She then met with an interior designer to design her side of Hell’s Kitchen.  She chose earth tones to create a relaxing atmosphere: soft couches and chairs and windows that had murals of the city painted behind the frames.  It was going to be beautiful.  

Following the interior designer, she met with Jean-Phillipe to get maître d’ outfits.  She refused to choose any of the examples.  She said she wanted something someone would wear everyday, comfortable and down to earth.  Jean-Phillipe disagreed but made her wishes a reality.

Petrozza - Ramsay said he was by far the messiest cook on Hell’s Kitchen, but he rarely ever hit the bottom two, unlike Christina.  He maintained a level ego and even nominated himself for the cutting block one time gaining the respect of Ramsay and made him a candidate for the finals for sure. 

Petrozza had a hard time coming up with a menu, and even though he had all night to come up with one, Petrozza, unlike Christina, decided to go to bed.  In the morning, he was shocked to find out Christina had her menu complete.  He got some help with one of the sous chefs working on the show to pound out a very elaborate and risky menu, but (if successfully executed), would make him the candidate to win Hell’s Kitchen.

After making his menu, he met with the interior designer and came up with something right out of NYC for his dining room.  It has a brick veneer, flowers, and great padded booths… accented perfectly by a fireplace. It looked like a loft in the Soho district.

Ironically, when Petrozza met with Jean-Phillipe, he managed to choose the outfit Christina HATED. Showing how exactly opposite these competitors are.

The Challenge

After all the prep work was ready, Gordon Ramsay took them to his restaurant in New York for their final challenge.  They were to make their signature dishes that would be judged by the Executive Chefs from 6 of Ramsey’s restaurants from around the world.  The last few challenges have been a point or two difference from Petrozza and Christina.  This week would prove no different.  Tied at 2, the tie-break came from the boss of the London- LA restaurant where they will be the executive chef.  He chose Petrozza, ending Christina’s winning streak and giving Petrozza the first choice for his team.

Gearing Up For Next Week

After returning from New York, Christina and Petrozza met the former teammates that would be helping them win Hells Kitchen.  Returning was:  Ben, Jen, Matt, Corey, Louross, and Bobby.  The first choice for Petrozza was Bobby and Christina chose Corey.  Petrozza then chose Ben, Christina chose Louross, leaving Matt and Jen.  Neither Petrozza or Christina wanted anything to do with the remaining two, but we all had to wait for the Grande Finale to see who was chosen last.

July 8, 2008

Back to the teams, Petrozza opted for Jen for his last pick, and Christina was pleased to take Matt for her team rather than Jen.

Everything started off well, except for Christina who was not impressed with her kitchen layout.  She didn’t like the stripes.  The interior designer came up with a compromise and painted them chocolate which made her dining room breathtaking. Petrozza wasn’t free from stress, the designer was unable to contact the people padding Petrozza’s booths. Panicking, they arrived with 15 minutes to spare.

While prepping the food, and Petrozza out of the kitchen dealing with his designer, Jen got some of the biggest set of balls ever, and asked Gordon Ramsay for a letter of recommendation.  This not only floored her team, but the Red Team as well.  Ramsay just ignored her and went on dealing with the preparations of tonight’s service.  No contestant has EVER asked for a letter of recommendation, it just goes to show how petty she is, and how she again tried to take the spotlight away from her own team leader.

The dinner service went well, all tables were served, all patrons happy.  Some slight mishaps came with Matt’s undercooked fish, and Jen’s inability to work with the team, but both Petrozza and Christina bounced back and made it into a success.

In the end, Ramsay was very pleased, saying there were far more ups than downs.  He said it would be a very hard decision, and it was.  Christina and Petrozza said goodbye to their team and went upstairs to await their fate.

Ramsey summoned them to the famous doors.  Each contestant grabbed the handle and awaited the chance to turn it. Christina said, ”good luck,” to Petrozza and Petrozza looked so sick to his stomach, he simply nodded in the affirmative.  When Ramsay counted to three, each contestant turned their door handle…

Christina’s door opened and she won Season 4 of Hell’s Kitchen!  Her parents were in tears, her team elated that she won. Ramsay made the absolute right choice to win Hell’s Kitchen based on pure potential for the long-term success of his new London restaurant.

CONGRATULATIONS CHRISTINA!

Hell’s Kitchen - the Final Two

Tonight’s episode was especially entertaining, as Chef Ramsay softened up a tad and becomes more of a coach rather than a beast. As he has in previous seasons, he wanted to see how the contestants handle the pressure of running the show from the hot plate “at the pass.”

First up was the competition to mix things up. Everyone’s family was there for a Ramsay-catered lunch. Christina was the only contestant who had the presence of mind to know that something was up and started tasting her food and picking it apart as they ate. Corey and Petrozza were oblivious to the impending doom and the challenge came down on them hard: figure out how Chef made the dish and fix it for him in 45 minutes.

Christina had everything correct except for the puree that she chose rather than cream. Corey had everything right except she chose buffalo over venison. Poor Petrozza had the whole thing right, but plain old forgot to make the puree altogether. With that, Christina won and went on a lame tour of L.A. and a couple of restaurants with Chef and her parents. Corey and Petrozza had to clean the glasses and break blocks of ice by hand.

Prior to dinner service, Chef Ramsay did his usual pep talk to test the contestants’ fire and authority by having them yell at him. Petrozza and Christina pretty much sucked. Then Corey didn’t do too hot for her first attempt and Ramsay threw the plate he was holding as he showed her what authority is all about. Best line of the night: laughing, Petrozza didn’t realize that Ramsay threw it and said, “I didn’t get to break any plates.”

Petrozza manned the hot plate first and missed the sabotage by the sous chef, Scott, who left the peas out of the risotto. Meanwhile, Christina burnt her first attempt at a salmon and then proceded to pass on the replacement raw. Ramsay started getting really mad at her and, of course, asked her if she wanted to go home. Other than those little things, Petrozza did fine.

Corey was next and also missed Scott’s intentional meat sauce swap until she had already poured it on the Wellingtons. Fail! Right from the start, she couldn’t read the food tickets and was very hesitant. After that, she pretty much stayed on top of the game and the kitchen ran smoothly under her watch.

Then it was all eyes on Christina, including all 42 of Ramsay’s eyes. Just to make things difficult, she caught the basil in the mashed potatos rather than the mint. While the kitchen kept turning out food with her direction, the mistakes of earlier were just below the surface, waiting to boil over.

Ramsay refused to pick a winner of the service and told them to each nominate one person.

Corey nominated Christina, Christina nominated Corey, and Petrozza nominated Christina. After a commercial break and a very long sentence, Ramsay revealed that the first finalist is…

Petrozza

After another unbearably long, pausing sentence and some flashback clips, he chose for his second finalist…

Christina

With that, Corey left on good terms and with a British farewell kiss from Ramsay and a couple of compliments.

That’s it, Petrozza and Christina face off next week for the grand prize. If it was anything like last year’s showdown, it is going to be riveting. I’m looking for some celebrities and at least two ridiculously hard contests to decide the winner.

Hell’s Kitchen- Then There Were 3

Last week, Bobby a surprise for the chopping block despite a bad night was sent home and Jen who also sat on the mercy of master chef Gordon Ramsey was able to remain another week; and just like that there were 4.

This week, the chefs: Jen, Corey, Petrozza and Christina were asked for their challenge to create their own dish, and it was going to be the “Mother” of all challenges, because they were feeding 86 people!  Each chef prepared their dish, and when Ramsey let in the group of 86, everyone was shocked to see 162 people, there were 86 pregnant women they had to feed. Each chef had their own colored plate and the women would have to judge the food and vote for the plate they liked the best. After all the dishes were served and the women ate, they voted. Their vote would surprise the chefs and the audience. The person coming in 4th place was Corey, who understandingly was last because her dish was not ready when they started serving. 3rd place was Jen, who said she had this in the “bag.” 1st and 2nd place were neck and neck decided by only 2 votes, and Christina won beating Petrozza. Christina’s reward was a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive in beautiful L.A.

The other chefs were sent to clean the kitchen and dining room spotless, then jump on prep work for the nights service. Jen was the only one that got real bent out of shape at Christina and made her emotions well known, proving once again she is a soar loser.

Christina came back from her shopping spree, went up stairs to change and returned to the kitchen to help her teammates prep for the night’s service, and when she did, she returned to a wall of silence as everyone ignored her.

Finally, the doors were opened and the service started, the quarterfinal round was on.  All the chefs performed at their best, Jen ran into some trouble showing her inconsistency.  Corey too was one of the weaker of the top 4. Christina had a great service but managed to burn Chef Ramsey two consecutive times. Finally service was through and Ramsey said it was the best service of Hells Kitchen to date.  He asked all the chefs to collaborate and choose two for the cutting block.

The chefs decided to write two names down on pieces of paper, put them all together and see who’s name shows up the most.  Those two would then be chosen for the cutting block.  Corey took the sheets of paper and totaled up results.  Jen had 3, and Christina had 4.  Corey asked Christina if she voted for herself and she said no, so the chefs knew someone was out to get her and tried to be deceptive and they all knew it was Jen.

Christina, Corey and Petrozza got together and said Jen would be up tonight, but one of them had to go and they were not going to just put up Christina because of the deceptive trick Jen pulled.  They thought together who has the best chance against Jen, and Corey volunteered.

Chef Ramsey asked who was going up, and Christina announced Jen and Corey.  Each one stated their case why they should stay.  Ramsey thought for a moment, and said “Corey”…”Please say goodbye to Jen.” The rest of the chefs were standing there jaw dropped as they expected Corey to go home, but Ramsey wasn’t done. “Jen you are leaving Hells Kitchen.”

Finally, the most egotistical, deceptive and inconsistent chef was going home.  Personally I think she was there way too long, and should have gone last week.  Hell’s Kitchen has the semi-finalists: Christina, Corey and Petrozza.  Next week, they vie for a seat in the finals and the title of Head Chef at Gordon Ramsey’s new restaurant.

Hells Kitchen - Top 5

Last week, Matt was sent home leaving the top 5 chefs:  Jen, Petrozza, Christina, Corey, and Bobby are left to compete for the lead chef position in Gordon Ramsey’s new restaurant in L.A.

This week, the top 5 had a new challenge.  Ramsey made them tutors and each chef had a pupil.  The chefs were to tutor the pupils (5 middle aged women who never step foot in a kitchen) on how to make a lobster pasta dish.  The catch was, none of the chefs could lend a hand, only guide them.  In the end, Christina’s pupil and Corey’s Pupil made the best dishes.  Ramsey decided that Christina would win the challenge.

Her prize was to learn from some of the top restauranters in Los Angeles.  They would cook together and eat the food they prepped.

For the evening, the chefs had a tough dinner.  Hell’s Kitchen had booked a 12 top, of Banana Boat Bikini models and with only 5 chefs cooking, plus the other guests this would prove to be a huge challenge.  Corey and Christina teamed up and sent out flawless appetizers.  When the main course came around, Bobby had a poor night, the first of his stint on Hells Kitchen.  Jen also had a terrible night, showing her attitude and becoming a total baby in the kitchen.  When the dinner service was over Gordon Ramsey was very disappointed in the chefs.  He chose Christina as the best, and had her choose two to put up for elimination.

Christina chose Jen, because under fire she completely freezes up, does not communicate, and was a disaster in the kitchen on the nights service.  She also put up Bobby, because of his performance in the kitchen that night.

Ramsey, looked over the two, sized up what they had to say, and in the end chose to send Bobby home on his first trip up for elimination.  He said his reasoning was that, he expected more from a long career chef, he never took the leadership role, instead he just sailed the safe route when the kitchen was in trouble.  

Personally, I would have chosen Jen to go home.  Her “Better than the rest” attitude has caused her team to lose, she is not a team player and that will be a hinderance to not only her but the rest of the kitchen.  If she keeps this up, I hope her time on the show is short lived.

Currently, for next week there are 3 girls:  Christina, Jen and Corey and 1 man left, Petrozza.