The punishment for the men was to prep each kitchen with the ingredients of the winning plates, then go to the store to get some fresh ingredients.  While the women were out on the beach learning volleyball from a US Olympic volleyball medalist, the men got on a crazy looking bike and had to peddle their way to the local market.  When they returned, Robert about collapsed.  He was white and light headed and thought he was going to vomit.  The medical staff for the show immediately rushed him to the hospital for treatment, especially with his heart condition.  The men were now down one team member.

Dinner started off good for the women as they pounded out the appetizers, while the men couldn’t get the risotto right leaving them in the red team’s dust.  However, the red team had troubles of their own.  Tennille couldn’t get the portions right making Ramasy irate.  He asked her to hit the road, when she lashed back at him.  Ramsay got in her face and offered her the chance to leave or get back in the kitchen.  She wisely chose choice number two.

The women also ran into a problem- the pork chops they cooked were raw, and so were the lamb chops.  It was not looking good for the ladies.  While on the blue side, Jim couldn’t cook the meat at all; it was mess up after mess up.  Finally, Ramsay threw in the towel, shutting the kitchens down.

He was disgusted with both performances and said both teams lost.  The streak for the ladies is not looking good as they only won one time so far.  Each team was to chose one person for elimination.  The red team chose Sabrina because of her meltdown on the meat station, although she has been one of the most steady performers.  Tennille was another candidate because of her insubordinance towards Ramsay.  The men thought they would get a reprieve and nominate Robert who missed the dinner service.

When the red team told Gordon Ramsay who they chose, there was no rebuttal from the chef, however, he was not too pleased when the blue team nominated Robert.  He said that if Robert misses another dinner service he will be eliminated, but he will deal with that if and when the time comes, instead it’s not fair to place him up for elimination based on a performance that couldn’t be judged.  So, they chose to put Andy up who also had a ghastly night in the kitchen.

Ramsay said the one going home was an easy choice, so both Sabrina and Andy bowed their heads awaiting their fate. However, Ramsay said the one going home would be Jim and pulled him out of the safe line.  He told Jim there was no fire, no passion, and it’s just wasn’t going to happen.  Jim was okay with that, stating he is a pacifist and if that didn’t stand to Ramsay’s standard then that was okay because he didn’t falter from who he was in the end.

This week’s challenge was a unique one.  They were planning a welcome home party for a soldier returning home from Iraq after 13 months.  The chefs met his wife, who was planning the surprise party, to discuss her husbands likes and dislikes.  Gordon chose two chefs, one from each team, to sit down in private with his wife and himself to discuss his likes and dislikes; Ramsay chose Robert and Suzanne.

In Gordon’s office they discussed the plan of action.  She told them he loved Lobster and that had to be on the menu.  Robert piped up and said “does he like southern homestyle cooking?”  She said absolutely, that’s what they were all about.  Robert’s specialty is just that, southern homestyle cooking.  Finally they wrapped up, Robert and Suzanne would now have to convey what they learned to their teams.  This was to test their ability to work together as a team and communicate.  They had 45 minuets to prepare 2 entrees and 1 appetizer that would fit the war hero’s fancy and the likings of his wife.

Robert got together told them what they liked, and that they like homestyle southern cooking, spicy and surf and turf.  Suzanne made up her own menu and told her team what she wanted to prepare.  Tennille asked to do some kind of gumbo type dish, but Suzanne absolutely denied her.  On the blue side, Robert let the guys all have input and agreed upon it if he thought it fit in the realm of what the family wanted.

The 45 mins were up, the first dish to be tried was the appetizer.  The red team won this dish, being a shrimp salad, with a Caesar style salad.  The men won the second dish, the first entree.  A surf and turf lobster tail and NY Strip steak.  It came down to the last dish, both were very appealing to his wife, but she fell in love with the blue team’s second entree; giving the blue team the win.  Angered and frustrated the women went back to the dorms to prepare to redecorate the dining room for the celebration.  They were very upset that Suzanne didn’t listen and decided to do her own thing, because what she saw win on the blue side, they also suggested to Suzanne.

For the dinner service, the men completely ate up the women.  Before the women had their last appetizer out, the men were already half way into their entrees, and none came back.  By the time the women were getting out their first entree, the men were done and the women still couldn’t get one entree served.  Ramsay asked the men to go and get the entrees out for the women to satisfy the rest of the party.

Disgusted in the women’s performance, and citing how Tek completely destroyed the service, and how the women could not work together as a team, he chose them as the clear cut losers.  Each one, had to come to a consensus on who would be put up for elimination.  Tennille got the opportunity to announce who was to be put up on the line, the team chose Tek and Tennille.  Tennille was very upset with the decision and told Ramsay so.  He asked her to step forward with Tek, then asked who she would put up for elimination; without hesitation she nominated Amanda.  Gordon asked Amanda to come up, and asked Tennille to do the team a favor and step back into the line.

Tek pleaded for her chance to stay, and so did Amanda.  Gordon kept grilling into Amanda that he saw no more passion.  ”I look into your eyes and I see the fire is gone.  Your done madam.”  Amanda started to break down but fought back that was not the case.  It looked like Amanda was going home, but Ramsay decided to give Amanda another chance and eliminated Tek.

We also learned why the season came so fast after the last season just ended.  Normally the show starts in January, but Ramsay’s new restaurant will be in Vancouver, and will be one of the prime spots for the 2010 Olympic athletes and bigwigs.  If the show started in January, they wouldn’t have a chef in time for the Olympics.

Each team had to make the sausage six links to the specified width.  The women got off to a blasting start. Tennille actually got her act together (for this week at least) and managed to bang out the first sausage for either team.  The women took a commanding lead; three of the six sausages needed to win the challenge to one of the men.  The men were not going down without a fight.  They managed to get within one before the women brought it up to five.  The men jumped on it and tied it up, but Robert and Jim couldn’t seem to get even one sausage made.  Robert was doing his part, but Jim couldn’t manage to get his end together.  The women brought up their sixth sausage but Ramsay rejected it.  Never fear, another woman team brought up the sixth sausage that had six perfect links to win.  Ramsay was very upset with Robert and Jim.  The punishment was to clean the entire dorm.

In the dorm, Robert was insulted with Andy’s comments about master chefs who can’t make sausage.  Robert got right into his face, which almost came to blows but he managed to constrain his emotions and got back to work.  Meanwhile, Dave’s wrist ended up breaking and he needed a cast.  He didn’t want to give up, so Ramsay let him go get it fixed and return.

The night’s dinner was demanding because they were feeding some of Hollywood’s elite.  The teams were strong throughout the whole service and there wasn’t much that went wrong.  However, for the women, the weakest link was Tek who screwed up the first order and slowed the women down.  While for the men, it was Andy who screwed up the meat sending his team down to a stand still.

At the end of the night, the men were starting to struggle because of the meat mess ups, but then comes Dave who gets them back on track and the morale they needed to catch back up to the women.  The competition was tight; whoever got all the entrees out, would win.  The women were one dish away with the men from winning, but Lovely messed up the garnish which allowed the men to run to the pass and get the last entree out to win.

What we saw tonight was Robert taking the lead for the men.  He showed the same spirit and quality that got him to the top three for the men last year.  We saw another break down by Lovely and the women, who can’t seem to get anything going this year. Ramsay was highly impressed with Sabrina and said she was the best of the worst, so had her choose two chefs to go home. Before he dismissed the teams back to the dorms, Suzanne got the largest balls ever and asked Ramsay for a play-by-play of how the women lost.  Ramsay was not impressed, making Suzanne think she would be put up for elimination.

Sabrina didn’t need to talk to anyone, she knew exactly who she was putting up tonight.  Her choices were Lovely and Tek. Ramsay asked Lovely why she should be kept in Hell’s Kitchen, being the third straight night she’s been put up for elimination (this is the third night meaning she has been in the bottom two each night).  Ramsay said he made his decision, then called for Suzanne.  Suzanne turned pale white expecting Ramsay was going to override Sabrina’s choices.  Instead, the head chef surprises everyone when he says, “Sabrina, who would you send home?”  Sabrina replied, “Lovely.” Ramsay said he couldn’t agree more and sent Lovely home.

The season premiere ran two weeks long in a two hour debut.  It started out a bit different from the rest of the seasons because it started out with a challenge and usually challenges come the second week of the new season.  For the first time, the challenge was a group effort because they would all cook their signature dishes and the team with the most accepted by Ramsay wins.  Out of a group of twenty, only nine dishes were acceptable by Ramsay.  It came down to a 4/4 tie before the last two contestants got their chance to show what they had.  Ramsay looked at the red team’s dish and was very disappointed, but fell in love with the blue team’s dish making them the winner of the challenge.

The blue team got their reward while the women had to stay and prep and clean Hell’s Kitchen.  The women were none to happy but they managed to memorize the dinner menu.  The blue team, after they got back, had the opportunity to learn the menu but decided to play around instead.  This decision was not the best choice for them, as they would find out in the next day’s first dinner service.

It was the worst dinner service of Hell’s Kitchen.  The women knew the menu but couldn’t cook anything to save their lives, while the blue team fumbled around doing things on the fly but managing to do the same as the women.  Another first came during the dinner service.  One contestant was asked to leave before the service was through, and he was on the blue team.

Gordon Ramsay also asked Robert, who left last season with health issues, to be his guest while he and his wife enjoyed a meal at Hell’s Kitchen.  Robert graciously accepted.  It was good to see he was doing okay.  Robert left last season in the top three for the men; he honestly he had a great chance of being one of the finalists.

After Ramsay ousted the blue team’s contestant, he went out and asked Robert to rejoin Hell’s Kitchen and take his spot in the blue kitchen.  Robert accepted, and it’s the first time a contestant has ever come back.  Unfortunately for Robert, it was too late. Both teams couldn’t get an appetizer out to the floor and for the first time in Hell’s Kitchen, entrees were not served.

Ramsay said both teams lost and chose to send Melinda home, as the red team did the worst of the night and didn’t send out one appetizer while the men did.  Robert was asked to join the red team to even them out.

The next day, Ramsay opened up with the usual challenge.  This challenge was to clean and prep shrimp for some shrimp cocktails.  Each one had ten minutes to clean as many shrimp as they could.  This contest was close, as the blue team won by only one shrimp, because Tennille blew her prep.  She was slow and still managed to only have two acceptable shrimp out of eight. The red team would then have to clean all the shrimp in prep for the night’s dinner service.

Again, this dinner service was a fiasco.  Tennille and Van worked the floor prepping a shrimp dish right at the tables, something different for the enjoyment of the patrons.  However, Jean-Phillipe was none to happy with Van.  Van refused to listen to Jean-Phillipe which made him lose his cool, causing the two to come to blows in the kitchen.  Ramsay, who already had a disaster in the kitchen with the failing chefs, took it to both Van and Jean-Phillipe.  Tennille served some raw shrimp to a pregnant woman which jeopardized the red team’s chances to win.  A mess up like that to a pregnant woman could have made her very ill.

The chefs were so bad on both teams that no entrees were served again and the ones that were, came back.  Ramsay made each table shrimp cocktails and that is all the dining room ate that night.  Ramsay shut down the kitchen in disgust and said both teams were losers.  Each team was to choose two members for elimination.

That night, Ramsay asked the red team which two they chose, and they unanimously chose Tennille and Amanda.  When he asked the blue team, Joseph said they know who they are and why.  Ramsay asked him to tell him the two and why again and Joseph completely lost it.  He threw off his jacket and got right in Ramsay’s face, asking him to take it outside and that he is “nobody’s bitch.”  Ramsay quickly told Joseph to “get the hell out” and Joseph, who was one of the best in the kitchen, threw his chances away over something so stupid.  After he left, the blue team put up Tony and Andy.  Ramsay asked the two women and two men to step forward and ended up asking Tony to leave.

Now the men are down in chefs, so Ramsay brought Robert back to the blue team.

At 2:00 AM, the chefs get woken up by sirens.  Frantically, they run down stairs thinking Hell’s Kitchen is on fire, only to be greeted by hundreds of firemen just calmly standing around.  Ramsay tells the troops that they lack team work and aren’t well prepared, therefore, asking the fire department to show what readiness and good teamwork looks like.  He asked the chefs to go inside and cook pasta dishes for the firefighters as the challenge.

The women this time came together as a team, in a close one again, beating the men by one dish.  Finally, the women have something going right for them, losing the first two challenges and two dinner services.  The men must stay and scrub the fire trucks outside.

While the women were in a relaxing spa, the men cleaned the trucks, but this challenge would hurt two of the blue team’s chefs, Andy and Dave.  Dave got his hand caught in a crevice of the truck which caused his wrist to swell, while Andy sprained both his ankles as he went back inside Hell’s Kitchen.  This was not looking good for the blue team.  Both contestants were taken for X-rays and found they only had some torn ligaments and sprains.  Both decided to continue in Hell’s Kitchen.

This time for dinner, both teams were on the ball.  They had some mess-ups but both managed to get a full dinner service complete.  The comment cards showed Ramsay that they finished but were far from perfect.  The women had an 81% approval, while the men had 83% and won the night based on the comment cards.  The women were to put two up for elimination, and they chose Tennille and Lovely.

In the end, Andy left Hell’s Kitchen because he was just not mobile enough, though he gave it a valiant effort.  Ramsay did not send any of the women’s choices home because Andy left that night.  They got a stay of execution, but Ramsay said neither Lovely or Tennille have a chance to win.

It was a crazy three days, and two weeks of the new season.  Already many firsts have occurred and the fur flew, so if the rest of the season is as good as the first two shows, it is going to be great.  Last year’s contestants really didn’t impress me and so far, neither do these.  I hope someone emerges to make me believe they deserve to be the winner.

 Danny and Paula throughout the tenure on the show never were put up for elimination and both had produced well, despite their teams’ miserable contestants.  Paula helped the women win the most challenges this year and Danny was the strongest leader in the kitchen, but you won’t be able to convince Ben of that.  These two deserved the chance to win it all, and they proved if you just keep a level head and do your job well, you will go far.

Tonight they had their chance to shine. Paula chose a very beautiful design for her dining room; it was a place I could sit and relax in for hours while dining on five star rated food.  Danny had a different approach; very simplistic but still impressive, as he combined his love for the sea with an elegant five star atmosphere.

Paula had probably the worst kitchen mates possible with the likes of Lacy, but she did have Andrea who came in third, despite having major trouble throughout the competition. Paula also had LA, who was probably the most stable on the line.  Danny got Ben, Carol and Giovanni.  The problem most of them had with these contestants was that they couldn’t cook before and now they are bitter they got kicked off.  Was sabotage in the air?

Danny, during the first two hours of dinner service, had a strong start despite a few set backs. He did get his team focused and they managed to produce for him and made up for the errors.  Paula, unfortunately, had a team of idiots. Lacy was a screw up and couldn’t get the garnishes right.  Andrea overcooked the Halibut and that really set her back.  Paula tried hard to get her team focused and wanted to jump in and do it for them, which hurt her in the long run.  Amazingly, she got the team together and acquired her voice and dominance, but was it too late?

Ramsay said this year was the hardest choice of all; both contestants were even in their culinary skills, running the kitchen and in personality.  It really came down to how they managed to get themselves out of jams in the kitchen and with the customers’ comments.  In the end, Danny won the prize and at 23, now has a $250,000 paycheck and is the head chef of the Borgata (a five star restaurant) in Atlantic City, NJ.  Congratulations to both Danny and Paula, as they each did a fabulous job and redeemed this season of Hell’s Kitchen!

The final two contestants are Paula and Danny; the only two who stuck to themselves through most of the show, becoming silent threats to everyone that participated.  These two were never put up for elimination when their team lost, although their names did come up when asked to choose two for elimination.  They provided a solid, steady performance throughout season eight making them worthy candidates for this year’s final.  Paula was the only one whom Ramsay chose to be in the final, leaving Andrea and Danny up for elimination. I don’t think there was any doubt in Ramsay’s mind who was going home.

This week the final two will prepare their menus, decorate their dining areas and compete in the final challenge (the winner of that hasn’t won Hell’s Kitchen in the last two seasons).  They also choose from the eliminated contestants to cook in their kitchen. Watch out though, Ben and Lacy are back and sabotage could be on the horizon.

In a season I am surprised to see still going, Paula and Danny lead Hell’s Kitchen.  It’s the first time that two contestants in the finals hail from the same state; they both come from Florida.  Tune in this week for part one of the season eight finals of Hell’s Kitchen. Be sure then to tune in next week for the actual dinner service.

The contest this week was a taste test; to be a good chef you must have an impeccable palette. Chef Ramsay challenged the chefs to a blind fold test to see if they could guess the ingredients. Surprisingly, Robert and Giovanni didn’t get any of them right and Lacy failed too; but the surprise was Carol.  She got most of the ingredients in the Minestrone soup correct sending the red team to victory. Their reward was that they would be in a TV Guide photo shoot, taken right at Hell’s Kitchen. The blue team’s punishment was to wait on the red team and prep both kitchens for the night’s dinner service.

The dinner service had two celebrities in the house, so the pressure was even more intense. Paula, for the red team, had appetizer duty and screwed up her first risotto, but she managed to get on track and banged out the rest of the appetizers. On the blue side, the appetizers really did fly out of the kitchen with Robert on the station, but that would come to a screeching halt for the entrees.

Lacy was on the blue team’s meat service, which did her in. I don’t know what was more raw, her meat or her back side after Ramsay laced into her. She completely had a breakdown, confusion set in and she told Chef Ramsay she couldn’t cook meat. Ramsay screamed in shock, “You can’t cook bloody meat, GET OUT!” and threw her out of Hell’s Kitchen, or so we thought. He went back into a storage room and yelled at her for a few moments, before bringing her back on to the kitchen floor. Lacy would only last a few more minutes before Ramsay told her she wasn’t good enough and took her jacket. The men were down to three, but came together like never before and beat the red team on dinner service.

The red team had a complete lack of communication between Andrea and Carol. Their feud is becoming toxic, and ultimately cost the red team the win. Carol had a breakdown on the meat as well and couldn’t cook the Beef Wellington to save her life. She wouldn’t communicate with Andrea, so Andrea’s food was over or under cooked. The kitchen was at a stand still and Chef Ramsay pulled the plug and sent all the guests home.

Ramsay is completely disappointed in both teams, but the men did win, coming from behind to out serve the entrees with three less people. Chef Ramsay sent the red team back to nominate two people for elimination. The team was in complete agreement on Carol, but were conflicted with the other nominee. It came down to Andrea or LA.

When Ramsay first asked who the red team had nominated, Paula said they weren’t in agreement which really set the chef off. He said that the team’s communication was horrific, and that once again they have failed as a team. Paula said the nominees were Carol and LA. Then Chef Ramsay asked who the other was and that was when Paula nominated Andrea. So Ramsay asked Carol, Andrea and LA to come forward. He asked the team which nominee was in complete agreement and they all said Carol. He asked Carol who she thought the other one should be, and Carol actually said Andrea over LA, unlike the rest.

In the end, Chef sent LA home. He said he chose her for two reasons, lack of communication and lack of leadership necessary in a person running a five star kitchen. Carol and Andrea were spared, but their feud could cost them both the Hell’s Kitchen win. For the first time on the show two people were sent home, Lacy and LA.

In last week’s dinner service the women fell hard which resulted in Coi going home. This week, after witnessing everything that went wrong, Ramsay thought they could get it together and provide a good service for the night.

The new day started off with Giovanni going over to the women’s team to even up the teams. The move really angered the blue team because they lost their strongest team member. Most of them were mad that Ramsay sent Lacy to them, the red team’s worst member. Either way, Giovanni came over to help reorganize a dysfunctional red team.

The challenge this week were small tapestry dishes. Ramsay gave them all a task to create five small tapestry dishes from leftovers. The teams all ran to their stations and each chef came up with their own. The score was tied up when it was Giovanni and Ben’s turn to be judged. Ramsay thought both dishes were excellent in all aspects, but he awarded the win to Giovanni and the red team.

Punishment for the blue team was to prepare all the food for the night’s dinner service and clean and polish all the tapestry dishes. Lacy had a complete meltdown and stormed off quitting yet again! Ben ran and brought her back, telling her the team needed her, which they do. This seems to happen every time her team loses, and she can’t handle physical work.

Dinner service started and J cooked the rice badly for both teams, seriously slowing down the appetizers coming off the line.  A furious Ramsay pulled the risotto off the menu and lashed out on J. The night would go down even harder for the men as J completely ruined the Beef Wellington by under cooking it. The rest of the blue team started to slow down in an attempt to help J, but it became more of a train wreck.

The women were not that bad off.  They got through the dinner service without much of a scratch, however, LA was the weakest link on the line that night which was not good after being put up for elimination the night before.

The blue kitchen was on a crash course to destruction.  J messed up everything he touched that night, making the blood vessels in Ramsay’s head explode. Ramsay threw him out of Hell’s Kitchen before the night even expired. The women finished up on the dinner service, while the men were still serving tables.

Ramsay was extremely upset and disappointed in the chefs. He asked the blue team to nominate two people for elimination. Their choices were Ben and Lacy. After having them explain themselves on why they should stay, Ramsay let them both stay because J had already been sent home.

Both were spared another week, but had Ramsay not sent one home already, Ben or Lacy may not have stayed. Ramsay did hear how disgusted the team was with Lacy and her carefree, “I quit” attitude. If the men lose again, Lacy most likely will be gone.

The challenge for this week was largely based on creativity.  Chef Ramsay wanted the teams to make three Oriental fusion dishes, which is the art of mixing Oriental culinary tradition with another kind of tradition.  Ramsay took both teams to an Oriental supermarket, and then gave them 25 minutes to think of a dish, purchase the ingredients, and spend no more than $100.00.  Both teams worked hard and came up with their three dishes. They all got their ingredients in the 25 minutes allotted and all came under budget.  The teams would then return to Hell’s Kitchen to prepare the dishes, which they had an hour to do.

Each team finished in time and presented their dishes to Chef Ramsay.  He gave them another surprise; the dishes were going to be judged by one of the most pristine food critiques in the US, and the winning team would have all three dishes featured on her website.  The men won the first tasting, but the women won the last two making them the winners of the day’s challenge.  Their prize was a day of sumo wrestling in funny costumes, and then they were off to sample different kinds of sake, a type of Japanese alcohol .  The men, including Lacy, had to stay behind to make fortune cookies and decorate the tables with origami. 

The men’s team got through the fortune cookie baking, and moved onto the origami.  Everyone was having trouble except for Lacy, who taught the men how to create origami.  It actually gave her a presence and a reason to be in Hell’s Kitchen.

The night’s dinner service was horrendous for each team once again.  ”J” failed to cook the meats correctly, and Robert completely screwed up the appetizers.  On the women’s team, Andrea also messed up the meat and Colleen failed with the desserts.  Despite the bad service, the women did get to the desserts before Ramsay had had enough and shut down Hell’s Kitchen; the men never made it that far.

Ramsay told each team to nominate one of their own for elimination, due to the poor dinner service of the night.  When they all came together, the men nominated “J,” and the women nominated Andrea.  Ramsay looked at all of them, and then sent the two nominees back.  He called on Robert, telling him to wake up.  Then, the chef called Colleen down.  Ramsay told Colleen to take off her coat, and then threw her out of Hell’s Kitchen.  Colleen said she will be going back to her school.

I am shocked with Colleen; as a culinary school instructor, she should end up being one of the top people there.  If she didn’t win Hell’s Kitchen, she should have at least come in the top three.  Instead, Colleen leaves week six, giving the women a devastating blow.

For the challenge, the men and women were to prepare breakfast for a pee-wee football team and some pee-wee cheerleaders. The team that served eggs and bacon (the breakfast) to all their tables first, would win.  The men were out and running.  Seth said he knew Chef Ramsay’s special recipe for eggs and wanted the station; however, he would completely screw it up which would cost the blue team the win.  The men’s punishment was to prep both their kitchen and the women’s kitchen for dinner service, and clean Hell’s Kitchen.  Meanwhile, the women would go camping Beverly Hills style.

When the women returned from their shopping spree, got dressed and came down, they saw that hardly any of their food was prepped like it was supposed to be.  They had to prep their own food, and mentioned this to Ramsay.  The chef was NOT happy about that and called it an act of sabotage.  

The dinner service was a complete disaster for each team.  Just about every plate came back; one of the men let a salad go out with the butt of the lettuce in the plate.  Seth used a towel to wipe the sweat off his face and blow his nose, then used it on a pan for cooking. Ramsay looked on with disgust, finally shutting down the dinner service after an hour.  

For the first time in Hell’s Kitchen both teams were losers and both had to nominate two people for elimination.  For the men, they chose Ben and Seth; and for the women, they chose Lacy and Colleen.  Ramsay decided to send Ben back to the line, clearly he didn’t deserve to be down there.  However, he warned him that trying to impress at the speed of sound doesn’t accomplish much.  That left Lacy, Colleen and Seth up for elimination; it really was a no brainer for Ramsay who sent Seth home.  That made the men lose three out of four times.  Ramsay told Seth he had enough of him and couldn’t let it go on.  Seth walked out the door, then Ramsay sent Lacy to be on the men’s team.

That move made the women very happy, but made the men disgruntled.  Lacy said this makes her want to show the women up even more.  Last year Jen said the same thing, and was eliminated two weeks later.  After the fourth week, I am shocked with the fact I can’t find one person I feel could win this thing.  I have a feeling it’s the silent people that will emerge much like Petrozza did last year.  My prediction is that the men will lose again this coming week, sending Lacy home.  The women will lose the following week after that, sending Colleen home.

At 3 A.M. the assistant chefs barged into the suite and woke up the two teams. They quickly got dressed and were taken to an undisclosed location. Upon arrival, they found themselves at a slaughter house/butchery.  The assistant chefs gave each of the groggy chefs a lesson on different cuts of meat on a cow and where they are located.  Most of them seemed like they didn’t care what they were saying, especially Lacy.

The teams arrived back at Hell’s Kitchen to see Gordon Ramsay with two plastic cows sitting in the dining room.  He gave each team two challenges for this exercise. They were first to identify the meats on plates by sticking signs in them corresponding to the cut, and secondly, they were to take those signs and place them on the plastic cow where you would find the cut.

Both teams quickly identified the cuts on the table, each only having one wrong. The men correctly identified each cut and made quick work on identifying the part of the cow the cut came from.  The ladies were not far behind.  Originally, the ladies had three wrong and the men had only one.  After Lacy got a hold of the cow, she managed to get six wrong because she really had no idea what she was doing.  The men went as far as getting seven incorrect.  It didn’t take them long to fix the mistakes making the men the winners of this week’s challenge.  Their prize was to fly a private jet to a vineyard for a wine tasting, then off to eat some of the best steak in the state.  The ladies had to stay behind and butcher a half of cow, then were forced to eat some of the worst leftover parts imaginable. 

Dinner service was also a challenge.  Ramsay turned the kitchen into a steak house for the night, while one team cooked and the other team served. The team that served the most dinner plates after two hours would win. The men went first, and the women had a hard time getting the orders into the kitchen. Eventually the women made a turn around. The men, however, had a disastrous night.  Charlie lit his towel on fire and could not get the shrimp cooked right. Giovanni, a steak house executive chef, completely destroyed the steaks he cooked, and Seth hacked a filet mignon so badly that he lost the most expensive part of the cut.  

It was now the women’s turn, and Ramsay reopened Hell’s Kitchen.  The men were off to a great start on the floor, but Charlie had another breakdown.  When the orders started to roll in, the women busted them out.  Honestly, I think eating that putrid food made them realize they didn’t want to lose anymore. They started to bring the food out in droves, but it kept coming back.  The men kept saying the food was over or under cooked. Ramsay then checked the meat only to agree with the women chefs… it was cooked right.  Ramsay actually asked the men’s team if they were trying to sabotage the women.

The night came to a close after the teams’ two hours expired.  Ramsay tallied up the comment cards, and the tally on the plates that left the kitchen.  The worst servers were Lacy and Charlie, and the women sent out the most plates making them the winners.  The men were sent back to figure out who was going home.  Seth felt he was the best chef on the line and stated that Giovanni should go. This, in turn, really angered the men and Giovanni.  They also didn’t believe that the women brought the tickets fast enough in order to give them a chance at victory.

Ramsay met the men after a few hours and asked for their nominees.  The men chose Seth and Charlie.  When he asked them why they should stay, Seth gave Ramsay a long and drawn out butt kissing, sob story.  In the end, he chose Charlie to leave Hell’s Kitchen and sent Seth back.  The men were surprised, as was I.  I truly believe Seth should have been the one to go.

This week both teams prepared to take the game a bit higher, but for one of the ladies, fate would rear its ugly face as a tragic incident would occur.  Ji ends up hurting her ankle, leaving her in immense pain.  Despite her distress, Ji would fight through it and perform her kitchen duties as if nothing ever happened.  She was so impressive, most of her teammates forgot she was injured. Ji’s cooking was top notch, and she never complained about her misfortune.

However, some of the women would fall short of that kind of heroism.  Colleen and Lacy proved again to be the weaker links for the ladies team.  Colleen, the culinary school teacher/owner, could not cook salmon correctly.  She kept burning the fish and somehow, it remained raw inside.  Lacy, who has twice given up, came back to complete the day, taking over on fish for Colleen.

The men also had some misfortune of their own.  The women were blowing out their entrees, yet the men were struggling to even get to theirs.  They looked like ants without a purpose in the kitchen.  Ramsay was completely disgusted with the men, but he remained hard on them which seemed to get them back on track.

Before the night was up, Ramsay would kick Colleen out of the kitchen. Not long after, the men started blowing out entrees with no returns, and it became a race to the finish.  Ramsay told both teams that the men had four entrees left to serve and the women had five.  Whoever finished all their entrees first, would win. In a heated race to the finish, the men got their entrees done first, making the ladies the losing team for the week. Amazingly, for the first time on Hell’s Kitchen, both teams got through the entire night, and on only the second week.

Before they left to their dorms, Ramsay gave Ji an amazing compliment. To sum it up, Ramsay said he has never seen such passion and courage in which Ji showed tonight.  He said she is a model for all the others to follow.  She never gave up and finished with pride.  Then Ramsay split everyone up to discuss who was going home.

The women came back to confront Ramsay, who had asked the ladies who their choice was and why.  The women chose Lacy and Colleen, for obvious reasons.  Both women stated their case, before Ji spoke up.  ”Chef, it’s a great honor to serve you in your kitchen, it’s a dream of mine.  However, I feel I am a burden to these women with my current injury. I want this team to win, but I will only be baggage, so I nominate myself.”  Without hesitation, Ramsay asked both Colleen and Lacy to get back in line, and he sent Ji home.  The women were shocked and begged for reconsideration.  Ramsay went up to the ailing Ji and told her he had never seen such courage on Hell’s Kitchen.  ”Ji, you are a model chef for all to mimic.  It’s a shame you will leave due to an injury.  Keep your coat as a reminder of your bravery and excellence.”  With that, Ji was wheeled out in her wheel chair by her teammates, to a standing ovation by both teams.  Never has a contestant ever left without giving up their coat.

Season five started off with the signature dish tasting by Ramsay from each one of the contestants.  Last year he threw up and spit out more of the food than he ever did before.  This year he only spit out two dishes, a vast improvement from last year. Ramsay raved this was the best signature dish tasting ever.  With that tasting, the stakes grew and  so did Ramsay’s expectations for season five.

This year in the mix of personalities, the egos are still pretty high.  There is a mix of gay and lesbian, Asian, African-American and even a good ol’ boy.  Each one has some experience in the field, but the one I expect to take a firm leadership role and set an example for their team is Colleen.  She is a teacher of her own culinary school so how bad can she be?  Amazingly, she had one of the two signature dishes that Ramsay spit out.  He actually said it was the worst he ever tasted.  Colleen got offended and actually mentioned to Ramsay that “she also teaches manners in her school.”  When he asked her to repeat the statement, she clammed up fast.  Ramsay also found out that Colleen never was a trained cook.  This could greatly damage her school’s credibility and accreditation.

The start of Hell’s Kitchen service went pretty smooth, despite a breakdown from Lacey who said she quit after only ten minutes into the prep for the night, but returned just before service started.  It was not looking good for the women’s team; even though they are the team to beat and last year’s winner was Cristina from the ladies team.

After about 30 minutes into the service a generator blew, then another and another, till Hell’s Kitchen went completely dark.  Giovaini and Carol were servers for the night because each team had too many people.  Carol, to avoid her customers leaving and getting upset at the blackout, served small amounts of wine them.  Giovaini froze and waited for things to resume.  It wasn’t long before the power was back and things were running smoothly… but not for the kitchen.

Lacy didn’t have her stove on, Colleen decided to revamp Ramsay’s recipe which was a possible death sentence.  The men were not any better, fighting like they did last year. Wil completely broke down the garnish station while the rest of the men were serving undercooked and burnt food, making Ramsay look like he was going to have a stroke.

The teams didn’t even get to half the entrees before guests started walking out.  Ramsay closed the kitchen and the dreams of one contestant.  Since both teams were atrocious, Ramsay let the patrons decide.  The vote was on how well the servers performed on the floor.  Carol got a 83% approval rating by her customers, while Giovaini received less exemplary marks with 91% saying he was horrible.  The ladies won the first night of Hell’s Kitchen.

In the end, the men nominated Seth and Wil.  Wil actually nominated himself.  Ramsay listened to both men plea their case, and finally sent Wil packing. Ramsay’s reasoning was that Wil didn’t have any faith in himself, or his ability.  That is the key to being a great chef.

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!

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.

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.

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.