So it finally came down to Russell vs. Nona for all the marbles, and if you haven’t noticed, “Hell’s Kitchen” has regressed to the point that they don’t do the finale live anymore. But that’s okay….if they did, it would be two long and grueling hours. As it was, they started out with Nona and Russell being whisked off in a helicopter to the site of LA Market, where one of them would become head chef. But of course they would have a challenge, and that would be to whip up 5 courses in 45 minutes…say what? Really? There is no way I believe they did that. Anyway, Gordon Ramsay brought in some of his celebrity chef buddies and subordinates to judge each course. As always it came down to a tie after four rounds (has it ever not?) and for the meat course judged by executive chef at LA Market Kerri Simon, Russell won. So his prize? Once they arrived back at the dorm, they were surprised by eight of their former teammates being there. They would choose their teams, and Russell had the first pick.

He chose Jillian, and Nona chose Gail. Russell then wound up with Vinny, Sabrina and Rob; while Nona had Melissa, Trev and Boris. Russell reluctantly picked Vinny and Vinny didn’t want to be on Russell’s team because of how Russell treated him at Vinny’s elimination. It was kind of funny. But not as funny as when Russell almost fired Vinny and Vinny referred to Russell as a “douchebag” afterward.

During the dinner service, there were definitely problems–Vinny wasn’t cooking fish properly, Trev was over-dressing salad, Sabrina was stewing beef instead of grilling it, and Boris was just Boris. Nona and Russell tried to reel their teams in, but Russell did so in a degrading manner. It was right then that I knew Ramsay would not choose him to win. Russell also tried to rush food out, and Ramsay pulled him aside and said, “One table at a time, big boy.” Meanwhile, Nona’s team wound up getting it all together.

So the winner would be chosen from customer comment cards and also from Ramsay’s own thoughts. Both Nona and Russell wanted it badly and in many ways you could have argued for either of them. But still, I think all of America knew……Nona won. You could see Russell jarring the door handle, thinking it was a mistake, and being so pissed. So what does he do? He blames it on his team, thinking they purposely threw him under the bus. What a douche. You were right, Vinny. Meanwhile, Nona was a gracious champ and will do well, though I still think the talent this season was lacking compared with previous seasons. And I’m pretty sure the show will be on hiatus for a bit…..or do they have three more seasons in the can already? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Thanks for reading everyone, and happy holidays!