“Hell’s Kitchen” is barreling toward the finale already, but wait….now there will be a 2-3 week break for playoff baseball. Anyway, when they resume in early November there will be 8 contestants left and they will probably keep up with the two-episodes-in-one thing until just after Thanksgiving. Either way, here is our rapid-fire recap of last night’s doubleheader:

EPISODE 1

Initial challenge: Spinning a roulette wheel with letters. Using said letters to choose ingredients to then make a meal with. This was a team challenge. Blue team had kale, yams, miso, striped bass and asparagus. Red team had rutabaga, cauliflower, bok choy, fennel and salmon
Mistakes: Blue team did not exciting with asparagus or yams; and red team’s rutabaga chips were terribly bitter.
Winner: Red team
Prize: Trip to Vegas, lap of luxury prize and even hanging out with Penn and Teller
Punishment: Peeling and prepping a truck load of potatoes for the next dinner service
Dinner service: Family night, including chef Ramsay’s family
Mistakes: Vinny trying to re-use risotto, Nona too slow on garnish, Russell not being a team player and not bailing Rob out when he was sinking at his station, Trev and Sabrina arguing instead of working together
Quote: Ramsay said that 90% of the customers “left………happy”
Winner: Both teams, as it was one of the best services this season
On the block: Sabrina, Nona, Boris and Rob
Going home: Nobody. Ramsay asked Nona and Rob to step forward, again because you can’t send ratings darlings Sabrina or Boris home yet, right? Then he told Rob to give him his jacket…because it needed cleaning. Rob’s quote: “Come on chef, you can’t do that to a fat guy.” Classic.

EPISODE 2

Initial challenge: Starting at high end grocery store Bristol Farms, the chefs had to choose ingredients for under $60 per team and create four fine dining dishes. Guest judges were Mark Peel, Sophie Gayot, Libby Rego, and Justin Wyborn–a collection of great chefs and journalists
Mistakes: Not many…and it was incredible to see how much each judge would pay for each dish.
Winner: Red team, again.
Prize: Sailing for the day and lunch on the water. But Trev kept saying he didn’t feel welcome on his team, and they were giving him the cold shoulder
Punishment: Prepping kitchen and dining room for black tie, 100th episode anniversary dinner.
Dinner service: Elegant black tie affair, including chef’s tables with former “Hell’s Kitchen” winners–Rock, Christina, Danny and Holli.
Mistakes: Nona messed up the risotto, while Boris lit his on fire…Trev was completely in over his head with garnishes and could not keep up…Vinny made chewy lobster, as some of the dishes were returned to the kitchen…all of Trev’s teammates were helping him, leaving other stations unattended….Russell was not communicating, and Rob missed a ticket and had to rush cooking chicken, which of course was undercooked
Quote: “Get out!”–Ramsay to Trev, telling him to go get some fresh air
Winner: Red team
On the block: Boris and Vinny. But Ramsay asked Rob to also step forward.
Going home: Boris, finally. Whew. Okay, now just one whack job (Sabrina) left.

But wait…….Ramsay then said he wasn’t done yet….and asked Trev to also step forward. And then the dreaded “To Be Continued” appeared on the screen. Which means they wanted to leave us hanging for a few weeks. Don’t worry, producers…I’m surely not going to lose any sleep wondering if Trev is getting kicked off the show or not. In fact, I know he’s just going back to the blue team, because that’s how you guys roll!

Thanks for reading everyone, and see you in a few weeks!

Mrs. Mike made the comment last week that she thinks a couple of the “Hell’s Kitchen” contestants are “plants.” Meaning, the producers put them in there to say things and act a certain way. Well, after two weeks of this show (and a grueling four episodes I might add), I think I agree. Raj and Sabrina are just certified nuts….and neither appears to really know what they’re doing or know how to get along with people in the kitchen. But I digress…here is a brief recap of last night’s episodes:

EPISODE 1

Initial challenge: Cooking breakfast for paramedics
Mistakes: Emily burned bacon, Raj did not season eggs properly
Winner: Red team
Prize: Poolside lunch with Gordon Ramsay in Santa Monica, and trapeze lessons
Punishment: Blue team had to clean up kitchen and polish glasses for cocktails later that evening, during which all of his teammates started harassing Raj and calling him out for being weird and not a team player
Dinner service: Jillian and Trev would be making cocktails and menu was standard.
Mistakes: Raj could not cook fish properly, started eating fish at one point and also stuck his head in the freezer to “cool off.” He also added sauce to grilled fish. Emily “helped” Jillian salt her pasta, but in the dining room the guests thought it was too salty. Hmmm. Melissa’s fish was called “Gandhi’s flip flop” by Ramsay. Boris’ Wellington was raw in the middle. Gail burned her meat and then didn’t pay attention as it was burning in front of her.
Quote: Ramsay referred to Raj as having his thumb up his “fat crack.” Awesome!
Winner: Blue team, somehow. Customer comment cards showed they had 54% who liked their meals while red team had 50%.
On the block: Emily and Sabrina. Sabrina commented that she had “bigger balls” than anyone else on the red team. For real, Sabrina?
Going home: Raj. Thing is, I saw this coming. I don’t think any of us wanted to watch this guy spontaneously combust on TV, and neither did Ramsay. Whew.

EPISODE 2

Initial challenge: Ravioli making in 30 minutes. Teams had to rank dishes in order of presenting to Ramsay. Trev’s dish was not even tried so he was ranked last but was pissed about it.
Winner: Blue team, as Trev beat out Gail for the final point.
Prize: Helicopter ride to ocean resort, a bit of golf and lunch on the water. Trev started in about his ravioli for no reason.
Quote: Trev to Gail: “Wanna make out?” Ewwwwwwwwww
Punishment: Milking cows for fresh mozzarella.
Dinner service: Vinny’s ravioli was on menu.
Mistakes: Melissa served cold ravioli, Louis served up cold salmon, Sabrina did not know how to cook a pork chop, Rob burned pizza, Gail was slow, Boris started washing dishes during service. Finally, Chef Ramsay shut the kitchen down because he’d seen enough.
Winner: Neither team. They had to nominated two each for elimination.
On the block: Melissa, Sabrina, Louis and Boris.
Back in line: Melissa and Boris
Going home: Louis

So there you have it. Now we’re down to 11 contestants already, and probably two more will go home next week before Fox’s baseball playoff coverage begins. See you then!