I realized something last night. I realized that “Hell’s Kitchen” on Fox jumped the shark about three seasons ago. Not that I didn’t think this before, but as I sat there watching with my wife, I realized that we used to really look forward to this show, and now it’s just something I blog about, and at times it pains me to do that. I mean, it’s the same format, the same challenges in the same order, the same everything with this show. Anyway, with that, here is my recap of last night’s double episode…oh, but first…remember Ramsay left us hanging before the baseball playoffs started, and asked Trev to step forward? He just sent him back to the blue team….as if we didn’t all see that coming.

EPISODE 1

Initial challenge: Blind taste test (palate challenge)
Mistakes:Gail thought black truffles were watercress, and Rob missed all four of his tastings
Winner: Red team, again
Prize: lunch and shopping spree
Punishment: separating recyclables in the trash and prepping kitchen for dinner service
Dinner service: no special theme
Mistakes: Rob could not properly cook scallops; Nona messed up chicken; Rob was slow on halibut; Vinny cooked an egg until it was hard inside a bed of spinach; Russ tried to serve raw chicken. Ramsay told Russ, Rob, Vinny, and Nona to “GET OUT!”
Quote: Ramsay, to Nona: “Get out of my f—king way!”
Winner: Red team, and Trev was best of the worst and had to nominate two teammates for elimination
On the block: Russ and Rob
Going home: Rob, which sent Russ into a jock/testosterone-infused rage because he didn’t feel he should be on the block. Whatever dude, you’re only in it for yourself.

EPISODE 2

Initial challenge: Team relay, creating three dishes in 30 minutes, with 5 minute relay times.
Mistakes: Red team, Jillian dropped salmon on floor; both teams served raw green beans
Winner: Blue team, barely
Prize: Shopping spree at cooking supply store, and nice lunch
Punishment: unloading delivery trucks
Dinner service: : Teams would get to create their own menus. Mrs. Mike pointed out that Ramsay did not critique either menu, which was odd.
Mistakes: Vinny forgot to fire up lamb completely, and it was for the table of the chef who served the blue team lunch earlier that day—yikes. Then he didn’t cook it enough; Gail served raw lobster more than once; Vinny served raw fish
Quote: “Get out!”–Ramsay to Gail
Winner: Neither team. He then asked each chef to nominate one contestant from either team for elimination.
On the block: Every red team member chose Trev, and Sabrina also had at least one nomination. Ramsay asked Trev to step forward, and said that even though he wasn’t popular, he should take his jacket off and…”Put on this black jacket!” Ramsay then handed out black jackets until only Gail and Vinny remained. He asked Gail to step forward and take off her jacket, and the music for elimination played and everything, but then Ramsay gave her a black jacket. Oh those tricky producers!
Going home: Vinny. You just don’t forget to serve lamb to the most important diner in attendance that night and not pay for it. But the dude had some flaws beyond that.

So there you have it, folks. We’re now down to seven chefs, and we’re getting closer to the finale after a month lay-off. See you next week, I just heard Ramsay yell to me, “Get Out!”

Fox gave us another two-hour episode of “Hell’s Kitchen” last night, and it’s becoming clear that they are trying to get the show out of the way before the fall. Next week the MLB all-star game is on Fox, so we’ll have a reprieve, and then on July 27 Gordon Ramsay’s new “Master Chef” show will begin and probably share air time with “Hell’s Kitchen.” Either way, we sure are moving swiftly, and are down to the final 6. Here is how we got there last night…..

EPISODE 1

This episode was the palate episode, but it began with Ramsay serving the remaining 8 chefs a dish he claimed to have created. He asked for their opinion of the chicken dish, and each of them raved about it. Then he broke it to them….it was a frozen meal. Ha! That should have been a sign of what was to come, and it was….the palate test. This is the one where he blindfolds each chef and puts headphones on them, and asks them to name what he puts in their mouth.

Fran and Autumn were first and Fran, after she claimed to have an awesome palate, was 0 for 4. Autumn guessed 1 correctly and the blue team was in the lead. Holli got 1 right to Ed’s 0. Ben and Jason each got 1 correct, and it was down to Nilka and Jay. Nilka got one right and Jay 2, giving the blue team the win.

Their prize was to spend the day at Sea World and swim with the dolphins. Meanwhile, the red team had to unload delivery trucks. Then for the dinner service later that day, the teams were empowered with creating their own menus. The red team was struggling, and/or letting Ben strong arm them, and the blue team chose items that were so simple that they ventured into boring territory. Ramsay got to sample all of the dishes, and he was not very impressed with the red team’s creations, except for Holli, who made all of the desserts, and made them very well. I’m starting to believe she has a real shot at winning this. Meanwhile, Ramsay was very disappointed that the blue team took the easy way out and didn’t create anything interesting or exciting. He asked them to re-consider their menu. But after that, the orders were coming in from the dining room and most guests were choosing the blue menu.

In the kitchen, Fran could not cook chicken all the way through and Autumn almost served raw pork. This prompted Ramsay into one of his “Get out!” modes. He pulled her aside and let her have it verbally. Then Jason was getting flustered because of the volume of orders for the blue team, and Fran was screwing up at the meat station, again. Then Ramsay pulled Fran aside too, but not before telling Autumn that her attitude “stinks.” In the end, Ramsay declared both teams losers and asked them to each choose one person for consensus nomination for being sent home. The blue team chose Autumn and red chose Fran. Big surprise! Ramsay told Fran he’d had enough, and sent her home. He then told Autumn to take off her jacket as well, but sent her back to the red team. They actually welcomed her back with open arms, and Ben commented that Autumn was a much stronger cook than Fran was.

EPISODE 2

This one began with Ramsay telling the chefs that whoever won the job at the Savoy in London would be cooking with exotic ingredients, such as the giant 10 pound lobsters he was holding. He asked them each to create a lobster dish for their initial challenge. But he also brought out three Michelin star chefs to help him judge the dishes.
Since it was 4 against 3, Ramsay told the red team to have one chef sit this out. They chose Nilka, whose boring lobster with mashed potatoes wouldn’t have done her team any favors.

Holli faced off against Ed and Holli won; Jason beat out Autumn; and Ben and Jay both failed, prompting the guest chef to not award a point to either. So Ramsay told them the winner would be the team that had the best dish overall, which was Holli’s. So the red team won a challenge! Their reward was to be whisked off to a caviar restaurant and then a shopping spree. Meanwhile, the blue team had to clean the dorms and prep both kitchens for dinner. They had to do the red kitchen first, and had no time to do their own, which would have been a major problem. However, Ramsay announced that they would now be working as one team, in the red side of the kitchen. Jay, Jason and Ed all breathed a huge sigh of relief.

For this dinner, the chefs had 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete service, as the guests were all going to the theater afterward. Nilka could not cook seafood properly, prompting Ramsay to tell her to “Get a grip!” Ed was not all there either, leaving frying pans to burn on the stove. Jason, meanwhile, was on his game, cooking all of his beef wellingtons perfectly. But Nilka kept failing over and over again, and finally Ramsay told her to take off her jacket and get out, for real. Nilka could not accept her fate, coming back in and begging with Ramsay to give her another chance. He told her to leave again, and when she didn’t, he asked the other chefs to get her to leave. Nice.
But after Nilka got her things and then headed out to her waiting cab, Ramsay was there waiting for her, and gave her some kind words of encouragement. Once in a while, Ramsay shows that he definitely has a good heart.

Meanwhile, the dinner service went really well, winding up at 2 hours, 15 minutes. But Ramsay told them to choose two people for consensus nomination for elimination. They chose Ed and Autumn. Then, when they were on the chopping block, Ramsay told Ed to take off his jacket. He then told him to put on a black jacket, and to get back in line. He congratulated him, Autumn and the other four remaining chefs on reaching the Final 6.

Seriously, the Final 6? This season is going to be over in just a few weeks. So your Final 6–Ed, Autumn, Jay, Jason, Ben and Holli. I’m going to predict that the final will be Holli vs. Jay. Okay, thanks for reading and we’ll see you all in two weeks!

Last week on FOX’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” Gordon Ramsay eliminated Robert, his 500 pound pet project who did not get a fair shake due to health reasons the previous season. This week he let someone go who he didn’t see enough leadership qualities in. But more on that later (unless you are lazy and want to scroll down!). Anyway, the guys were making comments at the start of the episode about “Biggins” being gone.

Then Ramsay subjected the teams to his palate test, in which they are blindfolded and wear headphones that block out any conversation. One person from each team would square off against each other–Ariel vs. Van, then Suzanne vs. Dave, Sabrina vs. Kevin and finally Amanda vs. Andy. Andy was spouting off about what a great palate he has, and so was Suzanne, but these chefs always suck at this challenge, especially when they start talking trash. The best, and most shocking really, was when Kevin thought clams were spinach….say what??? Andy also called avocado “boiled coconut.” Ha! Anyway, the ladies won, and their reward was to have lunch at Opaque, a restaurant completely in the dark. Suzanne was trying to suck up to Ramsay, and it was becoming clearer that her teammates had zero respect for her.

The guys, meanwhile, had to make sorbet from scratch for that evening’s dinner service, and prep the kitchen as well. They also were served their lunch, including a duck entree, but sous chef Scott served it to them after whirring it in a blender. Yuck!!!

At dinner service, there were multiple problems as usual. Amanda couldn’t cook pasta properly, Van had to take over Kevin’s risotto station but didn’t know how to season it properly. Sabrina gave in to Suzanne’s timing issues and undercooked some lamb, making Ramsay kick her out of the kitchen to eat her mistake. Tennille took her place and served perfectly cooked lamb. Then the guys ran out of mashed potatoes thanks to Andy, but at least he told Ramsay about it…Dave then made more from scratch, earning Ramsay’s kudos. Finally with the red team having timing issues, Suzanne tried to throw Amanda under the bus after Amanda helped her finish cooking some fish. Ultimately, both teams finished the service, but not without difficulty.

Ramsay declared the blue team the winners, and commended Dave again, who still is performing with a cast on one arm. Tennille, who has made an incredible comeback lately, was the best of the worst and was asked to nominate two teammates for elimination. She knew Suzanne was obvious, but wasn’t sure if Sabrina or Amanda should be the second choice. She went with Sabrina, but Ramsay also wanted Amanda to step forward.

Then, after asking the three of them to state their case, and hearing Suzanne and Tennille argue like Robert and Andy did last week, Ramsay told Suzanne to get back in line. Of course he did….why would he want to mess with the drama factor? Then he sent Amanda packing, saying that she just didn’t demonstrate enough leadership qualities to run one of his restaurants.

The preview for next week shows Andy cutting off part of a finger (ewwww) and fireworks from Ramsay that may be his most explosive outburst yet. At least that is what FOX wants us to believe, right?

See you all next week!