The producers and suits at Fox are annoying me. I am and have been a fan of “Hell’s Kitchen” for several years now, but I don’t need to see 2 hours of it every Tuesday night. It just seems like they are trying to get the season over with. I mean, we started on June 1 and now there are just 8 contestants left, meaning this season will wrap up way before the fall TV slate is close to beginning. I’m not sure what they’re thinking, but they probably have their reasons. Anyway, I’m committed to this blog, so here we go….

EPISODE 1

This episode began with Chef Ramsay introducing a couple that was about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, Sal and Marcy. Hell’s Kitchen would be catering the party, and the chefs would have to update the menu that Sal and Marcy had for their wedding reception–chicken Kiev, steak Diane, and trout almondine. So far, Ben, new to the red team, was getting along with his teammates. So far.

They each would be responsible in their initial challenge for re-creating the wedding reception dishes and having Sal and Marcy sample them. Nilka and Ed presented their takes on steak Diane, but Nilka admittedly didn’t know what the dish was. Seriously? Ed won. Then Holli and Autumn presented the chicken Kiev interpretations, but the blue teams’ was Sal’s chicken meatballs, which were undercooked. Yikes. Score was tied. Jay and Ben presented their trout dishes and Sal and Marcy each liked a different one. So the score remained tied, but Ramsay was there to break the tie. He chose Ben’s trout and the red team won.

So the red team got to celebrate by going to Frisco’s, a ’50’s style diner, and the blue team had to set the room up for the reception. At dinner service, Jay cut his finger but they made it all more dramatic than it actually was. Ed and Nilka would be making steak Diane table-side. Among the problems in the kitchen, Ben didn’t cook crab cakes enough and then burned them…Sal was not communicating as usual…Holli served raw chicken, and Fran wasn’t observing safety regulations. The losing team was the red team, and they had to choose two consensus nominees for elimination. Fran was an obvious choice, but the other choice was Siobhan, and Ben kept throwing her under the bus, saying she wasn’t as good a cook as everyone else.
But Ramsay told them both to get back in line, and singled out Sal…saying that Sal has had one good dinner service out of seven so far. And really, it was the right choice.

EPISODE 2

This episode began with Siobhan being pissed about having been put on the chopping block, and Ben belittling her some more, saying she wasn’t good enough. Ouch. Then Ramsay told the chefs the next morning to get dressed and get ready to go to one of the most famous French restaurants in Los Angeles. They all got dressed up but the restaurant was a sandwich shop, Phillipe’s, where the French Dip sandwich was first created.

Ramsay announced the first challenge, which was for the chefs to create a gourmet sandwich in 30 minutes using a list of ingredients to choose from that he would provide. They would face off individually and as a team, again, but with 9 chefs one would have to sit out. That was Siobhan, as the red team, led by Ben, forced her out. Ben and Ed squared off with ahi tuna sandwiches and Ramsay liked them both; Holli faced off against Jason, Holli’s duck sandwich vs. Jason’s lobster sandwich, and Ramsay liked them both; and then Fran vs. Jay and Jay won because Fran’s bread was soggy on the inside. Nilka and Autumn then squared off with roast pork sandwiches, and Nilka won. Ramsay asked Siobhan to step forward to break the tie….and her seemingly odd sandwich with prosciutto and several kinds of fruit on challah bread was so good, that Ramsay told the red team they had lost for choosing the wrong person to sit out. Ha! Siobhan let Ben hear it, but Ben stood by the decision, which, at that point, was stupid. Dude, Ramsay chose her sandwich and said it was better than Fran’s!

So the blue team won and took a private jet to wine country, and the red team had to make peanut butter and jelly from scratch for a gourmet menu item. The blue team got tipsy and then downright drunk at the wine tasting lunch, and later Ed, Holli and Siobhan were in the hot tub, and the girls dared Ed to get naked, which he did. Ugh, we didn’t need to see that, even if we didn’t actually see it. Then, the blue team was severely hung over as they had to prep the next morning for dinner service.

They started out strong, as Fran made a good risotto (her first time making it, ever), but then she kept screwing it up, and was very inconsistent. Jason undercooked scallops, and Autumn was screwing up too. Siobhan burned her scallops and then Ramsay made her go out to the bar to eat her mistake. Back in the kitchen, Siobhan came in and Ben pushed her off the seafood station. Then, after more undercooked chicken and beef, Ramsay had had enough…he told the blue team to get out, and then shortly after told the red team to go back to their dorm. He declared no winning team, and told them to nominate two chefs for elimination from each team.

The blue team chose Autumn and Ed, and the red team Siobhan and Fran. Ramsay asked them each to state their case, and as Siobhan was stating hers, he said “That’s it, I’ve had enough,” and sent her home. Basically Ramsay accused her of having no backbone, and letting Ben push her around and off her station. Remember too, that she had let Autumn push her around earlier this season.

So that’s it…we’re down to 8–Ed, Jay, Jason, Ben, Autumn, Fran, Holli and Nilka. I think it’ll be between Ed, Jay, Nilka and Holli at this point, but it should be interesting to see how it shakes out. Ben and Autumn are too cocky without the talent to back it up, and Jason and Fran are one poor service away from going home too.

What do you think? Let me know in the space below and we’ll see you next week….

I’m not sure if the people who run Fox are just running out of shows, or if they are trying to speed up the season of “Hell’s Kitchen” so that its finale airs before the fall shows begin. But two hours of this show on a Tuesday night is just too much, or, should we say, two much. Still, I have committed to covering the show, so here is how it went down last night….

EPISODE 1

Last week ended with Scott and Autumn switching teams. Scott then declared that he would no longer try to “help” his teammates, but focus more on the actual “team” concept. Yeah, right. Scott looks to me like a duck that quacks like a duck.

The first challenge was a bit daunting…there were little pigs running around and Gordon Ramsay sharpening knives, with the perception he would make the chefs butcher these poor little things. But no, he just had them chase the pigs and grab a paper necklace off of them that would represent a cut of pork, as well as an ingredient that would complement it. They would then break into teams of two and face off, red team vs. blue team. Just as I said out loud to Mrs. Mike that there are no bad cuts of pork, Nilka wound up with blood sausage, and prunes for her other ingredient. Blech!!! Anyway, she was beat by the blue team’s pork loin with baby bok choy. Holli’s tenderloin with sweet and sour apples beat out the bacon with honey slaw; and the blue team’s pork loin chop with pinto beans beat Maria’s sweet potato soup with ham hock, a dish that failed to use the hock as the main ingredient. So the blue team won, again.

The red team had to give the pigs a bath, literally, dressed in farm clothes…and the blue team got to writhe in mud too…at a spa. Of course, the producers used the opportunity to show off Autumn in a bikini and the guys were all practically drooling. Then back at the dorms before dinner service, Salvatore was playing talk show host and got Holli to talk about her porn collection and Siobhan to talk about her escapades at fetish balls, where she sometimes dresses in only body paint. Um, I think I speak for everyone reading this right now…EWWWWWWWWW.

The dinner service would be the first ever barbecue in Hell’s Kitchen, but Nilka got her team off to a bad start when she began pre-frying chicken. Anyway, with the restaurant being over-booked, Ramsay decided to have two seatings….the red team would cook and the blue team would serve, and then vice versa. Menu items included smoked ribs, kobe beef burger and crab hushpuppies. Yum! Fran and Nilka were arguing and the red team just couldn’t get it together at all. Scot burned chicken, and Siobhan couldn’t cook burgers enough. Ramsay had seen enough, and shut down the kitchen.

The red team also failed in the front of the house, with Maria not being able to manage orders at all. Ramsay got in Jason’s face for burning chicken, and in the end he declared the night the worst service in this season’s short history. But the losing team by far was the red team. Fran was the best of the worst and got to nominate two teammates for elimination. She chose Maria and Nilka, prompting immediate rage from Nilka. I think her motive was to pick someone Ramsay wouldn’t eliminate so that he’d send Maria home, but Ramsay didn’t appreciate it and neither did Nilka. He asked Scott to also step forward and told Nilka to get back in line. But then he sent Maria home, and thankfully we don’t have to hear her babbling mouth anymore.

EPISODE 2

This episode began with Ramsay having the chefs name the five mother sauces in the culinary world–hollandaise, tomato, demi-glace, bechamel and veloute. They would then have to grab an ingredient from a table that also had 20 other ingredients, and use what they had to make a dish in 45 minutes, without using any ingredient twice. They would then face off as individuals to earn points as a team. The judges would be Ramsay’s mom and wife.

Fran beat Sal, who undercooked pasta; Siobhan and Jay both failed; Ed beat Holli; Nilka barely beat Jason, and Ben beat Scott. It was a draw, but Ramsay gave the blue team the nod because Jason’s dish was so good but not as good as Nilka’s. The red team got to clean the kitchen, and the blue team got to hang out at an English pub that Ramsay frequents when homesick. The blue team also all won a set of pots and pans. Meanwhile, while cleaning , Siobhan claimed to be allergic to cleaning supplies, and broke out in hives.

At dinner service, it was family night, which meant many kid-friendly items like fish sticks and fries. Sal was not listening well and Nilka forgot to put lobster in the lobster risotto. Fran overcooked scallops and Scott was not cooking beef wellingtons enough. Finally, Ramsay told the red team to get out of the kitchen, and sous chefs Scott and Andi finished along with Ramsay himself. The blue team, meanwhile, was once again a well-oiled machine. So Ramsay asked the red team to choose two consensus chefs for elimination. They went with Scott and Fran, but Fran clearly disagreed with her nomination. So did Ramsay, who also asked Siobhan to step forward. He then eliminated Scott, after hearing again how great he was and blah blah blah. None of us wanted to hear it either, so it was the right choice. More doing, less talking, Scott.

But Ramsay said he wasn’t done, and sent Ben to the red team to even things out. He asked Ben to fill a leadership role that had been missing from the red team so far.

So that’s it…we’re barreling along and we’re only a few weeks in. I’m liking Nilka, Ben, Jay and Ed as possible contenders. What do you think? Let me know, and we’ll see you back here next week…

In the early part of the season on reality shows such as “Hell’s Kitchen,” there are usually a few fringe contestants who really don’t belong there in the first place. And these are usually the first ones to go home. Last night two went home, one by choice and one by Gordon Ramsay. Here is how it all went down….

They began with a 5am wake up call, as chefs Scott and Andrea attached an amplifying device to a standard alarm clock. Yikes. Ramsay met them in the kitchen where he asked them to cook eggs for him four ways–soft boiled, poached, scrambled and sunny side up. They would work in groups of two except for Siobhan, who for some reason was singled out to work alone.

Sal messed up his eggs badly, but most of them cooked the eggs very well. Of course, Siobhan was helped by Autumn, who kind of forced her hand on Siobhan but was polite enough about it. Ramsay got pissed and screamed at Siobhan for this, saying she should have not accepted the help. Siobhan started crying uncontrollably, which pissed off everyone there as well as everyone watching. It was just too much! The sides were tied 10-10 but it came down to Ben’s soft boiled egg, and it was perfect, clinching victory for the blue team.

Their prize? A helicopter tour over Los Angeles and lunch with Ramsay. The ladies had to accept a shipment of gigantic tuna and clean and fillet them for that night’s dinner service. For that service, they would be serving tuna tartare table side. Ramsay chose Fran and Scott to do this.

He then asked who over-salted the pasta water and it was Autumn, but she wouldn’t own up to it. Then randomly, Ramsay asked Sal to name that evening’s desserts. Sal started mumbling and sputtering and could not even name one, prompting Ramsay to send him up to his dorm to study. At the dinner service, Mikey was under-cooking the risotto, and he did it twice! Jason, meanwhile, could not cook chicken all the way through.

The red team was hitting its collective stride but they were not communicating enough and eventually it caught up with them. Andrew was talking to himself and then when Ramsay asked him something about his saute pan, Andrew started talking back to Ramsay–the kiss of death on this show. Ramsay screamed back and kicked Andrew out of the kitchen. He started walking all the way out when JP confronted him and tried to get him to stay, saying that was Ramsay’s way of testing him. But stubborn Andrew kept on walking, essentially quitting.

At the dinner service, both teams finished their services. But not without sputtering along the way, so Ramsay declared both teams losers, and asked them to each nominate one person for elimination by consensus. Interestingly, the red team chose Autumn for not being a team player and because of the salty water. The blue team chose Jason not just because of the chicken, but because they also called him out for not being a team player.

Ramsay asked the group if these two were the worst cooks on their respective teams. The women said no, that Jamie was the worst cook. So he asked Jamie to then step forward. He asked Jamie and Jason to state their cases, but he didn’t feel that either of them should go home. So he said that the person going home “for all the right reasons” was Mikey. So much for consensus! But Ramsay is the boss and it’s his show. And, Mikey had screwed up last week and this week. I had pegged him as a possible winner, and that just flew out the window!

So with two gone last night, we’re down to 13…7 ladies, 6 men. It’s going to be a fun and interesting season for sure with this cast of characters. Keep it right here for the recaps each week and let me know what you thought of last night’s episode…..