He who plays Russian Roulette too often…
In the end, Ben’s line skills couldn’t carry his pompous ass any longer
Overall, I thought this episode was pretty weak. The only good to come of it was the eviction of Ben. Hopefully Andrea will get the boot next week. It doesn’t really matter to me if Danny or Paula wins, either of them seem to be capable chefs but their personalities are somewhat bland. I’d have to give the edge to Danny if I were a gambling man.
It does seem unfair, as Danny pointed out, that the slate has been wiped clean at this point. Andrea received a huge benefit from that and Danny and Paula got shafted.
If I were Danny, I think I’d have asked Gordo if we could skip the bi-plane adventure and talk about cooking for a while.
I missed the last two episodes. Anyways, I couldn’t see Ben doing anything to surpass my two favorites, Danny and Paula. I had mixed feelings about Ben from the start. Some days he’d seem very helpful, other times he’d lash out at others in frustration. A very perplexing character indeed.
Is it just me or does Ben kind of look like a young, slightly heavier John Travolta?
The sad thing is that Ben has the chops. Demeanor-wise (at least on HK) he was too much of a loose cannon, which is something he needs to learn to temper if he’s going to go anywhere in the business.
I favor either Danny or Paula too. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Andrea sneaks up on them. Despite her faults, she has that undefinable “something” about her. Plus, I think she’s a hell of a lot more tenacious than Colleen.
I don’t think Ben’s attitude was the problem (though it was a problem for his team) – the problem was his inability to handle his station. He consistently performed poorly and refused to own up to it. I know we get the edited down version, but if you compare his performance throughout the run with Danny or Paula, he’s getting way too much negative attention. The winners always seem to be the people who stay cool and collected on the line, and Ben tends to panic. Also, he was too underhanded in trying to get ahead; while you could dismiss the occasional thing, he always seemed to screw up someone else’s food or hide things from the other players.
I’m glad Ben’s gone. Personally my money is on Paula. My favorite is Danny, just like it was with Petrozza, but I tend to think that Ramsey tends to pick people partially based on image – their ‘potential’ as he called it, rather than just their skill and ability in the kitchen. Because of that, I fear that Danny’s redneck image just isn’t going to cut it for Ramsey. Ramsey didn’t want an overweight older guy as his winner, and he’s not going to want a long hair deer-hunting Southerner either. Look at the winners - he wants people who do (or can) look trendy and attractive.
I am still wondering how Andrea has made it this far. As has been noted, the slate being wiped clean definately helped her way too much. It may have also just been a ploy to fire Danny and Paula up. Shock them out of the complacency so to speak.
I hadn’t thought of it, but fluiddruid makes a good point about potential trendiness in the winner. I hafta pick Paula as the winner now, though I think Danny has far more pesonality. I mean, I literally turned to my brother in the middle of the season and asked “Who the hell is that?” in reference to Paula. I had not noticed her up until she started showing she has skills.