The ads have all of the finalists crying. Fox promo monkeys want you to think it’s because Ramsay made 'em cry, but I think it’s the “I miss my family week” where the winners will have their parents, SOs, kids, and/or friends show up for a meal. Losers, of course, will look on bitterly.
They have someone getting the boot during service. My money’s on Josh - he’s still there, right? He won’t be. Ramsay has had a hard-on for booting his ass for weeks now.
I do wish they would take one show to give a little background on each chef - where they worked, their signature dish, a little on how they learned to make wellingtons, etc. It seems that we’re dropped in the show sort of mid-competition; a little context would be nice.
I think that this was mentioned in a previous Hell’s Kitchen thread, but on Thursday evenings, BBC America is running new episodes (new, that is, to the US audience, as they have previously been broadcast in the UK) of Kitchen Nightmares, which is another Gordon Ramsay show in which he spends about a week in a dysfunctional restaurant attempting to save it from bankruptcy.
I recommend the show in general, and especially to those put off by Ramsay’s drill sergeant personality on Hell’s Kitchen. By comparison, he’s friendly on Kitchen Nightmares, although he does pepper his speech with curses, but this is mostly directed at the awful food in these restaurants.
Josh was just so incredibly trashed throughout this entire competition by Chef Ramsay, did he really ever had a chance??
Julia had heart, but she just wasn’t good enough and, frankly, i’m really glad she got the chance to get a proper cooking education, she needs to think like a chef to be a chef.
Rock was the one that really deserved to go, he was incredibly unprofessional and he sounded like a bully/crybaby combined into one. I never really liked his attitude from the get-go, he needs to quit acting so incredibly paranoid.
Surprised Julia left. I thought the producers would go for the underdog win. Maybe this thing isn’t quite as rigged as I thought it was.
Anyway, Ramsay choose correctly, Rock has two things over Julia:
Experience in fine dining, and the sophistication that comes with that. Every time Julia has been asked to come up with her own menu items, her ideas have been boring. Sometimes very popular, but also pretty damn pedestrian and safe. That’s not the kind of restaurant they’re trying to build.
Rock is an asshole. And from looking at Ramsay, you need to be a least a little bit of an asshole to make it as a chef. The other two girls have it (that’s what the fight was about, chest pounding and pissing on the trees to show who the alpha chef is), but Julia tends to ride out such things passively. I’d love to have her on my team, but I suspect that Rock would run his kitchen better.
Rock got screwed. Jen and Bonnie were deliberately picking at him for that entire service trying to get him to melt down. Jen is a passive-aggressive bitch and Rock got an unfair edit.
I was pleased with Julia’s resolution. She really does need that extra training. As much as I was pulling for her, I knew she wasn’t really ready to run a fine dining joint yet having GR offer to pay her culinary school tuition really says a lot about her.
He had the chance to step up but yet failed, miserably. His pre-cook portions way too far in advance idea was doomed from the start. His idea might have worked…for an Old Country Buffet.
All due respect, but how do you know? Rock has been telegraphing his jerkitude for quite some time now. He’s the guy always plotting, “politicking,” but when the others do it (Bonnie calling him out for being behind) he cops an attitude. As Rock is wont of saying, “It’s a competition.” If there’s a chance to score points with Ramsay and look your competition look less worthy, why not?
Moving Jen’s stuff was bush league. All of the women seemed to say that they thought their ingredients were moved at some point. I’m not saying Rock moved their stuff but… interesting to see that little stratagem coming from his arsenal.
I called the Josh beatdown. He has to be the weakest chef to go that far in the competition ever. I can’t think of a time that Ramsay has ever said something positive about him. He seemed genuinely annoyed that he was there.
It was a nice end of the road for Julia. I had a hard time envisioning her as the head chef at an upscale place, but she can make good food. Just needs some training. I’ve never seen Ramsay so tender and aggrieved at an elimination.
I’m not really excited about any of the remaining chefs. Jen’s got a nasty side and looks like the awkward tall girl in fifth grade. Bonnie is too whiny and fragile. Rock seems to be the best cook but he’s a pretty conniving character. I can’t become a fan, I’m afraid.
I too was sad to see Julia go and wondered why they had another double-elimination, now it seems they are an elimination ahead again. But I was very happy to see Ramsay be nice to Julia about the elimination, offer to send her to culinary school and invite her back to the show again another time. I think she just got a better deal than the winner. I wouldn’t be surprised if he continues to take her under his wing after this, show or not.
Of the remaining contestants none of them strike me as worthy of a restaurant right now. I agree that Jen and Bonnie were baiting Rock but if he were such hot shit he should have been able to ignore it and work for the good of the restaurant.
Having the respect of someone as fiercely loyal to his people as Ramsay is, is the best prize offered.
I can’t think of anyone that he has been more impressed by than Julia. I hoped that she would win, although I felt that a years apprenticeship under Ramsay would suit her better.
When they showed her crying at the end and her saying “I don’t want to go home.” I yelled at my TV. “Julia, you never have to go home again.” I don’t think it has hit her how her world has changed. She may live the rest of her days in our minds as “The Waffle House Girl.” but in the cooking world, she’s never going home again. She’s smart enough, tough enough and determined enough to take that opportunity and run with it.
If you ask me, THAT should be the next Ramsay show. Following Julia through culinary school. She’s a very, very good story and unlike the rest of the rascals left on HK, someone who has never once, been anything other than a class act.
I Hate Rock. What a slimy, unctuous son of a bitch. What a conniving, snot-nosed schemer. His serial killer temper and his inability to contain his violence are not in any way analogous to Chef Ramsey’s perfectionism and toughness. Ramsey screams at people for fucking up. Rock screams at people for existing.
Now that no one is left but Larry, Moe, and Curly, I don’t give a shit who wins.
Okay… serenity now.
Take a cup of joy, mix it with a pound of effort and a gallon of class, sweeten it with sprinkles of talent, and bake lovingly until golden. That’ll make Julia. Thanks, Chef, for recognizing her genius and her splendid character. When she comes out of culinary school and returns to the show, it is hard to imagine how amazing she will be.
I guess this is the best thing for Julia, but I’m sad to see her go. Could someone tell me why Josh got kicked off? The satellite feed froze up (or something) right then, so I missed that part.
I lost all respect for Rock last night. He’s great if he’s the one giving direction, but obviously he can’t take it. I don’t care for people who display such immaturity and authority problems. Also, Dung Beetle hates it when he keeps referring to himself in the third person.
He kept pre-cooking food for appetizers, particularly spaghetti, in spite of being yelled at several time by Ramsey. If he had stop doing it, he might have lasted till the end of the night before getting the boot, but kept right on going.
While Rock certainly has a temper, Jen was just as bad last night, continuing to goad him with comments that she tried to keep Ramsey from hearing, but I don’t think Ramsey missed any of it. I agree with Dio that she’s a passive-aggressive bitch. And thing that started it was not that Rock moved one of her ingredients (left over ice cream base, btw, in other words, trash), it was that he didn’t put in the sink where she told him to. She could have just let it go, but she had to make a scene about it.
Last night’s service was so bad all around that Bonnie actually came out looking good. Plus she wasn’t acting insane like everyone else.
I think there was some sabotage going on, three people had stuff get “misplaced” one person didn’t. Julia said she put a garnish at the prep station and it disappeared and she had to redo it. I think there was one other incident of something of hers disappearing. Rock had a turbot go missing and I think Jen may have had something turn up missing. The only one who didn’t have the problem was Bonnie.
I liked Julia best but as I’d said from the very early episodes, I’d have little interest in a fine dining establishment under her authority. A nice downtown diner, sure, but I was more expertise than she has for fine dining. It’ll be interesting to see what culinary school does for her.
I think that the service actually went quite well. With a small team they served the entire restaurant and got all the way through dessert (considering the fact that they started with more than twice as many people and couldn’t get through appetizers). The only complaint that made the cut was the underdone risotto. Bonnie got complemented on her Wellingtons.
I don’t think Bonnie is that devious, as was suggested earlier. Inasmuch as the contestants are thinking strategically, the producers are catching and showing that stuff on the live cams and the confessionals. She comes off as kind of a ditz but is showing a higher level of competence in the kitchen. It was interesting that no further mention was made of her throwing out a whole pan of fish.
Jen is obviously a bit moody. Again she’s not been kicked off because she’s getting the product out to GR’s standards. I remain curious if the pulling the food out of the trash incident will still bite her in the ass – she may have learned her lesson, but what about the producers and the PR people at Green Valley Ranch? “Yes, our new Head Chef tried to serve garbage to people on national TV, but she did win a reality show! Can I interest you in a $30 appetizer?”
Rock can cook, he knows his stuff, and he can handle pressure. But he is so full of himself! A couple of weeks ago my impression was that if he’s not likable that’s ok, because a head chef, like Ramsay, should be willing to ride his staff. But Ramsay rides his staff to get high quality food to the customers. Rock is all about what’s good for Rock.
It’ll be interesting to see how they do next week when they have a shot at running the kitchen; and how the finalists do in a couple of weeks when they have to get the season’s previous losers to work for them.
On a final note, I want to second Auntbeast’s call for a “Julia at the Culinary Institute” show.
