# Hell's Kitchen 8/15/11 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943 "2011-08-16T19:56:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/21 "2011-08-18T20:41:50Z")
I think Jennifer’s gotta be a front runner. I don’t remember her ever really messing up really badly and she stepped up and became a leader this week. She was also telling both Carrie and Elise to shut the fuck up for the team so extra points to her! ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/22 "2011-08-18T21:01:06Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > Its pretty obvious to me that Carrie can’t cook for shit. Her and Elise’s back and forth is grating.. but Carrie keeps sending raw food up whether in the challenges (The Pizza) or in dinner service.. Its pretty obvious that she has no fucking clue what she’s doing and is only there to interact with Elise.. Except that Carrie has also been the best dish in a number of the challenges, including the one where her team voted to drop hers and it turned out hers was the best of the day and would have won them the challenge. She tends to fall apart in the services because her team has written her off and gives her zero support and she cracks under pressure. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/23 "2011-08-24T04:24:22Z")
Actually about the 8/22 episode – Isn’t it amazing how Elise can continue to rise to fresh new levels of nastiness? I remember Ramsey being incensed when one of the guys lied to him about a piece of fish being reheated rather than made fresh. How is he going to react once he knows for sure that Elise was lying about Tommy scoring the wellingtons? (At least, I’m assuming he didn’t know at that moment, since he probably doesn’t watch the raw camera footage as it goes along.) Oh, and Jennifer definitely looks like one of the front runners now, given that Ramsey kept her to cook with him after throwing out Elizabeth and Elise. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/24 "2011-08-24T06:13:33Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Except that Carrie has also been the best dish in a number of the challenges, including the one where her team voted to drop hers and it turned out hers was the best of the day and would have won them the challenge. When the judging is subjective, it’s easy for the producers to exaggerate the quality of Carrie’s dish, especially if it helps promote the dramatic elements of the show and helps them tell a story. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/25 "2011-08-24T13:37:49Z")
I think Jennifer will be one of the finalists, if not the winner. I cannot wait for Tommy and Elise to get kicked off… ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/26 "2011-08-24T13:48:59Z")
This is about the third or fourth season where I am quite confident that the owner of the reward restaurant is shitting themselves that they may be associated with _any_ of these people. With the possible exception of Jennifer, I would not want these clowns anywhere near my kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/27 "2011-08-24T13:59:50Z")
Am I the only one who noticed when they visited BLT Steak in New York, the chef who showed them the kitchen there was Cliff Crooks who competed on the 2nd season of Top Chef. The biggest bullshit thing about this show is that the winners [seldom actually receive or accept the promised prize](http://foodiegossip.blogspot.com/2010/12/hells-kitchen-hell-of-embarrassment.html). ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/28 "2011-08-24T14:34:37Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Am I the only one who noticed when they visited BLT Steak in New York, the chef who showed them the kitchen there was Cliff Crooks who competed on the 2nd season of Top Chef. > > The biggest bullshit thing about this show is that the winners [seldom actually receive or accept the promised prize](http://foodiegossip.blogspot.com/2010/12/hells-kitchen-hell-of-embarrassment.html). What about last season’s winner, Nona? My wife and I saw her and chatted with her at L.A. Market… ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/29 "2011-08-24T23:25:22Z")
Elise totally should’ve gotten the boot for lying about Tommy scoring the wellingtons. Hell, shouldn’t even have waited until the booting ceremony. You lie like that and try to throw someone under the bus doing it, you should be gone then and there. But she provides the season’s major drama, so she stays. ---
**Author:** ![monkeylucifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@monkeylucifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeylucifer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/30 "2011-08-24T23:29:47Z")
Elise is simply a terrible person and the only thing she knows how to run is her mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/31 "2011-08-25T02:40:07Z")
It’s amusing how every competition (like the tasting challenge in this week’s episode) goes down to the wire. So does Ramsay score them deliberately like that or do they manipulate the challenge in the editing process? ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/32 "2011-08-25T23:45:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It’s amusing how every competition (like the tasting challenge in this week’s episode) goes down to the wire. So does Ramsay score them deliberately like that or do they manipulate the challenge in the editing process? Just once, I’d like to see such a blowout that one team wins before they get to all the dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/33 "2011-08-26T00:18:25Z")
The “rewards” have really gone downhill lately. It used to be lunch with Ramsey at a Michelin-starred restaurant or a private jet to Vegas for a night out. Now they get go-karts. The last one (rolling along the beach inside of a huge rubber ball) was more like a punishment, especially for the large woman. They all hated it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/34 "2011-08-26T00:29:12Z")
I get the feeling that the rewards are product placements, like rolling in the rubber ball. They would have had more fun just hanging out on the beach. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/35 "2011-08-26T00:30:59Z")
My kids met Rock at the LV restaurant where he was placed after winning HK. They said he was a really nice guy. He autographed pictures for them. I do wonder about Christine from a couple of years ago. I honestly don’t think she could find her rear end with both hands and a GPS, and I was amazed when she won. I also wonder about Julie, from the same season as Rock. Ramsay was supposed to send her to culinary school. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/36 "2011-08-26T01:41:12Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Just once, I’d like to see such a blowout that one team wins before they get to all the dishes. That happened last season when the girls killed the boys on the High school Prom challenge.. it was three to zero.. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/37 "2011-08-26T13:13:40Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > The “rewards” have really gone downhill lately. I was thinking that about the reward last season when the winning team got to… …wait for it… …kick around a soccer ball with Ramsay and his kids. :rolleyes: oooh, exciting. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/38 "2011-08-26T15:51:44Z")
Well, he _was_ a professional soccer player for a while. Now, if only Americans (in general) don’t give a damn about soccer… ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/39 "2011-08-26T17:10:40Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Someone who understands cooking better than you average bear please explain this to me. HK contestents are supposed to be actual chefs or cooks, people who work in the industry? Why is it they can not do the seemingly most basic things like prepare scallops when an “amateur” like Jennifer on Master Chef can prepare them perfectly?. Perhaps unrelated, but there was an interesting episode of MC when there were 6 contestants, and they split them into 2 teams of 3 and put them in an actual restaurant to cook for patrons… if I recall correctly, few had any idea what they were doing, and one said “I’ve never worked in a kitchen before” I imagine there is a wide range of actual kitchen/restaurant experience among the HC contestants. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943/40 "2011-08-26T17:45:17Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > I imagine there is a wide range of actual kitchen/restaurant experience among the HC contestants. Well, some of them are “personal chefs” or line cooks who wouldn’t necessarily have any experience running an actual line or in the case of personal chefs, working in a commercial kitchen. My ex-husband was a line cook. He worked the grill, that was what he did, all night long. He never worked a fish station, he never made appetizers, he never did anything but meat. I imagine that, should he have gotten on the show, he would do just as poorly as anyone on scallops or apps. What amazes me is that so many contestants claim to be fans of the show, and STILL don’t know how to make fish. The first thing I would do - the VERY FIRST - if I got on the show would be to buy a ton of scallops and sea bass and practice until my eyes bled. The fish station is always the death station! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-8-15-11/592943.md?page=3)