What you said about Ramsay keeping an incompetent around if he/she is good for the ratings makes sense only if the show is in production at the same time that it’s being broadcast. If, on the other hand, the entire series is in the can before the start of the season, it doesn’t make sense. Does anyone know?
I’d assume that he and the producers have figuring out “entertaining guy who can’t cook scallops to save his life” and “hateful gal who can hold her own, but won’t win” down to a science after 11 seasons.
(And I would not be at all surprised if the producers have a way to screw with the heat output of the kitchen, just for entertainment value.)
What about him just picking Mary and Dan to run the 3k? Couldn’t they at least have drawn rigged straws so it wouldn’t seem SO mean?
They deliberately select incompetents because they have to eliminate at least one person every week. Without cannon fodder, the series would last much longer. Only three or four of the people they select genuinely have a shot at the prize, and I’m sure they go for the absolute worst they can find to fill out the list of washouts.
I liked the challenge this time: an objective way of scoring, and it was exciting even without the always fake ‘it comes down to the very last dish/contestant!’
That said, they were lucky they started with the men’s team. I don’t think it would have been as much fun if the women went first and then the men’s team failed on item 2 or 3.
BTW, any guesses what will happen in the ‘to be continued’ bit? He didn’t pull Nedra down as the ‘third’ potential bootee, as he often does, but I think she may be going anyway.
Either that or Jeremy. Even though his team won, he really needs to go, and I think Ramsey has actually pulled something similar once before.
Jeremy goes home and Nedra gets switched to the Blue Team, maybe?
An unusual episode for HK. Started out pretty lackluster, and the reward challenge was seemingly sponsored by the Ford Prefect Institute For Endlessly Repeating The Painfully Obvious (“I hope we do good!” “I hope they screw up!” “I want to nail this in one!” “I want them to make lots and lots of wrong guesses!” :rolleyes: ). But I liked the twist with the punishment (having to get up early to bake the bread), and the breakfast service was, dare I say it, exciting as hell.
Not much about the contestants allowed to get face time that we don’t already know. Glad to see that Anthony’s injury wasn’t as serious as initially feared and Zach has recovered from his embarrassing salmon gaffe. The nice thing about this show is that a single blunder isn’t instantly fatal; if they suck it up, learn from their mistake, and make an effort to get better, they still have a chance. I appreciate that kind of mettle, certainly a lot more than someone who coasts on fanbase. Nedra is just plain annoying, there’s really nothing to recommend, her, and she gets WAY too much face time. She wouldn’t last a week in a restaurant with any level of class. Neither would Cyndi, although she’s a little more tolerable.
Pat has become the intriguing darkhorse. He’s definitely taking this contest seriously (always a good sign), he seems pretty capable, and he’s kept his cool through what’s become a very rough stretch. But we haven’t yet seen him really step up and do something impressive in a dinner service (like Zach did), and like it or not, his age will become an issue as the contest wears on. I definitely like having him around, but it’s too early to dub him a contender.
I’m pretty sure that Jeremy is on his way out, one way or another. He’s been a walking corpse the whole competition, and now we learn that he’s a serious health risk. I can’t imagine that GRR would’ve deliberately accepted such a marginal contestant. If it turns out that he lied to get on, not only is he toast, but he’ll have hell (the non-culinary variety 
) to pay. Nedra, I’m having my doubts that she’s out…it seems 50-50 at this point…but if she stays, I hope like crazy that GRR really makes things uncomfortable for her. He should be steamed that this bloated sack of attitude (oh, and way to show your tenacity by crying in front of him) has soaked up four rewards after contributing next to nothing in the challenges. I know I would be.
That was my thought as well. It’s probably time to even out the teams.
[QUOTE=DKW]
I’m pretty sure that Jeremy is on his way out, one way or another. He’s been a walking corpse the whole competition, and now we learn that he’s a serious health risk. I can’t imagine that GRR would’ve deliberately accepted such a marginal contestant. If it turns out that he lied to get on, not only is he toast, but he’ll have hell (the non-culinary variety 
) to pay.
[/QUOTE]
The contestant application (PDF) does ask for a fair bit of medical history - you’re supposed to list what kind of health insurance you have, any surgeries, treatments, addctions, allergies, “serious” medical/physical conditions, etc. and agree to submit to medical, psychological and background investigation as part of the selection process.
You mean that Ramsey was an asshole for picking poor overweight Mary to race against Middle-distance Runner Dan? I don’t havea vagina but I’m so glad that the men still blew it and Mary is my new sweetie for the way she toughed it out.
Pregnancy is not on that list so if (as implied) Mary might be pregnant then why would she have to leave HK?
I think gotpasswords was referring to Jeremy previously having a stroke. I think that would qualify as a serious medical condition.
I’m referring to the preview for the next episode where Mary thinks she made be pregnant and then says she doesn’t want to go home. Of course I suspect that it is editing of two separate events.
Prediction: All four switch teams. No elimination.
You’re probably right. But they really ought to eliminate at least ONE player or this season is never going to end.
What’s with “To Be Continued”?
Isn’t the nature of a competition show that ALL episodes are “To Be Continued”?
I think one will go home (don’t have a strong sense of who) and the other three will switch teams.
the previews seem to show that those four are gone.
I assume they were careful not to show those four in the previews so as not to give anything away. But my guess is that he’s not going to get rid of four contestants at once. So they’ll probably switch teams.
Or, possibly: one of the men to the women’s team and both of the women to the Blue team, evening up the teams again.