Be back later with more actual content, just wanted to get this out there first. 
Ramsay shoulda backed JP up a little more than he did. 
And Joseph will get his ass completely destroyed if he is actually thinking of throwing down with Gordon. My brother surmises that Joseph is/was an actor hired specifically to act out like this. Because apparently loudmouth assholes are in short order. I blame the economy. That’s still trendy right? 
I would bet that Joseph was planning calling out Ramsay at first opportunity, for publicity or attention from buddies at home.
I cant imagine he was put up to it by the producers of the show…
I will gladly bet a cold one to anyone that there is not a single punch thrown between Joseph and Gordon Ramsay (though I wouldnt mind hearing that those two vulgar, aggressive, combative personalities beat the shit out of each other—Ramsay’s bully schtick is getting stale)
No of course there won’t be any actual violence.
Also, Robert’s back. Any wagers as to just how far he makes it this time? I don’t think he’ll be going as far as his first time around. I’m just not seeing it.
I hate to say it, but I worry that this is the beginning of the end for HK. It’s rushed onto the air immediately after the last one, and that sort of over-exposure is what killed The Apprentice. Also, it seems to be populated with losers even more than usual. It reminds me a bit of Real World’s shift from simply abrasive people into self-absorbed lunatics.
I don’t get the bringing back of Robert because he went for medical reasons. What about that Asian girl who turned her ankle in the first or second episode and yet carried on to finish the service? SHE deserves to come back much more than Robert. :mad:
I’m also amazed at the general tenor of this version’s contestants. They must have been hired simply on their abrasive personalities.
And look at the ‘credentials’ some of them have: Runs a kitchen supply store, eh? A fish fry cook? Aw, c’mon.
Added: and where do they get these people who can’t fry scallops for ghod’s sake? No bones, damned uniform size. Two minutes in a medium hot pan, flip, another two minutes.
And even if they didn’t know how long it takes, don’t they know how to tell when flesh is cooked simply by patting it???
As much as I like this (dumb) show, I’ve gotta say I’m skeptical about this season already. Look everyone, Robert’s back! I wonder if Ramsay will kick off one of the Obvious Cannon Fodder Contestants before the service is even over to make room for Robert to return to the competition? Oh look – he did!
And the shrimp challenge came down to the very last person, and the very last shrimp? Just like, um, pretty much every other challenge in the history of the show? Yeah, that was totally spontaneous.
Then there’s the whole Joseph Goes Bananas bit at the end. For being such an apparently out-of-control hothead, he held it together relatively well through both dinner services. He seemed to cooperate with his team (unlike some others), and only really acted like an asshole was when it was the most dramatic. In other words, I suspect he was at the very least “encouraged” to play the bad boy/lose his temper, and that Ramsay knew something was coming. I also agree that absolutely nothing will happen during their big “showdown” next week other than a few more cross words and junior-high-level macho posturing. And of course the fire trucks/medics will be the result of something completely unrelated.
Oh dear . . . after four years of watching this show, I fear I’ve become a Hell’s Kitchen cynic. (At least it was kind of cool to see Heather again.)
Tom: I believe this crazy schedule has something to do with the writer’s strike from last Summer:
StarvingButStrong: Perhaps Andrea didn’t want to come back? It’s possible both were offered a chance to come back and only Robert was masochistic enough to come back? I don’t really know, just throwing out the possibilities.
As for the contestant pool, I believe they are putting in a bunch of losers, with a few “rough diamonds” to shove their way to the top. Danny and Paula of last season, compared to all the rest, were good examples.
This has the added benefit of giving an underdog somewhat of a chance to get far. Like with Rock and what’s-her-face. Rock being the seasoned vet and WHF being the noob, comparitively.
Thoughts?
I know, this show must be scripted so why can’t I stop watching it? We were trying to identify the usual cast of characters: “Do you think he’s the One Who Sweats in the Food?” “Hey, they’ve got two Chauvinist Pigs with Horrible Accents!” (Ah, they just needed to ditch the spare to make room for Robert). “Oh I see…Lovely is Slacker Who Blames Everyone Else.” “There’s Girl Who Hits Unsuccessfully on Ramsay!” “This Flaming Gay Guy isn’t that good.”
Did Robert actually gain weight? I don’t remember him being that big.
I have a big ol’ crush on Jim right now. I doubt he’ll win, but please don’t send him home too soon…
I was surprised to see Robert- even heavier than he was before (at least we both thought so). I’m sure they had an army of lawyer’s overseeing liability forms- he had a serious heart condition, he appears to be in more danger due to his weight, and you are going to let him into a high stress environment?
What ever happened to Julia- who was almost promised that she could come back and he sent her to culinary school?
I admit- I mostly watch this and Food Network Star just so I can watch the end “kicking off” of a contestant and alot of it becomes background noise (although I did catch and laugh at the “bison’s penis” remark.)
I started watching the opening scenes, saw Robert in there and figured I had it wrong, thought the show was a repeat, so I only half-listened to it from the other room until the final moments…so I’ve missed everything. Have to catch it on Hulu tonight.
There were two shows back to back last night. Looks like the next one will be Tuesday at 8:00, the one after that the next Tuesday and so on.
I watched more or less the first fifteen minutes (that’s when I had my break last night at work). I’m glad to have it confirmed that this was the start of a new season.
Some of the people made really interesting choices for their signature dishes–I mean, I wouldn’t have served Ramsay something as low on presentation as biscuits and gravy, or urged him to drink a shot of tequila before eating my french toast.
But then, I’m comfortable with my cooking skills, but wouldn’t want to parade them in front of a bully like Ramsay anyway.
Must have missed this. Who said what?
It is the same old thing, isn’t it? Ramsay screaming at all the losers. Why can’t I stop watching it? 
And who the hell can’t clean a shrimp? “Whoopi” needs to lower her opinion of herself.
The thing about this show is that every challange seems to come down to the wire. Down to the last shrimp cleaned, the last dish presented. Real life rarely works that way, and it just makes it seem obviously fixed. I’d much rather see a good team trounce a poor team then see fake suspense built.
And I hate posturing. “I’m the best that ever was!” “I’m the black Gordon Ramsey!” “My team needs me to take leadership, because I’m obviously the only one who knows how to break an egg!”
Boy I’m glad this show is back.
StG
I’ve watched the last few season, and the same personalities seem to return. The meek one, the arrogant one, the Italian from the eastern seaboard (usually Jersey), they gay, the ditz, the arrogant sister (Jen, Tenille, etc.), the novice, etc. It’s the same show over and over again.
With that said, my fiancee declared we’re watching it next week. (He used to work nights, so he’s never seen more than a scattered episode here and there. He doesn’t know what we seem to know…)
One thing I thought was simply unfair was when he was chewing one woman out for wasting a ton of pasta. If you looked at the stuff he pulled out of the bin, it was stiff, ‘wiry’ mass, cooked barely long enough to start getting bendy.
Clearly it was due to that ‘everything must be finished at the same minute’ rule. Whoever was doing the other apps must have screwed up and had to start over, and each time the pasta cook would have to pull out the batch that had been in 3-4-5 minutes and toss it, and start over, to insure she wasn’t going to be sending up overcooked mush when the new batch of scallops or whatever were done.
If the pasta in the bin had been OVERdone, then yes, it would have been because she was doing something wrong. Or… I suppose she could have pulled the partially cooked pasta from the water when a snag happened, then put it back to finish cooking at the appropriate time. But I bet Ramsey would have screamed about that, too. And pasta is pretty damn cheap. Unlike those lamb chops some guy filled their bin with.
I’m hoping anyone with restaurant kitchen experience can help me out. I have never worked in a kitchen (aside from my own) in my life. I have no idea what the reality is like.
But I have led corporate teams before. In my experience, calling people juvenile names teaches nobody anything, demoralizes your team, and makes everyone hate you. Who can listen to and learn from someone who calls them an idiot in anger?
I brought this up with my sister and BIL, that I didn’t think that the best way to teach and motivate a team was to personally attack the team members. Their response was “Oh, well, you wouldn’t last five minutes in a restaurant kitchen?”
So to you, my Doper friends, I ask this: Really? Is it necessary to belittle and dehumanize your kitchen crew in order to get their performance up to your standards? Now, I can see losing your patience and having to yell at someone you’ve already told 15 times, “Scallops get cooked only ONE minute on each side! Two minutes makes a rubber hockey puck! Cook it right or leave!” But I can’t see the motivational aspect of adding, “You fucking idiot” at the end. How is that productive or effective leadership?
Can anyone address this?
I’ve also noticed on Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares (on BBC America), he tends to treat the staff with much more personal respect until they bite him first. Even then, he doesn’t back down, but he does try to not escalate conflicts. So, clearly, belittling and humiliating people on a personal level is, for some sick reason, part of the appeal of Hell’s Kitchen. (We Americans can be a nasty lot sometimes, don’t ya think?) I just want to know if that’s really what goes on in IRL kitchens, and if those tend to be successful chefs. Or is it Waffle House cooks who treat their people that way? Does anyone?
What’s the straight dope on that?
Yeah, I thought he looked heavier too, and I’m worried about him being able to compete.
Dolores: Ramsay yelled that about the salmon that ended up getting stuck in the freezer rather than the fridge (I saw that happen on another cooking competition show - these freezers must not feel very cold or something) by what’s-her-face.
Starving: The pasta gal still deserved a boot, I think, for not being able to say a thing with Ramsay yelling at her. Maybe not as much as the others, but you have to be able to communicate. Though I think that the “disposable” male candidate definitely deserved the out for screwing up the lamb chops so badly.
Dogzilla: Check out Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential - his service method is similar to Ramsay’s, but he also talks favorably about a relatively quiet and respectful kitchen of another excellent chef (don’t recall who), and marvels about how it all works out. So it sounds like there’s a variety of styles, but be prepared to take some heat.
Believe that was Ramsay in response to the “salmon Wellington” (no idea what it really was called, but it was salmon in pastry) having been put into the freezer so it could not be cooked properly.
In their defense though - some world-class chef made the same mistake of confusing a freezer for a fridge on Top Chef Masters a couple of weeks ago.