Thanks, Ferret Herder. I started to watch but got pulled away in the middle.
I gots me a feeling Suzanne’s never properly made connections with anyone in her life.
So, TBG’s eyebrows are safe. Whew! 
Anyway, that was an amazingly bad service for this point in the series – not just screwing up all the time, but screwing up in the same old ways – undercooking chicken, overcooking risotto. I really don’t blame Ramsay for being so ‘oh my god, oh my god, oh my god’ pounding head on counter level frustrated with them…
And, no, Dave did not get yelled at even a single time this episode. Hmmmm. Actually, I’ll bet Ramsay wishes he could have simply fired the other four this week, declared a winner, and gone home.
The rice bit has left me going hmmmmm though. First there’s a big pan of rice that Kevin admits he overcooked. Then Ariel offers to cook more, but instead(?) she finds magically finds another big pan of rice already properly cooked and so Tenille can start right in on cooking more risottos??
Set up? One of the sous chefs, maybe, recognized the problem and cooked the back up rice? Because it takes about 20 minutes to cook rice, and they really didn’t want to have the entire kitchen on hold for those twenty minutes?
OR…do they maybe go through multiple pans of rice as a regular thing, and Kevin had only overcooked the first panful? Except…why didn’t he say something about that when he was being raked over the coals repeatedly, and apologizing all over the place? I think I would, anyway – “Sorry, chef, I overcooked that rice, but the second pan is perfect, and I’ll make another while that one is being used.”
???
Good memory on the rice, I saw that and then spaced on recalling it for my recap. No freaking idea what happened there - maybe the sous chefs do make backup stuff in case something gets royally borked over, and the editing just didn’t make what happened clear.
I was really expecting him to tell Dave to nominate two people. Aside from ganking up his wrist while sweeping, he was pretty much invisible and off the radar. Certainly wasn’t the target of any yelling.
thanks for the spoilers. Its nice to know who got the boot - though I would have liked to see it happen. Seems like this ones been coming since the start of the show.
Awww thank you!
The main computer I surf the internet on has such a shitty video card that I couldn’t even watch it. I had to relocated to a computer that is shitty in all aspects except for being able to decently play videos. Still couldn’t handle fullscreen, but the default view worked.
Big time. I was almost expecting to just pull the plug on Ariel, Suzanne and Tennille. Doesn’t matter though, Dave and Kevin will still be the last two, you watch. Dave doesn’t need no stinkin’ hands to work!
The elimination phase of the show was pretty anticlimactic to be honest. Four out of the five chefs completely sucked, so it just boiled down to who’s been consistently the worst: Suzanne.
Maybe it was because I had/have a thing for her, but her conclusory (is that a word?) statements made me sad. About not having properly made connections combined with the shots of her by herself, self-isolated from the group. 
I am so freakin’ sick of hearing Bon Appetit pronounced incorrectly. Jayzus people, the final t is silent! The voice over guy, at least, should know that.
How many diners are there in Hell’s Kitchen? Do they admit fewer diners as the number of contestants decreases? Or are four contestants supposed to cook for the same number of diners previously handled by two or three times as many contestants?
I has that same feeling, especially whenever they show that shot of Suzanne lurking in a doorway while listening to the rest of the red team trash her behind her back. There’s about 100 other ways to handle situations like that, and she chooses the worst one every time. I felt a little sorry for her because she’s got enough self-awareness to realize she rubs people the wrong way, but she doesn’t have enough self-awareness to analyze how her behavior affects others, so she doesn’t know how to fix it.
I’ve wondered that too. Often Chef Ramsey shuts down the kitchen during the middle of service and I wonder what happens to all of those people. They must be friends or relatives of the producers instead of seemingly regular folks like the show pretends they are. Probably told to ham it up for the TV cameras too
Sometimes I wonder how any of these people can be a head chef anywhere. An hour and a half for entrees? I’ve never waited that long in my life in any restaurant. How can seemingly good chefs be so slow? It also puzzles me how they’re supposed to handle so many people.
I think it’s been stated in previous Hell’s Kitchen threads that the diners are indeed connected to the show in some form or another.
From the looks of the show, all the guests for the night arrive at once. And so all of the night’s orders come in more-or-less simultaneously, which just doesn’t happen at a real restaurant.
At least, that’s my justification for why they’re so slow.
I don’t think all the diners are friends of the producers, etc. I recall reading a blog (that I’m trying to find as I type) that outlined the process someone went through of being a guest in the dining room. Basically, I think the producers took out a local ad looking for people. The guests don’t have to pay anything for their meal and are treated to free drinks at the bar. I’ll keep trying to find it because I found it pretty interesting.
Here’s a site backing up part of what I said, but it’s not what I was looking for: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8717333/
Yeah, that’s not handled well. I’ve gone to Frontera Grill in Chicago where they don’t really take many reservations, so there’s a line down the block at dinner opening. They stagger the seating so you may be waiting a half hour to an hour to be seated if you were later in the line, but at least their staff doesn’t get slammed when the doors open.
I’ve read that the “customers” are really just friends and families of the crew, and wannabe actors. They’re not paying for anything, they know they’re there as part of the show, that they may or may not get served, and they are sometimes encouraged to show impatience or displeasure for the benefit of the cameras.
Because there’s an executive chef above them actually running the place?;)
Whew indeed!
Is it just me or is this group really a lot worse than they should be at this point? Now every time one of them still undercooks a lamb or overcooks a risotto, I half expect Ramsey to blow his top and just throw them all out and end the season early with no winner. Yeah, it would leave them short a few episodes, but they way they spin things it would just be “WHAT YOU HAVE TO SEE TO BELIEVE” or “THE MOST SHOCKING MOMENT IN HELL’S KITCHEN HISTORY WE REALLY REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME”
Dave might not be making many mistakes, but I worry his arm is just going to give out before the end. I also expected Ramsey to pick him to choose the two nominees. I wonder if maybe he had some sort of mess up that wasn’t exciting enough to make the final edit.
As for the diners all showing up at once, and this not being a realistic scenario, I agree, but I also think Ramsey’s probably doing that because it creates such a high pressure situation. He wants to see how these people do when they’re getting slammed, not in a normal situation.
It’s not just you, I completely agree. There is just no comradarie between any of the contestants and a lot of below-the-surface contempt. This leads to a very noticeable lack of teamwork.
Right now it seems like whoever just goes with slow and steady will last 'til the end. Dave is doing that and I’m skeptical as to how bad his arm is. The previews make it look really bad so I’m going to take the opposite view. His arm is fine. 
October 6, 4 Chefs Compete - recap:
Starts off with a vegetarian cooking challenge, 80 orders each. They struggle to come up with something, and no one has all the orders ready by the time the guests show up. Then - surprise! The guests are all little kids! Kids hate veggies, but they’re all chanting “WE WANT FOOD!” and banging their silverware, even for veggies. Lots of stress to placate the little demons and get their food out. The kids rate food as yuckiest vs. yummiest, and are given gum, ‘champagne popper’ party favors, and all kinds of things to make a mess with.
Tennille wins, gets to go out for a makeover and high-end sushi, and gets a knife set as a present. The others have to clean up the dining room which has been ravaged by the little beasts.
In the dinner competition, Tennille bombs hard. She screws up a few orders of scallops, and unevenly cooks a bunch of stuff until Ramsay takes her in back and yells at her. After that she does well. Dave has his wrist freak out on him again, describing a nerve pain shooting up from there to his ear that causes him to lose his grip on a pan of lamb. He runs in back to hide how much pain he’s in, but Ramsay tells him that he better see a medic. Dave comes out after saying he’s fine, he’s strong.
At the end of service, Ramsay calls them together and tells Dave he’s watching him, essentially, due to his wrist. Dave claims he’s fine, he can do this. Tennille gets a talking-to and also praise for her great turn-around. Then Ramsay says he’s not going to prolong this by making anyone decide anything, and sends Tennille on her way, praising her talent and her ability to come back from difficulty, and saying he expects good things from her.
Ariel calls for a drink and toast to celebrate, but in the midst of that, Ramsay calls them all back down and says he’s been thinking about whether he made the right decision keeping Dave. Big pause… and he says yes, he’s sure. Then everyone gets to spend time with significant others who they haven’t gotten to see in a while (Dave: fiancee and sister, Ariel: fiance and mom, Kevin: wife and son), followed by a ‘keep your eye on the prize’ talk from Ramsay.
Pretty much the result I expected from this group, really. That was a pretty crappy first challenge. Most kids have a much different palate than adults, and to pull something subject to such randomness at so late a point in the competition is unfair. I think Kevin was right that most kids don’t like the taste of beets, compared to how many adults like them. Plus, the (relatively minor) whining about vegetarian food from the competitors was annoying. Cooking vegetables well and creatively is an important talent, even if you’re cooking meat as the centerpiece of the meal.
(In her own words) “Oh Hell No” - Tennille gets undone by the seafood and makes her exit
I thought Tennille looked really good after they Whoopied her up - and she was a very gracious challenge winner. I even got a little misty-eyed when they got rid of her.
But you missed the best part of the show in the recap - Little Gordon Ramsey! That kid is an amazing mimic. His body language and movements are absolutely perfect!