Hell’s Kitchen is really firing up the heat in this second episode of the all-star season. The first flare up of drama sparked between Robyn and Elise. Come on. Who was really surprised that Elise’s name would be involved in a situation so early on? I wonder if Robyn consulted with her Tiger’s Eye, asking who would come out on top.
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Tonight, the drama may be attention grabbing, but let’s be real. A job opportunity with a salary of half a million dollars is on the line for one of these repeat contestants, so what happens in the kitchen is essential. Right?
Right Where We Left Off
Challenge: Create one dish to be featured on the bar menu throughout the season.
Jared suggests Chef Ramsay give them 45 minutes for this challenge. He thinks about it. “I’ll give you 40!” Take what you can get! Off they go! Every chef looks to be confident but Ben who isn’t very excited about cooking for the bar. Can Ben say “immunity?” Who cares what you’re cooking for? Just do it!
To judge the dishes, sous chefs Christina and Jocky enter and Ramsay ascends to his office in the Hell’s Kitchen clouds. Funny enough, both chefs are proving to be hard to read. Each hand over their top four dishes to the boss who will then decide on his top two. Christina picks four women from the Red Team while Jocky selects four men from the Blue Team.
Pick One: Dana’s tempura tacos vs. Milly’s seafood poutine
Dana kicks things off strong for the fight for immunity, but Milly outshines with his seafood poutine.
Pick Two: Ashley’s polenta vs. Jared’s seafood dumplings
The polenta is a strong dish, but Jared’s dumplings are just as good if not better.
Pick Three: Elise’s wings vs. Van’s steak
Chef Ramsay finds the wings so delicious that he swaps them out with Ashley’s polenta. The Blue Team also sees a swap when Van’s steak replaces Jared’s dumplings.
Pick Four: Michelle’s lobster shrimp sausage vs. Nick’s crab fritters
This round proves easy for Ramsay. Michelle is in, but unfortunately, Nick’s dish is not.
Results: Milly wins the first individual challenge and immunity.
Back in the lounge, Ben shows some signs of weakness and he heads off to check his blood levels. He reveals that he has just recently been diagnosed with diabetes. This must be a bad sign. Before dinner service, Christina and Jocky walk the All-Stars through tonight’s dishes and preparations. With 30 minutes to go, Ben is still showing some concerning symptoms and speaks to a medic. “I would prefer to spare myself a moment of dropping in the kitchen,” he explains, concerned about being able to follow through with the night’s pressure during dinner service. In the end, he listens to the medic and lines up with his Blue Team in the kitchen.
Opening Night
For the first time in Hell’s Kitchen history, they will be hosting Chef’s Tables on opening night. The Red Team will serve American Idol winner Jordin Sparks while the Blue Team will serve Tony award winner and Criminal Minds star Joe Mantegna.
This is the largest menu seen yet on Hell’s Kitchen, plus Milly’s poutine will be on the bar menu. Not to mention there will be tableside service of shrimp and pasta appetizers by Dana for the Red Team and Milly for the Blue Team. Recipes for disaster left and right.
Ashley starts her hot appetizer station off with a watery dud of a carbonara back from the pass. Just a quick snag, though, and the Red Team is soon neck and neck the Blue Team. Robyn and Elise soon follow with strong dishes out of the meat station. The combative All-Stars have a moment of high five! Meanwhile, Ben has clocked out. He’s on fish station with Jared and not quite paying attention to what seems to be going on around him. They are quickly called out for ice cold salmon. Ramsay shows his appreciation by slamming the fish with his bare fist. The pressure gets to Ben and he almost loses his balance. Thankfully Jared is there to keep him on his feet and the Blue Team bounces back.
Sinking Ship
In the Red Kitchen, Elise and Robyn are surprisingly working well together on the meat station until Ramsay slices into the steak and reality rears its evil head. He calls the whole team into the pantry where he confronts them with raw meat and bleeped out words. Let’s hope this sparks a fire under them to get back on track because the Blue Team continues to serve up perfectly cooked dishes. Elise tried to hold an “insurance policy” with firing up more steaks than needed just in case one isn’t cooked to perfection. Well this plan backfires when Ramsay not only yells at the women, but makes them apologize as a group to the table waiting for their food. Giovanni is moved from the Blue Kitchen to the Red to help Elise who is now flustered with tears.
I would like to point out that while all of this is happening in the kitchens, Milly is introducing himself to diners as “Milly from Philly,” reveling in the moment and still sitting high after his immunity win. Plus, there are more celebrity sightings. Recording artist Keith Sweat and actor French Stewart are also in the dining room this evening.
Back in the Red Kitchen, Giovanni has helped the women with their meat dishes. Jordin Sparks sits on the sidelines, rooting them on. “Beat these boys!” Unfortunately, she won’t get her wish. The Red Kitchen is shut down after Amanda fails to deliver a satisfactorily cooked salmon. “Jordin, I am so sorry!” Ramsay apologizes for a failed service on the women’s part. The Blue Team continue to victory and Joe Mantegna and the party clinks their glasses in celebration.
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The Red Team Deliberates
Ashley started things off with badly fired hot apps. From there we moved to Robyn and Elise on the meat station. Barbie is quick to point out that Elise had three proteins to Robyn’s two. “Whoa, whoa whoa!” protests Robyn. Perhaps they didn’t work as hard at cooking as they did at perfectly hitting those high fives. Lastly, Amanda’s salmon sealed the deal.
Nominations
Elise is the obvious choice for nomination as she was the reason Giovanni had to step in to help. The second nomination is Manda thanks to the salmon and “a little bit of struggling through the night,” as Barbie words it. Even Ramsay is perplexed over that one. Honestly, I don’t believe the second nomination would matter because Elise messed up the most but majority of the Red Team agrees that Manda should go home. In another turn of events…
Going home tonight is… Ben!
“Big Ben? More like big liability,” Ramsay says. He knew that Ben would not be able to keep up with the growing pressure of the competition so he sent him home.
The trip back to the contestant’s quarters is anything but quiet. Robyn and Elise are at each other’s throats. Was anyone else waiting for it? The fact that they were working well together almost gave me hives! Elise begins to mouth off about how she is in the top four on the Red Team and will use this a fuel to do better than her competition. Okay, she actually was in the top four during the challenge, but Robyn takes this personally and the yelling match begins. Could it be that Elise is making sense and Robyn simply jumped to a heated conclusion? Quick! Someone find her Tiger’s Eye. We need answers.
This Hell’s Kitchen feud will be continued, meaning we have an entire week to ponder over who will come out on top. You have Elise, “The Boss” and Robyn, the “Bounce Back Queen.” Who was I kidding when I said this competition was first and foremost about the food? It’s about the people that make the food and the ridiculous arguments these grown women can find themselves in.
What do you think, readers? Who will or should come out on top of this boiling argument? Should they settle this outside? Or take it to the kitchen and let the food speak for itself? Comment below and let us know what you think.
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Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
