Shake off those back to work woes, ladies and gents! Yes, regrettably, it’s Monday yet again. But that just means Hell’s Kitchen is brand new tonight! With five cheftestants left, the competition is definitely nearing its end. Chef Gordon Ramsay should crown the new executive chef at his Steak at Paris restaurant in Las Vegas in no time!
So what, might you ask, is on the menu for tonight? First, Dana, Clemenza, Barbie, Justina and Christina are asked to teach others how to cook during their challenge. After that, dinner is served Italian style! Clemenza doesn’t have that great of a track record when it comes to representing his heritage through pasta, but let’s hope he gets it right this time.
“Normally, walking out after elimination is a little depressing,” starts Dana, “but tonight Robyn is gone!” Drop the disco ball and pull out those streamers because it is a good night at the Hell’s Kitchen camp! Sure, Clemenza is a bit upset over being in the bottom two, but he’s usually in the bottom, right?
The next morning, the chefs walk into the kitchen to find Chef Ramsay pleasantly cooking up some chicken parmesan. Stop by my kitchen next, Chef? The cheftestants aren’t taking this lightly. Ramsay explains that they will be replicating his dish, but there’s a twist.
Challenge: Today the cheftestants will be teaching others how to replicate Chef Ramsay’s chicken parmesan. They cannot use their hands, at all. Each individual cheftestant must ONLY instruct their students.
In walks five former Miss Teen USA winners, all dressed in heels and sashes. Here are the teams:
Kamie Crawford Miss Teen USA 2010 and Justin
Stevi Perry Miss Teen USA 2008 and Clemenza
Hilary Cruz Miss Teen USA 2007 and Barbie
Katie Blair Miss Teen USA 2006 and Christina
Allie Laforce Miss Teen USA 2005 and Dana
Haven’t we seen Clemenza cook an Italian dish before and fall short? It’s like a hit of deja vu as Clemenza and Stevi’s marinara sauce, which the cheftestant boasted runs through his veins, is apparently too thick for Chef Ramsay’s liking. Mark this as another fail for the Italian competitor.
The challenge comes down to a toss up between Allie and Dana and Hilary and Barbie. Both dishes are tasted once more.
Challenge Winner: Hilary Cruz, Miss Teen USA 2007 and Barbie
Barbie chooses Justin to join her on her reward trip. “I definitely didn’t expect Barbie to pick me,” says Justin, and I surely have to agree. These two will enjoy a meal prepared by Chef Antonio Mure of Ado Restaurant in Venice Beach, California along with kayaking down the Venice Canal. But wait, there’s more! These two lucky ducks will be driven down to Venice Beach in Chef Ramsay’s personal brand new black convertible Maserati. Life of a reality television star is good!
Chef Antonio Mure serves up what he describes as a meal “better than sex” to Barbie and Justin. After this, they enjoy separate kayaks down the Venice Canal. Meanwhile, the losers are preparing for dinner service and Clemenza has his hands in lots and lots of dough.
Justin feels bad for the other chefs having to stay behind and prep tons and tons of pasta for Italian Night. So, as a nice gesture, he cooks spaghetti for them all. Do you think they were appreciative of more pasta after a full day of staring at dough? OF COURSE NOT! Clemenza even spits it out.
The Black Team gets to bed early and rises for further kitchen prep. This will be the first time in season 10 where the entire Hell’s Kitchen dining room will be served from one kitchen. Clemenza is, again, on the meat station, pounding out cuts of chicken. POUND, POUND, POUND he goes. Once he walks away, Chef Scott checks what has been left. The chicken has been annihilated. Italian Night hasn’t even officially started and the one Italian left in the competition has already ruined it!
Italian Night Dinner Service
“Show me you’ve got the heart of a champion,” orders Chef Ramsay. No pressure, guys!
It’s the first ticket of the night. Two flatbreads and two risottos. Chef Ramsay asks him what the appetizers of the ticket were. Clemenza has NO idea, NONE! Yet he manages to deliver perfectly cooked flatbread. He is a genius amongst his unorganized mess. I just don’t get it.
“Clemenza doesn’t listen!” exclaims Barbie. After not listening to Chef Ramsay AGAIN, Clemenza calls out the entire ticket himself. Now that Clemenza knows what is going on, Barbie falls off with two failed tries at risotto. They’re crumbling fast.Clemenza hops on risotto in order to help Barbie out, but she’s rushing. She barks at him to take the appetizer up to the pass when it is obviously something similar to rice in water. Chef Ramsay has now yelled at the entire Black Team over the same pan of risotto three times.
Chef Ramsay gives Barbie one last time to get that risotto right, or it is lights out for her. Finally, she gets it right. I’m pretty sure she’s earned a spot on the chopping block later, though. Who wants to bet?
Next up to mess up is Dana. She has two black blocks of beef at her meat station. Chef Ramsay only has to get in her face once. Justin hops in and helps, assisting Dana with taking nicely cooked filets to the pass.
Christina has a problem, too, on her garnish station. First, it’s not enough seasoning. After criticism from Ramsay, Christina thinks she better take a taste first. What do you know? It actually works!
We’ve just about made a full cycle of mistakes as Barbie fails to toss in enough crab meat into the capellini. “I beg you to go home!” Ramsay yells at her, apparently frustrated as one of the more promising cheftestants is obviously having a bad night.
Nominations
“That is not what I expected,” confesses Chef Ramsay. I totally agree! This is the final five and that was, perhaps, the hardest struggle so far. The Black Team is sent to the dorm to nominate one person to go home.
Clemenza presents a valid reason for tossing Barbie up for elimination because of those risottos, but Justin is tired of cleaning up after Clemenza, so he doesn’t know who to vote for. Dana and Christina are thinking things over, too. Dana has never really liked Barbie, so that’s the given. In the end, this comes down to Clemenza, again, and Barbie. Who would you stand before Chef Ramsay?
Elimination
Never actually coming up with one nomination, both Clemenza and Barbie are asked to plead their cases. Barbie states, “I never gave up.” Clemenza, on his seventh possible elimination, says that he kept going and going and going!
Eliminated: Clemenza
He might be one big mess, but Clemenza definitely kept up a good fight. Barbie is still in the competition along with Christina, Justin and Dana. They are cooking their way to the top. The winner will take that job at Steak and bring home a quarter of a million dollars salary. This is more than enough reason to pop open the champagne and sit back for some celebration. Everything looks good until a man walks past the camera. Who did Chef Ramsay let inside Hell’s Kitchen?
Next Monday on Hell’s Kitchen, find out who the mysterious man is that Chef Ramsay allowed inside the dormitories. Plus, is Dana attempting to sabotage dinner service and ruin her friendship with Christina?
Jilliane Johnson
Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
