The preview for this episode of Hell’s Kitchen mentions the old theme of sabotage. I wouldn’t be surprised. It happened in season 1 and, to a lesser extent, in every season since. The question for this year’s contestants is: are these chefs on Hell’s Kitchen smart enough to conceal it? My guess is no, but half the fun of watching is trying to figure out just how quickly Gordon Ramsay catches on.
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Dorm Aftermath
As the Blue Team leaves the restaurant, Gordon Ramsay stops Josh with encouragement. He tells Josh not to be afraid to ask for help. The rest are wondering what’s going on with Josh. Some see him as a beast and are worried.
The Team Challenge
It’s travel time and Ramsay loves to travel. He’s going to give them a lesson about Greece. The Greek dancers enter and start yelling “opa” and dancing the hora. Then trays are rolled out and set in front of the teams. We know the challenge is coming.
Ramsay tells the chefs they must be creative with Greek cuisine. Each will have stunning proteins and they later learn they will smash plates for the garnishes. Ramsay asks one member from each team to step up to the protein. With six different proteins, Milly decides to go against Meghan and will prepare squid. Josh and Alison will be doing lamb. Michelle and Bret will do prawns. T and Randy get chicken. Sarah and Nick get swordfish. And Adam and Christine get pork.
Each team has 40 minutes to create their dishes. They must only use the ingredients they put on the board but do not have to use all of them. Each team has members who are having trouble, but they are all intense. Intense and good, though, are two different things!
Ramsay introduces the guest judge Michael Psilakis from Kefi’s in New York. Psilakis is an expert on Greek cuisine, so this will be hard for the teams. Josh does admit that his lamb was undercooked, while others seem to not have a clue about Greek cuisine. The battle goes back and forth and comes down to Nick and Sarah. While both have errors, Nick pulls out a win for the Blue Team.
The men will be enjoying a chance to blow off steam at a high performance go-kart racing track with Miss California as the starter. They get their picture taken with Miss California. I think they enjoyed that more than the racing!
At the restaurant, Meghan seems upset when the women learn that they must clean up the broken plates, and clean and prep for dinner. The ladies take it out on Sarah, of course. She’s their next target.
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Dinner Service
As the kitchens gather, the men are ready to cook and the ladies want to bounce back. Ramsay calls Milly out of the kitchen for a talk. He senses that Milly is having problems with believing in himself. Ramsay offers encouragement and Milly is now ready to succeed. Actually, I like Milly. He seems to have his head on straighter than most of his teammates.
Ramsay opens the restaurant and the beautiful people of California arrive. All the chefs feel pressure as Ramsay calls the orders. He has got Josh and Michelle serving octopus appetizers tableside. Nick is on appetizers and quickly gets the first table out. The Blue Team is off to an early start. The Red Team does seem to have it together until the lobster tails come out wrong twice. Alison has goofed and set the kitchen back. Meghan again plans to take charge of the kitchen.
The Blue Team has started entrees with Milly on meat. The garnishes, though, are wrong as Ramsay calls out Randy for using cream in the mashed potatoes. Ramsay thinks it’s sabotage and has a team meeting, but no one owns up. Meanwhile, Christine has messed up the garnish for the Red Team. Whatever was in that pot is burnt and Ramsay calls it baby food/mush. Now the Red Team’s eggplant is raw. So Meghan takes control. The men are now up to speed again, but Milly messes up the Beef Wellingtons. Sarah is having a similar problem with raw Wellingtons and overcooked lamb. T is harassing Sarah, and you can tell that Sarah’s at her wits’ end. Sheesh, Meghan would drive me crazy!
Dinner progresses, but once again Ramsay finds the Red Team’s garnish wrong. He has had it and calls their performance a joke. Will he send them out of the kitchen? Ramsay calls them over to the Blue Team’s kitchen, who is on their last table. Guess what? The Red Team is out of the kitchen again and must nominate two people for elimination. To add insult to injury, the Blue Team finishes their dinner service.
Elimination
In the dorms, T takes control of the nominations. Sarah is her target, while Meghan wants Christine out. Personally, Meghan would go up for issuing orders if I was on the Red Team.
Ramsay asks Meghan for the nominees. Sarah is the first nominee because they don’t think she can “step up.” Newsflash, Meghan, you all were responsible! The second nominee is Christine because she wasn’t prepared.
Sarah and Christine step forward to make their case to stay. Ramsay tells Sarah she sank herself and the team. Sarah tells him that the team ignored her and the team laughs behind her. He asks if she could cook better on the men’ team and she says she would. Ramsay asks for Sarah’s jacket and she leaves the kitchen. Ramsay tells them that next time, more than one might leave.
Next Time on Hell’s Kitchen
One chef makes a shocking exit from the restaurant. Will one chef lose his faith? Will one lose his cool? Will one break Ramsay? It looks like an intriguing episode as we are promised scandals and stars.
Hell’s Kitchen airs Tuesdays at 8pm on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
