'Hell's Kitchen': Delusions of grandeur

June 3, 2008 10:31 PM

We're getting down to the nitty-gritty now on Hell's Kitchen. It's black jacket time and the show is still without a clear frontrunner. Petrozza asked early on tonight what Matt is still doing on the show. I felt the same way heading into this week's episode, you felt the same way, and I have trouble believing Ramsay didn't feel the same way too.

Almost immediately tonight, the chef's got handed their black jackets and the teams were dissolved. Now, the last show ended with Matt being sent back to the blue team and Jen back to the red team. So, while I usually leave my big question to the end of the recap, I have to ask now – why bother doing that? Why move those two jokers back to their old teams and then not allow them to do even one service with that team?

They're both incompetent. What's more, they both know it. After the challenge, in which the chefs were each handed a meat/fish to cook, Matt was all excited that Ramsay stated that "there was hardly anything wrong" with his dish. That was the complement Matt got, and it meant the world to him. He thought he was winning the whole competition based on Ramsay being impressed that Matt hadn't made him sick. For her part, Jen was tearing up in fear of Ramsay yelling at her. In my mind that made it clear that she knew she was on thin ice, despite how she acts in her one-on-ones.

Amazingly, Jen actually won the challenge. I thought that maybe, just maybe, I had misjudged, but then she said to the camera that she hadn't "seen anybody ever slice a prime rib and roll it like that." Wow, she sliced and rolled prime rib better than anyone has ever sliced and rolled prime rib before? That's quite the attitude she's got. She instantly went back on my list.

With Matt, it's not attitude that's the problem, it's insanity. During the punishment, he seemed to actually lose his mind. He went off on Christina (who, I'll allow, was acting a little bossy), and Bobby actually thought Matt was ready to snap. Matt was, for no reason I could discern, muttering and sharpening knives.

The next morning, his bickering with Christina continued, leading, of course, to the two of them being paired together on the meat station for dinner service. And that is why I like this show. Someone behind the scenes saw the two of them bickering and made sure they got paired together. That's what makes for good TV, bad food, but good TV.

The dinner service was actually pretty mundane at first. Yes, Matt started a small fire, Matt couldn't remember the orders, Christina couldn't cook a ribeye, and Corey started crying because the team wouldn't tell her what was happening, but it was all kind of business as usual. Then, it happened, Corey burned herself pretty badly and yet refused to stop cooking. Rather than applauding her gumption, Ramsay ordered her to the medic. And, much to my surprise, Corey refused to go. That's right, she refused. She used some foul, Gordon Ramsay-type language and said she wouldn't go see the medic and then acquiesced almost immediately after the commercial break.

It all went from bad to worse as Christina stopped paying attention to orders, Matt admitted to not knowing what was going on, and Bobby couldn't count the number of entrees he'd cooked. After getting yelled at a wee little bit by Ramsay, Matt started to complain about a migraine. Then, all of the sudden he had no feeling in his hand. Ramsay took the not-so-loveable loser and ushered him out of the kitchen, sending him upstairs for a rest.

The carnage continued as Jen left rice cooking for too long on Christina's station. The rice got blackened and Jen got booted. Then, Christina got booted. Then, everyone got booted. The kitchen was shutdown for the night and those poor diners went home unfed.

Ramsay was so disgusted by the entire debacle that he decided that there would be no "best of the worst" tonight and that the group should nominate two folks for elimination. Matt was an easy first pick, and then after much hemming and hawing, Christina was nominated too, if for no other reason than she was working with Matt tonight.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that it was obvious that Matt would be going home, when the nominations were announced to Ramsay, Corey nominated herself as a third candidate for elimination. She said that she shouldn't be fired, just that she should be nominated.

Now, if I were Ramsay, I would have fired her right then and there solely because she gave me the opportunity. I would have looked at her, called her action noble, and ripped the jacket right off of her. He didn't do that. He pretended like he might fire Christina and then lowered the boom on the hapless, helpless, and hopeless Matt.

Good riddance.

Some (more) questions:

Does anyone out there actually believe that Matt had a migraine or was he just lying?
For some reason, I actually don't think that Christina was to blame for the rice being overcooked. Am I wrong, should she have been paying attention to it?

The one person who was clearly safe from the beginning tonight? The nice guy who writes for The TV and Film Guy's Reviews.

in FOX , Hell's Kitchen , Reality TV

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Ding-dong, Muppet-face is dead. Now if they can just get rid of Jen, whose voice comes out through her nose in the same droning tone all the time. "Ramsay never complains about my food, only about my attitude"?

Frank Rook | Jun 4, 2008 1:53:30 AM | #

I don't know if Matt had a migraine or not, but it was a convenient excuse for being completely inept. If only Jen could have gotten the boot at the same time.

This season is a mess. I'm kind of rooting for Corey, but mostly because she seems to suck the least.

Astrid | Jun 4, 2008 4:19:50 AM | #

Gordon to Christina "Right now I'm not really interested in your emotions, I'm not Dr. Phil". I think we've just found ourselves a spin-off show :-)

Still struggling to pick a winner, but if I had to, I think Christina is going to up her game for the win.

According to the LA Times, the Hell's Kitchen winner will become senior sous chef at The London under executive chef Josh Emmett (who will oversee from Ramsay's New York restaurant) and chef de cuisine Andy Cook.

Lee Richards | Jun 4, 2008 4:43:58 AM | #

« More chef goings-on from Rustic Canyon | Main | Naples goes gourmet »

Gordon Ramsay L.A. reservation line is open!
Ladies and gentlemen, find your cellphones: The reservation line for Gordon Ramsay's new L.A. restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood, is open -- even if the doors aren't. Ramsay's first West Coast restaurant, which is in the former Bel Age location, officially opens for dinner on May 27 (lunch to start the following day). This follows the opening, in 2006, of the Gordon Ramsay at the London New York, Ramsay's American debut.

A menu just faxed over lists dishes such as California spiny lobster with white port sauce, rack of Sonoma lamb with olive-crusted fingerling potatoes and West Coast halibut with Kumamoto oysters and Champagne velouté. (Notice all the nice regional tags.) What we can also expect is some stunt staffing, as the winner of this year's "Hell's Kitchen" (Ramsay's American reality show, the finale of which is set to air July 8) will be installed as "senior sous chef," according to Ramsay's publicist. Ramsay may like publicity, but he's unlikely to want a surprise "Kitchen Nightmares" (Ramsay's other American reality show) episode either. Therefore, said senior sous chef will be under the watchful eyes of executive chef Josh Emmett (who will oversee from Ramsay's New York restaurant) and chef de cuisine Andy Cook. And, one hopes, Ramsay himself, in all his high-volume, obscenity-laced glory. Maybe, if we're lucky, he'll cook too.

Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood, 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood. Reservation line: (310) 358-7788.

-- Amy Scattergood

Photo courtesy of Susan Magrino Agency

From LA Daily Dish | Jun 4, 2008 5:26:22 AM | #

I was once confronting an employee under me about her performance when out of the blue she staired into space and started saying, "I can't see you, I can't see, I'm blind". She seriously tried to convince me that she could not see for several minutes so that she would not have to be disciplined for her actions. At this company employees could get away with doing such things because I had to assume she was absolutely telling the truth. Other employees often asked to go home early because they got too emotional to continue working. What Matt did reminded me of that. I think he convinved himself that he had a migraine because his incompetance was too much to own up to. This was apparant to me when he tried to milk it with Ramsey for sympathy saying that Gordon understood what a migraine was like. But at the end of the day it just showed his unsuitability to handle the duties of even a basic line cook so he needed to go. I wish I'd been able to fire some of my employees in that way. Once they knew they could get away with it, they continued to try to pull the same sympathy routine all te time.

sac | Jun 4, 2008 6:26:35 AM | #

So glad to read that none of these clowns will be the executive chef at London. I can't imagine any of them being given that kind of responsibility!

Kate2 | Jun 4, 2008 7:11:05 AM | #

This TV show is no longer about the best of the best in the kitchen. This is FOX, remember. This is a show about the dysfunctional for the unsympathetic. It started out as a good chefs' competition but that doesn't necesssarily make it good TV, from FOX's POV. You can see the production's staff manipulation and suggestions being made to the contestants to say and do things they would not normally do, but would make good tTV. It's a fry-pan scam this show and too bad and sorry for Ramsey going along with it.

Samuel | Jun 4, 2008 9:31:08 AM | #

i think the two guys are gonna be the final two. i cant see any of the three girls making it.

wednesday | Jun 4, 2008 10:04:46 AM | #

I really like this show, but I wish they had some better cooks. I'd prefer to watch Chef Ramsey pick the best of the best rather than the best of the worst. This show has always had the least attractive cast on TV, but at least before it was because they were professional chefs who don't need to rely on their looks. The bozos they have this season have no skills or talent at all.

Petroza is probably the best of this group. I don't believe he could actually run an upscale rest., but he has the skills and (more importantly) the maturity to work in one. I could see him as a line chef in Chef Ramsey's new place.

The rest of them? Go back to McDonalds where you belong!

Cornelius | Jun 4, 2008 10:11:49 AM | #

Hey, Frank Rook - don't be name calling with the Muppet-face comment. I doubt if you've got a mug that turns heads toward you.

Johnny MN | Jun 4, 2008 11:06:21 AM | #

I have never seen a bigger collection of uneducated,
pathetic dimwits in my life...
and that goes for the potty-
mouthed, temper tantrum brat
of a host too. Would you hire
any of these losers to even
bag up your yard clippings?
Who, in their right mind, would put any of these clowns
to work in a kitchen, let alone run one? And, what kind
of enjoyable dining experience
can you have listening to Ramsey cussing and bellowing
while you're trying to get
down your piece of "raw beef."
This show is a real donkey.

Doug | Jun 4, 2008 11:12:24 AM | #

THIS AHS BEEN THE WORST SET OF CHEFS IN THE 4 SEASONS OF HELL'S KITCHEN MY BET IS THAT BOBBBY WILL WIN BECAUSE AT LEAST HE IS NOT MESSING UP AS BAD AS THE OTHERS ARE.

michael terry | Jun 4, 2008 3:20:09 PM | #

This is truly the best season yet of Hell's Kitchen. I think it's almost a sure-thing that the final will be Corey against Bobby. Jen is simply too obnoxious to stay around much longer, Petrozza is just a slob who doesn't really stand out, and Christina's inexperience will be her undoing. It's definitely for the best that Matt is gone.....but not quite for the best that he left before Jen.

I swear that Matt is just a loose cannon of a nut-job. Between the weird way his mouth moves when he's talking and his strange "I have to take a dump" facial expressions, he wasn't good for much else but to laugh at.

Angie | Jun 4, 2008 7:36:01 PM | #

Here's the Deal: Ramsay, listen up... The name of the game this season obviously started out with "lets get some real screw ups, they will be interesting. What you should do is to get a group of sharpies and put on competitions which go extremely upscale. Then do tme -compressed individual shots of their presentation. This motif will satisfy one of the reasons people tune in-- to learn something esoteric and lofty about food. You need to have others judge this stuff too.

I also want you to make them prepare dishes that are in left field w/respect to your "standard fare". I want to see Japanese Noodles with pork, I want to see middle east Falafel and hummus, I want to see Russian Food, I want to see Greek food. Come on Chef, you have the experience to reach out and show ALL of it to us........

Master of your fate | Jun 5, 2008 1:57:45 AM | #

Master of your fate,

You just described Top Chef and Iron Chef America.

Ramasay's Shirt | Jun 5, 2008 3:20:55 AM | #

Another Matt meltdown finally gets him booted, but I like how Ramsey tried (on Fox's orders of course) to make it interesting by implying Christina would go. Nice try, chef. But once he used the "for all the right reasons" line, you knew Matt was gone. He was the worst I've ever seen in all phases. Just incredible.

Jen will go next, then likely Christina. I see Corey, Bobby and Petroza as the final 3, but no feeling on the winner. I don't like Corey's attitude. She rips Jen after getting the free trip to Vegas. Real classy.

But who are the biggest suckers? The Hell's Kitchen diners. I mean, look at these fools. They dress up in suits and evening gowns all so they can sit for 4 hours, get fed raw food or no food on the hope a couple of them get a nice dish in 3 hours. Where do they find these people?

And the "finest maitre'D in the business," Jean Philippe, his answer to no food is "bring out more water." OK, JP, just have the bathrooms ready.

Belmont | Jun 5, 2008 8:12:15 AM | #

Belmont,

The diners are fox studio employees and their families.

tgm | Jun 5, 2008 8:49:49 AM | #

Thanks for the info. They are still fools unless they are being paid. Maybe they are. Who else would sit through that for 4 hours.

Belmont | Jun 5, 2008 10:55:02 AM | #

haha...Frank you are SO on with the Muppet comment. That's EXACTLY what I've been calling Matty too. He does look SO much like a freakin muppet! So glad not to have to look at his face anymore.

Austinite | Jun 16, 2008 7:35:39 AM | #

The final three will finish in this order:

1st place: Petroza

2nd place: Corey

3rd: place: Christina

Eugene | Jun 20, 2008 7:00:32 AM | #

I am very confused,dissatified,and just plain lost. Like millions of Gorden Ramsey and Hell's Kitchen someone forgot to tell us who contest 4.The TV directory called for the contest episode 4.I watched like a loyal fan and some where around the time of 10PM and 10:10 and never found out who the winner was.Still don't know. Why? What happened? am I ever going to see the result? I sure hope so as I was waiting forever to see this episode.Can I expect to find out sometime soon.Please let me know by E-Mail preferablly. I just can't miss this episode and remain sane.May I here from you soon? DON.

Don Flint | Jul 2, 2008 5:42:24 AM | #

Don Flint | Jul 2, 2008 5:43:24 AM | #

would love for someone to let me know who won please

louise crase | Jul 2, 2008 7:02:28 AM | #

would love for someone to let me know who won please

louise crase | Jul 2, 2008 7:02:34 AM | #

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