PremiereWatch: The lights go out on 'Hell's Kitchen'
We were told at the beginning of the Hell's Kitchen premiere that the field this year was the strongest, most competitive, ever. Boy, do I hope that's right, last year we had some real stinkers in the competition. I'm just not sure I can take it if this year's crop isn't better than last year's.
Interestingly, the premiere didn't start with the same silly Ramsay-in-makeup ploy we got last season or even a similarly-themed event. Instead, the 16 contestants were announced while sitting there in the restaurant with a whole bunch more finalists present. From there it was straight to the "signature dish" challenge. Nice and simple way to open, I liked it.
Amazingly, Ramsay enjoyed the first dish he tried, Carol's. Wil was next, and while the food was sloppy, Ramsay liked the taste. And then the third contestant, Ji, also was complemented. At that point, I was worried, very worried. I thought that maybe Ramsay had eaten enough bad food and spewed enough venom during Kitchen Nightmares that he just didn't have it in him anymore. And then, slowly but surely, the tasting went downhill until we reached Colleen, an untrained chef who teaches others to cook. Ramsay was, as expected, rude to her. He wasn't terribly rude, he certainly wasn't Ramsay-level rude, but he was rude. Her response was none too smart -- she informed Ramsay that she also teaches manners. It was like she wanted to be eliminated right then and there. I certainly would have canned her.
When Ramsay didn't, I became even more concerned. Sure, he might have threatened to fire the next guy, Seth, who laughed when Ramsay suggested that his honey-laced ratatouille was the worst thing he'd ever eaten. It was actually Seth who Ramsay threatened to eliminate then and there. Really? Him and not the lady who threatened to teach Ramsay manners?
Okay, that was truly odd, but not as odd as one contestant, Lacey, suggesting that she was quitting the contest while everyone was prepping for dinner service. I guess she didn't feel the sort of team camaraderie she expected to receive from the folks who were fighting against her to win the contest. She eventually came back to the kitchen, but almost instantly got into a fight with another chef, Coi. Coi didn't seem like she had her head screwed on quite right, but what with Lacey's previous performance I'm putting the blame squarely on her shoulders, not Coi's.
Giovanni and Carol were placed in the dining room during service tonight, which is something that usually doesn't happen during the premiere. Frankly, it's great that the show seems to be changing things up this season, the old routine was definitely getting stale last year.
And dinner service? Dinner service went about as you'd expect -- it was a total and complete disaster. Ramsay didn't get the response he wanted when he called out orders, chefs couldn't be bothered to cook food properly, that sort of thing. The best moment may have been when Lacey couldn't figure out why her oven wasn't making food hot and it turned out that the gas wasn't on.
Nah, the best moment was when Colleen opted to change Ramsay's recipe. She threw some mascarpone cream cheese into the "spaghetti of lobster" despite the fact that the cheese wasn't an ingredient in the recipe. I have to imagine that at that point Ramsay was wishing that he had fired her for the manners thing.
What exactly do you think was going through her head? Did she imagine that her brilliant addition was going to make Ramsay fall in love with her? Well, she later decided to cook a new order of spaghetti in a dirty pan and then used sugar instead of salt in the risotto, so I'm guessing that she's just not that smart.
Okay, okay, that wasn't the best moment. The best moment was when some of the lights turned out and everyone kept cooking anyway. I should probably put "cooking" in quotes, but they were certainly doing a reasonable facsimile of it (the ovens were still good to go and the food was getting hot), right up until all the lights went out. At that point, Carol out in the dining room proceeded to liquor up her customers until the power came back on.
I know you'll find this an amazing surprise, but eventually tables started to get up and leave before they got served. At that point, Ramsay shut the kitchen down (see, this is still the show we know and love even if they're doing some things differently this year).
After service, Ramsay told both teams they were equally poor, so he chose the winning squad based on Carol and Giovanni's approval ratings. Liquoring up the guests paid off (Giovanni's incompetence didn't help the men) and the men were sent upstairs to decide on whom they would nominate for elimination. Wil, who was incompetent on the garnish was one nominee, but the rest of the team decided that Seth was the "first" nominee. Seth had proven himself to be all-around goofy, incompetent, and semi-delusional about his abilities. While Wil offered himself instantly as the first nominee during the men's discussions, he figured it would win him some respect, the tactic didn't pay off. As Gordon explained, Wil didn't have the will. He was sent home.
I have two questions tonight. First, was the blackout a setup or do you think it was truly beyond the producers' control? Second, do you think, from what we've seen thus far, that we actually are looking at a stronger bunch of contestants this year?
The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - just because we can stand the heat doesn't mean we won't get out of the fire.
Q1: It's a Fox Reality show. Of course it was staged and never be that naive again Josh.
Q2: I think from the 3-4 actual "good cheftestants" that are surrounded by dolts, they are better than years past. They showed it quickly, but Coi's signature dish looked like it was from Top Chef. No other previous "winner" had that kind of presentation or compliments from Ramsay early on. Oh yea, I am calling Coi as winner this early.
Remind me never to take a cooking cl*** from Colleen. It really shouldn't be that hard to tell salt from sugar, and seafood pasta doesn't get cheese. Period.
Q1: Have to agree the blackout seemed staged.
Q2: The strongest set of contestants - if you compare them to the array of dolts, stooges and goofs they had previously, yes. But then again, we still have people here that screw up pasta (How? You just boil water and time it). And we also have Lacey, who seems to be a bit on the psychotic side and obviously doesn't know you need to turn the oven on to cook. Giovanni seems like an idiot, who boasts his prowess in the kitchen, but can't wait tables?
The editing did not really feature those that gave good dishes in the initial tasting, so it's too early to say. Looks like Colleen won't last past episode 2 or 3.
The girl that quite in the beginning has got to go. She's so annoying. Also, the guy that took over Ramsey's order is obnoxious.
Maybe they are actually requiring hvaing been in a kitchen before? I have a friend who is a culinary school grad and has been a Sou Chef and he was told that he was too experinced when he tried out for the show two years ago. Lacey said that they are jelous bc she is sooo pretty, WTF? buy a mirror you cow!
Wil was let go because he was gay. Period. He was no worse than Seth, and owned up to his mistakes. But he made the mistake of being "out" on Fox TV, and that's a sin that can't be overlooked.
I'm no chef, but even I know that you don't try to "improve" on a renowned chef's dish on the fly. If the girls had lost, Colleen wouold have been gone faster than you can light a Cherries Jubilee. How Lacey got in is beyond me. She's clearly clueless in a kitchen (rather like me, haha). I like Ji.
The black-out was not staged. I was there. it was actually out for over an hour, not 20 min like they said.
Wil let go because he's gay? What a crock.This is just what I have come to expect from whiny liberals.I believe at least one of the women stated she was a lesbian,does that mean Fox is gunning for her too? If Fox had such a problem with ****sexuals they wouldn't have chosen him in the first place. grow up Jeff
You call that woman an "untrained chef". If she hasn't graduated from a culinary institute, she is NOT a chef. She is nothing but a cook and a cook can be anyone off the street who applies for a job and is given the position, possibly shown how to throw together a few things, often winging it, while watching and learning along the way. Gordon Ramsey was nice to her considering the gall she has in calling herself a chef, impersonating a chef and charging outrageous prices to supposedly teach others how to cook. She ought to be in jail i.e., if her food is that bad. She is a fraud. I can tell you will not win the competition. GR has better sense than to offer such a position to a fraud. Further, he was not rude at all. He told her the truth about her cooking. It is either good or it is crap, awful, however he wants to describe it. If it is disgusting tasting garbage, he can call is that. I would. He is not there to back peddle and tell her well it isn't too bad - when some of that junk is so bad, he goes into the rest room and hocks it out of his body. The U.S. is so full of horrible so-called chefs who try and feed us inedible garbage, that they need to be told it is just that bad. I think some of them have cooked at restaurants where I've been. Occasionally, I've spoken to the manager, told him the food is mushy garbage, and walked out without paying and without eating more than a couple of tastes. So be it. If you can't cook, get out of the kitchen and certainly don't charge people for eating your slop!