etee's Blog

Hell's Kitchen
July 24, 2006

FIRST HOUR:

Repeat of last week's episode, in which Maribel gets 86'd.

SECOND HOUR:

The Post-Spike Letdown - Virginia sobs "I suck, suck, suck" -- and Sara agrees, though she waits until in front of the ConfessionCam to do so. Keith and Garrett still talk as if it is Men vs. Women (in which case they are badly outnumbered.) Keith thinks they will do individual challenges, and promises to pick Garrett if he wins. Somehow, I think he won't.

The Challenge - After a good nights sleep, the contestants arrive in the kitchen to find Chef Ramsay awaiting them, with new black and white jackets -- they are all one team now!

They are then shown a platter with 10 ingredients. They have 20 minutes to prepare a special dish - preferably one which is edible. The catch: some of the ingredients take more than 20 minutes to cook.

Garrett serves veal and prawns in saffron. The veal is cooked perfect - but there is too much saffron in the prawns.

Heather serves prawns and spinach with dirt. Oops.

Virginia serves beef and prawns. Chef Ramsay is impressed.

Sara serves beef drowned in a yellow sauce. Chef Ramsay pronounces it boring.

Keith serves veal stuffed with spinach and mushrooms. Keith wins!

Reward & Punishment - As the winner, Keith gets to go to Vegas to see the new restaurant. He gets to take one teammate with him, and chooses... Virginia!

Virginia is elated. Garrett isn't.

The losers find out they have to prep the restaurant for fumigation. Garrett, fuming, says "I'm gonna do this now" and storms off. Heather observes "There better not be knives back in the dorm."

Garrett confronts Keith, who apologizes. Garrett says "I'm so mad... I hope the plane crashes." And Heather overhears him. Hopefully, TSA didn't, or Garrett may find himself undergoing secondary screening. And tertiary. And then being denied boarding anyway. Being on a "No Fly" list will do that to you.

Keith and Virginia go to Vegas, and get to see the new restaurant. It looks incomplete, but they are excited, like kids in a candy store. Chef Ramsay pecks Virginia on the cheek -- twice. They all go out for an evening on the town.

Meanwhile, the other 4 wrap up the dishes, then find out that they are the fumigators as they are handed hazmat suits. As Sara dons the mask, she observes that she is now "six-eyes", and then starts channeling Darth Vader as she says "whoosh, whoosh... Luuke... whoosh, whoosh..." That just sounded creepy.

After they are finished, we cut to the dorm, where Heather admits to Garrett that when he gets angry, she gets uncomfortable. Garrett says he would never lay a hand on anybody, but admits he had anger problems in his youth.

Next morning, Garrett is nursing a drink... and a grudge. As Keith returns, he says "Garrett's gonna kill me." Garrett fondles a knife, then blood drips from some meat to form the "HK" logo as we cut to commercial. Ooooh, so scary.

The Preparation - Just in case there wasn't enough tension, Heather and Sara start sniping at each other, as Jean Philippe tells Keith that his dish from the day before was so good Chef Ramsay is adding it to the menu, and asks Keith if he wants to call it "Cha-Ching Veal." Flashback to that God-awful name Keith gave his first dish, then he says to call it "veal chop." Good man, Keith.

The Service - The special treat tonight is a "12-top" - a table with 12 guests, whose food must be ready to go at the same time.

The appetizers start out anything but, as Sara's scallops are overcooked and Heather's risotto is bland. Heather's second try is better, and Sara finally discovers the wonders of non-stick cookware, after Chef Ramsay points it out to her - with a healthy dose of 4-star words thrown in for good measure.

Moving on to entrees: the guys are sharing the meat station, and Virginia is stuggling alone on vegetables. In a hurry, Garrett delivers RAW CHICKEN to Chef Ramsay, who observes "you could kill some one." Garrett seals his fate when he replies "I was just doing it because it was faster!" The chicken may not have been cooked, but his goose is. Meanwhile, Keith is rocking! So is his veal chop, which is turning out to be quite popular.

People are being served, but one plant customer is not satisfied, and leans over the hot plate to talk to Chef Ramsay. He asks her "Would you mind taking your breasts off my hot plate? How can I serve food with those **** things there?" She responds by overturning a plate of food (hopefully it was hers... oh the irony) and storms out of the restaurant as Chef Ramsay calls for security and keeps working. As the contestants (and the other diners) recover, in walks a Party of Twelve... a Bachelorette Party!

The focus is now on getting the '12-top' served. Sara screws up the scallops, and argues with Chef over the size. Yes, Sara, sometimes size does matter. Heather gets the risotto out.

On to the entrees. Did Chef Ramsay say "Garrett" or "carrots"? Virginia is confused and has problems reading the orders, prompting an eruption by Mt. Ramsay. Garrott finds new ways to ruin a perfectly good salmon.

Meanwhile, 'JP' is attending to the young bachelorettes, as they show off the presents they gave the bride and he blushes. Chef Ramsay calls him over and asks him "What are you trying to do, lose your virginity?" JP blushes some more.

Service is finally completed... in less than 3 hours! "Halleluia!" exclaims Chef Ramsay happily... but one must go.

The Judgement - How did the contestants stack up?

Sara was feisty.

Heather was "the most inconsistent."

Virginia put herself in the doghouse.

Garrett had to be pulled from his station (he also sent out RAW CHICKEN.)

Keith was the best, and selected two nominees. He felt that Heather should stay. He finally chose: Virginia, and... Garrett. Oops, there goes that "we stick together" thing again.

Is it 'three strike and you are out' for Virginia? Virginia... is staying?!? Chef Ramsay asks Garrett for his new black and white jacket.

Boys and girls, what was the valuable lesson we learned today?

RAW CHICKEN isn't healthy for you. Just look what it did to Garrett.

I'll just bet those investors are breathing a sigh of relief. And there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land of the trial lawyers.

Next Week - Three top chefs come to pay a visit. Heather breaks down. Virginia screws up. Keith starts a fire. Sara challenges Chef Ramsay. And we have the 'most shocking elimination', next week... in Hell's Kitchen.

Final Thought - Sara can't cook, and she can't get along with anybody. I guess Chef Ramsay keeps her around in order to torment the others. Besides, she hasn't tried to serve RAW CHICKEN -- not yet, anyway. Virginia is becoming more unstable. Heather and Keith are still the front-runners, and Keith is looking better and better.

(Note: I am also posting my Hell's Kitchen reviews over at the Tubular blog on chron.com. To facilitate the discussion, I am closing the posts on this blog to comments: please make your comments over at Tubular.)