1) It’s a new day, and today we get the palette test as the reward challenge. This part of the season is when all the contestants talk about how they can taste everything perfectly, and then mess up something simple like peanut butter. Each round pits one Red chef and one Blue chef against each other, tasting four items. Since the Red team has one more person, Tennille is sitting out this challenge.
2)
Ariel v. Tactful Van:
Whipped cream cheese: Tactful Van voices that it’s “creamy”, but guesses yogurt. Ariel gets it.
Venison: The girls think Ariel should get this because she works in a steak house. She immediately proves them wrong by guessing roast beef. Tactful Van guesses tuna (really? I mean I’ve never had venison, but I think don’t think it tastes and feels the same as the stuff I get from Mr. Sushi), then goes all, “no way, really?” when informed he’s wrong.
Pecans: Both guess walnuts.
Leeks: Both get it, after Tactful Van quickly changes his “scallion” guess. I thought it was first guess regardless, but it seems I was wrong. 3-2 Red Team.
Stoner Dave v. Suzanne:
Turkey: Both get it
Zucchini: Neither get it.
Quince: Stoner Dave guesses a pumpkin, Suzanne goes with a cooked apple. Nope.
Egg yolk: Suzanne gets it, Stoner Dave does not. 4-2 Red
Sabrina v. Scheming Kevin:
Iceberg lettuce: Neither get it.
Grapefruit: Both get it.
Oregano: Neither get it.
Clams: Scheming Kevin guesses spinach (ah yes, one of my favorite New England traditions is driving up to the North Shore, and grabbing a box of fried spinach from Woodman’s of Essex. Really? Spinach?), Sabrina goes for ahi tuna. At least it’s a sea animal. 5-3 Red
Boston Andy v. Amanda:
Lychee: Boston Andy gets it!, Sabrina falls short with pineapple.
Avocado: Boston Andy misses it, Amanda gets it.
Ahi tuna: Boston Andy guesses salmon, and the girls win 6-4. The women cheer like they’re accomplished some kind of huge feat, missing that they won with a 37% score, since the total points available were 16. Boston Andy will no doubt be blamed for losing the entire challenge for the men, because he was last to go and was on the block to go home last week.
3) The men’s punishment is to make a palette-cleansing sorbet by hand for the upcoming dinner service, including cleaning glasses and taking fruit deliveries. The women are going to Opaque, where they will be dining in the dark. Suzanne takes the opportunity to kiss Chef Ramsay’s ass for most of the meal, further distancing herself from her team. Meanwhile, lunch for the men is scallop risotto, duck confit, and a couple of other nice-looking dishes put in a blender and made into a shake. Gagging and near-vomiting ensue.
4) Dinner service: Editing shows that the women are going out of their way to avoid Suzanne even to the point of making up code words so she doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Chef Ramsay goes over the sorbet idea again. Ariel is assigned sorbet duty, meaning as each table gets done with their appetizers, she is to go over and give out one of the fruit sorbets. The men, being down one, are tasked with keeping an eye on the dining room and giving out sorbets as they have a free minute. The Reality Show Law of Averages says this will not end well.
5) Boston Andy’s being hard on himself, he’s on garnish, and the rest of the team seems to be behind him. Scheming Kevin’s on apps, and the night is off to a good start. Then, it’s time for the sorbets. Scheming Kevin’s out on the floor, and Tactful Van takes over the apps. Tactful Van under-seasons risotto, and Chef Ramsay calls him on it, asking if he’s trying to sink the team with his “help.” Out on the floor, some diners complain to Scheming Kevin that the risotto is kind of bland. He’s quick to let them know that it must be the person helping him on the station. And since that’s the last we see of the sorbet cart we can assume that there were no other problems. Pity.
6) Time for entrees! Wow, that was quick. Amanda is messing up the entrees, serving too small a portion of tagliatelle. In the Blue kitchen, Boston Andy needs to let the rest of the kitchen know what orders are next, but he claims in an interview that he’s got too much of his own stuff to worry about. Chef Ramsay calls out the orders, and it looks like the team is back on track. In the Red kitchen, Suzanne is finishing her entrees, but not communicating with the people on those stations at which the food takes longer. Food goes out, and it comes right back raw (well, too rare). Sabrina takes the heat for it, and Chef Ramsay forces her out to the dining room to eat the undercooked lamb dish. But with Tennille taking over the lamb station, good entrees are going out. She interview-shouts that the tables have turned.
7) The men are close to a complete service, but Boston Andy lets everyone know that there may not be enough potatoes to complete the service. He’s going to try to stretch what they have. The women are getting close to completing service as well! Geez, there’s not much in the way of incompetence and scandal going on this episode at all. Suzanne underestimates the time for a fish, and kills that entire table’s order (since everything needs to go at the same time). Chef Ramsay is understandably livid, as the chefs need to be in constant communication to avoid wastes of food and time like that.
8) Boston Andy’s out of potatoes, Stoner Dave rushes to the pantry to make some mash out of the potato ends. But this also brings the blue kitchen to a stop. Boston Andy is tasked with telling the diners that there will be a small wait on their entrees. I imagine as a chef and restaurant owner, he’s had this type of conversation with patrons before. We don’t see any of the conversation, which means it went fine. Stoner Dave makes the mash, and all the entrees are out. The Red kitchen is still limping along, with Suzanne sending up a cold fish. She proceeds to first claim she didn’t cook it, then when gently reminded by Chef Ramsay that her station is fish and she’s responsible for it, blames Amanda for taking it off the stove before it was finished cooking.
9) The Blue team wins it, although both teams did complete the dinner service. Stoner Dave has proven himself to Chef Ramsay. Tennille is told that tonight was her best service. As the best of the worst, she’s got to pick two people to put up for elimination. She shouts in an interview that Suzanne is going home for not being a team player. Upstairs, the women are ganging up on Suzanne for not being a team player (wow, who would have thought?). We see a montage of her telling Chef Ramsay “I’m ready!” every time Chef Ramsay asks for a status update. Tennille tells her that it’s about the team; she should be saying “We’ll be ready in x minutes,” or some such to convey that everyone is working together.
10) Time for eliminations. Who’s up?
Tennille names Suzanne first, for lack of teamwork, overarrogance, and being a weak cook. Sabrina is called next, for lack of stepping up to the role. Chef Ramsay screws his own rules again and calls out Amanda as well (I really thought it would be Boston Andy–this show is swerving me all over the place tonight.) Suzanne is pissed off that her team doesn’t believe in her, and thinks she’s up for personal reasons. At that point the entire Red team starts yammering to Chef Ramsay that Suzanne is proving their point—her ego is so big that she doesn’t understand teamwork. Sabrina claims that she can do it and lead a team. Chef Ramsay calls her out for being inconsistent. Amanda claims that she can cook, apologizes for the small portion earlier, and says she can win Hell’s Kitchen. Chef’s decision is: Suzanne! No! Swerve! She goes back in line. Amanda! Another swerve!—nope, give up the jacket. But she’ll keep cooking, and be the best chef ever. Of course you will.
Next Week: Surprises abound, mostly because my DVR cut off during Sabrina’s interview where she (presumably) said how much harder she has to work now and she’ll step it up. So we’ll see! My guess? Chef Ramsay sits down to a quiet tea with the contestants.
