10 Thoughts on Hell's Kitchen — Episode 6-10 Part 2

Reviews

For those late to this party, I can suggest reading Part 1. I will not demand; I will only suggest. Everyone got their snacks? It’s time for our second hour!

1) It’s the next day, and Tactful Van’s still a bit upset from last night, but there are presents! And the presents are the Black jackets. Now everyone is on one team, and the best person will win. Tactful Van correctly assumes that the old alliances are gone. Downstairs, the chefs come upon and taste one of Chef Ramsay’s filet dishes from his restaurant in London. We know Chef Ramsay isn’t charitable with his contestants, so it must be time for the…

2) Reward challenge: Taste It and Make It. There are three teams of two: Tactful Van and Ariel. Shouty Tennille and Scheming Kevin. Suzanne and Stoner Dave. Sous Chef Scott brings out a dish. The announcer man lets us know the dish is made up of fish, garnish, puree, and sauce. Tactful Van tells us he cooks fish, and he “don’t know what that was.” Thanks, Tactful Van! All of the teams think it’s turbot. They all believe the garnish to be calamari as well. Ariel and Tactful Van think the puree is celery root. The other two teams think it’s parsnip. Stoner Dave finds the sauce to be citrus and sweet—he thinks it’s passion fruit. Ariel & Tactful Van think it’s starfruit, and Shouty Tennille & Scheming Kevin think it’s grapefruit.

3) Everyone got the fish right. The puree was a white onion; no one got that. Scheming Kevin & Shouty Tennille forgot the calamari for the garnish. Of the last two teams, only one got the fruit right. And it’s Suzanne and Stoner Dave! As a team, they get to go to Chef Ramsay’s LA restaurant with him and meet Christina, winner of Hell’s Kitchen IV. While there, they pick her brain, but it’s not very interesting. As punishment, the rest will prep both kitchens, and because tonight is “Couples Night’ in Hell’s kitchen, Jean-Philippe will have something for them to do as well. JP comes out (or “whistle-britches” as Tactful Van calls him) and lets them know that there is a truck with flowers and such that needs to be unloaded. Then they have to redo all of the tables with new silver and gold plates.

4) Dinner Service: There will be the most amazing menu tonight, because it’s couples night, you see. There are special dishes that will be prepared table-side: a chopped salad appetizer and a porterhouse-for-two entree. Scheming Kevin is out on the floor again, and tries to buy time for the hot appetizers to come out (as they need to be served to the table at the same time). Suzanne makes too little pasta for the order, and he has to start over. Not the best start so far.

5) Tactful Van starts searing a sea bass for an entree before the appetizers go out for that table. As he prepares his next dish, Chef Ramsay goes nuts on him for sweating in the food. Tactful Van acts like this is OK with a “it’s hot, chef.” Thanks, Tactful Van! Chef Ramsay counters that he knows it’s hot, oh, and you’re SWEATING IN THE FOOD. And now more entree orders are coming in. This can’t be good. Shouty Tennille starts impressing Chef Ramsay with her communicating. Then, she cooks the lamb well and gets complimented for it. Meanwhile, Tactful Van’s sending up undercooked fish AGAIN. And with that, Tactful Van gets a talking to in the back fridge. Chef Ramsay is getting killed by all this raw fish. Chef tells Tactful Van that the next time raw fish goes up to the pass, Tactful Van is gone.

6) Out in the kitchen, Ariel burns the salmon garnish. Chef Ramsay flips out again and then takes Sous Chef Scott and “walks out.” Jean-Philippe gives us his Emmy face and asks if they’re coming back. Hmm, let’s see if this is a test to see who’s emerging as the leader. Shouty Tennille tries to lead, but is hindered by people not really warming up to her. Ariel feels that “having someone’s back” means “letting them take whatever time they need to do something.” Scheming Kevin takes over a little at the pass, and then heads out to do his table-side. Suzanne falters with plating at the pass. She heads down the smart path in her interview by saying that she doesn’t know if this is a test, but she incorrectly guesses to do nothing.

7) There’s lots of talking, lots of Shouty Tennille leading things, and here comes Chef Ramsay back into Hell’s Kitchen. He calls the team back, and tells them that no one has ever pushed him so far over the edge in his own restaurant. He immediately sends Tactful Van, Suzanne, and Ariel upstairs, leaving the rest of the team to finish the service, which they manage to do. Upstairs, Tactful Van starts yelling that he’s tired of getting yelled at. Between what we see of him sitting in the dorm and in interviews, the phrase “I’m a man” is used about twelve times. He seems to equate Chef Ramsay’s yelling with some kind of hyper-emasculation, and he walks out of the dorms.

8) Downstairs, Shouty Tennille is singled out as great by Chef Ramsay during cleardown. The three of them—Shouty Tennille, Scheming Kevin, and Stoner Dave are to come up with two names out of the three people upstairs to go on the block tonight. Upstairs, Suzanne is singled out for refusing to plate at the pass after Scheming Kevin took to the floor again for his table-side duties. Stoner Dave is thinking strategically, and offers Ariel to maybe get rid of her, since Tactful Van is the weaker competitor. Shouty Tennille agrees.

9) Elimination time!
First: Suzanne. Why: Reasons are cited that boil down to her refusing to help after Chef Ramsay “walked out.”
Second: Ariel. Why: The garnish-burning incident. Chef Ramsay doesn’t seem to buy it.
Chef asks Shouty Tennille if she agrees with Suzanne and Ariel being the weakest, and she tells him she thinks Suzanne and Tactful Van are the weakest and should be up there. Chef agrees and asks for all three to stand in front of him. Ariel, she’s disappointed in herself, she can do this. Suzanne says she has a great palette (really?), and her nerves get the better of her. Chef Ramsay agrees, and asks her how many services she’ll need in Whistler until she gets it right. Tactful Van, why, he’s sick of being up there, and yells again that he’s here to cook, not be on the block. I think he believes that if he just yells about things like being a man and how much he hates being up for elimination, he’ll be safe.

10) And it’s Ariel, no! She’s sent back to the line. And now we come to the real problems. Both Tactful Van and Suzanne have been up for elimination three times now. And with that, it’s Tactful Van. He exit interviews that he’s gonna be “the man one day.” Chef Ramsay again praises Shouty Tennille for nominating Tactful Van and being forthright about it with him. Shouty Tennille yells that she’s got her integrity and she’s doing this for everyone that was ever told they couldn’t do something. It’s a speech that sounds like it could come from like 75% of all reality show contestants, ever.

Next time: Chef Ramsay’s got the best five chefs, but does he really? Stoner Dave is gunning for Shouty Tennille. Scheming Kevin wants to win. And you’ll see a sight you’ve NEVER seen before: Chef Ramsay in disbelief! Complete with “I can’t believe this” voice byte.