Hell’s Kitchen Season Coverage: Double Helping

A double serving of “Hell’s Kitchen” was the special this past Monday night and boy, did it leave ya filled up.

At the beginning of the first hour is right where the last episode left off. Ramsay said he was not done eliminating people. He told Barret to give in his jacket and leave. Now things are starting to get serious.

The next day the chefs were given their day’s challenge. One member from each team (Susan for red, Anthony for Blue) had to first enter one of those wind booths seen on game shows and grab different colored paper with ingredients on them. Each chef then had to come up with a dish using said ingredients. The dish had to contain at least five ingredients.

To help Ramsay judge the dishes was senior writer for People Magazine, Jennifer Garcia. There was also one catch: Ramsay was only tasting the three best looking dishes. For the Red it was Ja’Nel, Mary and Cyndi. For the Blue was Anthony, Zach and Jon. Ramsay and Jennifer scored each dish fifty points each with a combined maximum total of 100 points.

Once again, the Red won with 269 points compared to the Blue’s 257. Mary’s hanger steak will be featured in People Magazine because it was Jennifer’s favorite.

While the Red were off getting photographed for Star Watch, the Blue had to clean both dorm rooms. We also find out that Nedra likes to snack on cookies while she’s in bed. Sleep eating, huh? On top of that Zach and Jon had to deliver champagne to the Red.

This is like every singe photo shoot “Hell’s Kitchen” since Season One.

That night, Ramsay called all the chefs into his office urgently. He said that Hell’s Kitchen was closed to the public that night in order to serve two tables of twelve consisting of members of the U.S. army who have just returned home and their family members.

Ramsay wanted all dishes to go out at the same time. No exceptions. Of course, this never goes well and this night was no exception.

In the Red Nedra needed more water in her pasta pot. So she poured cold water into it. As expected, it did not boil, causing the Red to be lagging behind. Later, Susan asked the Blue for more time on their steaks. Besides that, they did pretty well.

In the Blue it was more lack of team work that stopped them. When it came time to serve the linguini Ray decided to plate them solo. On top of that, Ray put half a potion in one plate and full portion on another. This caused the Red to serve first. Not to mention one person sent a plate back due to the pasta being too hard. Later when the lobster was served, Ray asked Zach to heat the butter. Zach deliberately sabotaged it by bringing it up cold. Ramsay even noticed that this was a deliberate sabotage.

Both teams once again lost the challenge. The Red chose Nedra and the Blue chose Ray. Ramsay asked both chefs including Zach to come up. Ray got eliminated.

In the second hour, we are introduced to Grant Banks: Zach’s alter ego. He’ll be a fixture throughout the episode. In the morning the sous chefs woke the chefs with loud horns and a pot and spoon. When they got downstairs, Ramsay said he wanted each team to make four appetizers, four entrees and two desserts that will be on that night’s menu.

In the Blue “Grant Banks” refused to cooperate and Nedra was just shouting out dishes left and right. She did get a gumbo on the menu. Zach also decided to join the conversation.

Throughout prep, “Grant Banks” was barking orders left and right. It got annoying.

Anyway, Ramsay loved the Blue’s dishes. Ramsay, however, hated every dish on the Red’s except Nedra’s gumbo. He did like them after the Red revamped them.

Both teams got apps out without a hitch. It was on entrees when the problems started.

The Red didn’t have a bad service. All that happened was Cyndi made a raw branzino and Susan cooked up sautéed mushrooms that were full of oil. Other than that, they did fine.

The Blue did much worse. “Grant Banks” started entrees by saying he was “ready now. One minute” when Ramsay called out the orders. Ramsay gave him a stern talking to because of that. Anthony then made a cold sauce for the steak. Ramsay yelled at “Banks,” saying that it was his responsibility. Michael made a halibut that was raw in the middle. He would make another that was dry. Ramsay gave him a “five minute time out” like a little kid, timer included. A grown man getting time out is pretty funny.

To nobody’s surprise, the Blue lost and had to pick someone for elimination. Meanwhile, Ramsay called the Red to his office. He asked them to pick one person to join the Blue. They all volunteered and they decided to pick one person via putting their names in a pitcher and pulling out a name randomly. Cyndi was the lucky chef.

The Blue were split on their votes. It was Zach and Michael. Michael got the axe.

It seems like Fox wants to end this season very. They changed the day from Tuesday to Monday and aired two episodes. Now the next episode will air on Thursday, May 23. Aside from that, Zach is getting annoying as is seeing the Red constantly win. Seeing this season end quicker than expected is starting to sound like a great idea.