Hell’s Kitchen Coverage: Too Much Mr. Nice Guy

It’s another multi-part episode, and it’s one of the smoothest ever seen in “Hell’s Kitchen.”

The episode began with Ramsay introducing the contestant’s challengers. All the challengers were “Hell’s Kitchen” winners. They were Roc, Christina, Dave, Nona and Paul.

Ramsay told them that they would be competing against each in that night’s dinner service. Each team had to come up with an appetizer, entrée and figure out who would be on what station. Each team had somebody who disagreed with the majority. Nona wanted to do a simple menu, but the champions wanted something complex. Susan wanted something complex, but the contestants wanted something a bit more complicated. As for the stations, Susan wanted to be on meat, but Cyndi had better ideas. The end result was Ja’Nel on hot apps, Mary on garnish, Jon on fish, Cyndi on meat and Susan was going to “float.”

It’s worth mentioning that at prep Mary said she was ready to “smear duck blood across my eyes and be like WAAAAGH!” Yup, Mary is a bit psychotic and she enjoys butchering stuff. She’s scary when she has a knife in her hand.

Moving on, the chefs decided to cook the duck in the oven so they can make duck confit. When it was time to show Ramsay the dishes, their duck wasn’t ready. So they decided to just give him their duck dish without the comfit. Ramsay was angry at this and also the duck breast they served him was bland. They did get it right the second time.

That night’s dinner service was the smoothest and uneventful this series. The majority of the mistakes came from the returning chefs.

Firstly, Nona’s risotto needed more seasoning and butter. Later, these champs had a bit of a communication breakdown that slowed down the kitchen a bit. Paul also undercooked a lamb and then had to refire one because it was too rare for a customer.

With the chefs Mary at point stated barking orders, her high voice annoying everyone. Susan couldn’t quite figure out how long she needed on the cappellini, causing some confusion in the kitchen. Finally, on the last table, just like with the champion’s kitchen, a customer brought back a lamb because it was too rare for them. Cyndi refired it causing some delay.

At the end of that smooth service, Ramsay said that the winning team was going to be based on the customer comment cards. The champions won with 95% satisfactory while the chefs got 93%. With that, they had to choose two people for elimination. The chefs chose Susan and Cyndi. Ramsay, showing that he’s gotten soft, decided to not eliminate anybody this episode.

If Ramsay were a fruit he’d be a banana. He’s soft and squishy and is easily manipulated. He’s given these final five a bit too much leeway, which is way the “Top Five Chefs Compete” episode turned into a three parter. It’s surprising how well this dinner service went considering Susan and Mary tend to mess up.

At least the next episode looks like it’ll be chaotic, but these previews do tend to over exaggerate things.