Hell’s Kitchen Coverage: Follow the Leader?

It’s chef table time in “Hell’s Kitchen” and the chefs had stars on their mind when it came time to shine. Just the usual for this show, right?

Ramsay figured that what these two teams lacked is strong leadership. So he asked both teams to pick a leader. The Blue did the smart thing by nominating Anton. The Red, on the other hand, chose Melanie. That’s not saying much as nobody on the Red has what it takes for a leadership role.

One thing to note here is the Red Team was bashing Anton for saying he would “float” (move from station to station during service) as captain. He seems capable of being a decent floater.

During prep for that night’s service, Ralph was busy barking orders and Beth was all over the place. She already had an emotional breakdown back in the dorms at the top of the program; at prep she just lost it. She even walked away.

Ramsay announced that that night’s service would have one of “Hell’s Kitchen’s” favorite moments: chef tables. The Blue had Holly Marie Combs from “Charmed” and “Pretty Little Liars” and the Red had Elizabeth Perkins from “Weeds.” As usual for chef tables, things did not go smooth. Does anything ever go smooth on this show?

In both kitchens both captains acted pretty much like slave drivers, especially Anton. They were barking orders left and right and not doing much else. There’s motivating and then there’s downright whip cracking.

In the Blue, things went south when it came time to cook for the chefs table. Chris overcooked scallops and then undercooked them. This time, Ramsay did not notice them undercooked but Combs’s date did. That’s because Anton did not let Ramsay look at the dishes before he served the table. That’s a major no-no in any kitchen. The audience expected Ramsay to do the mother of all flip outs. Instead he did the normal flip out. Talk about a bummer. Later, Ramsay asked Scott how long for the next table. His answer: “One minute, Chef.” Ramsay kept on asking him and he kept on giving the same answer.

In the Red, Beth started the bad cooking train with not bothering to start a lobster tail until Ramsay told her it was still raw. There was also that one issue of not communicating that has been plaguing the Red since the start. For example, Melanie just stopped talking to her team and Sandra didn’t talk with Joy until Joy repeatedly asked her “is there enough salt?” When the chef table came up Beth overcooked a lobster tail. Later things went well until Sandra admitted that she didn’t know there was an order of cappellini. Kaisha then couldn’t give Ramsay a straight answer when he asked how long for the beef Wellingtons. You’d think by this point the Red would have gotten communication down but no.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Melanie, the captain of the Red Team, brought up a raw halibut. The captain of all people. As least Anton’s mess up was being too overexcited to serve his chef table.

Both teams finished their service, but it was the Blue that came up on top. The Red put up Beth and Sandra. Ramsay eliminated Beth.

Ramsay’s for saying that for all of Beth’s talk about how she can’t get a job as a chef because she’s a woman living the South (Louisiana to be exact,) the real reason is that she can’t cook well. Her personal struggles aside, hopefully she’ll take what she learned in “Hell’s Kitchen” and use them in her next cooking gig. Melanie needs to shape up if she wants to stay captain of the Red Team.