Hell’s Kitchen Recap: Peace Devin

It’s a special two-hour episode of “Hell’s Kitchen.” This also means it’s just about black jacket time, and the Blue Team is still struggling.

In the first hour, the chefs see two acrobats on a sash similar to “Cirque Du Soleil.” This was Ramsay’s way of demonstrating trust and the intro to next challenge; taste it, now make it. This time, the chefs are split into pairs where one chef tastes and another makes the dish. The pairings were Kimberly (tasting) and Heidi (cooking,) Andrew (cooking) and Heather (tasting,) Paulie (tasting) and Devin (cooking) and Ryan (cooking) and Wendy (tasting.)

For the puree, everyone except Heather and Andrew (apricot) had persimmon. It was persimmon. For the greens, Wendy and Ryan and Paulie and Devin had spinach, Kimberly and Heidi had collard greens and Heather and Andrew had Swiss chard. It was Swiss chard. For the protein, everyone except Wendy and Ryan (veal) had pork. It was It was veal, giving the Blue Team the win.

Their reward was trapezing at Santa Monica Beach. They all also got “Vitamix” benders. It seems like “Hell’s Kitchen” has some kind of deal with “Vitamix.” Everyone except Wendy flew on the Trapeze. She was too scared. It was a sad sight to see her cower for her life on that platform.

The Red had to set up the entire dining room for dinner service. They also had to prep both kitchens and make flower centerpieces out of beets. Andrew complained all the time because he was doing all the physical labor.

That night’s dinner service, “Hell’s Kitchen” was closed for a special event where there only two twelve tops. This time, it was for “Stand Up to Cancer.” What that meant was each kitchen had to send out each course at the same time. Obviously, there were mistakes to be had.

The first course (lobster risotto) the Blue had one that was perfect and three that weren’t. The Red had problems with portion control.

The second course (scallops) Paulie jumped the gun and started making the salmon course.

The third course (salmon) Wendy forgot to put capers in the potatoes and she blamed Paulie for plating without checking if there were any. It was because of Paulie that the Red served all their dishes and the Blue still didn’t serve theirs. He’s been slipping recently.

In the final course (NY Strip) Devin cut his finger. The Blue once again lagged behind the Red.

Obviously, the Blue was the weakest team. They nominated Paulie and Wendy with Ramsay eliminating Wendy.

In the Second hour, the dining room was filled with Hawaiian hula dancers. This visual for the day’s challenge was for fusion cuisine. To add to the fun, the special guest was the owner/executive chef of “Roy’s” Roy Yamaguchi. Here, each chef was pitted against another chef for the challenge. The way the cuisines were chosen was by a roulette wheel. Heather and Ryan got Japanese and French even though Ryan was praying not to get either (fate really hated Ryan that day,) Devin and Kimberly got Chinese and French, Paulie and Andrew got Mexican and Paulie got “chef’s choice” (Indian) and Heidi chose to join in the French/Japanese battle.

For the Mexican/Indian, both Paulie and Andrew failed to get a point.

Now, fusing French with any East Asian cuisine is super hard since they are like oil and water. That was extremely true here. Ryan and Kimberly were the only ones to get points and Ryan got the tiebreaker.

The Blue’s reward was a shopping spree at and “Surfas” and lunch at “Providence.”

The Red had to break down a side of beef and slice potatoes.

It seems like these episodes are going by fast due to these rewards/punishments are pretty boring. At least the dinner services are interesting because of all the mistakes being made.

In the Blue, Ryan only brought up one risotto instead of two and she even tossed one of them. Later, Devin brought up a raw veal. Paulie also said that his sea bass was “dead” and had to bring it back. Not to mention that later he ran out of sea bass and had to take two from the Red. Paulie really needs to go. Ramsay had the best line so far, “we’ve gone from three chefs to three stooges.” Later, Devin couldn’t remember the order. This is something we’ve seen before.

In the Red, there was a hair in one customer’s salad. Later, because Kimberly was going slow, Ramsay said she was “like an old granny in a car that’s stuck in neutral.” How does he come up with this stuff?

Once again, the Blue Team was the weakest team. They nominated Devin and he was eliminated.

Paulie’s ego is getting out of control and needs to go. He keeps making mistakes, is constantly getting nominated for elimination but gets out by a hair. Now there are two members of the Blue Team left. This is now, officially, the worst Blue Team on this show. This year’s winner is almost guaranteed to be a woman. With black jackets coming up next episode, a male will be eliminated.