I was never a big fan of Hell’s Kitchen until the end of last season. Gordon Ramsay cracks me up big time. I don’t know if it’s the accent, or the madness that must be running through his mind – most likely a combination of both. So last night’s season premiere was definitely one not to be missed. It certainly didn’t disappoint.
The show starts off with the contestants being bused to Hell’s Kitchen. Chef is actually part of the group, but in disguise. It pays off when he hears one guy calling himself ‘the Black Chef Ramsay’. Good luck living up to that billing. So they get to the Kitchen, he does his big reveal and immediately orders them to create their signature dish. You would think that a signature dish is one that they could make with their eyes closed, but what was presented to Chef was beyond inedible. Several got thrown away before being tasted, with one dish making the Chef vomit. Vomit!!! Well what did you expect from a dish made from raw venison, diver scallops, capers, white & chocolate. Chef went so far as to ask the player if he smoked. And he wasn’t referring to regular cigarettes. There were 2 or 3 dishes he actually liked, but it truly wasn’t saying much.
At the next day’s dinner sitting, Hell’s Kitchen lived up to its name. It took both teams roughly 60 minutes to get a few appetizers out. No entrees were served, mainly because people started walking out after three hours – at that point, you might as well stay to see if the wait was worth it. But really, what dinner is worth waiting three hours for, I ask. Each team had issues but the men had a double doozy with Jason taking a smoke break in the middle of the service, and their Captain Bobby, ‘the Black Chef Ramsay’, not actually leading, but instead taking a laid back approach and allowing the team to sink. Louross tried to make the best of it after hear Chef scream multiple times to no one in particular, ‘Who’s going to lead the team’, or something of that nature. He was rewarded with picking the two up for elimination once Chef deemed the men’s team the losers of the night. Although in his words, there were no winners at all.
The assumed pick was Bobby and Jason – which would have been the safe route. However, Louross went with Bobby and Dominic which was the right call, IMO. Dominic is a stay at home dad who cooks for his kids and wife. He doesn’t have any formal training which in the long run would hurt the team. He was overcooking the pan seared scallops which I would wager, he has never cooked before. For all their faults, at least Jason and Bobby have kitchen experience. Chef sent Dominic home which I think was a mistake because TBG did alot more harm to the team than Dominic did.
I was able to catch the episode on tv last night and will DVR the rest of the season for the times when I am not around Tuesday nights. As it was, I was giving the Kelseynator a bath and then feeding her, all through the show. Much fun was had by all but I don’t think she understood my rants to the tv, every now and then.