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Hey all I’m really looking forward to this episode from the previews. Between Tennille’s blowup with Chef Ramsay and Robert’s hospital visit it should be an interesting night.

-I really hope this early meeting Chef wants with Amanda is for him to tell her he likes the emotion she showed at last week’s elimination.

-Well I was wrong but I think this little warning shows that he thinks she has potential, which is a good sign. She’s one of my favorites so I hope she bounces back.

-I agree with Robert that a problem on the red team is the lack of teamwork, but he could be a little nicer about it.

-While I agree with Tennille that she should not have been put up for elimination last week, she really needs to get over her anger for the good of the team. But considering her attitude so far I doubt that will happen.

-I like the idea of a low-calorie challenge, especially nowadays with the obesity rate so high. I think Robert is going to have trouble with this challenge though. Like he says, he takes 700 calorie bites!

-At least the calorie amounts of each food are labeled. I would have liked to see Robert guess how many calories was in each item but oh well.

-What kinds of desserts are under 250 c ralories? I’m guessing nothing that involves chocolate, which means I won’t eat it.

-Blue team is smart to divide up the tasks. And also smart in putting one strong chef (Van, Kevin, and Dave) in each duo to ensure good quality food.

-Good to see someone taking a leadership role on the red team. While I don’t like Sabrina too much after the way she acted when winning best of the worst a few weeks back, since she works in a health spa she is a good person to take charge in this challenge.

-Who knew noodles are over 500 calories??

-I don’t think it is a smart idea for the men to simply make their dishes smaller. That means they won’t fill the customers. They would be better off scrapping the entree and coming up with a healthier option.

-The red team is in good shape, although Amanda is slowing them down by asking a million questions. I do that all the time too because I don’t want to mess up, and I bet Amanda feels the same way. I think it’s better to ask questions and make sure you do it right than do something alone that you are not sure of and risk doing it wrong.

-Even so I think red team is going to win this challenge, not only because the blue team is too confident for their own good, but also because their dishes will actually be restaurant size.

-The blue team doesn’t start cooking until there are 12 minutes left. Oh yeah they are definitely in trouble.

-First up are appetizers. Red team does a scallop dish that Chef likes. Tennille is already celebrating though it seems to me like they all helped cook the dish. She may have presented it but that shouldn’t mean she should take all the credit. Kevin brings up a seafood salad that looks a lot like the red team’s dish. Chef likes that too so both teams get a point.

-That cottage cheese and mushroom stuffed pork dish for the red team sounds really good. Chef loves the flavor and the portion size. This is the entree dish, the part of the meal the men had to make smaller, so I think he will take points of the blue team for doing so.

-Wow the blue dish is tiny. Chef calls it a child’s portion. The meat doesn’t look that much smaller than the red team’s but the amount of pasta is nowhere near satisfying. When the food doesn’t even fill up the whole plate it’s a bad sign. Of course red team gets the point.

-What happens if the challenge is a tie?? I hope they don’t go by fewest calories because then the men would win, which they don’t deserve to after getting smoked in the entree portion of the challenge.

-Here is Amanda’s chance to impress Chef with her dessert. Hopefully it goes well…. Yay he likes it!!!!

-Sabrina seems to not trust Amanda at all (likely because of all the questions Amanda asked) which could cause problems during service.

-Since we saw a scene before where Andy and Dave were debating how sweet to make the dessert, I’m guessing this isn’t going to go well for the men. Chef probably will think it’s not sweet enough since Dave wanted more sugar but Andy won out. Unfortunately Dave is presenting the dish which means he might get the blame if the dish stinks, even though it seems like Andy did most of the work.

-I don’t think the men’s dish looks that bad, though it does appear to be swimming in bubble gum. It just looks like a mini-Pop Tart (though I’m guessing that was not the intention).

-Glad to see the red team win a challenge for a change. Hopefully they will get a nice reward.

-Ooh they are going to Venice Beach- that’s cool I guess. I’m more excited to see who the volleyball player they are meeting is.

-Robert does the “Yeah Boyzzz” cheer a lot better than Tennille does.

-Jim’s comment about not being able to dance with a pig in a prom dance (which he said when the girls walked out in their nice outfits) was just uncalled for, even if it was said in the private confessional.

-Robert tells the girls not to break an ankle. Well since Kevin has two sprained ankles and Dave has a broken wrist a broken ankle for the women would almost make the sides even injury wise.

-Those cars the girls rode in looks awesome!

-Who in the world is Annett Davis? I was hoping the girls would meet Misty May-Treanor or Kerri Walsh. At least them I’ve heard of- I don’t even know who this woman is. Though supposedly she’s an Olympian so I guess she’s decent at volleyball.

-JP has some volleyball skills haha! Who knew?

-So hilarious watching the guys man that eight-person bike thing. I wonder if all that exercise is what’s going to make Robert have to go to the hospital.

-At least Ariel is taking a leadership role on the beach. Sure all she is doing is leading the team in a toast, but that’s progress, right?

-The good thing for the guys about going up the hill on the bike is that it teaches them about teamwork.

-Cool the red team gets goodie bags too! Wow they really did get a nice reward!

-I totally called that the bike thing would cause Robert to go to the hospital. Why is it that the blue team always seems to get hurt in the punishments and not the red team?

-Wow they are sending Robert to the emergence room on a stretcher!! I didn’t think it was going to be that bad but I guess it is. That really would stink if he would have to drop out AGAIN because of his health. I mean cooking with one leg or one arm is one thing but this is his life that’s at risk so he really might have to seriously consider leaving the show if he is that sick.

-Well I heard that Robert was at an autograph signing a few weeks ago so I know he’s still alive at least. Beyond that I’m not sure.

-Robert in a way probably lucked out by getting sick. He’s been subpar these last few services but if he’s in the emergency room for service this week he obviously can’t get cut. I hope he doesn’t quit though because if he does there will be no more eliminations tonight and we may be stuck with Tennille for another week.

-Suzanne and Kevin are taking leadership roles early on their respective teams. Both have a somewhat abrasive style so I’ll be interested to see how their teammates respond to it.

-Andy can’t even remember an order two seconds after Chef yells it out. Between that and the dessert debacle he may be in trouble tonight too. Even worse is that he blames Chef’s fast talking and thick accent for the mishap. Uh Andy, if everyone can understand Chef I think the problem is with you, not him.

-Ariel makes her first mistake of the season that I can recall, boiling the scallops instead of searing them. Not only does she accept responsibility for her actions, but she even seems polite and attentive when Chef yells at her. You see that Tennille- she is quiet and nods her head. She doesn’t yell back at Chef like Tennille is going to do later tonight. It’s moments like these that make me root for Ariel so much.

-Luckily Jim is failing on appetizers too so the two sides are even so far.

-Tennille is next to face Chef’s wrath, this time for not cooking spinach to order. I never understand how contestants are supposed to know what is done ahead of time and what is cooked to order. Then again I’m not a chef so maybe these kinds of things are cooking 101.

-I do think Chef went too far with his “lazy cow” comment to Tennille, which is likely going to push her over the edge.

-Chef calls Jim’s second attempt at risotto “baby food” and Jim says in the confessional that baby food tastes good. Well I haven’t had it in 20 years so I can’t attest to that but I do wonder how Jim knows this…

-And now Tennille serves too little mashed potato. She claims Chef always has something to complain about, but maybe he wouldn’t if she knew what the proper portion sizes are (not that I know this, but I’m guessing it’s something all competent cooks know). I can already see Tennille starting to boil over…

-I do think Tennille’s explanation for the lack of potato was plausible- she didn’t want to make too much so she accidentally made too little. It’s no excuse, but at least it makes sense.

-I’m surprised she went nuts after being called “crap” by Chef. He has called people far worse. Even earlier tonight when he called her a “lazy cow”- to me that’s worse than being called “crap”.

-So far the showdown between the two is a bit of a disappointment. All she’s done is called him “crap” and cursed at him after being kicked out. Hopefully it gets better after the commercial break.

-By the way, Chef seemed a bit quick to kick her out of the kitchen. He put up with Louie and Joseph for much longer when they yelled back at him earlier in the season.

-Chef must think she has potential though to not kick her off the show right there.

-The fight does get more heated, though it’s shorter than I would have liked. Tennille quickly goes from anger to desperation as she begs to be let back in the kitchen, and Chef agrees. I don’t think her actions were deserving of being eliminated but she is certainly one strike away from being cut so she’d better be careful.

-Well I’ll say this for Tennille- she does have the desire to do well on this show. Whether she has the cooking skills is another story.

-This is like the reverse of last week- now the men can’t even get the first table done, mainly because of Jim’s risotto. Chef has Scott take over the station temporarily, but I wonder why he didn’t do that when Tek was struggling on the meat station last week.

-I realize all the blue team members are saying Jim is too slow and doesn’t show enough emotion, but I think both those qualities are overrated. I’d rather have someone go slowly and get it right. Of course, Jim’s not getting it right, which is why there’s a problem.

-I also don’t see the lack of emotion from him that the other men see, though he’s robotic response to Chef in the scene right after Tennille begged to be let back into the kitchen is a good contrast that kind of shows me where his teammates are coming from with that critique.

-Why does Chef think Robert would have made this night any better for the men? With the way he’s been cooking lately the team is better off without him.

-I really do wonder what happened with that missing chicken. While I’d normally be inclined to blame Sabrina, I believe her when she says she brought it up to the passe. But then Chef and Heather say they’ve never seen it either. One of the other contestants probably took it away or something for some reason.

-Wow it’s a rough night for my favorites as Dave makes a mistake, cooking the garnish for the wrong dish. I don’t think it matter though since Jim did so badly on appetizers he has to go home tonight (assuming blue team loses the service, which at this point they should).

-Kevin is using his abrasive leadership style again, and Dave is fighting back. I don’t know if that’s the best solution, though- it will probably just make things worse between the two. Kevin really is like a mini-Chef Ramsay in the kitchen, which could very well help him win. Hey it worked for Rock in season 3.

-More chicken issues in the red kitchen. I kind of blame Chef for this. He tells Sabrina to rush the chicken up to the passe while she is carving it, then yells at her when it is not cut properly. Again Suzanne claims cutting a chicken is cooking 101, but if Chef wanted it done right he could have waited a few moments for Sabrina to get help doing it.

-Then again, using the right knife might have helped Sabrina cut it correctly the first time.

-Kevin is taking charge in the kitchen more than I’ve ever seen any other contestant do. He’s almost like the sous chef in there. But like I said Chef Ramsay likes that, especially if the contestant is competent (which Kevin is), so Kevin could win this whole thing.

-And again Andy can’t remember the orders moments after they are called out. It will be close between him and Jim over who goes home tonight. Both have been subpar for weeks…

-I do love Andy’s response when Chef tells him he didn’t go to school because he can’t count. Andy says (in the confessional) that one can learn to count at home. Way to stick up for the homeschooled, Andy!

-Now Andy is having cooking problems too, serving up raw food of some kind. Man it really is a tossup between those two tonight.

-Another thing I don’t quite get is if Chef has such high standards, how does he allow raw food to be sent out to the kitchen? It must not be that raw if Chef doesn’t notice it.

-Suzanne points out raw pork could make people ill. Well duh. She even acts like a know-it-all when she says that in the confessional.

-At least Sabrina takes responsibility for the raw pork. If the red team lose she and Tennille are in trouble, though I still think red team is doing better than the blue tonight. And this is all assuming Robert doesn’t have to quit because of his heart disease.

-Andy sends out ANOTHER bad halibut. I’m starting to think he should go home instead of Jim tonight…

-I agree with Andy that Kevin should chill out a bit with his yelling, but I also think Andy should listen to Kevin since the latter actually seems to know what he’s doing in a kitchen.

-13 minutes left and service is still not over. I’m guessing Chef is going to shut down the kitchens soon…

-I totally sympathize with Andy when he says getting yelled out makes it harder for him to do things. I’m the same way, but then again if you go on a show like this you should be able to cook while getting yelled at.

-Tonight may actually be one of those services where nobody wins. Now a lamb is sent back in the red kitchen, undercooked by Sabrina. I do think Chef went too far in accusing her of saying the customer was wrong when all she said was she thought the (still very pink) lamb was medium well. She was just defending herself, not accusing the customer of being wrong. Either way it shows she has trouble cooking meat, which is kind of a requirement in this show.

-Sure enough Chef shuts down the kitchens. I’m guessing nobody won and it will be down to Sabrina, Andy, and Jim to go home. Tennille will probably also be up for elimination but after her early meltdown she seemed to do okay so I don’t think she should get eliminated. Sabrina had a bad night but has been strong in the past so I think she too should be okay. It’s a tossup between Andy and Jim but I think Andy was slightly worse than Jim, especially since Andy messed up later in the service so it’s fresher in Chef’s mind.

-I like Ariel’s show of emotion when she found out she would not get to finish service. It really shows she has the heart and desire to do well on this show.

-I’m not surprised Chef didn’t pick a losing team, though of the two the blue team definitely were was. It has to be Andy and Jim going up for the men right? I can barely keep the two straight so I won’t miss either one of them, though like I said I think Andy was slightly worse tonight. I’d be surprised if any of the women go home since those two have been below average for several weeks.

-Ooh only one person gets to go up for elimination on each team. I’m sure many of the women will nominate Tennille but based on tonight it should be Sabrina. I really wonder how the men will pick between Andy and Jim though.

-Of course, there’s still the Robert factor to consider….

-Jim claims he got yelled at the least and only messed up the first risotto. Well the last part may be true (though he messed up that one risotto several times). I’m not sure about him getting yelled at the least since we only saw Chef yelling at him and Andy but that could just be editing. If that’s true though then Andy definitely deserves to go home instead of him. Kevin is still harping on Jim’s lack of emotion but I think that less important that cooking skills, and Jim seems stronger than Andy in this regard.

-As expected it comes down to Sabrina and Tennille in the red deliberations. Sabrina claims it should be Tennille going up since Tennille quit on the team. Uh as I remember it she only left because Chef told her to (a fact that a replay of footage from earlier in the episode confirms). Tennille says she had the option to quit and didn’t (which is true). I can’t believe I’m defending Tennille two weeks in a row but I don’t think she’s as weak a link as the team thinks she is. She’s cocky and obnoxious to be sure, but she’s shown she can cook.

-Good to see Andy admitting that he did poorly in the service…

-But really, nominating ROBERT for elimination????? Andy claims if someone misses service they should go home. If they leave in the middle of service or overslept or something like that that’s one thing, but I think being in the hospital is a good excuse not to be at a service. Didn’t Dave miss most of the service when he hurt his arm?? I didn’t hear the contestants then saying he should have gone home…

-Still no Robert update- I really wonder if he’s going to have to leave the show.

-Good to see the red team did the right thing and put Sabrina up for elimination over Tennille. Chef doesn’t seem too happy about the decision though.

-Chef asks Van who the men put up, and he asks where Robert is. I think that’s just a teaser- they can’t really be putting Robert up when Andy and Jim did so poorly, can they??

-It actually sounds like the men wanted to put up Robert for elimination, but Chef refuses to let them, saying they can’t judge him when he wasn’t at service. I totally agree. Chef then adds that if Robert is not back for the next service he is out. I’ve never heard that rule before but I guess it is fair. Plus that means will have to wait until next week to see how Robert is- Chef is good at dragging out the drama.

-So Andy or Jim? Jim or Andy? Chef seems to ask Van personally who should be put up for elimination (since apparently the consensus was Robert). I’m surprised he didn’t ask Kevin, who seemed to be the best of the worst tonight.

-Van nominates Andy, which I also agree with. Between him and Sabrina it should be Andy, since Sabrina has shined in past weeks while Andy has not.

-Sabrina manages to diss Tennille even while pleading her case to Chef. Her case was more convincing that Andy’s though, who just said that he wants to learn more. Somehow I believed Sabrina a lot more when she promised to keep going no matter what.

-Now Andy’s saying Chef is making him nervous and that’s why he keeps messing up. That may be true, but I would never admit that in front of Chef. He’s basically blaming Chef for his own shortcomings. Andy just can’t work under pressure conditions like that, which means he could never work in a kitchen with Chef Ramsay. I couldn’t work with someone constantly yelling at me either, but that’s why I wouldn’t go on a show like this. If you can’t handle getting yelled at you shouldn’t go on a show with Chef Ramsay as your boss.

-Chef says there is one person who lacks the passion to be in Hell’s Kitchen. I have a feeling he’s talking about Jim. Chef is known to throw a curveball during these proceedings and I have a feeling this might be one of them.

-Ha I totally called that!! And yes I wrote the above before I saw who got voted off. I still didn’t see the lack of passion in Jim that everyone else saw but I’m guessing it was there if Chef saw it. Plus he wasn’t going to get much further anyway after a bunch of bad services in a row. I still would have sent home Andy over him tonight.

-I do think outward showing of passion is overrated- I’m sure Jim loves cooking, he just doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve like the other contestants do. The same thing with Tek last week. If Jim was right when he said he only did poorly on that one risotto, then I definitely think Andy should have gone home instead of him. Jim is more competent than Andy and just because he doesn’t say he loves to cook and show emotion in the kitchen doesn’t mean he doesn’t have passion. Oh well I’m not too upset since he wasn’t going to win anyway.

-Next week an underdog emerges (Andy perhaps??) and a favorite goes down in flames. Looks like it’s either Van or Dave (though previews are always deceiving). Hopefully it’s the former and not the latter.

So what are your thoughts on tonight’s show? Do you think Jim really had a lack of passion? And should that be enough to send someone home over less competent contestants? And what do you think will happen with Robert? Post your comments below.