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Hey all sorry I missed last week’s double dose of Chef Ramsay but I’ve been crazed with schoolwork these last few weeks. I did find the time to watch Hell’s Kitchen’s last two episodes and here are some quick thoughts before we get into last night’s show:

-Not surprised at all Sabrina went home in the first hour. She’s been inconsistent for a while now and really should have stepped up more with the menu. I agreed with Tennille’s assessment that Sabrina should not have criticized all of Tennille’s ideas without having any of her own.

-I’m getting more and more impressed with Dave each week. In the first hour he pushes on despite re-injuring his arm, and in the second hour he wins the challenge and helps Ariel when she falls behind. I’m starting to think he could take this whole thing. At first I thought he was too laid back to win but he’s been strong every week and looks to be a safe bet for the final three.

-On the women’s side, I cannot believe how much Ariel blew it in the second hour. Accidentally leaving a burner on (which resulted in the burnt lettuce that made Chef walk out on the kitchen) is one thing, but she served raw food the previous hour and then fell behind after Chef walked out. She really seems to be cracking under the pressure just as Tennille is stepping up to be a strong leader in the kitchen. I’m starting to think Tennille may be the last girl standing instead of Ariel. It pains me to say this since I can barely listen to Tennille’s confessionals without wanting to stick pencils in my ears, but she has come on strong these past few weeks and led the squad when Chef walked out. I don’t think Ariel could have done that, and while she blamed Tennille for not helping her when she fell behind, it was to some extent Ariel’s fault that she fell behind in the first place.

-AND Chef told Tennille it was the best he’s ever seen anyone cook meat. Now that’s a compliment. The more I think about it the more I think the three left standing at the end of service last week will be the final three. Originally I had Ariel in there instead of Tennille but I’m starting to change my mind.

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-I did admire Ariel agreeing that she should be on the chopping block in hour two. It really could have gone either way between those three. I was quite surprised they did not put up Van since I thought he had the worst service of the three. Suzanne’s refusal to plate did anger me though, and if I were Chef I would have cut her right there (though of course he wasn’t around to hear her say that). As for Ariel, she was worse than Suzanne I thought, at least this one night.

-I was also surprised Chef was so annoyed to see Ariel put on the chopping block, especially since she was the reason he walked out of service.

-For a split second I thought he actually might get rid of Ariel, but I agreed with his choice to send Van out the door. He has struggled with fish the entire time, which is supposed to be his specialty, and Suzanne’s issues seem to be more with timing and people skills than with actual cooking.

Now on to Episode 12:

-Just when I’m starting to like Dave he gets mad at Tennille for changing her mind at the elimination last week. He is correct in saying she claimed she was going to send Ariel up and then voted for Van (as the cameras remind us) but he WAY overreacted to this. Chef probably would have sent Van home anyway even if the other three had not specifically nominated him- he’s done that before.

-Kevin is still his usual smug self though, claiming he likes seeing others self-destruct even though he has gotten into an argument or two throughout this competition as well.

-Ariel does seem to be the nicest of the group, comforting Suzanne after her close call on the chopping block. I think I am still rooting for her over Dave, but I’m just worried her performance last week might come back to haunt her.

-Is presentation really so important that it is the main focus of the first individual challenge??? Though getting other foodies to judge the contestants is a smart idea. But still a contestant can create a visually stunning dish that tastes like crap and still get second place. Or it could taste wonderful and not even make the top 2.

-Wow Dave is really in a bad mood this episode (or at least shown to be via editing). Now he argues Suzanne’s salad is not difficult enough of a dish for foodie editors. He may be right but he didn’t have to say it, even in a confessional.

-Yay Tennille’s fish broke!! That means she’s probably not going to win. My early bet is on Ariel- she mentioned how she needed a nice pick-me-up after the last two weeks and a challenge win would do just that.

-Based on presentation I would send Ariel and Suzanne to the final round. Dave’s looked good also but he FORGOT WHAT HE MADE. Wow he has had some really bad moments on challenges- that could also be his downfall in a pretty open competition.
I don’t know what was worse- this or the “fig” debacle. Or the dish he made that looked liked dogfood.

-Shows what I know about presentation- Suzanne gets fourth (with Tennille getting last, obviously) while Kevin is first. Kevin’s was good looking also I guess but didn’t look as appetizing to me as the others. At least Ariel got second in the looks portion of the competition- Dave’s failure to know what he made probably cost him second place.

-Kevin of course uses this opportunity to brag about how great he is. But once it comes down to tasting he is more subdued. Does he actually think he’ll get beaten? I never thought I’d see the day where Kevin doubts his own abilities. He had been tolerable the past couple weeks but already I want to punch him and it’s only the first 10 minutes of the episode.

-Both dishes are good, so of course they go to commercial before revealing who wins the challenge. I really hope it’s Ariel. Not only because she’s my favorite but because I can’t stand another minute of Kevin gloating.

-So they both won- that was anticlimactic. Well at least Ariel didn’t lose, even if she has to share the win with Kevin.

-That’s a great reward they got- having the recipes published in a magazine. That’s almost like what the winner of Top Chef gets.

-Haha the rest of the contestants have to clean the streets as a punishment. Not as gross as prior punishments but it reminds me of what prisoners have to do after being freed- appropriate since the three are “prisoners” of Hell’s Kitchen.

-Dave STILL has a grudge against Tennille. Give it a rest already! I’m really starting to get annoyed with him.

-Tennille just made the prisoner reference that I made two posts above. I’d say great minds think alike but I don’t think she qualifies haha. At least she learned she will never commit a crime because the judge might make her pick up trash (the horror!!!)

-For the first time all season I hope Dave’s wrist does force him to withdraw from the show. And AGAIN the challenge further injures it. Can’t he get an exemption from the challenges that require difficult arm work?

-Of course Kevin tries to convince Dave to quit- at least he admits his motives in the confessional and doesn’t pretend to be truly concerned for Dave’s well-being.

-I’m surprised Dave’s wrist is preventing him from helping with prep- it’s never stopped him before.

-Is Chef allowed to use the incredibly overplayed “Yes We Can” phrase if he’s not actually from America?? Just wondering.

-So Dave, Tennille, and Suzanne must work together on appetizers. Oh yeah this is definitely going to go badly. I wonder if Chef purposely assigns the chefs who hate each other to work together.

-I do admire Dave for agreeing not to bring his conflict with Tennille into the kitchen (for now).

-First mistake of the night goes to Tennille, who forgets to tell Suzanne when to drop the scallops for the first appetizer. At least she goes over to help her while Dave watches her food.

-These guys can barely complete one appetizer and are expected to do several orders at once?? Maybe Chef should have waited until next week to up the stakes.

-And now we have Ariel v. Tennille round 2. Earlier this season Tennille went against Ariel’s view that a dish was done improperly and it turns out Tennille was right. Now Ariel warns Tennille that her risotto is overdone, but Tennille again ignores her. But this time indeed Ariel is right. Chef doesn’t get too mad though- he must have more patience for these contestants since they have been strong in the past.

-And now Suzanne burns her scallops. At least the two I don’t like are the two failing the most so far.

-Tennille’s SECOND risotto is mushy too. But wait, it’s not Tennille’s fault, it’s the fault of the person who made the risotto- Kevin!! Wow all we need now is for Dave to mess up and everyone I don’t like will be in Chef’s doghouse.

-Dave blames Tennille for not noticing the rice was bad. While I guess that is true to some extent when you are busy cooking a bunch of dishes like she was you probably don’t have time to notice those things.

-Both do take responsibility for their failures, which I would admire if they did not already annoy me so much.

-Chef is being REALLY hard on Kevin for the rice. Probably because he expects so much from him. As we go to break Chef tastes another risotto and calls the two over. I’m guessing he’s just going to say it is brilliant and ask why they couldn’t do that before. And indeed I was right- I know this show too well.

-Nooo Ariel messes up too- this time serving pink chicken. Kevin is critical of her in confessional yet he’s the one who can’t even cook rice correctly. I don’t know much about cooking but I think rice is easier to cook than meat.

-Now it’s Suzanne’s turn to mess up, sending up undercooked fish. Again, Kevin calls her out, and again I say YOU COULDN’T EVEN COOK RICE CORRECTLY!!!

-Another pet peeve of mine is the restaurant goers complaining about their food taking forever to get to the table. YOU AGREED TO GO TO A RESTAURANT WITH REALITY SHOW CONTESTANTS AS CHEFS. YOU KNOW THE FOOD IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE BAD OR SLOW. SO STOP COMPLAINING. Okay rant over.

- I can’t believe Ariel messed up on the lamb again, this time sending out pieces barely hanging on the bone. And I can’t believe Chef yelled at her in front of the entire dining room. Great the episode where I like her the most she’ll probably go home.

-So the contestants did finish service, but it certainly did not go smoothly. Everyone messed up except for Dave. Ariel for sure should go up for elimination, and as much as I like her she probably should go home based on this service. Kevin screwed everyone over with the rice but has been solid to this point. Tennille’s mistakes were more Kevin’s fault, and Suzanne only had that one bad fish as far as we saw.

-If the other contestants were smart they would put Kevin up for elimination since he’s the biggest threat.

-It sounds like Suzanne didn’t have much cooking to do since no one ordered fish. Well then it’s kind of hard to send her home if she didn’t do anything.

-Suzanne talks about how her performance was “beautiful”, but as Kevin points out, she did serve that raw fish. He also is correct in saying she is the most inconsistent.

-Figures they can’t agree on who to put up for elimination since they couldn’t communicate all night.

-First nominee is Ariel. No surprise there. Now it gets interesting… And of course we go to commercial right before we hear who nominee number two is.

-Suzanne is nominee number two. Oh yeah I forgot about the scallops she served that were overcooked. So she made as many mistakes as Ariel that were shown, and she has been worse than Ariel over time so hopefully that means Suzanne will be sent home. And, as Kevin correctly points out (dang he is being correct too often late in this episode) she even thought her performance was good. Ariel did not seem at all surprised that she was being put up for elimination and seemed to accept it, unlike Suzanne. I know on Top Chef contestants who don’t think their bad food is bad are usually sent home, so hopefully that will be the case here.

-It’s Suzanne’s FOURTH time on the chopping block- though I wonder how much of that is because her teammates hated her. But then they hate her because she lacks the people skills needed to be a good head chef.

-This really could go either way. Chef thinks both should go. But thank goodness Suzanne is finally sent packing. As he points out, he gave her many chances and she didn’t taken advantage of them.

-Next week though should be quite interesting between Tennille and Ariel. At first I thought Ariel was a lock for the final three but Tennille’s stock is rising as Ariel’s is falling. I still think barring something shocking Dave and Kevin will be in the final three.

-At least Suzanne has learned from her mistakes and realizes she must work on how she deals with other people.

-Wow Chef told Tennille she could have been on the chopping block too. But I still say the risotto disaster was more Kevin’s fault than hers.

-Next week Dave reinjures his wrist AGAIN, the contestants still all hate each other, and there are two “shocking” surprises- including unfinished business with someone on a telephone. Hmmm he already brought Robert back- is it Ji?? Julia from a few seasons back (who Chef said was not yet ready and sent to cooking school after she was eliminated in the top four)?

Thought’s on this week’s show. Are you no longer on the Dave bandwagon? Do you think Ariel can beat out Tennille for the third spot in the top 3? Post your comments below.

Check out the full episode 12 video below courtesy of hulu.com:

Hey all I’m still smarting from Amanda’s elimination last week but you have to figure Suzanne’s not too long for this show anyway. She may last a few more weeks for the drama but once the rest of the weaker chefs (Sabrina and Andy) go home she may be next. Or maybe Chef will wisen up and get rid of the know-it-all if she has another bad week. You figure one of those three are likely to go home tonight unless someone else really screws up.

-With all the focus on Andy in the recap I’m guessing that’s not a good sign for him. Though I think calling Amanda “disappointing” was a bit harsh.

-Suzanne is actually quite humble and sincere when apologizing to her teammates after elimination. Somehow I don’t think that will last.

-And kudos to Ariel for showing some leadership while talking to Suzanne about how she needs to focus more on interacting with her teammates. She is definitive but respectful- the kind of leader I like.

-Mmm crepes- I’ve never actually had them but I’ve had blintzes which I think are similar (and delicious!)

-Suzanne probably was overcompensating for her lack of team spirit by offering her teammates everything (and I mean everything) they could possibly need, but I still thought her teammates were too hard on her. Better this version of Suzanne than the bossy, know-it-all version.

-Wow I guess those crepes really are harder to make than they look. Though in the end they all came out pretty decent looking.

-JP is judging- awesome!!!

-First up is Van and Ariel I wonder if JP remembers his little run-in with Van early on in the season.

-Ariel wins, though I don’t know how salmon is really a breakfast…

-Tennille v. Andy. Tennile’s sounds weird but Andy’s decision to do ham and cheese is clever. Wow he won- maybe there is hope for him yet.

Suzanne v. Kevin. Suzanne spends a lot of time describing her dish. Chef always hates this, but I still think her teammates overreacted again. It’s like every little thing Suzanne does wrong gets scrutinized just because her teammates hate her, which just doesn’t seem fair.

-JP is not really doing much judging – he’s basically just nodding in agreement with Chef Ramsay so far. I wonder if the two disagree on a crepe what will happen.

-Chef announces the winner of this round, further showing who the real judge is. I guess Chef can’t sit on the sidelines for too long. Anyway I’m surprised it was a tie between these two since it seemed like they liked Suzanne’s a bit better. But of course they did it that way so that it will come down to the last round, as usual- Dave v. Sabrina.

-The men should have this in the bag with Dave, which of course means the women will win.

-Kevin thinks they have it in the bag- oh yeah the men are screwed. And Chef’s reaction going into commercial just confirms my fears.

-Ew I can see why Chef reacted like he did- Dave’s crepe looks like someone just threw up on the plate. Between this and the fig fiasco of a few weeks earlier it seems challenges aren’t really Dave’s thing. I still think he’ll make the final three with Kevin and Ariel but if he doesn’t step it up it may be the other two fighting for the prize.

-Wow they won’t even taste Dave’s crepe. Ouch. I wonder what happens if Sabrina’s stinks though- will there be no winner?? Or will the red team win because there’s was at least edible?

-It doesn’t matter because the red team wins. I still can’t believe Chef told Sabrina her dessert was Whistler worthy. Maybe she can surprise us all and make the finals.

-So in the end only Tennille didn’t get a point for her red team. Maybe she is the weakest link after all.

-On the men’s side it was Dave and Van who let them down, but of course the blame will be put on Dave’s shoulders because he was last. Though in this case I think he deserves most of the blame- Van’s idea and filling were decent but the crepe itself was bad. Dave’s was just a disaster.

-Supposedly Andy is going to cut his hand really badly while prepping both kitchens in the punishment. Van better watch his back since he’ll be the only one left on his team not injured…

-Good to see Dave take full responsibility for his poor performance in the challenge.

-The girls are learning pantomime- that’s kind of lame reward. Though I guess it could help them with communication in the kitchen. Their communication now certainly can’t get any worse. And I’m sure the red team is happy to “fake punch” Suzanne for a few hours and get some of their anger issues out.

-Haha I love when the losing teams have to eat tongue and other disgusting sounding body parts for lunch. Though Andy actually likes eating pig’s head- that actually explains a lot.

-Maybe if Dave did throw up on the plate after eating the tongue his plate would have looked like his crepe he made for Chef.

-Did Andy just cut himself on a grater? Cutting yourself with a knife is one thing but cutting yourself on a cheese grater takes some skill. Although technically he got hurt in his own kitchen it looked like so it wasn’t the punishment’s fault (this time).

-He CUT THE TOP OF HIS FINGERS OFF! Holy cow that looks painful- it looked like he had small holes on each of his fingers. At least I think that’s what it looked like- I turned away once they showed all the blood.

-I wonder if Andy will miss service while getting stitches. Though according to the preview everyone does so bad in the service that they are all kicked out of the kitchen, so maybe this injury will actually allow him to stay for one more week. If that happens things will get interesting since I wonder if Chef would cut Sabrina after she did well in the challenge. Then again Amanda won the challenge for her team last week and it didn’t help her that much.

-There is all this talk about the men having no shot even though they are (only) one person down. I guess that means they will win service. Fair enough since none of them deserve to go home yet except Andy, and Chef never sends people home who miss service.

-Wow Andy is back already- I’m amazed. He probably would have been better off staying in the hospital all night since now there is a good shot he will go home.

-Andy doesn’t know what is going on since he missed a lot of the prep. Normally I would sympathize with him but it seems like he never knows what is going on even when he is present the whole time.

-Good for Dave stepping up and doing the risotto for Andy- another sign of a good leader.

-Sabrina may well be in trouble. She insists the risotto she cooks tastes good, but Chef thinks otherwise. Whenever contestants on Top Chef insist their poor dishes are good they are sent home, and that may be the case tonight as well.

-At least Sabrina’s next risotto was good. She is maddeningly inconsistent, and I think Chef’s constant criticism is part of his way of motivating her. You can tell who he really thinks is garbage and who he thinks has potential, and I think Sabrina falls into the latter category.

-Kevin criticizes Andy for not being able to make a simple crepe, but if I remember correctly all of them (including Kevin) struggled to make crepes in the challenge. A bit hypocritical, don’t you think?

-The red team tonight is communicating, which is a good start. Plus it allows Chef to see that it really is Suzanne screwing over the team. She says she’ll be ready with a dish in three minutes and then two minutes later says she needs six more minutes. It seems she’s not a good judge of how long it takes the dish to cook. I’ll give her credit for being honest with her team and saying she needs more time but she still must learn how to better judge the timing of her dishes.

-Too bad Chef wasn’t in the kitchen to see Suzanne’s breakdown. She does admit to Chef that she is the one who needs five minutes (that’s how I interpreted her comment of “I need five minutes” to Chef, though others may conclude she was being selfish again and only referring to herself, not the team). But of course right when I give her credit she goes and blames the oven for her troubles. One step forward, two steps back.

-Wow Dave looks like he is literally in four places at once. AND he has only one arm. AND his dishes impress Chef. Maybe he will make the finals after all.

-Suzanne finally does get called out, this time for cutting the lamb too soon. It seems like this is a common mistake on this show- don’t these people watch prior seasons? Anyway I think her earlier mistake was worse than this but at least she’s getting what she deserved last week and earlier tonight.

-Dave can do four different dishes with one arm, but all Andy can do with one hand is make salad? And he can’t even do that right! Unfortunately I think the blue team is going to win tonight so he’ll be safe another week, even though he’s by far the weakest chef left in either kitchen.

-I just realized that if the men win the next two services Andy will be into singles. He’s like this year’s version of Matt from season 4, cut finger and all.

-Ha Chef just said the same thing I said- that if Dave can cook with one arm why can’t Andy cook with one hand??

-Suzanne then forgets how the lamb should be cooked. Forget what I said earlier about Sabrina- it HAS to be Suzanne or Andy going home tonight, right?

-Well maybe not, especially after Sabrina challenges Chef, claiming he wants her to put too many spices on the frog legs (which I don’t think I would eat even if they were covered in spice). I think Suzanne has been worse tonight than Sabrina has been but Sabrina is almost talking back to Chef, and he hates that.

-If so many people are supposed to get kicked out of the kitchen tonight, I’m surprised Andy, Sabrina, and Suzanne haven’t all been shown the door yet.

-Well Andy is the first one thrown out, which isn’t surprising considering he’s been the worst so far tonight. And he even calls out Chef in the process, saying he is too mean in the kitchen. One small problem with this logic: Chef wouldn’t have to be so mean if Andy was more competent.

-And Sabrina and Suzanne are not that far behind. I think those three are the next to go in some order, and I won’t miss any of them.

-It is a good sign for Tennille and Ariel that Chef trusts them enough to finish service despite losing half their team. The remaining blue team members are equally as impressive. As I said before this will likely be the final five.

-Hmm there is no winning team tonight, which means Andy still has a shot of going home. But I don’t get why Chef has them only pick two people to put up for elimination when it’s clear whichever one of the three banishees they don’t pick will be put up there anyway. I guess he just wants to heighten the drama and put the contestants against each other in the deliberations.

-I would put Andy and Suzanne up since I think Sabrina’s mistakes were the least egregious. But I don’t think it matters since all three will be put up anyway. Between Suzanne and Andy it’s a tossup over who was worse, though I think Suzanne actually can cook and just has timing issues, while Andy can’t cook that well. So Suzanne seems to have a bit more potential (plus she might be kept around just for the drama like she was last week).

-The two teams agree with me, which is good, though Sabrina is celebrating a bit too much for someone who will likely be on the chopping block too. I wonder if that’s a precursor to her going home tonight.

-Now the blue team has turned on Suzanne also, and wants to put Sabrina up instead to guarantee Suzanne will go home. I agree that if Andy goes up he is likely gone but I wonder if Chef would get rid of Sabrina over Suzanne since Sabrina talked back to Chef so much. Though if I were on the blue team I would get rid of Andy, who is clearly slowing down their team, and keep Suzanne around since she is tearing the red team apart.

-Though I guess the blue team came to their senses and put Andy up. And surprisingly Sabrina is not asked to join them. Between these two it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. Andy is less competent but Suzanne is more annoying so I don’t care either way but based on tonight it should be Andy. At least Suzanne somewhat knows how to cook.

-At least Chef finally knows now that the red team wants Suzanne gone. I thought for sure she’d be a goner when I heard that but then Andy pulls the injury excuse again. Not a smart idea with two other injured players standing behind him. It could really go either way.

-And sure enough Andy is sent home, as he should have. Chef seems to like Andy’s attitude (it’s better than Suzanne’s for sure) and tells him to stop panicking. I think that was a problem for him- he would feel rushed and make stupid mistakes. But a head chef cannot act that way in the face of pressure.

-But that’s not all. First Chef calls forward Sabrina and I think she’s a goner. Then he tells Suzanne to take off her jacket, only to tell her to switch teams. Dang I get fooled by that trick every year. At least the red team will be happy now with her gone, though the blue team doesn’t seem to like her much either. This is probably her last chance- if she can’t get along with the blue team she’s a goner.

-So what was the point of Chef calling Sabrina up for elimination just to tell her to get better??

-Next week the blue team is “thrilled” to see Suzanne join them, the teams make their own menus, and Dave gets ANOTHER injury. Man that guy needs a bodyguard 24/7.

Thoughts on tonight’s show? Did Andy deserve to go home? Did Suzanne deserve another shot? Post your comments below.

Check out the full episode 9 video here courtesy of hulu.com:

Hey all just to warn you my computer has been a bit weird lately when I type so there might be some odd spacing and/or random letters in the middle of words that I don’t catch before I post this.

-Why are the men so annoyed Robert is gone? They seemed like they wanted to shove him out the door the last two episodes.

-Unlike Andy, the object of the men’s hatred, Suzanne actually can cook, so while she may be annoying and bossy, she’ll be around a while…

-Yay the taste test! Chef’s favorite challenge and one of mine as well.

-Andy says he can taste things no one else can- why do I have a feeling that statement will come back to haunt him in this challenge??

-Interesting Chef chose Tennille to sit out- I guess that means he’s been impressed with her these last few episodes (as have I). Suzanne is her usual cocky self of course.

-Good early matchup with Ariel and Van. I hope Ariel does well…

-Surprised Ariel missed the venison since she worked at a steakhouse. But at least she was close in saying roast beef. Tuna, Van??? Really??

-Van was allowed to change his answer on the last food. That doesn’t really seem fair to me but at least the women are still in the lead.

-Dave v. Suzanne- another good matchup.

-Can’t blame the two for not getting qunice, even if they work with it every day. I’ve never even heard of it!

-That egg yolk looked disgusting…

-I’m worried about Dave after that poor showing in the challenge. At least he seems to be really upset by how badly he did. He even gives himself an F!

-Kevin v. Sabrina- Chef does seem to be matching up the strongest cooks together, though I think Kevin may win this matchup.

-Maybe not. His spinach answer for clams is even worse than Van’s tuna answer before. And Kevin is a seafood guy too! At least Sabrina was in the fish family with her response.

-I think Chef put Andy and Amanda together because they are both on the bottom of their respective teams. She probably is the weakest on the red but not by as much as Andy is the weakest on the blue.

-Andy will either do really well or really badly.

-Wow Andy got lychee, another food I have never heard of. He may have some skills after all. Good for him if he wins the challenge for his team, but I hope he doesn’t because that would mean Amanda is in trouble.

-Glad to see Andy misses the next one. So much for his comeback. Now the best the men can hope for is a tie.

-Aaaand Andy fails! If he doesn’t go home this episode I’ll be amazed. And Amanda is the semi-hero for her team. Sure she only got one right, but that’s all she needed to. Maybe her team will finally see that she is competent after all.

-Andy is correct when he says no one else on his team did well either. But of course Andy is going to unfairly become the scapegoat since he was the last one up there and missed a relatively easy food with ahi tuna (of course he also got the really hard lychee, but I’m willing to be he won’t get any props for that).

-Ouch the men have to make sorbet by hand. That doesn’t sound fun. And sorting berries- ew!

-Van should really stop complaining considering he only got two right at the challenge. Then again that was a good number considering how bad everyone else did.

-The red team gets to dine in the dark. That’s kind of cool I guess, though I wonder how they’ll be able to see where the food is on their plate.

-Ew that men’s lunch looks gross. Duck in a blender?? I would totally throw up if I had to eat that.

-Chef makes a good point about how eating in the dark helps develop a palette. NOW the reward makes sense!

-I didn’t think Suzanne was sucking up to Chef by asking him about latest culinary trends. I thought she was just using this time with him to ask for advice. I usually don’t defend her but in this case I will.

- The red team is taking it a bit too far with the anti-Suzanne team. I get that she is a know-it-all but shunning her will just make things worse. The men learned that last week with Robert.

-The way things are going either Suzanne or Andy will likely be going home tonight depending on which team loses.

-Ariel gets to do the sorbet for the women. I guess that means Chef trusts her, which is good of course.

-Wow Tennille is being a surprisingly good leader on appetizers, NICELY telling Suzanne that the scallops are too dark. Miss I Am Always Right, of course, refuses to listen.

-But Suzanne was right about the scallops. That actually surprised me. Suzanne may be a poor leader but can actually cook, while the reverse is true of Tennille I guess.

-Kevin takes charge for the men on the first sorbet. I bet Chef likes that kind of thing. I’m not rooting for him but he is my early pick to win.

-Van falls apart on appetizers as Kevin leaves to do the sorbets. I guess the blue team does rely a bit too much on Kevin. It will be interesting to see if everyone else struggles too when he’s not in there.

-TENNILLE says her teammates have too big an ego??? That’s a pot calling kettle black if I’ve ever heard one.

-Chef isn’t too hard on Amanda when she first messes up- I guess (hope) that means he likes her potential.

-So two of the weakest chefs (Amanda and Andy) are on garnish tonight. Hopefully this will show Chef that Andy is worse than Amanda.

-Indeed the kitchen is lost without Kevin. I’m almost sure he will make the finals, likely against Ariel or Dave.

-Sabrina and Suzanne must work together?? This isn’t going to end well.

-If lamb does cook slower than fish like Sabrina says (which I think it does) then Suzanne should have waited to cook her fish obviously. Though Sabrina also could have reminded Suzanne of this so there is fault on both sides.

-Sabrina though gets all the blame for sending out raw lamb when clearly Suzanne was rushing her. Chef should have talked to both about working together more rather than only yelling at Sabrina.

-Can Sabrina get sick from eating that raw lamb?? I guess not but still Chef way overreacted to a situation that was not all Sabrina’s fault.

-Looking at that lamb, I don’t even think it is that undercooked.

-Glad to see Tennille stand up to Suzanne when Suzanne tried to rush her as well. Sabrina could have done the same, which is why she is PARTIALLY (but not fully) to blame for the undercooked lamb.

-The lamb Tennille sent out looks just like the one Sabrina sent out.

-Tennille might make it to singles at this rate…

-Chef tells Sabrina if the lamb isn’t good enough for her it shouldn’t be sent out to the customers at all. Then why did Chef let it be sent in the first place??? He should have realized it was undercooked before he served it, shouldn’t he?

-If the blue team had run out of potatoes, I don’t think it really would have been Andy’s fault, unless he was the one who prepped them.

-Why is Chef getting mad at Tennille at the end for taking charge in the kitchen? I thought he liked that in a chef.

-At least Suzanne messes up at the end with the fish and gets yelled at by Chef. She deserves it after messing up with Sabrina earlier but not getting blamed for it.

-I still don’t get why Andy running out of potatoes is his fault. But shouldn’t he have been the one to make more instead of Dave? But props to Dave for stepping up and doing so.

-Similarly, shouldn’t Suzanne have cooked her own fish instead of handing it off to Amanda? Sure Chef should have blamed Amanda more for the undercooked fish but I still don’t get why Suzanne couldn’t have just done it herself.

-Amanda is mad at Suzanne for ratting her out, but Amanda was the one who undercooked the fish, not Suzanne, so Suzanne had every right to do that.

-10 minutes left- I guess the kitchen will be shut down pretty soon.

-I do agree with Chef that Suzanne should have checked Amanda’s fish before serving it. But still I blame Amanda more than Suzanne for the second fish disaster.

-Andy does seem to be moving reallly slowly, and he has shown his incompetence in prior weeks. Plus he was a poor leader on the garnish station earlier. I would send him home but I have a feeling the red team might lose tonight.

-Indeed I was correct. It honestly could have gone either way, but I was hoping the red team would win so Andy could finally be sent home.

-Yay for Dave for getting more props from Chef! I’m surprised Kevin didn’t get a shout out too since he showed how great of a leader he was.

-As for the women, you figure Suzanne for sure will be put up for elimination. It is really close between Amanda and Sabrina for the other slot but since Amanda messed up more I would put her up. Especially since I think Sabrina got too much blame for undercooking the lamb. But considering Suzanne’s overall bad attitude and lack of communication on the fish station, plus that last disaster at the end, I would send her home.

-Then again Chef may shock us all and just send Andy home anyway.

-Tennille gets best of the worst, and deservedly so. Wow I can’t believe I just wrote that but it’s true. As Chef said it was her best service yet. Too bad she is obnoxious or I would be rooting for her.

-I do think the team ganged up too much on Suzanne during their deliberations. The whole part about her saying to Chef that she was ready with her food didn’t really seem like throwing the rest of her team under the bus, and neither did her telling Chef that Amanda cooked that last fish that went wrong. She did however screw over the team by not knowing the timing of cooking her fish, so I think she should go home more for that than for throwing her teammates under the bus.

-Totally agree with Tennille- definitely put Suzanne up for elimination, but then it’s close between Sabrina and Amanda. Since there is so little time left though I’m thinking it will be a quick decision, which likely means either Suzanne or Andy are out.

-Wow I’m surprised Tennille put up Sabrina when Amanda was worse tonight. Sabrina had that one mistake with the lamb but that wasn’t her fault, while Amanda sent up that small portion and messed up on that last lamb.

-Of course Amanda is asked to come forward anyway. I figured that was coming.

-Okay NOW Suzanne is throwing her team under the bus by saying they are only putting her up there out of spite. She could at least admit she made some mistakes tonight and that that is why she is really up there.

-Wow now the whole team is throwing HER under the bus. Though if the whole team thinks Suzanne was holding up Sabrina then it is probably true. Even if that is not the case it is pretty clear the red team can’t work with Suzanne so she either has to go home or be sent to the blue team.

-I can’t even type right now I am so shocked. I though Amanda might get sent home when Chef asked her if she could win (which she probably can’t) but still Suzanne was so bad and is so hated by her team I don’t understand why he kept her around. I’m sure conspiracy theorists will have a field day proposing that he kept Suzanne around for the drama.

-Seriously now even Andy was worse than Amanda tonight. Sure she wasn’t going to win but she could have lasted a few more weeks. She had a much better attitude than Suzanne and their cooking has been about even the past few weeks, with Suzanne being worse tonight.

-At least Chef was nice to Amanda in his voiceover about her, calling her a sweet girl.

-Well at least next week’s promo got me in a better mood. All the chefs get kicked out of the kitchen and yet ANOTHER blue team injury (they really are dropping like flies aren’t they?)

So what are your thoughts on this week’s show? Do you think Suzanne should have gone home? Or do you agree with Chef’s decision? Post your comments below.

Check out the full episode 8 video below:

Hey all I can’t believe we are at the fifth episode of Hell’s Kitchen already. It seems like this season is just flying by. And now that some of the dead weights are being cut we might actually get some good cooking in this episode, right?

-Tek is deservedly annoyed at almost being sent home, since she only made one bad mistake last week and was solid up until.

-Hopefully Dave is better at cooking with one arm than he is at opening packages with one arm…

-As we found out in the preview last week, the contestants are catering a welcome home celebration for a returning Iraq War veteran named Otis James. I never understand why people agree to have their parties catered by this show (last year I know they had a Bar Mitzvah and there was a Sweet 16 at one point too). Sure you get to be on TV and all but you know the food is going to be subpar at best.

-Like with all the party catering episodes the challenge is for each team to create a menu for the event. Otis’ wife Latasha will decide which food is the best, and if previous seasons are any indication it will come down to the last dish to determine who wins the challenge.

-Robert and Suzanne are chosen as team leaders, aka the people who must tell their teammates what food Otis likes. Of course Chef picks the loudest, most ill-tempered members of each team to do this in order to heighten the drama.

-Robert is way too confident for someone who should have been on the chopping block last week.

-Kevin and Robert are now fully recovered from last week’s altercation, as Kevin compliments Robert on how he directed the team. I have to admit, Kevin is right. The blue team seems well organized and focused, and they are including lots of seafood and potato like Otis wants. Everyone is collaborating on ideas and working as a team.

-Suzanne of course takes a dictator approach, telling everyone to make the dishes she wants. She also doesn’t know what type of sauce the Jameses like on their steak, which is kind of an important piece of information.

-When Suzanne finally does ask the team if they like the menu, there are only five minutes left on the clock. It does sound like she was asking this kind of rhetorically, but she should have asked it for real at the start of the task.

-First up is red team’s Caesar salad with prawns versus blue team’s spicy bouillabaisse. I have to admit the salad looks really good. Wow I’m surprised the red team wins round one, even after LaTasha liked both dishes. From her reaction I thought she like the blue team’s dish a bit more but I guess not. But like I said it will come down to the last dish anyway so it won’t matter.

-Which of course means the blue team should win round 2. They are up against red team’s bacon-wrapped fillet with shrimp. Dang I’m getting hungry now. Blue team’s catfish and macaroni and cheese looks gross, but of course LaTasha likes it along with the fillet. So she’s either not a picky eater or the cooks are pretty competent this year. But as I figured blue team wins, so it’s down to the last dish.

-Of course Suzanne and Robert introduce the final dishes. So if one of them stinks, the leaders will get the blame. The dish gets a thumbs up from LaTasha and Suzanna already looks confident, which means the red team will probably lose. They deserve to lose anyway because of her poor leadership style.

-I distinctly remember LaTasha saying her husband loves grilled lobster tail, so why in the world did Suzanne broil it instead? That will probably cost her team the challenge. But I bet we are going to commercial before we find out who wins. Yep we are…

-As I figured the blue team wins. The only bad thing is now we will have to deal with Robert gloating for the next 10 minutes or so. At least Suzanne will get some well-deserved criticism from her teammates.

-Is Robert too big to get into a plane and be a fighter pilot? I’m just wondering since he couldn’t do a bunch of the rewards last year because of weight issues.

-Though the James family is probably better off that the women are decorating for the party and not the men…

-I can’t believe Suzanne never told her team to cook soul food when LaTasha specified that was the type of food she wanted. I’m guessing she also didn’t tell her team to grill the lobster either. Suzanne though refuses to admit she was wrong- she gets more obnoxious every week.

-Tennille has a right to be mad at Suzanne for shooting down Tennille’s jambalaya idea in the kitchen. I just hope she gets her anger out at the punishment and doesn’t carry it over to service.

-That scene with the men coming out of Hell’s Kitchen wearing pilot costumes is awesome!

-Hey a Mrs. Ramsay sighting! I guess even Chef Ramsay knows his limits- he does the cooking and leads the decorating to his wife. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before but she is quite attractive.

-Even I’m getting confused listening to Mrs. Ramsay’s instructions. She is very detail-oriented like her husband is. I guess that makes them a perfect match.

-Good to see Robert actually did participate in the reward. And also good to see no blue team members were injured in this reward.

-Tek doing a Chef Ramsay on helium imitation was hilarious!

-The guys are a bit too confident heading into dinner service. Could that be foreshadowing a bad service for the men?

-The men do have the early advantage by knowing all the dishes on the menu already. But they are really being unfair by not giving the girls all the information about their dishes. Gameplay is one thing but that seems like a low blow to me.

-It would be ironic if the red team won despite not knowing the entire menu. Which I think is going to happen. The show is setting it up to make it look like the blue team will win in a knockout, which usually means the blue team is going to fail miserably.

-Otis looks like he knows something is up when he walks into the dark restaurant. I think I would be kind of suspicious too if that happened to me.

-Aw Chef invited Otis’ mom, whom he hasn’t seen in years. Even with that tough exterior you can tell Chef is a softie at heart. He always does sweet things like this when Hell’s Kitchen caters a party.

-Blue team gets to cook for Otis as a reward for winning the challenge. But if they mess up the food at his table it will loom larger than if they mess up at any other table. So this reward could end up being more of a curse.

-Red team keeps harping on how they haven’t won a service, but really the first service was a tie and the second no one on their team went home because of the Joseph fiasco, so really they’ve only lost two and the second didn’t really count.

-So much for Sabrina building on her strong showing last week. While it does seem like Chef was rushing her with the mushrooms (which may have caused her to send up a cold dish), she should have timed it better so all three were ready at the same time.

-Hey Van actually worked well with Andy as they quickly finish the appetizers. Maybe there’s hope for Van after all..

-Uh oh. Slow Jim is on the grill….

-Tough break for Jim getting nine steak orders at once and having to remember how each one must be cooked. I realize that is part of his job but still it must be hard to keep track of which steaks are supposed to be well done and which are supposed to be medium rare.

-Good to see Kevin wanting to bail out Jim on the steaks, but he seems to be doing it more because he is sure Jim will fail and wants to be the hero than because he really wants to help.

-Hasn’t Jim ever watched this show before?? ALWAYS answer Chef when he asks how long a dish has left to cook.

-Tek is doing the steak for the women. I REALLY hope she does well or she’ll be on the chopping block for sure.

-I’ve never heard of a steak being “blue” before but I’m guessing that’s bad. And I have a feeling Tek is in big trouble tonight.

-The red team is not helping matters by crowding around Tek at her station. I understand wanting to help her but it would be better if one person did, not five.

-Ariel says the steak should be marked on the grill and finished in the oven. I’ve never heard that, but I wonder why Ariel said that in the confessional and not to her teammate during service.

-Why is Chef embarrassed that Tek burnt a few steaks that didn’t even leave the kitchen? He has served much worse to customers and not been embarrassed then…

-Apparently Tennille knew that the steaks should be finished in the oven also. She claims Tek should have listened to her but the producers never show Tennille telling Tek this vital piece of information. I’m guessing this did happen but was edited out but you never know with these shows…

-Again the red team all crowds around Tek at once. Their problem is they don’t have a really vocal leader that commands the respect of the team. Suzanne is a leader but the team doesn’t seem to respect her because of her bossiness and arrogance. Ariel should step up more as a leader but seems like more of the reserved type, a trait that could haunt her towards the end of the competition. Kevin of the blue team is overbearing but the team does seems to respect his authority.

-Blue team has to win this service, right? Red team hasn’t even served one entree yet and blue team is almost done.

-Now Tek finally has the steaks going but in all the fuss she forgot about the burgers. I like Tek but she has to go home tonight. She’s been the worst player in both kitchens and is single-handidly preventing her team from serving entrees. The bad thing is it seems like she is really competent, but she just is crumbling under the pressure from Chef her teammates (who are only making things worse by pressuring and crowding her rather than working with her to get the steaks done).

-I agree with Dave- Jim is doing a good job on steaks for the men. While Chef does tell Jim how to tell if the steak is done, he seems to do it nicely, like he is trying to give Jim suggestions rather than criticize him. When that’s the most critical Chef is being in the blue kitchen you know they are doing well.

-It’s hard to tell if Chef is giving Kevin too much credit for the steaks without really seeing how much each person is doing on the station. It does seem like Jim got short-changed a bit though in the compliments department.

- Amazing. The blue team is done with entrees and the red team hasn’t served a single one. This is one of the most lopsided dinner services I’ve ever seen.

-Great now that Tek gets her steaks out Amanda messes up on the lobster part of the dish. It sounds like she was saying she was trying to help out Tek so she forgot about her own station but she should have put her station first. So now two of my three favorite women will be up on the chopping block, though I can’t imagine anyone but Tek going home.

-If Chef shuts down dinner service, what happens to all those guests in the red kitchen? Will the blue team just give them their food or will they have to go hungry? This is why I never understand why people sign up to having parties hosted by this show.

-Indeed Chef does have the blue team finish the entrees for the red team. Or I guess I should say that they do all of the entrees since the red team still hasn’t gotten one out. I think I have seen this one other time on Hell’s Kitchen and as Tennille says, it really just add insult to injury.

-Jim says the red kitchen looks like “a hand grenade went off in a cow’s [butt]” because of all the burnt meat laying around! Ha! Though I must be tired or something since even Robert’s gloating to the camera amuses me.

-The fact that Chef asked Kevin to do desserts for the men alone while the rest of the team cleaned up the “mess” in the red kitchen shows that Chef really trusts Kevin. I think he will go far in this competition, especially since Chef likes contestants with attitude if they can back it up like Kevin can. He reminds me a bit of Rock from season 3.

-It must be a bad night when Ariel is calling her teammates “incompetent”. Though she seems reluctant to do so, which makes me admire her even more. But I still think she needs to be more of a leader if she is going to pass Kevin in Chef Ramsay’s eyes.

-Of course when she says “incompetent” the camera shows shots of Tek, Amanda, and Suzanne. I’m a bit surprised they showed Suzanne- she showed she was a poor listener in the challenge but so far she seems to be a decent cook.

-Lucky for Otis he was in the blue kitchen tonight and not the red or his night would have been much different.

-No best of the worst tonight either. I’m not surprised since I couldn’t figure out who Chef could have picked for this “honor”.

-Obviously it will be some combo of Amanda, Tek, and Suzanne going up for elimination. Tek is a lock of course. I hope they send up Suzanne because of her poor listening skills and overall overbearingness but tonight Amanda was worse. Though either way it won’t matter since Chef HAS to send Tek home after her complete meltdown on the meat.

-Suzanne says it comes down to who can cook and who can’t, but Tek chimes back that she can cook, which I agree with. She claims she didn’t know she was only supposed to use the grill for marking, which apparently is common knowledge in the cooking world since everyone on her team knows it but her. Again I ask- why didn’t her teammates tell her this earlier? Tennille insists she did tell Tek this, which she very well might have, but if that’s so I wonder why it wasn’t shown in the episode.

-Ariel is still feisty, saying that Amanda “shuts down” during service. I guess that means Amanda sometimes has a few mental lapses, which she does, but she was nowhere near as bad as Tek tonight.

-I don’t like Tennille at all, but she has a right to be mad at Tek for not listening to her about cooking the steaks since Tennille runs a steakhouse (I’m starting to think Tennille did say this but we just didn’t see it). She also has a right to be mad at Sabrina for wanting her on the chopping block when she has had two solid services in a row. But like I said it shouldn’t matter since Tek is likely going home anyway.

-Only ten minutes left- must be a quick elimination. Not a good sign for Tek…

-Hmm Chef asks Tennille to announce the nominees for elimination. He always asks people who he thinks are safe to do this. I guess he doesn’t think Tennille should be up for elimination this week either.

-Tek is the first nominee, as expected. Now it will get interesting. Wow Tennille is the second nominee! I’m shocked and so is Chef. Though if Chef doesn’t agree with the nominees he often just picks his own so he might just replace Tennille with Amanda anyway.

-It shows the lack of leadership on this team that they can’t even come to a consensus on their two nominees.

-Why is Chef even thinking about Amanda versus Tennille? It doesn’t matter anyway since Tek was by far the worst tonight.

-I’m not surprised Chef has Amanda step forward with Tennille and Tek. Though he probably realizes it doesn’t matter who he chooses between her and Tennille anyway. Though I am glad to see the red team think Amanda is better than Tennille since I like Amanda’s attutide way more than I like Tennille’s.

-While I don’t like the way she said it to Chef, I agree with Tennille that she is improving in the kitchen. Then again with the way she started she couldn’t have gotten much worse.

-Her clear show of emotion while being up on the block should endear her to Chef. It does, as she is rightly sent back in line with her team.

-While I’m sure Tek does care about her place on Hell’s Kitchen, her speech seems like a letdown after Tennille’s strong show of emotion. I think it’s just Tek’s nature to not overly show her emotions but it could be the final dagger for her here.

-Even Amanda is in tears, so she too is showing more emotion than Tek is. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Tek loves to cook and really wants to stay in Hell’s Kitchen, and I don’t fault her for the lack of emotion. But I think Chef is getting the impression Tek doesn’t want to be there, which is always the kiss of death for a contestant on any reality show.

-Chef seems to think Amanda is “done”. I guess he means that this competition is too much for her. Well that’s one way to interpret the tears but to me they show how much she wants this. I think he might be saying that to her just to get her to show her passion and desire to stay. Or to make an anticlimactic elimination a bit more exciting.

-Indeed I think the latter may be the case, as Tek is indeed sent packing. There really was no other choice tonight.

-I do feel bad for Tek though. Like I said before I think she has cooking skills she just couldn’t handle all those orders at once and got flustered. Instead of helping her like Kevin did with Jim, her teammates just crowded around her and got frustrated, making things worse. If someone on the red team had stepped up like Kevin had I don’t think Tek would have been nearly as bad. I figured she was going to be gone soon anyway since she almost went home last week but it is still sad to see her go.

-Glad to see Tek has a positive yet determined attitude after her elimination.

-Tennille also seems to be taking her trip on the chopping block just as well (note the sarcasm).

-Luckily Tennille pulls a Joseph and fights back against Chef next week. Hopefully he’ll do what he did to Joseph and send her packing immediately. And Robert goes back to the hospital- wonder if he’ll have to drop out again?? And I wonder if that will make Chef regret his decision to bring him back instead of Ji?

So what are your thoughts on tonight’s show? Did you think a stronger leader would have saved Tek from disaster? Who do you think could/should step up? How long with the blue team’s dominance continue? Post your comments below.