Episode Report Card Monty Ashley: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Lettuce-Burning Incident
By Monty Ashley | Season 6 | Episode 10 | Aired on 09.22.2009
At Campanile, Mark Peele makes some grilled cheese sandwiches. We're told they're "voluptuous and sexy". I'm not sure that's possible, but a good grilled cheese sandwich can be pretty tasty. Meanwhile, Tennille shouts at us about how unpleasant she found farm life. Ariel does not like the pig pen, because she once got attacked by a large pig at a county fair. I can relate to that, because I once got mugged by a goat in a petting zoo. It knocked me down and stole my handful of food pellets that I was going to give to a different goat. That goat was a jerk. Anyway, Tennille complains about the smell of the farm, which I guess is fair. Unless next week's punishment involves a slaughterhouse.
The teams return to Hell's Kitchen and gets some sleep. The moon is still a crescent, but it might be slightly different from the previous night. At least it didn't become full overnight.
The next morning, Chef Ramsay announces that his menu is no more. Each team will do its own menu, with three appetizers, three entrees, and three desserts. He also adds that each person should have input, which I assume means we'll see Suzanne getting shut out completely. Off they go!
The blue team starts pitching, with Suzanne holding the pen. That's good thinking, because she can wield a lot of influence without having to talk if she's the one who decides what gets written down. Tennille suggests a sushi plate with "a decomposed sushi roll". Well, I'm not sure that -- wait, decomposed? It's unusual, I'll give her that! Sabrina manages to shoot down that idea, and Ariel objects to the next thing Tennille says because it has the word "okra" in it.
In the blue meeting, Dave wants to stuff a chicken breast with goat cheese, which everyone thinks sounds pretty good. Even Suzanne's ideas get a good reception. It's going pretty smoothly, as opposed to the red side, where Ariel has decided that Tennille is crazy. When Tennille offers a blackened halibut, Ariel acts like she's never heard those two words before. She says "Blackened ... halibut?" like she's sounding out the words for the first time. In an interview, Tennille points out that Sabrina didn't have any ideas of her own, but just dumped on hers. Ah, just like a recapper. Zing! Wait, did I just zing myself?
The blue team's menu is done (and they declare themselves "stoked") and they head down the stairs. Meanwhile, none of the red team likes their menu.
Down in the kitchen, Chef Ramsay has no objection to the blue menu. When he asks the red team if they're happy with their menu, Sabrina complains about a salad, and Tennille promptly complains in an interview about being thrown under a bus. Chef Ramsay doesn't like the menu much, saying it doesn't have food he'd order, but he leaves them to it. So the red team is squabbling and the blue team is happy. Dave's tasted their dishes and reports that it all tastes good. Well, that should help.
The voice-over explains that the diners will all choose which menu to order off of, which seems like it would be a problem for the team with the most appetizing menu. Oh, and Sabrina contributed nothing to the red team's menu. Noted.
The first orders come in, and they're pretty strongly for the blue team. The red side does eventually get an order. Oh, and since tables can be split between kitchens, the two teams need to work together to sync up their dishes. But it turns out that Tennille has no idea how to cook her dish, and her Swiss Char is seasoned arbitrarily. On the blue side, Van brings up the wrong number of scallops, which prompts some condescension from Chef Ramsay: "Van! Two threes is what?" Unfortunately, Van appears completely unfamiliar with this manner of speech, and even when Chef Ramsay rephrases it to "two times three", Van is completely befuddled.
The red side's appetizers are sent back because the center of the pork ravioli is frozen. Meanwhile, Van is apparently burning scallops. And Ariel's replacement ravioli is also cold in the center. This generates some shouting, as you would expect. Chef Ramsay explains: "I've never made the same mistake three times. Never. Never never never never never." That's six "never"s.
On the blue side, Dave overextends his elbow (on his good arm) while handing a heavy pan across a counter, and apparently gets some kind of nerve twinge that goes all the way up to his shoulder. Off he goes to see the medic, and now no one knows what's happening and if someone needs to work his station. In the back, Dave is in a great deal of pain, then sucks it up and gets back into the kitchen. That guy's awesome.
Both teams are on entrees, but Sabrina's slowing down her team. Shout shout shout. On the blue side, Van splashes some sauce on the pass and doesn't wipe it up. Shout, shout, shout. Van defends himself and then gets shouted at some more. Tennille does a little sweeping, and Sabrina is theatrically shocked that she has time to do that in the middle of service. Van brings raw halibut up to the pass. Considering that his name has "Fish Cook" underneath it, that's hard to believe.
Now everyone in the blue team is cooking over Van's shoulder, and it's still not cooked. Chef Ramsay has a little tantrum and hits the offending halibut so hard it explodes. On the red side, Sabrina's halibut is raw in the center, and Chef Ramsay calls it "rarer than a sushi bar" a few times. Finally, Chef Ramsay calls Sabrina and Van to the pass and shouts at them to switch it off. It gets switched off.
After the service, both teams are lined up in the kitchen to be told that no one won. Each team is told to come up with one name for elimination. On the blue team, Van thinks that Suzanne should go up, even though he screwed up the most. That's bullshit, if you ask me. On the red side, Sabrina tries to claim that Tennille's garnish was what was slowing them down.
Down in the dining room! Sabrina tells Chef Ramsay that she's the nominee "based on my previous services". Dave puts forward "Van, based on tonight's performance only." He is quick to add that "the weakest chef on the blue team is Suzanne." Chef Ramsay shakes that off and brings forward Van and Sabrina so he can shout at them about raw halibut. Van interrupts him and insists that he's not a loser and that he's not throwing in the towel. Sabrina also talks about still having some stuff to offer. Sabrina is sent home.
Everyone files back up to the dorms. And that's the end of the, um, first half of the episode. But first we enjoy these previews of the next, er, half of the episode. Chef Ramsay is going to do something he's never done before! Dramatic music sting!
Man, they're not even trying to make me believe this is all one episode, what with the Previouslies and opening credits. So here we are again, with the chefs trudging up to the dorms and complaining.
Okay, remember those two crescent moons we just saw? In what were presumably the two previous nights? We now see a full moon. Honestly, people. Just hire a continuity person. They're not that expensive. Anyway, the next morning there are boxes on the dorm's living room table, and everyone gets black jackets. Because we're at the Top Six, and everyone's on the same team. Van vows that it's going to be "Man Eat Man". Hey, this ain't that kind of party.
When the contestants come down to the kitchen, Chef Ramsay is cooking (yes! Actually cooking!) a fillet of beef, which he has them taste. It's apparently pretty good. And now it's time for the challenge, which prompts Van to crow in an interview that he just knew there'd be a twist. Yeah, what are the odds that there'd be a challenge, just like the ten other times you've stood there the morning after a dinner service. Nice going, Nostradamus. Anyway, the challenge is for the chefs to recreate the dish. And to make it more fun, they'll be paired up by Chef Ramsay. So Van will work with Ariel, Tennille will work with Kevin, and Suzanne gets Dave. Incidentally, Tennille desperately wanted Kevin, and not Suzanne. She should have been hoping for Dave, but I guess they really don't g