S19.E16: Hitting the Jackpot

[jewel21]

Quote

The two remaining chefs go head to head for the final time, before the new executive chef at Hell's Kitchen Lake Tahoe is announced.

Airdate: 04/22/2021

[mojoween]

It feels like Kori would have had to fall over, stab Mark and set the blue kitchen on fire to lose this, regardless how well Mary Lou did.

Amber sucks out loud.  Good god.

[NJRadioGuy]

Very predictable result. It was Kori's game to lose and she deserved her win. I really like Mary Lou and she will absolutely have a strong career ahead of her in the industry but she's still a bit too raw to earn a spot running a G.R. restaurant. I still say that the strongest chef in the bunch was Declan and honestly, a little over halfway through the season I had him pegged as a finalist and probably the winner, if he didn't unravel. 

[xcrayon2215x]

Had a feeling Kori would take this, she comes across as more professional than Mary Lou. Marc came across better than I thought he would, Amber was extremely irritating tonight. I wonder if the Cody/Mary Lou stuff had something to do with the decision or not.

[NJRadioGuy]

Amber is head chef at a restaurant two towns over from me in north Jersey (Nicole is her sous). If we ever go there I will make a point of not ordering the chicken.

[Eolivet]

I wasn't spoiled, but I was over on reddit a couple weeks ago where someone said Mary Lou commented on Instagram that nothing ever happened with her and Cody off the show.

So, I figured she didn't win.

Kori was the most deserving. When Ramsay said, "natural-born leader" (seconds before her door opened), that was a huge clue she was the winner.

Rough finale night service, the roughest I can remember in a while. Ramsay bailed out both their inappropriate station choices.

Not sure I can take Teen Hell's Kitchen.

[mlp]

I was expecting Kori to win so I wasn't a bit surprised.  I wish Mary Lou well and hope something good comes out of her appearance on the show.  

That "joke" Gordon played on them in the kitchen after service wasn't at all funny.  In fact, it was mean to do that to two young women who were already stressed out.  I can't imagine why he thought that would be amusing.

I wonder what kind of restaurant Amber is head chef at.  She isn't anywhere near as good as she thinks she is and she's obnoxious.  Maybe it's a diner and she's the only chef.

[LennieBriscoe]

Much as I liked Mary Lou and felt her intelligence was under-rated, she doesn't have the maturity that GR likes to hire. Or, frankly, the literal stature (compare Kori to GR fave winner Christina). 

I admit to tearing up at seeing Kori and her son! 

All in all, a very good season!

ETA: There's going to be a "Teen HK"?? Why? A kid can't work for GR. GR can't be his usual vulgar and intemperate self around teens (on TV). This cooking competition ain't "Master Chef" or "Chopped."

Edited April 23, 2021 by LennieBriscoe

[mojoween]

It didn’t seem like Teen HK as much as little experienced HK.  Two of the kids in the ad said they were 21 and 23 so I’m wondering if the cheftestants are between like 19 and 25.

[seacliffsal]

I thought the finale was going to lead to a Kori win.  However, Amber's reactions to Kori show how much Kori manipulated Amber once she was on the blue team.  Kori kept feeding into Amber's paranoia and bad-talking the men.  That's one reason why Amber couldn't get over not being picked by Kori (Amber didn't realize she was being played as the more insecure she felt the worse the performance on/by the blue team).  So, there is definitely another side to Kori.

I think a finale that included either Cody or Declan would have been interesting as they were both the ones Mary Lou and Kori switched up to help the dinner service so they do have strong cooking skills.

I missed any preview/ad for a younger version of this show.  Not interested-the validity that this show has is in the job they win.

[AZChristian]

10 hours ago, mlp said:

I wonder what kind of restaurant Amber is head chef at.  She isn't anywhere near as good as she thinks she is and she's obnoxious.  Maybe it's a diner and she's the only chef.

She's actually Executive Chef at what appears to be a fairly decent hotel in New Jersey - and Nikki works for her.  I saw online that the restaurant there at the hotel would have viewing parties every Thursday during the season.

Actually, if I were Amber I'd be embarrassed for one of two reasons:  (1) the way I was portrayed, or (2) my immaturity and the way I actually behaved.  

[Eolivet]

4 hours ago, mojoween said:

Two of the kids in the ad said they were 21 and 23 so I’m wondering if the cheftestants are between like 19 and 25.

Contestants are under age 25, so I'm guessing it's very much Teen Hell's Kitchen. It sounds like American Idol, where the majority may be late teens, early 20s, but there will likely be 15 and 16 year-olds, too.

[illdoc]

There's a thread "HK: Young Guns" about "Teen Hell's Kitchen".

[tinderbox]

6 hours ago, AZChristian said:

She's actually Executive Chef at what appears to be a fairly decent hotel in New Jersey - and Nikki works for her.  I saw online that the restaurant there at the hotel would have viewing parties every Thursday during the season.

Actually, if I were Amber I'd be embarrassed for one of two reasons:  (1) the way I was portrayed, or (2) my immaturity and the way I actually behaved.  

When Nikki was cut from the show, I remember GR promised her his guidance AND a job at one of his restaurants.  The choice of restaurants would be hers.  Why would she pass up that offer to be one of Amber’s sous chefs?  Mind boggling!  There has got to a story to this.

[AZChristian]

3 minutes ago, tinderbox said:

When Nikki was cut from the show, I remember GR promised her his guidance AND a job at one of his restaurants.  The choice of restaurants would be hers.  Why would she pass up that offer to be one of Amber’s sous chefs?  Mind boggling!  There has got to a story to this.

I'm not sure he gave her a job . . . if I remember correctly, he gave her a plane ticket and an invitation to "shadow" (can't remember the exact word) his staff at any of his restaurants in the world.  That's not a real job, it's primarily a learning opportunity.

If it were me, I'd be flipping burgers at McDonald's before I'd spend a minute with Amber as my boss.

[tinderbox]

11 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

I'm not sure he gave her a job . . . if I remember correctly, he gave her a plane ticket and an invitation to "shadow" (can't remember the exact word) his staff at any of his restaurants in the world.  That's not a real job, it's primarily a learning opportunity.

If it were me, I'd be flipping burgers at McDonald's before I'd spend a minute with Amber as my boss.

Me, too!
Hmmm... I hear what you are saying.  Thanks.  I misunderstood his comments to Nikki on her way out the door.  That said, wouldn’t you think a learning opportunity and authentic kindness and appreciation of her growth eventually lead to a job?  

[Chicago Redshirt]

I'm assuming the offer to Nikki was basically an unpaid internship at a GR restaurant. I think the restaurant term is "stage," pronounced like "stazj."

While it would be cool and all to have on your resume, having to pay to get to wherever the restaurant was and support yourself while you got that experience seems like it would be a drag.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Chicago Redshirt

[AZChristian]

23 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I'm assuming the offer to Nikki was basically an unpaid internship at a GR restaurant. I think the restaurant term is "stage," pronounced like "stazj."

While it would be cool and all to have on your resume, having to pay to get to wherever the restaurant was and support yourself while you got that experience seems like it would be a drag.

That's the word I couldn't think of!!!!  Thanks.

[Yeah No]

For me the Kori win was very predictable as I called her the "dark horse" and likely winner weeks ago.  After watching this show for years it's obvious what Gordon wants for a head chef.  Kori is like Christina.2.  She has the same characteristics: mature, professional, level headed, quiet, born leader yet not full of herself, etc.  Not that I'm unhappy about that because Kori certainly deserved to win.  I enjoyed this season.  Aside from Marc there really wasn't anyone that horrible and all the chefs besides him seemed to mostly get along.  Amber may be an accomplished chef but her lack of maturity and inability to get a grip on her emotions is what did her in in the end.  Mary Lou is still a little immature but has great potential to grow up.  She's just not there yet.

[ljenkins782]

On 4/24/2021 at 1:36 AM, Yeah No said:

For me the Kori win was very predictable as I called her the "dark horse" and likely winner weeks ago.  After watching this show for years it's obvious what Gordon wants for a head chef.  Kori is like Christina.2.  She has the same characteristics: mature, professional, level headed, quiet, born leader yet not full of herself, etc.  Not that I'm unhappy about that because Kori certainly deserved to win.  I enjoyed this season.  Aside from Marc there really wasn't anyone that horrible and all the chefs besides him seemed to mostly get along.  Amber may be an accomplished chef but her lack of maturity and inability to get a grip on her emotions is what did her in in the end.  Mary Lou is still a little immature but has great potential to grow up.  She's just not there yet.

Yeah, her win makes the most sense in terms of the actual job, but I'm glad the show had some more interesting characters to go along with her because she wasn't the most compelling TV. The talking head ratio was like 20-1 between Mary Lou and her, but it was still pretty clear that Kori was going to win. ML just gave better/more entertaining soundbites.

I truly enjoyed this season, which was a surprise to me, since I loathed just about everyone except Declan in the opening episode. I remember especially loathing Cody and Mary Lou in the first episode, they seemed like such famewhore-y little reality TV tryhards, but they turned out to be so different than the first impression. 

I was especially impressed with the women's team, once it got to certain point, they were all genuinely nice people who supported each other (this would be after Amber went to the men's team, because she was the one woman who didn't fit into group of supportive people). Amber is that unfortunate mix of overconfidence and insecurity, she's all "I tell it like it is" when she's criticizing other people, but the second someone criticizes her, she falls to pieces. It's one of the hardest personality types to deal with because you get so pissed off at them that you want to lash out just as hard, but then they fall apart AND they don't understand why you're coming at them because they don't see how they come across to other people. I hope she learned something about herself by watching this show.