S20.E01: Young Guns Come Out Shooting

[jewel21]

Quote

Hit culinary competition series HELL'S KITCHEN returns for its 20th season, with Chef Gordon Ramsay back in Las Vegas. For the first time ever, 18 aspiring chefs from across the country, and all aged 23 years old or younger at the start of the competition, will challenge Lady Luck in the hopes of winning big.

Airdate: 05/31/2021

[Ms Blue Jay]

I didn't know what to expect because I refuse to watch any reality show starring kids, but 21 and over is fine.  So far so good.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[jewel21]

I don't have much of an opinion of any of the contestants so soon in the game but Alaska kind of annoys me. 

Also, when Chef asked that female contestant's age and said she looked 16, I actually thought the opposite and thought she looked 40, heh. 

[preeya]

Very "vanilla" opening, but the preview indicates something amiss for next week.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

Naturally, several of the contestants immediately go for the obnoxious "It's time for the older generation to get out of our way and let us shine" shtick. Ugh. Youth really is wasted on the young.

The vegetarian chef who admits to occasionally eating meat should be fine, but a 100% vegan chef should not be seeking a job in a restaurant with "Steak" in the name. You're going to have frequently sample meat dishes so you know you're cooking them correctly, and a chef who refuses to do so will be a poor fit.

My wife and I debated whether Gordon, who's normally tough with adults but a total pussycat around kids, would be tough or gentle with this crew. We both concluded that he'll be tough, maybe even tougher than normal. He'll want to know who can handle the pressure of a high-end restaurant.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Sir RaiderDuck OMS

[AZChristian]

9 minutes ago, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

a restaurant with "Steak" in the name.

Fun fact about the Gordon Ramsay Steak House.  In the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, you have to walk through a long tunnel to get to and from the casino to the restaurant.

When we went there, it immediately reminded us of going from Paris to London on the train in real life . . . through the long tunnel under the English Channel - more popularly known as the "Chunnel."  

I thought it was funny that the one guy didn't realize that the winner of the season was going to be the head chef at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.  He looked like he was already planning to buy a copy of that software that teaches you French.  LOL.  

When we were there, Christina was the head chef; we saw her in the kitchen expediting the service of food.

[jabRI]

I like that they show them teaching them the recipes.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

2 hours ago, AZChristian said:

Fun fact about the Gordon Ramsay Steak House.  In the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, you have to walk through a long tunnel to get to and from the casino to the restaurant.

When we were there, Christina was the head chef; we saw her in the kitchen expediting the service of food.

When we ate there in late 2017 (several hours after getting married!), my wife remarked on the resemblance to the Chunnel.

Meanwhile, we were in Vegas over the weekend and ate at Gordon Ramsay Burger at Planet Hollywood. We asked the server how often Gordon Ramsay and Christina Wilson (who's now the Executive Chef over all of Ramsay's Vegas restaurants) visit. He said it had been a year or two since he'd seen Ramsay there, but Christina visits a few times a month.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

1 hour ago, jabRI said:

I like that they show them teaching them the recipes.

They spend a lot of time on that every season, even if it's not shown on camera. A few seasons ago, Sous Chef Jocky got on someone's case when they ignored his instructions and eggwashed the Beef Wellingtons after scoring them; instead of a nice brown outside with white cracks, which is what you get if you eggwash before scoring them, they got a brown outside with dark brown cracks the color of poop. Jocky had great fun saying "See? I KNEW you weren't paying attention."

[AZChristian]

48 minutes ago, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

When we ate there in late 2017 (several hours after getting married!), my wife remarked on the resemblance to the Chunnel.

Meanwhile, we were in Vegas over the weekend and ate at Gordon Ramsay Burger at Planet Hollywood. We asked the server how often Gordon Ramsay and Christina Wilson (who's now the Executive Chef over all of Ramsay's Vegas restaurants) visit. He said it had been a year or two since he'd seen Ramsay there, but Christina visits a few times a month.

We've now been to all the GR eating spots in Vegas.  Our ties for favorite are Hell's Kitchen and GR Burger.  After eating at the burger place, I've never wanted to eat a fast food burger again.

We thought the Steak House food was delicious, but it was SO noisy and the tables were too close together.  The Pub and Grill at Caesar's was WONDERFUL (we met Chef Scott, who was head chef there after winning HK).  The GR Fish and Chips place on the pedestrian area next to the Linq was meh.  Hardly any seating, and the fish and chips at the Pub and Grill were MUCH better.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

49 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

We've now been to all the GR eating spots in Vegas.  Our ties for favorite are Hell's Kitchen and GR Burger.  After eating at the burger place, I've never wanted to eat a fast food burger again.

We thought the Steak House food was delicious, but it was SO noisy and the tables were too close together.  The Pub and Grill at Caesar's was WONDERFUL (we met Chef Scott, who was head chef there after winning HK).  The GR Fish and Chips place on the pedestrian area next to the Linq was meh.  Hardly any seating, and the fish and chips at the Pub and Grill were MUCH better.

The fish at GR Fish & Chips is nicely cooked but bland. I think they assume you'll dip it in their sauces, but I'm not a big "fish sauce" guy (I abhor anything with mayo, and don't like ketchup either), so I ate it plain and was not impressed.

The Pub and Grill was good, and they sell GR's awesome Beef Wellington there. The server was a nimrod (i.e. I asked "Can we get the three-course tasting menu?" and his response was "I don't know. Can you?") so we only left him a 10% tip. The next night, we went to Mabel's BBQ at the Palms (this was in 2020 right before the Big COVID Shutdown) and left their awesome server 35%: the 25% we felt like leaving him, and the additional 10% the guy at Pub and Grill had forfeited with his snobby attitude.

[hookedontv]

I don't know any contestants names yet so forgive me. I agree with the poster above that Alaska is pretty annoying right out of the gate, I hope she settles down. 

Having been a vegan for about 10 years (currently vegetarian), I frankly don't see how a vegan chef can do well in this competition considering all the meat dishes, the use of dairy products, etc. It's not a good fit. Nothing wrong at all with vegan chefs, I just don't know how one is supposed to run the kitchen of a restaurant that is so clearly meat dominant?

Side note: I am tired of the men's and women's teams. I wish they would just blindly pick an even number of men and women to form co-ed teams from the start. I just think it's silly. 

[lynxfx]

Normally 21-23 year olds look like babies to me but why do so many of these contestants look like they are in their late 30's already? 

[mertensia]

How on earth did that one guy come to the conclusion that Gordon didn't want to see the entire ribeye?

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

14 minutes ago, hookedontv said:

Side note: I am tired of the men's and women's teams. I wish they would just blindly pick an even number of men and women to form co-ed teams from the start. I just think it's silly. 

In the early going when we're being asked to remember a lot of names, "blue for men/red for women" is an easy way to keep track of who's on which team.

 

9 minutes ago, lynxfx said:

Normally 21-23 year olds look like babies to me but why do so many of these contestants look like they are in their late 30's already? 

The kitchen is a stressful place. It'll put years on you.

 

2 minutes ago, mertensia said:

How on earth did that one guy come to the conclusion that Gordon didn't want to see the entire ribeye?

Maybe he thought he was making an appetizer?

[KeithJ]

Although I've seen every season, this is going to be my first one that I haven't streamed and binge watched so it may be a little tough for me going to week to week.  All the beeping on commercial TV is going to be annoying as well. lol

What always gets me is the very beginning when they pull back the curtain and all the contestants are surprised there are people behind it.  Has none of them watched a single season before this?

Although I love this show, the egos on everyone just really really turns me off and I love seeing them get ripped to shreds by Gordon.

[Ms Blue Jay]

18 hours ago, jewel21 said:

Also, when Chef asked that female contestant's age and said she looked 16, I actually thought the opposite and thought she looked 40, heh. 

SO DID I.

I think Ramsay said that because she has braces.  He's so silly.

[EllaWycliffe]

57 minutes ago, hookedontv said:

Side note: I am tired of the men's and women's teams. I wish they would just blindly pick an even number of men and women to form co-ed teams from the start. I just think it's silly. 

I wish they would stop it because I honestly get so tired of the "Men suck!" "No, girls suck!" endless bitchery. It never changes. Its always ugly. Nothing has convinced me more that I don't want to work in a kitchen than the knowledge that in a high end kitchen with a world famous chef, its completely ok to judge others on their dicks or lack there of. The early episodes of every season are endless HR violations that get people fired. If working in a real kitchen means I have to be all "Yes sir, I'm a cunt bitch for making this error, call me by my new name Cunt Bitch cause thats ALL I am" then I have no interest in being a chef ever and it saddens me that this level of insulting behavior is required. 

Its also pretty noticiable that the mouthier male contestants never seem to win. I knew Declan from last season wasn't going anywhere because he was saying some problematic shit.

So far, aside from not having someone in their forties griping because the kids don't acknowledge his experience, (and I am sure there was some douche insisting he's super experienced compared to the other 20 somethings) this doesn't seem any different from other seasons.

[xcrayon2215x]

The one guy refusing to the proper ribeye was being really moronic, there seems to be more focus on the previous seasons than usual. There isn't one person I totally despise yet individually. 

[threebluestars]

Half way through the show I realized all of the contestants could be my children and I just about died. I still think I'm close in age to 20-year-olds lol.

I think he should do a challenge later in the season where they have to cook their signature meal again, but elevate it from what he first had to show they're actually learning from him.

[Eolivet]

I don't think 21-24 is millennial, if you want to get technical. They're Gen Z, I'm guessing. I thought millennial ended in 95-96.

[tinkerbell]

Young chefs: "Gordon Ramsey is SO HOT!  I've had a crush on him forever!"

Also young chefs: "Old people suck!  it's time for them to move on!" 

!

[Maximoose]

1 hour ago, tinkerbell said:

Young chefs: "Gordon Ramsey is SO HOT!  I've had a crush on him forever!"

Also young chefs: "Old people suck!  it's time for them to move on!" 

!

This is also the season they promo'd it by showing one of GR's usual rant clips followed by the narrator of the commercial saying "Okay Boomer" 😐

[tinkerbell]

It looks like Antonio is going to annoy me all season.  

[Chyromaniac]

3 hours ago, threebluestars said:

Half way through the show I realized all of the contestants could be my children and I just about died. I still think I'm close in age to 20-year-olds lol.

Well $#!t.  Yep, every single one of these people was born sometime between my Sophomore and Senior year of college...  Somehow I've wound up hanging out with mostly younger people now (through D&D, pub trivia, karaoke, etc...), so it can be easy to pretend that I'm not an Old.  And then HK: Young Guns comes along...

Good on Emily for talking Brynn down from her panic attack - it's always refreshing when a bit of genuine humanity manages to break through the train wreck nature of this show.  In general, I'm looking forward to this season - I actually think this is the demo that should be on a show like this.  When we get someone still looking for their big break at 40 or 50, you kind of just want to say, "hey, maybe you've already hit your level man..."  Even the stronger chefs are usually old enough to be kind of set in their ways - it'll be interested to see if this group adapts to HK any differently without quite as much professional baggage (good and bad).

I am a bit suspicious about the "prize" this season.   You not only get to be a "head chef" (already a nebulous position)  - but also Gordon's protégé?  How exactly does that work???  And did I miss something or did they not mention a cash value for the position?  Read those contracts carefully kids.

[Yeah No]

3 hours ago, Eolivet said:

I don't think 21-24 is millennial, if you want to get technical. They're Gen Z, I'm guessing. I thought millennial ended in 95-96.

Pretty much.  Some places stretch it to 1997 but pretty much!

1 hour ago, Maximoose said:

This is also the season they promo'd it by showing one of GR's usual rant clips followed by the narrator of the commercial saying "Okay Boomer" 😐

I know, I saw that, which is ironic because technically he's Gen X, not a Boomer, although I am well aware that the expression is used on Gen X too.

[jabRI]

13 hours ago, hookedontv said:

Side note: I am tired of the men's and women's teams. I wish they would just blindly pick an even number of men and women to form co-ed teams from the start. I just think it's silly. 

This. It should never be an option on any show ever, except maybe 'Tough as Nails'

[GHScorpiosRule]

9 hours ago, tinkerbell said:

Young chefs: "Gordon Ramsey is SO HOT!  I've had a crush on him forever!"

 

Until Gordon did whatever he did to his face, I used to think he was hot, too! But I still crush on him because I think he's an amazing chef and still want him to come to my place and show me how to cook a filet mignon like he does!

What?

[OoogleEyes]

Christina must be as busy as hell, considering she does this in addition to her regular full time gig. I wonder if she has any personal life.

Take a lot of balls for a 20 something to call himself the GOAT. We'll see, Chef Jay, we'll see.

 

[DoctorK]

29 minutes ago, OoogleEyes said:

Take a lot of balls for a 20 something to call himself the GOAT

This would annoy me more if I didn't suspect that the line was totally made up and scripted by the show's writers.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, DoctorK said:

This would annoy me more if I didn't suspect that the line was totally made up and scripted by the show's writers.

As most of the "bullshit" lines are. 

Drama = Ratings

[fishcakes]

16 hours ago, EllaWycliffe said:

So far, aside from not having someone in their forties griping because the kids don't acknowledge his experience, (and I am sure there was some douche insisting he's super experienced compared to the other 20 somethings) this doesn't seem any different from other seasons.

I quit watching this show years ago because every season was starting to be the same to me, but I did catch this episode and I agree. It's the same as it ever was except that the contestants seem to be legally obligated to mention how young they are in every talking head. The most obvious one was when they thought they were about to watch the documentary and the one woman said something like, "as young people, we are very interested in seeing this documentary." Heh. That's wasn't strained or anything.

17 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

On 5/31/2021 at 9:28 PM, jewel21 said:

Also, when Chef asked that female contestant's age and said she looked 16, I actually thought the opposite and thought she looked 40, heh. 

SO DID I.

I think Ramsay said that because she has braces.  He's so silly.

Me too.

Ramsay: You look 16!
Me: ???
Morgana: I have a baby face.
Me: No?

[jabRI]

3 hours ago, OoogleEyes said:

Christina must be as busy as hell, considering she does this in addition to her regular full time gig. I wonder if she has any personal life.

She's a beast of a worker, always loved her for that.  Her girlfriend was one of the 'celebrity' guests last season.

[DoctorK]

5 hours ago, fishcakes said:

as young people, we are very interested in seeing this documentary." Heh. That's wasn't strained or anything.

Yeah, that was a real clunker of a line, whoever wrote it should be ashamed.

[Yeah No]

On 6/1/2021 at 6:11 PM, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

On 6/1/2021 at 5:58 PM, lynxfx said:

Normally 21-23 year olds look like babies to me but why do so many of these contestants look like they are in their late 30's already? 

The kitchen is a stressful place. It'll put years on you.

They haven't been alive long enough for it to put THAT many years on them.  I agree with @lynxfx that a number of them look far older than they are.  This show has never picked people based on appearance, that's for sure.  Which is fine, the show is about cooking, it's not a pageant, LOL.

10 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Me too.

Ramsay: You look 16!
Me: ???
Morgana: I have a baby face.
Me: No?

LOL, me three.  Yikes.  

[peachmangosteen]

I haven't watched this in at least 10 years but one of the contestants is local-ish so I decided to give it a go. 

I had forgotten about how like Big Brother-ish it is. I do love drama so!

I too didn't think that woman Gordan said looked 16 looked that young but then she flashed the braces and I got it lol.

I'm confused by the ending. Did someone do something against the rules and is about to get kicked off the show?

[iwantcookies]

Matthew who didn’t clean his shrimp. What a rookie mistake.
 

Vegan chef : if she can cook meat good for her.

Edited June 4, 2021 by iwantcookies

[iwantcookies]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wric.com/entertainment-news/richmond-chef-keeps-quiet-about-tv-cooking-competition-for-roughly-two-years/amp/
 

this season was taped 2 years ago.

[fishcakes]

8 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I'm confused by the ending. Did someone do something against the rules and is about to get kicked off the show?

Wasn't that in the previews for next week? They always have those super dramatic previews that make it look like someone cooked a human arm or something, then when the episode airs, it turns out to be a minor mistake like they used the same tasting spoon twice.

[preeya]

13 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I'm confused by the ending. Did someone do something against the rules and is about to get kicked off the show?

The theme of the episode is cooking with alcohol. The previews are leading us to believe that someone did something related to the alcohol, either drinking it or sabotaging something. BUT, as someone else mentioned these preview clips can become very misleading. Most likely, just a ploy to get us talking and to keep us watching.

Edited June 5, 2021 by preeya

[Raiderred]

I was wondering if it was a weed vape pen since they are in Vegas. Meh

[peachmangosteen]

I thought this episode ended with Gordon saying someone broke the rules or something.

[preeya]

2 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I thought this episode ended with Gordon saying someone broke the rules or something.

It was the preview for the next episode.

[peachmangosteen]

I was so confused so I rewatched and at the end of the episode it's all dramatic and Gordon says, 'One of you will be leaving shortly,' and everyone is all 'This is insane!' so it didn't sound to me like he just meant whoever loses the challenge but I guess he did lol.

[sandwoman]

On 6/1/2021 at 2:58 PM, lynxfx said:

Normally 21-23 year olds look like babies to me but why do so many of these contestants look like they are in their late 30's already? 

Yeah, those were some rough-living 21-23 year olds.... 

[iwantcookies]

I agree. Real rough looking young people. 

[AryasMum]

Ramsay’s hatred of vegetarians continues. He gave the same score to a veggie dish he labelled “delicious” as he did a dish with literal shit. 

[bluepiano]

On 6/1/2021 at 2:58 PM, lynxfx said:

Normally 21-23 year olds look like babies to me but why do so many of these contestants look like they are in their late 30's already? 

I had the same thought. I am ready to call BS on the age thing, because several of the contestants they say are 21 look mid to late 20s. If that Antonio is really 23 than he will die of old age by the time he's 40. There's another contestant that's already losing his hair, not impossible at 22-23, but extremely rare. 

I'm wondering if they shot themselves in the foot by announcing this concept, then couldn't find enough decent contestants 23 or younger, so took older contestants on the condition they go along with the lie. 

It's hard to believe that GR would think any 21-23 year old is ready to be a head chef. I notice they're hedging the language and not saying exactly when the winner gets the job. But even if it's not for another couple of year seems weird, as GR talks a lot about how much he values experience, and that culinary school doesn't give you some training but doesn't prepare you for the real world.

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2021 by bluepiano