S13.E10: 9 Chefs Compete

[Tara Ariano]

Following the departure of two contestants from the competition, those remaining are challenged to create Indian-inspired meals, with the winning team earning a day of pampering at a luxurious spa. Later, effective communication serves one group well at dinner service, while some others continue to mess up at their stations.

[BogoGog24]

No chef has ever quit HK huh? What about Joy from last season?

[cooksdelight]

Aaron was a dumbass to quit, because Bryant would have been eliminated due to his craziness if nothing else. He screwed up scallops and didn't own up to it.

[ZoloftBlob]

Yeah but really, I get tired of reality show contestants being vilified for realizing that being on a reality show isn't the path to success.

[Florinaldo]

Good thing for Aaron if he not only realised that being on a reality show competing for a job that does not really exist as advertised was not for him, but also acted on it.

 

I can't help but wonder though if the producers did not entice him into quitting, to create surprise and drama and also to keep Bryant around since he brings the crazy like no one else on that brigade of semi-skilled kitchen workers. Perhaps Aaron got a job offer in one of GR's restaurants, one more in line with his interests and skills.

[WickedTuna]

WTH? I thought that was strange. I think Aaron realized he was out of his league. He's made it sound like he has experience in everything from sex checking chicken eggs to making dinner at the White House. Maybe he could get a spot on Dirty Jobs.

I don't know if you can call it rooting for but I think LaTasha is going to win it all. For me she seems like the best of what's left.

I'm not usually interested in the reward section so I was in the other room piddling around and missed some of dinner service. Did they mention who the Santa Clause stoner was?

[BogoGog24]

Do you mean the guy from ZZ Top?

[Kromm]

If I'm an owner and learn that my prospective chef has never even TASTED a cuisine as common as Indian food... they don't get hired.  Even if you don't cook it, being a chef is about having an experienced palate, and Indian food is like fourth most popular in the US among ethnic foods, after Chinese, Mexican and Italian.

[dialyn]

This will probably doom her but I also can see La Tasha winning this...she is the only one who has shown some consistent leadership skills and really tries to keep her team mates on track, and she seems to be able to cook.  I was very confused by Bryant's outburst...he was channeling some alternative version of himself and it wasn't pretty.  He didn't own up to his mistakes and started babbling in a way that made me wonder if the stress wasn't getting to him.  Aaron probably did what made most sense for him.  I don't know how much anyone really learns from Hell's Kitchen (I suppose you get well versed on risotto and scallops eventually).  Aaron seemed to think he had more skills than he actually showed while cooking (his self-advertised expertise in Indian food didn't seem to help him very much), but he did take responsibility for what happened on his station.  Probably best to walk away before turning into a Bryant.  Ramsey was wrong about what goes on outside of the kitchen has nothing to do with his choices...if a team member is acting irrationally and has lost the confidence of the other members of his or her team, that impacts everyone's performance in or out of the kitchen.  I can't, at this point, see Bryant managing a restaurant's kitchen.  I don't know why they bother with the little contests at the beginning...they always end up the same say.  Not exactly suspenseful to see the numbers manipulated to be ties or near-ties.  I'm not quite sure how someone who never made or tasted Indian food could manage to win but good for Jennifer for pulling it off.

[cooksdelight]

Ramsey was wrong about what goes on outside of the kitchen has nothing to do with his choices

He was really on a roll, first saying that no one had ever quit before (remember Joy, Gordon? Remember people who dropped out in the first or second rounds, puppet lady, Gordon?) but he's also intervened when he knew that fights were going on or people were having problems in the apartment.

[ZoloftBlob]

And frankly, considering how crazy Bryant was getting, I could see Aaron throwing in the towel with a "I'm not going to win anyway and I don't feel safe sharing a room with a psycho". I mean really, what cooking job is worth that?

[Primetimer]

One of the chefs melts down in the heat of Hell's Kitchen.

Read the story

[Totale]

I hope Sterling noticed Uzo Abuda in the room, since he's basing his act on her character in OITNB.  Jennifer who's never had Indian food knew to (and how to) use curry leaves in her dish, even though from the screen shot in the recap they apparently weren't on the board?  Was the pantry/spice cabinet open?  I thought only the ingredients on the board could be used in the dish. 

[xcrayon2215x]

Not surprised that Aaron went home this episode, since Bryant bring the crazy and has been pretty strong so far. La Tasha is looking pretty unstoppble right now, Jennifer and Sterling aren't bad either.

[Rammchick]

Did anyone else predict that Aaron was going to blow it after he proclaimed his "expertise" with Indian food?  Rhetorical question, I know.  Way to be surprising, show ;)  And then to downplay that expertise -- "Well, it was only 8 months, and it was Indian-inspired French..."  Good for him in a way, for realizing his limitations with this competition. 

 

And yeah, unless she got a lot of help from the others, how did Jennifer pull off a win if she'd never even eaten Indian food before?

[BogoGog24]

Did anyone else notice in dinner service and the fight upstairs that Bryant's glasses were alternating between being on and off? 

 

I think what Aaron probably meant with his comments but didn't really want to outright say is that HK is not a credible way of "making it" in the food industry. There are many other TV cooking competitions such as Top Chef, Chopped, etc. that are seen as more legitimate, but HK is basically a joke to the food industry. While many incredible chefs have come from this show, I don't think chefs or the industry in general view it as very credible. In which case I can understand Aaron's decision to leave. On the other hand, I disagree with him that he could learn more, studying under Chef Ramsay is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and as Ramsay pointed out, one which thousands (or at least hundreds) of people have tried out for. If I was a rejected contestant from that season, I'd have been pissed someone who beat me for the spot just threw it away. Especially with only 8 other people left.

[Donny Ketchum]

No chef has ever quit HK huh? What about Joy from last season?

Simone also quit right at elimination last season, back in week three.

[Drogo]

 

Bryant would have been eliminated due to his craziness if nothing else. He screwed up scallops and didn't own up to it.

 

The scallops couldn't handle how much 'MO DOMINANT he was.

 

Color me impressed with Fernando's reaction or lack thereof to Bryant's faux-"Hold-Me-Back-Bro" routine.  Little dude didn't flinch.  

 

Bryant should be careful and think back to Fernando (Nando) Parrado from "Alive"-  You just know he would totally eat the other contestants if push came to shove. 

Edited November 21, 2014 by Drogo

[DropTheSoap]

Was Simone the crazy puppet lady? I remember there was a crazy puppet lady who walked away early on.

[Julia]

Was Simone the crazy puppet lady? I remember there was a crazy puppet lady who walked away early on.

Yep. She was the puppet lady "chef" who interviewed about being from the Bronx and turned out to be a counter worker at a taco stand in Maryland where she grew up. Personally, I think she was pushed after she walked off from the first dinner prep and took a restorative nap on camera.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Julia

[Canada]

Simone wasn't crazy puppet lady.  She had crazy eyes, though!

 

Gina was crazy puppet lady: http://www.thebraiser.com/hells-kitchen-season-11-episode-1/

[backformore]

Did anyone else predict that Aaron was going to blow it after he proclaimed his "expertise" with Indian food?  Rhetorical question, I know.  Way to be surprising, show ;)  And then to downplay that expertise -- "Well, it was only 8 months, and it was Indian-inspired French..."  Good for him in a way, for realizing his limitations with this competition. 

 

And yeah, unless she got a lot of help from the others, how did Jennifer pull off a win if she'd never even eaten Indian food before?

Doesn't it seem like this is the same every season?  Ramsey says they're going to be cooking a certain kind of cuisine.   The chef who says "easy!  I've done this a million times, I've got it in the bag"  is the one who fails.   The one who says "What?  I never heard of it, I have no idea what to do!"  scores highest.  

 

The fact that this happens SO OFTEN makes me not trust it at all. 

 

Ramsey seems to be all about repeating the same stuff over and over, the cast changes, but it's all just variations on the same theme.   If there wasn't so much manipulation and added drama, the show would be interesting to watch.  

[cooksdelight]

It's like going to a long-running Broadway play. The actors may change, but the plot remains the same. I have no idea what the ratings for this episode were, but it has to be low.

[niklj]

Second time that promos promised there being some weird romance among the contestants only to be a lie. Although I wonder what that quote from Sade came from (maybe she was talking about Gordon)?

 

That blow-up from Bryant looked somewhat improv-y, as if the producers said something like "We missed your earlier blow-up, you guys have to reenact it for the cameras."

 

The Sterling rap music video was hilarious. Wish they incorporated some of his song from the breakfast episode haha.

Edited November 23, 2014 by niklj

[BogoGog24]

Hah! Yes Sade was probably talking about GR. I've personally never seen it but many women think he's hot lol

It has been known for reality shows to redo scenes and if a fight occurs that they didn't get or didn't get exactly what they wanted, they'll ask them to do it over and prompt them to act in certain ways. Bryant was acting so bizarre, like some ghetto alter ego version of himself, that I don't know how much of it could have been real.