S14.E05: 14 Chefs Compete

[cooksdelight]

The teams compete to make the most impressive cheesy dishes to win an ocean adventure.

[cooksdelight]

Monique thought she was the best chef there? Really? She lives on Krypton.

[ElleryAnne]

Well, Monique definitely had to go.  I was willing to give her a pass on her very basic grilled cheese, but that spinach looked like a baby spit it back up.  Or maybe it was something out of a can, since that's Monique's specialty.   (I like my spinach fresh or very lightly sauteed. Not sure what that reheated stuff was actually supposed to be. Boiled?)

 

Milly has been one of my picks for top 4, but he lost a few points with me tonight.  What kind of chef doesn't know how to make an enchilada?  I suppose I could ask what kind of chef doesn't know how to make croquettes, too, but I think it was Brendan who didn't know that one, and he's a zero as a chef anyway.  He needs to be gone soon.

 

Of course, if the men are going to have pity parties every week, they'll probably all be kept around for DRAMA.  I think most of the remaining chef's on the women's team are competent and seem like they'd be drama-free if not for whatever scripted sabotage is coming down the pike at them.

 

The jet-ski reward looked like fun. 

[mojoween]

There is something about Sarah that I do not like but I can't articulate it.

Monique is just a terrible person. Alison is making cogent, rationed points without resorting to putdowns. Monique opens her mouth and every other word is fuck while she says bad things about Christine. Christine did do terribly, but Monique was just delusional.

And it looked like she didn't even taste the spinach when they all had to. She made this weird smacky motion with her mouth and it was clear she didn't have anything in there.

That Italian guy is annoying and it's ok if he's next to go.

[Eolivet]

No, before the Italian guy goes, I want the sexist jerk (Josh?) gone -- the one who ogled the cheese platter holders. I won't judge the contestants on making gross comments about splitting the cheese, because that's something the show could've edited out and chose not to (so that's their gross, sexist tendencies). But they had one shot of a woman walking by, holding a cheese platter and just the sight of her made that guy think of his dick? That's disgusting! [/Chef Ramsay voice]

 

(To be...marginally fair, Josh isn't as hateful as Anton from last season -- a dyed in the wool misogynist. Josh seems more "obnoxious sexist dillweed" than "vicious, pathological hatred of women.")

 

Dear Chef Ramsay of the Future...Please send T. to the men's team at some point...she will have them crying like little boys in no time.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Eolivet

[leisawoo]

Ok, so the wimmens (hate gender comps lol) got back from an ENTIRE day of jet skiing and the menzes JUST got into the "giant" wheel of cheese? Thank you for stretching credulity in so many big and small ways, show. Okay, show, okay. Lol. I thought Secrets & Lies and The Blacklist did stretching waaaaay better. Or not, lol.

[WickedTuna]

Damn I wish T would dial it back a notch. She is on the other girls for the least little thing. I did laugh at her impression of Ramsay yelling It's RAW!!

Thank the culinary gods Monique is gone. That grilled cheese was like something a 3 year old would come up with.

As a platinum card holder in the GTHIAH club I get a kick out of Bret failing. I was glad when his calzones didn't come out.

Then there was Brendan and his gnocchi. Did he really think Ramsay wouldn't notice or did he just want to put something up.

[queenanne]

 

Milly has been one of my picks for top 4, but he lost a few points with me tonight.  What kind of chef doesn't know how to make an enchilada?  I suppose I could ask what kind of chef doesn't know how to make croquettes, too, but I think it was Brendan who didn't know that one, and he's a zero as a chef anyway.  He needs to be gone soon.

 

Don't forget, that was an exemplar of Milly's crying pity party "I do not haz a money to experiment with these exotic foods".  I’m sorry, Milly, but that’s BS… isn’t it?  I confess I haven’t paid attention to your chyron because you strike me as comparable in skills to many of the chefs we are told worked fine dining, but O RLLY?  You have never heard of a freakin’ enchilada?  You can buy ‘em for $4.25 in my neighborhood.  (Perhaps slight exaggeration but KWIM?)  I feel pretty sure that “even in Philly", "cheap Mexican food” exists as a category, and is something with which you could eagerly experiment.  It’s not like he got stuck with the damn croquette (and even then he might have Southern relations).

 

(ETA to add:  I just slo-mo'ed, and Monique unquestionably lifted a clean spoon out of that pan for her "tasting".  I didn't even spot an edge of green, which I think in retrospect might have been the point of going aerial for the camera shot.)

Edited April 1, 2015 by queenanne

[Julia]

Don't forget, that was an exemplar of Milly's crying pity party "I do not haz a money to experiment with these exotic foods".  I’m sorry, Milly, but that’s BS… isn’t it?  I confess I haven’t paid attention to your chyron because you strike me as comparable in skills to many of the chefs we are told worked fine dining, but O RLLY?  You have never heard of a freakin’ enchilada?  You can buy ‘em for $4.25 in my neighborhood.  (Perhaps slight exaggeration but KWIM?)  I feel pretty sure that “even in Philly", "cheap Mexican food” exists as a category, and is something with which you could eagerly experiment.

I'm costing it out in my head, and I'm pretty sure I could feed four people more enchiladas than they could finish for ten bucks if I shopped carefully. Also, unless kitchens are staffed very differently in Philadelphia than they are in New York, I question his never encountering mexican food at staff meal.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Julia

[BogoGog24]

No, before the Italian guy goes, I want the sexist jerk (Josh?) gone -- the one who ogled the cheese platter holders. I won't judge the contestants on making gross comments about splitting the cheese, because that's something the show could've edited out and chose not to (so that's their gross, sexist tendencies). But they had one shot of a woman walking by, holding a cheese platter and just the sight of her made that guy think of his dick? That's disgusting! [/Chef Ramsay voice]

(To be...marginally fair, Josh isn't as hateful as Anton from last season -- a dyed in the wool misogynist. Josh seems more "obnoxious sexist dillweed" than "vicious, pathological hatred of women.")

Dear Chef Ramsay of the Future...Please send T. to the men's team at some point...she will have them crying like little boys in no time.

The men ogling the cheese holders was annoying and irritating but I think it's a stretch to call it sexist. It's not like if they had hunky men doing it that the women wouldn't have reacted in exactly the same way, yet no one would have called that sexist. I overall I like Josh. He does seem nice and he's about the only eye candy on the men's team. He was shown flirting with a lot of the red team in an earlier episode so I think he is just a flirtatious type of guy. That's not sexist. There have been way worse displays of sexism on this show than somebody ogling a pretty woman.

Also I didn't see how the sexy cheese comments were "sexist" either. They were funny and that's how it was meant to be. They have almost always done this type of editing in past seasons where the teams would have to do some type of physical punishment like making meatballs or grinding cheese or whatever and they made sexual jokes out of it. It's always just been light hearted fun.

Edited April 1, 2015 by BogoGog24

[Julia]

I agree that the comments were sexist, I agree that women making similar comments would also be sexist, I don't agree that light-hearted objectification is less sexist than the somber kind, I do agree that the whole episode was a tragically failed attempt by the editors to squeeze a little risqué humor into the proceedings, and I too wish they'd stop.

 

I don't think we know if ogle guy is more of a sexist than the rest, since we have no way of knowing if that was even what he was responding to when he started flashing on his penis. For the time being, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and figure he's just really willing to look swinish if it makes the editors happy and keeps him on TV a little longer. It's kind of a time-honored tradition on Hell's Kitchen.

[Eolivet]

I don't recall the women holding the cheese platters being in bikinis or particularly cleavage-bearing outfits, though. They looked like standard "models" (I guess). Josh is also the one who's made comments about losing to "a bunch of girls" I believe, in the last episode -- so it's not just an isolated incident.

 

I think the "pounding" of the cheese belongs in a different category, because that's easily edited out -- and the editors chose to leave it in. Plus, it seemed like all the men were joining in, making it more like a locker room atmosphere (not like that's a great thing, but...). I only heard Josh commenting on the cheese platter holders.

 

If all of his fellow not-ready-for-Mensa teammates managed to keep their focus on the cheese (and thus, the competition), and only one went with (implied) "Me man, you girl, let's screw"...I'm still going with "sexist jerk" for Josh.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Eolivet

[BogoGog24]

Maybe he made a comment I missed because I don't recall anything of the kind.

[Donny Ketchum]

Yet another week where the women really only falter due to one or two people, but still get thrown out.  Meanwhile, the men fuck up left and right and are still allowed to finish service?  I really don't get Ramsay sometimes.

 

I don't get how Christine avoided the chopping block when she was the one who got the women kicked out in the first place.  Sarah screwed up one time, but got it together.  She shouldn't have been up there.

 

At least Monique's finally gone.  She was seriously deluded as to how strong she was as a chef.

[Surrealist]

Yet another week where the women really only falter due to one or two people, but still get thrown out. Meanwhile, the men fuck up left and right and are still allowed to finish service? I really don't get Ramsay sometimes.

Exactly. If Gordon's going to throw out the red team for what a couple of the chefs did, then he should have thrown out the blue team too.

Also, I was surprised that Gordon didn't call up Christine to the chopping block. He could see that she had screwed up the fish station. Maybe they didn't want to do another triple this week.

Maybe Gordon wanted to use his lacking passion speech to Sarah. We haven't had one of those in a couple of weeks. ;-)

[Lillybee]

I realize that Monique was bad but Brandon was so much worse. He should have been the one gone. Millie doesn't like cheese so I can understand why he doesn't know much about Mexican cooking, but he did ok.

[OlfinBedwere]

Yet another week where the women really only falter due to one or two people, but still get thrown out.  Meanwhile, the men fuck up left and right and are still allowed to finish service?  I really don't get Ramsay sometimes.

 

In past seasons it's always seemed more the other way around. One of the women screws up, Ramsay just throws her out and lets the rest of the team carry on. One of the men screws up, Ramsay throws them all out.

 

That said, Adam and Bret only seemed to screw up on their first orders, and I don't think even Ramsay's that short-tempered. Brendan did seem to screw up a lot more, but it wasn't clear whether he was doing it throughout service, or just got temporarily stalled halfway through. The women, on the other hand, seemed to really struggled from the word go.

[BogoGog24]

Maybe he was just trying to even out the teams, IDK, I don't remember how many men have been booted already.

Christine should have been nominated.

[cooksdelight]

They were even in numbers until this most recent elimination, I think.

[Donny Ketchum]

That said, Adam and Bret only seemed to screw up on their first orders, and I don't think even Ramsay's that short-tempered. Brendan did seem to screw up a lot more, but it wasn't clear whether he was doing it throughout service, or just got temporarily stalled halfway through. The women, on the other hand, seemed to really struggled from the word go.

I wouldn't say from the word go.  Sarah did mess up the first appetizer, but pulled it together with Meghan's help.  After that, save for Monique screwing up something as simple as the garnish (out of which Alison had to bail her), they pretty much plowed through the appetizers and were well ahead of the men in starting the entrees.  That was where Christine messed them all up with her incompetence with the salmon.  Hence why it beguiles me that she didn't at least go up.

[Surrealist]

I know the clip from the upcoming episode set us up to think that Meghan won't be for long, but I'm not sure I believe that. Those clips are never what I think they are.

 

I think Meghan might be around until the Finale. Clearly she's one of few who knows what she's doing in this latest crop.

[Such A Flirt]

Meghan totally owns the place. She's not going anywhere.

 

That Bret can cook, but he's got some serious anger management issues. And I can't believe he's only 30. He kinda reminds me of Shane on "The Walking Dead" after he shaved off his hair. (And the guy with the glasses (Brendan?) reminds me of Doctor Who # 11.)

[Surrealist]

Meghan totally owns the place. She's not going anywhere.

 

That Bret can cook, but he's got some serious anger management issues. And I can't believe he's only 30. He kinda reminds me of Shane on "The Walking Dead" after he shaved off his hair. (And the guy with the glasses (Brendan?) reminds me of Doctor Who # 11.)

 

I hate the fake out teaser clips.

 

Bret's 30? Wow.

[BogoGog24]

Interview with Monique:

[nottopbravo]

I hope the people who do the between commercial graphics are paid well, because that was the only thing of interest this episode.

[Canada]

Thank you, Such A Flirt!  I've been trying to figure out who Bret reminds me of and you gave me the answer.  Crazy Shane!!

[EarlGreyTea]

No, before the Italian guy goes, I want the sexist jerk (Josh?) gone -- the one who ogled the cheese platter holders. I won't judge the contestants on making gross comments about splitting the cheese, because that's something the show could've edited out and chose not to (so that's their gross, sexist tendencies). But they had one shot of a woman walking by, holding a cheese platter and just the sight of her made that guy think of his dick? That's disgusting! [/Chef Ramsay voice]

 

 

I've noticed there is a whole lot of ogling on the men's teams on this show, all the time (not to say that the women don't, but it's not as rampant). This season the cheese platter holder, but other male contestants in past seasons have ogled Andi, any female chefs whose restaurants they go to for rewards, those beauty pageant girls they had to teach a meal to a few seasons back, Holly Marie Combs (I get that one, lol), etc., etc. It's annoying.

 

Although nothing was as bad as that misogynist pig Anton. He was disgusting.

Edited April 6, 2015 by EarlGreyTea

[BogoGog24]

I know a contestant who can top Anton or anyone else in the misogynist department: Jason (I think that's his name) from season 4.