S14.E09: 9 Chefs Compete

[cooksdelight]

 

A challenge involving exotic proteins, including alligator, ostrich and wild boar, is followed by chef Ramsay giving the remaining nine contestants one-on-one evaluations and sending one of the weakest team members home.

 

[cooksdelight]

Another spa day. Why don't they just send them to Universal Studios? It's nearby, you can get through the entire place by 5.

[Kip Hackman]

That protein challenge couldn't have been any more predictable. Every week is like watching an episode that you've seen 13 times before.

 

And still, I watch.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Kip Hackman

[ElleryAnne]

I don't know why they bothered with having anyone go after the exotic proteins if Ramsay was just going to ask the woman without the protein which one she wanted.

 

If I never see anyone vomit on this show again, I'll be very happy.  Forcing people to consume barely-edible stuff against their will as a punishment is not my idea of entertainment.   It's reminiscent of fraternity hazing rituals, and I was never a fan of those either.  I don't mind when the losing team has to do the work for both kitchens,  but challenge punishments that cause them to be physically ill?  I don't get the appeal of it.

[cooksdelight]

Just once, I'd like them to revolt. Cross their arms and refuse to drink that crap. What's Ramsay going to do, send them all home?

[Kip Hackman]

I doubt they have much more than 1 or 2 sips. Just enough to get some decent footage.

[niklj]

I wonder why they chose to do an elimination that way? That was random.

 

Laughed so hard at GR playing mind games with Josh. I had to rewind his phone call twice. "Josh, is anyone else there?" "Right away, Chef--er, uh, what?"

[Donny Ketchum]

I wonder why they chose to do an elimination that way? That was random.

Not so random.  They did it that way at the F12 in HK12.  Richard and Jessica were voted as the weakest on each of their teams, too, and had to cook for their lives.  Jessica lost, so she was sent packing.  Richard survived until F9, when he was finally booted.

 

I figured Christine would go since the teams needed to be evened up again, though I would've liked the surprise of him sending Randy packing.  Now that he's been labeled as a "one-trick pony" by Nick, his chances of winning have pretty much plummeted.  Not that Christine is any real loss, either, since she was pretty weak.

 

Despite what T said, I'm glad Michelle didn't keep needling the team with their exclusion of her dish in the challenge.  It felt pretty good that she got the only real milkshake during the punishment.  Just felt right.

 

Glad we're back to the services next week.

[Julia]

What on earth is fresh about tomatoes confit?

Didn't really care about the lowest chef cookoff, because I was pretty sure the blue team was going to win. Also, pretty sure at this point that Milly is our POV character. Don't think he's going to win, though. He's way too invested in pretending he's too cool for the room.

[OlfinBedwere]

I wonder why they chose to do an elimination that way? That was random.

 

They also did it the season before last. Though at least this time they at least had the decency to show us the elimination during the episode, rather than pulling the "TO BE CONTINUED" card yet again.

 

Christine looked like she might have been on the up last week, but she looked so out of her depth this week it was actually kind of sad. Still, the red team should be pretty much unstoppable from this point; wouldn't surprise me if the black team turns out to be all four remaining women, plus Milly and whichever of the men manages to suck least in the weeks ahead.

[Jersey Guy 87]

I wonder why they chose to do an elimination that way? That was random.

 

Laughed so hard at GR playing mind games with Josh. I had to rewind his phone call twice. "Josh, is anyone else there?" "Right away, Chef--er, uh, what?"

 

They've done the elimination this way before, as others have pointed out.

I also loved Gordon messing with Josh.  Probably the highlight of the episode.

No surprise, the person who "sat out" the challenge prepared the best dish.  Michelle could have made just about anything and the judges would have deemed her dish the best.  And it's not like T had a bad dish, she scored an 11, I think, and won her round.  It's the women who scored sixes that cost them.

[DropTheSoap]

Why do I think that whoever wasn't chosen for the exotic protein challenge was going to be told their dish was best of the day. (I.e., it would have been T deemed best if Michelle's was used.)

[Canada]

I've never understood on this show why the contestants don't refuse to eat/drink the gross foods/drinks they're presented with after losing a challenge.  You're grown adults... just say no!  Dumb.

[Julia]

So I'm wondering who the guys from Animal have pictures of with a goat. I haven't ever heard anything about their place that makes it sound like it's any great shakes, except for the part about being the biggest douche misogynist carnivores ever, and surely offending vegans isn't worth that much. And I not only agree that they would have given Michelle a five for whatever the women didn't serve, I'm pretty sure the woman would have gotten a two if they'd presented that dog's dinner that won it for the guys.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Julia

[ZoloftBlob]

You're grown adults... just say no!  Dumb.

 

They're not allowed. Just like they aren't allowed to refuse the chore punishments even though a few of them look dangerous (I notice we don't see the "unload the truck with nothing but your bare hands" punishments as often) or humiliating - the pick up trash by the road side punishments, the picking thru vomity maggot filled trash for recyclables.

[Julia]

Except periodically someone does refuse, and they don't get kicked off unless they happen to screw up in service.

[hacman00]

I'm 80% sure they were all vanilla or chocolate milkshakes and the contestants were just told to ham it up.. 

[BusyOctober]

 

I'm 80% sure they were all vanilla or chocolate milkshakes and the contestants were just told to ham it up..

mmmm...ham milk shakes!

[Neet]

I'm 80% sure they were all vanilla or chocolate milkshakes and the contestants were just told to ham it up.. 

That's what I thought, too. Most of those dishes the chefs are forced to eat just look like regular food dressed up like something else. I really doubt GR cares if his next executive chef can survive drinking an alligator milkshake, considering that's not going to be on the menu.

[cooksdelight]

If that's the case, I'd love to see someone gulp it down, "Mmmmmmm, this is delicious!!" Andi would probably kick them in the shins.

[OlfinBedwere]

I'm pretty sure there's been at least one contestant in the past who's enjoyed the protein shakes, though I can't for the life of me remember who.

 

One thing I do remember is the women in S8 having to eat some really nasty seafood after losing a challenge, and Gail not exactly enjoying it per se, but shrugging it off and basically saying "Meh, I've eaten worse."

[WickedTuna]

I absolutely hate those guys from Animal. They are such dicks.

I must be a sadist because I loved when they kept dropping the fake snakes on them.

[MajorWoody]

I agree with the others about Michelle's dish was going to be raved about by the judges once it was voted out by the rest of the team. I'm sure the script was written so no matter which dish was the extra, that was going to happen, even if it turned out to be a plate of Alpo.

I'm pretty sure the animal guys (aka pretentious hipster d-bags) have been used before, and were just as annoying.

Anyone else think that at least one of the guys was going to make some idotic comments about the spa reward? I really expected a happy ending joke thrown in there, maybe it was and somehow got edited out. I guess a spa visit is a step up from the roller rink, though. I thought they were going to follow up the roller rink reward with a trip through the car wash, with the appropriate oohs and aahs.

It was a foregone conclusion that a woman would be leaving, so there was no real drama. I'm liking Randy more and more, but he might be too bland and of course his age works against the TV mindset.

The sooner Nick leaves the better, I'm surprised someone hasn't given him a knuckle sandwich yet.

[Julia]

I'm pretty sure the animal guys (aka pretentious hipster d-bags) have been used before, and were just as annoying.

 

The Animal guys were judges on an episode of Top Chef. One of the contestants (a woman, naturally) had turned them down for a job at her restaurant. They were complete assholes about it. I've seen them pop up a lot since - they're apparently big figures in the vaguely Esquireish nature red in tooth and claw red meat dudebro world - and I've never seen anything out of them to make me reconsider the bad impression I got that first time.

[ClarissaDarling]

I hated the Animal guys but I was glad to be granted a reprieve from the chefs pretending to care a whit about some D-list celebrity. I know William Shatner doesn't qualify there but my god I cringed when they all acted like he was Kate Upton. 

[Rammchick]

And here we go with the "ooga booga" EW SNAKES! bit again.  What is it with Gordon Ramsay?  He pulled that on last season's Master Chef Junior too.  Some of us love our reptile pets and I'm damned tired of seeing these animals shown as only worthy of being objects of fear. 

[gigi1701]

And here we go with the "ooga booga" EW SNAKES! bit again.  What is it with Gordon Ramsay?  He pulled that on last season's Master Chef Junior too.  Some of us love our reptile pets and I'm damned tired of seeing these animals shown as only worthy of being objects of fear. 

 

I feel your pain as an owner of a cute and loving mini pig, I get tired of hearing about how wonderful bacon is. I have always hated it. Too greasy. I use smoked salmon as a substitute. I don't have reptiles any more, but I still have fire belly toads. Lovely little creatures.  I am not afraid of snakes or tarantulas, but raccoons, that is another story, they are mean.

[backformore]

I've never understood on this show why the contestants don't refuse to eat/drink the gross foods/drinks they're presented with after losing a challenge.  You're grown adults... just say no!  Dumb.

Right - it's not Amazing race, where they cannot move on until they finish, no matter how gross.  (previous seasons, I think they did away with those challenges now)  On HK, all they really have to do is take a pretend sip and make retching noises.   Nobody stands there and says they have to down the whole thing.

 

The more I watch this show, the more I see GR as being stuck in some bullying  frat-boy hazing mentality.  He wants to freak people out - make them think they'll have to cook snakes and rats, drop snakes on them and sit back and laugh.  Use airhorns and sirens to wake people out of a sound sleep, just for kicks.  having chefs run around in the clothes they slept in, and chase animals .  The one season where he had them ride tiny children's tricycles in a race - like a bully laughing at the fat kids on the playground. 

 

Even his teasing about the two guys (one of them gay)  still wearing their spa robes  when he summoned them to the kitchen - "What were you two DOING?"  seemed like a mean-spirited way to imply a sexual hookup.  

[BogoGog24]

I actually honestly thought that same thing with the robes.

I think Randy seems like a decent cook and overall nice, sweet guy and I give massive respect to anyone who served in the military, but does anyone else get a total Forrest Gump vibe from him? He's just so doofy sometimes. Anytime he speaks he sounds like Forrest Gump. He could be the best cook remaining (which he isn't) and I still think he would not get the job because I don't see anyone taking him seriously with that country bumpkin schtick.

[Eolivet]

I really enjoyed the "Cook for your life" challenge, and I wish they'd change the format of the show to service first, cook for your life afterwards (and get rid of the dumb reward/punishment that generally has no effect on service/nominations anyway). I know this isn't Top Chef, but I'd infinitely prefer "who made the worst dish" as a factor (along with service) for elimination as opposed to "Who do your teammates just not like this week, which may be overuled by Chef Ramsay." I know it can be manipulated, as much as anything on this show, but it would give it some (even pretend) semblance of fairness or at least more fairness than the quasi-Big Brother nomination process.

 

And those Animal guys are terrible actors. I think I saw one grimacing when they tried Michelle's dish.