S12.E14: 8 Chefs Compete

[Bella]

 

The remaining contestants face the blind taste test, with the winning team getting an ice skating lesson with figure skater Rachael Flatt; the contestants struggle to stay organized during the dinner service.

 

 

[cooksdelight]

YAY!!! Anton and his ugly voice are gone!

I missed the first half due to thunderstorms cutting out my signal, so a recap of that... anyone... would be great!

I got signal back just as dinner service started so I got to see Kaisha's salmon mess, Anton's smackdown with Andi and his wasted Wellingtons. Poor Scott, he can't win for losing. But, he also needs to LOOK at what he's sending up. What is it with these chefs that they don't look at what's in their hands?

[XtremeOne1]

I'm pretty sure winning Hell's Kitchen makes you the winner of Hell's Kitchen.

 

Man, I don't like any of these people. If I'm honest with myself I only watch this show for my love of cooking shows. They're just so unlikable and I can't see any of them running a kitchen.

[LakeGal]

Chef was right.  Anton has been on a downward spiral.  His ego grew but his cooking ability fell apart.  I don't think I could work with him and have to listen to that voice all the time. 

 

I really don't think any of these cooks are good enough to win.  It is embarrassing.  And they all seem to fall apart under pressure.

[BogoGog24]

Looks like Rochelle is running away with this thing. Can't believe Gabriel is STILL there. 

Also does anyone else notice when Kaisha says "frustrating" she actually says "flustrating?" Weird...

[mojoween]

The backside of Anton is the only result I would have found palatable tonight. Melanie can go next because she is unbelievably annoying. I mean, when Anton was STILL bitching about the ovens after service I cannot fathom why she felt the need to comment. Then that obnoxious red-bearded fellow can git.

I do think Andi or whatever her name is was just a little bit over the top. "Get it together!" "I do have it together." "DON'T TALK BACK TO ME!"

[Julia]

[rehash, more dramatic than I remember it as, but with no Anton/Melanie lustwerks]

Melanie really, really likes her chances on the Blue team. She thinks she was a leader on Red, and she's going to be a leader on Blue.

They're trying tuna tartare/carrot cake and spaghetti and meatballs/some other dessert, but they turn out to be weird nouvelle/molecular recreations (as, the spaghetti is in fruit sauce, the carrot cake is veal and the tuna is some kind of wilted watermelon). They're all grossed out. Ramsay says that tastebuds are an important element of cooking (!) and announces the blind taste test.

Rochelle pushes the blue team ahead by figuring out that filet mignon is made of cow. Neither Anton nor Gabriel recognize peas, but they both get mozzarella. Scott thinks hot dogs are fish, cucumber is radish and green beans are squash. Melanie thinks parships are squash, Kashia thinks bell pepper is squash. Melanie spit out the chicken before guessing it was turkey. Kashia keeps it in her mouth but also thinks it's turkey. Kashia recognizes cheddar (Melanie thinks it's gruyere).

Red team goes ice skating with an olympic skater I've never heard of, but I'm pig ignorant about sports so that doesn't mean much. Anton announces that he's an "ass man," which he apparently means as a compliment to the olympic skater rather than a personal epiphany. Blue team needs to unload an ice truck and hand churn ice cream. The blue team would rather not be chopping ice. Scott can sort of skate, Anton thinks Scott is competent because he's a suckup, and he has more thoughts about the olympic skater's ass. Also, somehow he pulled a groin muscle before he got back to the restaurant, which I'd rather not think about.

Gabriel's pensive, which his team is concerned about except for Melanie, who is spewing threats like a bantam capon from the privacy of her interview. Ramsay pulls him off to have a conversation in the walk in, which, bluntly is where I'd rather be during prep in LA in the summer. Ramsay would like to see Gabriel step up.

Service starts. Scott's doing well, so Anton offers to help. Scott takes the help, after backing Anton off. Jason's doing well on the app station.

There's a young lady in the dining room who's wearing a tiara. I kind of love her.

Kashia shorts one scallop on three orders, because she's having trouble with 3 x 5. She gets the missing scallop up in less than two minutes. Rochelle sends up pink chicken. Gabriel helpfully points out that pink chicken is not good. Kashia scorched the skin of her salmon and braised the under side, which led to a fairly mild chewing out from Ramsay and some unhelpful sullen grumbling from Kashia which Ramsay chooses not to hear too clearly. He askes if she's OK. She says she is.

Gabriel steps up on garnish, and Anton makes some scary-ass pink chicken which Scott slices and doesn't catch. Anton blames Scott for being a vindictive little bitch for serving the food Anton said was cooked without salvaging it. Kashia cooks the salmon right, but Anton's camping with the wellingtons so she has to refire. Ramsay checks Rochelle's wellingtons, and he says he wouldn't have known she was new to professional kitchens. Scott likes working with the women.

Anton says all his wellingtons are grey because the red kitchen has a bad oven. Then he trashtalks Andi because he says "she has issues with being a woman in the kitchen." She has to scream at him to get him to shut up. Ramsay drags him into the walk in, where Anton says that he's got it together. Ramsay checks Rochelle's wellingtons and says that he's rarely had a service that good in Hell's Kitchen. Melanie takes a victory lap.

Ramsay says Gabriel stepped up (on Blue) but Anton sunk his team (Red). Anton says the oven was enough off to make a difference of four minutes in cooking the wellingtons. Pretty much everyone doesn't want to hear it. Anton said he's not going to sugar coat the fact that he's a natural born leader. Joy tells him to shut up, especially when Andi is talking to him. Kashia and Joy are also both pissed off at Scott, although it isn't clear why (the suggestion is that they're protecting each other, although the suggestion is coming from Scott, so FWIW).

Anton's going home. Big eye roll, and Anton Fosse'd off voiceovering that Ramsay doesn't realize that he really won, which I have no idea.

Kashia has passion. Scott wants to prove he's a leader. Gabriel needs to kick all his competitors' asses.

Next time: everyone's extremely shocked by something. Really, really surprised. Boy, are they surprised. Surprised, is what I'm getting at. Also, counterintuitively, someone goes home next week.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Julia

[Eolivet]

Man, I loved how Joy tore into both guys on the red team. She took them completely apart, but in a totally professional manner. I may have needed a cigarette afterwards.

 

I think Jason has a little crush on Rochelle, but maybe that's just me.

 

Buh-bye, Anton. Too bad for you that Hell's Kitchen doesn't serve misogyny.

[Tabasco Cat]

My prediction for the final 2 is some combination of Jason, Joy and Rochelle. I can't see any of the others making it to the end. Gabriel should have been gone weeks ago. Kaisha and Scott don't impress me. Melanie might squeak through but she doesn't impress all that much and she thinks she's some sort of great leader which I don't see at all.

 

The surprise thing next week looks uber fake. Ramsay parades the remaining contestants out in front of what looks like a press conference, but the quick shots of the attendees leaning forward in their seats with tape recorders and microphones thrust out in front of them, hanging on every word being spoken.... looks fake as hell. Just like the Anton-Melanie flirting we were promised in the coming-attractions 3 weeks ago that never materialized. Meh.

 

I'm rapidly approaching the point where I just want it to be over and I don't really care who wins. But I made it this far into the season so I'll ride it out to the end.

[threebluestars]

Has anyone ever tried a blind taste test? Are they really that hard, or are these people just terrible?

[barkley]

Has anyone ever tried a blind taste test? Are they really that hard, or are these people just terrible?

A large part of it is most of them are smokers.

So happy to see Anton go. Arrogant Douchebag.

[BogoGog24]

I agree- most of these chefs smoke, which ruins their palette. But I'm sure even for non smokers it must be harder than it looks. Not only are they blindfolded, but there is also music playing in their headphones which dulls their senses even more. It might look easy to the audience at home but if you really think about it, you have no idea what you're getting and it could literally be anything. And it's not always easy to tell the difference between, say, parsley and arugula, or beef/filet mignon, or bologna and hot dog. We saw it here when they were given a nut but would name the wrong nut, or a cheese but would name the wrong kind. I bet even for nonsmokers it is a lot more difficult than it looks.

Honestly if I wanted to be a contestant on HK, I would practice the taste test challenge a lot at home before I came to the show. There are so many basics that have been a staple of the show since Season 1 and it's really dumb that the cheftestants never seem to practice them before coming to the show (wellingtons, scallops, blind taste test)

[beesknees]

I'm pretty sure winning Hell's Kitchen makes you the winner of Hell's Kitchen.

 

Man, I don't like any of these people. If I'm honest with myself I only watch this show for my love of cooking shows. They're just so unlikable and I can't see any of them running a kitchen.

So glad to see Anton go.  Yes Anton, we all agree you are definately the "winner" of Hell's Kitchen (as the door smacks him in the ass on the way out).  So glad he and his voice are gone.

[mlp]

I thought Anton would be in it until the end or close to it so I was surprised to see him go.  Not disappointed, just surprised.  He was arrogant at an insufferable level.  Melanie isn't far behind.

 

I read an article some months back, can't recall where, that said, among other things, that the sous chefs often tamper with the ovens and do other things to trip up the chefs for the sake of drama.  If that's true, Anton may have been right about the oven.  In fact, Andi was suddenly so visible and so obnoxious that I'm inclined to think that the oven and her act were part of tonight's "plot." 

 

There really isn't anyone to root for.  Rochelle and Scott seem nice enough but I can't see either of them in a leadership position. 

[Race Birch]

Gabriel did so much better this week.  But yeah, he's still the weakest of the remaining chefs and needs to go.  After him, Scott can follow, and we'll have a fairly solid F5.  I really think that Jason and all four women should be the last five standing.  At least of the F7.

 

I can see why some people think Scott's passive-aggressive.  I definitely saw it this week.  And he's just an overall wuss.  He can't own up to anything he does wrong during service!

 

I'd thought that Joy was pretty much winning, but with the editing shifting in favor of Rochelle now and the preview of Joy next week, I'm thinking that she's our winner this season unless she really screws up.

 

If the F2 is Joy and Rochelle, I'll be happy.  But Gabriel's final interview tonight makes me think it'll be Rochelle and Gabriel, which . . . the winner should be obvious from there.

 

Oh, yeah.  And I, too, am glad that Anton is gone.  What a douche.

[Rammchick]

There's another reason why the blind taste test is hard. All the cooked food is stone cold. An awful lot of our taste is really smell and cold food doesn't put out any vapors. So it's no surprise that turkey and chicken register as the same thing. Or parsnip and squash. All you have at that point to go on is texture.

[beesknees]

I gotta say that I was a tad shocked that they actually let Anton go tonight.  I was waiting for Ramsay to tell Anton to get back in line at the last minute.  Man, when is Gabriel gonna be gone?  It'd better be next week.  I see him as the weakest link and can't believe he survived this long.

[backformore]

Has anyone ever tried a blind taste test? Are they really that hard, or are these people just terrible?

 

Another thing about the taste test is that they mess with the texture by cutting the food in a deceiving way.  I don't recall all of it, but the pear was cut into little balls like tapioca, the peas were mush, and the arugula was finely chopped - all not the shape/texture you'd expect.  So you really have to go on taste alone, not the way the food FEELS in your mouth, just the flavor.  I think that's pretty hard.

[Kromm]

We half eat with our eyes.  Blind taste tests are inherently hard.

 

Also, a lot of foods have the same texture/mouthfeel as others, and even the SAME foods taste vastly different depending on the variety of the item (how many hundreds of types of tomato, or pepper or squash, or sweet potato are there, for example?). As for meats (which have to be cooked) how often do we eat totally unseasoned meat?  It's actually probably an unfamiliar taste to most of us.  And if its poultry, for example, if its light meat or dark meat will make a different, and also if it's cooked too dry (that could be why the chicken tasted like Turkey).

[beesknees]

Man, I loved how Joy tore into both guys on the red team. She took them completely apart, but in a totally professional manner. I may have needed a cigarette afterwards.

 

I think Jason has a little crush on Rochelle, but maybe that's just me.

 

Buh-bye, Anton. Too bad for you that Hell's Kitchen doesn't serve misogyny.

Nope, misogny isn't on tonight's menu and neither is Anton.  Flee, Anton, flee.  And take that unhuman gravelly voice with you.

[ProfCrash]

Top Chef used to do blind taste tests and the Chef's would struggle so i don't think that they are all that easy. There is normally one or two Chef's that do really well and everyone else tanks it.

 

Anton was being a bit of an ass but I didn't think he was that bad when he was talking to Andi. He was a bit lippy but her response seemed to be over the top for what he said. Kashia was far worse with her wandering and under the breath crap when Ramsay told her not to baste the salmon and he did not light into her the way Andi did Anton. It could very well be that Anton has been acting like the mysoginistic ass that I think he is for a while and Andi decided enough is enough and she was going to set the power structure straight but we really didn't see a ton of that in the kitchen. Anton made some eye roll inducing statements but he has never appeared disrespectful to only women in the kitchen. He has always seemed like an arrogant ass.

 

Joy has been strong this entire season, she needs a bit of a fall and a redemption arc to make her a bit more human in the audiences eye. I think that is what we get next week. Rochelle might make the finals, I still think she is going to be in the final three and booted just before the finals. Her story arc has been a good chef who needs to gain confidence. Ramsay's pep talk today was pretty much that. She is doing great and developing some confidence but she is not going to do well building her own menu and leading a team because she is just learning that she would do well on a line.

[joeyjoey]

I'm pretty sure winning Hell's Kitchen makes you the winner of Hell's Kitchen.

 

Man, I don't like any of these people. If I'm honest with myself I only watch this show for my love of cooking shows. They're just so unlikable and I can't see any of them running a kitchen.

Rochelle is nice.

[cooksdelight]

I'm pulling for Rochelle also. I think Ramsay is impressed with what she's shown him so far. He likes someone he can train and mold into the type of chef he wants running his kitchens, I think.

[LakeGal]

Ramsay was in a bit of a good mood on this episode.  Well good mood for him.  He was giving pep talks to Gabriel and Rochelle.  Plus I was shocked he didn't kick Kaisha out of the kitchen for her disrespect. She did her usual muttering under her breath while walking away from her station.  But all he did was ask her if she was OK.  Strange for him. 

[ProfCrash]

I don't think it is all that strange for him, I think it is strange for how he has been portrayed in the US. Big difference. His UK shows are an interesting combination of mentor/pep talk/swearing pissed off dude. Normally he is pissed off because peopleare refusing his attempts to mentor or are ignoring really glaring obvious problems and blaming other people/events/cosmic beings for their bad fortune.

 

Ramsay has done a ton of nurturing on his UK shows. He has worked hard on UK Kitchen Nightmares to nuture Chefs that he really believed in, even hiring a few at his restaurants. He likes the quirky folks but tries to help them see how they can be quirky and make some money. Normally he is dealing with peopel with real control issues who need to learn to trust their staff, really good staff with crap owners, and the occassional really good chef with serious problem. He is portrayed very differently in the UK. He swears and rants and raves and people are on edge with him but he is also a mentor and a teacher.

 

So his take on Gabriel and Rochelle is not too much of a surprise. Remember Julia from an early season, the Waffle House cook who made it to Black Jackets, he loved her and her willingness to work and learn. I believe he paid for her to go to culinary school because he was so impressed with her. Rochelle has worked her butt off and has not made too many mistakes. She learns from her mistakes and has spotted others mistakes and corrected them. Ramsay sees that. Gabriel apparently has seen something in him that we have not and shame on the Producers for not showing that. They have taken the time to show Rochelle in that light, they could have done something similar for him.

[Mama No Life]

I was tickled by how much Ramsay enjoyed the blind taste tests. You could tell he was having fun, and he was laughing out loud literally at some of their choices. Notice that Rochelle did the best...non-smoker. I get that being a chef is a high pressure job, but why you pick up a vice that distorts your sense of smell and taste is beyond me.

Rochelle or Joy. Anyone else winning will flusterate the hell out of me.

[xcrayon2215x]

I didn't mind the ass-man comment from Anton but the comment about Andi being a woman was too much for me, I can't believe he thought that he had won Hell's Kitchen when he was eliminated. I think the final four are Jason, Melanie, Rochelle and Joy most likely since I don't see the other three winning this.

[ProfCrash]

Scott might slip in there. He has had his mistakes but recently those have come from trying to help other people. He has had some positive reviews and I think he would be in a better place if he took a second or two to breathe before speaking or bringing a dish up to the pass. Last night he was really only called out for things he was helping with. I could see his argument that his service was just as good as Kashia's. She had a few mistakes but nothing too serious or that wasn't corrected.

 

The reason the red team failed was Anton on the meat. He was told 14 minutes on the Wellington's, confirmed the 14 minutes, and then cooked them 18 minutes. No idea why he did that. I don't think it was sabatoge, the meat was over cooked because he cooked it for four minutes longer then Joy told him. It has been a few episodes since the Wellingtons were coming back for poor quality. And I am not sure that there is that much sabatoge even earlier in the eason. A lot depends on how well the Wellingtons are prepped, the thickness of a dough, the amount of mushroom and how the meat is cut. The people left now are good line cooks and can get the prep right so the Wellingtons are turning out fine when cooked for 14 minutes. All Anton had to do was listen and coordinate and he didn't.

[Jersey Guy 87]

 

Anton made some eye roll inducing statements but he has never appeared disrespectful to only women in the kitchen. He has always seemed like an arrogant ass.

 

Anton acted the entire time as if it was pre-ordained he would be the winner and that he's the best chef by far in the bunch.  He seemed to disrespect everyone, often making up reasons as he went along.  But being a woman was always a reason for him to disrespect someone, his talking head about the incident with Andi was very telling.  Glad he's gone.

 

Does Scott (or Melanie, for that matter) ever work an actual station of his own?  He always seems to be "helping people out" instead of doing his own job.  I can understand being a floater early in the season when there are more cooks than stations but when you're down to four people in the kitchen it seems you should be running your station full time.

[cooksdelight]

Scott has had his own station. Usually fish or meat. But once it became apparant the men couldn't figure out how to do anything without assistance, Scott stepped in and started floating. Melanie, same thing, I think she's worked the fish station several times.

[ProfCrash]

I think Scott was working apps last night so that when those were out he could float and help at meat.

[BogoGog24]

I think the final 3 will be all women this year. Jason has done well (and he's a returning contestant) but he has a bit of a scary attitude about him. But maybe if Melanie really screws up, Jason will sneak past her. Regardless, I envision it being a Joy vs. Rochelle finale with Rochelle winning.

[cooksdelight]

A Rochelle win would be the most satisfying, for me, in terms of someone who worked hard, learned from her mistakes and didn't badmouth other people. She would be nice to work with. The others, not so much. Although I agree with the poster above about Scott, he may sneak in there. And he's also pleasant to be around and seems to work very hard.

[Writing Wrongs]

Also does anyone else notice when Kaisha says "frustrating" she actually says "flustrating?" Weird...

That drives me crazy.

[OnceSane]

I guess Anton won't be winning this year.  I'm not surprised, he thought his cooking was much more impressive than any one else did.

 

I also think Rochelle & Joy have a good shot at F2, or at least F3/F4.  I think Rochelle will be F2, I just don't know if Joy will make it that far.

[cooksdelight]

The one thing that has bugged me about Joy, and Kaisha, in this episode and others.... they threw Rochelle under the bus because she dared to say she'd like to be married and have a family. To me, that has nothing to do with her cooking or leadership abilities, I think. Joy and Kaisha also band together to take out people they think are threats to them, personally, skills-wise, from what I've seen.

[BogoGog24]

Yup. Joy and Kaisha have each other's backs and throw everyone else under the bus in order to protect each other. It's totally natural and human nature to protect your friends, and I'm glad they are friends and not enemies, but they should be more objective (well Joy should be more objective) when it comes to picking someone for elimination. It's sort of irritating the way Joy protects Kaisha, in that sense. 

 

I'm not sure what the other contestants have against Scott. That he helps them out too much? Or brings up food that is not right and they think he's sabotaging them? Those things could be/may be true but overall he seems like a nice guy and hasn't had any major screw ups. I like him the best of the remaining guys.

 

Ramsay was definitely right about Anton- he was going in a downwards spiral to the point of no return. I do think Andi's reaction was way over the top (but of course it was for drama) but Anton has shown disrespect towards others, especially women, in the kitchen. Ramsay was also right about his ego. His comment about being the winner even though he didn't win was just… no. As others said, Ramsay wants a winner he can mold and Anton clearly wouldn't have wanted to do that. 

 

Hope Kaisha or Gabriel goes next week, depending on the losing team.

That drives me crazy.

It's so flustrating.

Oh I'm also getting pretty irritated with Melanie. I was completely confused about her "I'm a leader on any team!" comment. When was she ever a leader on any team she has been on? She thinks she was, but we never saw it. Also I was totally confused when Ramsay complemented Rochelle on a good service and Melanie cheers as if she had anything to do with it… 

[Drogo]

 

Also does anyone else notice when Kaisha says "frustrating" she actually says "flustrating?" Weird...

 

I get flustrated because she says that word at least once per episode.  We get it, Kashia.  You're flustrated.

 

Going to Hell's Kitchen and expecting Ramsay's compassion/coddling at is like going to Marine boot camp and expecting a mint on your pillow. 

Did I miss something, or was Joy the only one allowed to nominate for elimination?

[RedheadZombie]

I do think Andi or whatever her name is was just a little bit over the top. "Get it together!" "I do have it together." "DON'T TALK BACK TO ME!"

It was completely over the top. There's a power imbalance between Andi and Anton, and it irritated me not only because she yelled, but because she aggressively got in his face. She knows full well that he cannot respond in kind, not only because she has authority over him, but also because he's a man and she's a petite female. His THs regarding Andi were disgusting, but they're recorded after the fact, and reflect his bitterness of being cut.

I like the taste tests because I like to laugh at these people, but also because Ramsay enjoys them so much. He was practically glowing. I agree with the poster above that Ramsay can be a nurturing person. The thing is, he allows himself to be portrayed as he is on the show. As mentioned above, he really admired Julia. I thought he was about to cry when he eliminated her.

[beesknees]

I'm pulling for Rochelle also. I think Ramsay is impressed with what she's shown him so far. He likes someone he can train and mold into the type of chef he wants running his kitchens, I think.

Yeah, and even though Rochelle has very little experience it doesn't seem like HK actually gives the winning chef the opportunity to run a real restaurant with a lot of responsibility anyway. Winning HK this season may just be perfect for Rochelle.  She could get her feet wet by playing a supporting role as a chef in one of Ramsay's establishments.

Edited June 13, 2014 by beesknees

[cooksdelight]

Rochelle is a private caterer, and I've done that off and on for many years. It's hard work, especially if you work alone. I think she'd really flourish in a restaurant, given the right direction and supervision.

[Julia]

I'd feel a lot more sympathy if Anton hadn't spent most of the competition getting in his competitors' space and screaming to get them to back down when he was wrong.

Combine that with his sexist bullshit - and I have trouble believing he's less of a crude jerk when the camera's turned off - and I can see why Andi shut him down hard. Given their respective places in the brigade system, when she says hop, he should be asking how high, not trying to intimidate her (although I kinda figure as a petite woman who's gotten as far as she has in restaurant kitchens she's not scared of much).

I just think he tried to push the wrong person around, and it bit him in the ass. Kinda apt, really :)

I think bloc voting is good game theory for Kashia and Joy, both for the same reason: because Kashia's a weak cook. As long as Joy can use Kashia's vote to put stronger chefs like, say, Scott and Rochelle on the block, Kashia gets to stay and Joy can be reasonably sure there'll always be someone worse than she is if she has a bad service. I think both of them owe a lot to how weak the field was this year, and if either one gets a black jacket I think that'll be why.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Julia

[Jersey Guy 87]

 

I guess Anton won't be winning this year.

 

I thought Anton said he actually did win.  It's all so confusing.

 

 

I'm not sure what the other contestants have against Scott. That he helps them out too much? Or brings up food that is not right and they think he's sabotaging them? Those things could be/may be true but overall he seems like a nice guy and hasn't had any major screw ups. I like him the best of the remaining guys.

 

That's not exactly high praise, the remaining guys include Gabriel and Jason.  And until last night they included Anton.  So yeah, Scott's less objectionable than any of them.

 

 

There's a power imbalance between Andi and Anton, and it irritated me not only because she yelled, but because she aggressively got in his face. She knows full well that he cannot respond in kind, not only because she has authority over him, but also because he's a man and she's a petite female. His THs regarding Andi were disgusting, but they're recorded after the fact, and reflect his bitterness of being cut.

 

If last night was the only night Anton made sexist remarks in his talking heads I might be able to agree with you but we've seen Anton all season acting like he's in charge, he's the best cook out there, treating others with disrespect and talking down about women.  I'm sure Andi has seen it as well, and while she may have gone over the top for drama purposes I think Anton deserved it.  Both he and Kashia should have been sent home on the spot for their blatant insubordination.

[BusyOctober]

I thought the "flustrated" thing was unique to the city I live in!  I'm in New England and I hear A LOT of people saying FLustrated vs. FRustrated.  They also say "brefast" (breakfast), "bafroom" (bathroom) and "ignoying" (used interchangeably for annoying/ignoring).  Drives me nuts. 

 

I did a happy dance when Anton got the boot!  So glad for once on a 'reality' show they let the most undeserving go instead of keeping him/her around for the drama.

 

Rochelle & Joy are the deserving finalists for me.

[Donny Ketchum]

Scott might slip in there. He has had his mistakes but recently those have come from trying to help other people. He has had some positive reviews and I think he would be in a better place if he took a second or two to breathe before speaking or bringing a dish up to the pass. Last night he was really only called out for things he was helping with. I could see his argument that his service was just as good as Kashia's. She had a few mistakes but nothing too serious or that wasn't corrected.

I disagree.  Scott is a total screw-up in the kitchen.  True, not to the extent that others have been, but there's a reason most of the confessionals about him have been negative.  Even with the things he's done right, there's clearly a whole lot more he's done wrong.  Helping others has very obviously done more harm than good, and the teams he's been on have picked up on it.  If that were a positive thing, they'd have portrayed it as such.  But since it hasn't been, Scott's clearly messed up more than we've seen.

 

Does Scott (or Melanie, for that matter) ever work an actual station of his own?  He always seems to be "helping people out" instead of doing his own job.

Scott has worked his own station before, but it's usually an easy station too hard to mess up, like appetizers.  And even then, he's had mistakes there.  It's another reason why I don't see him lasting much longer.  He hasn't really been challenged yet or taken a big step to do something risky in the kitchen like, say, Rochelle has by doing many dishes she hasn't done yet.

[Kromm]

I think there's a ton of material in regards to the argument (and maybe ongoing conflict) between Andi and Anton that's missing.  My gut tells me that she wouldn't simply overreact on any given day. That sounds far too much like the super-sexist "she must have PMS today" kind of logic and doesn't fit with the image we've seen of her for years.  I think Anton has probably been in her face all along, and it simply got cut for the sake of time, and/or that the interactions with the sous chefs are historically kept to a minimum on this show, since Ramsay is the "star", and the show usually doesn't want to take away from that.  So when the situation DID finally blow up, the show simply showed the final conflict (and it probably didn't even occur to the showrunners that to some in the viewing audience it might make Andi look bad too).  

[Eolivet]

His THs regarding Andi were disgusting, but they're recorded after the fact, and reflect his bitterness of being cut.

 

Maybe if he had said "My boss was such a [expletive]," but the entirety of his comments seemed to be based on her being a woman (or a "little girl"). That's not just sexist, that's a misogynist. The tenor of his comments was he was upset that a woman dared to speak to him in this way. Never mind the fact that she was his boss -- he insinuated that her being a woman made what she did somehow wrong. Not only that, but he was bound and determined to act out against her because she was a "little girl."

 

Contrast his behavior to Kaisha's. She rolled her eyes and talked back to Chef Ramsay. Her issue was being dressed down. Anton's issue wasn't being dressed down, it was who dressed him down. That's not bitterness. That is visceral hatred.

 

Anton will join the long line of men whose wives/girlfriends/family are just wonderful, but all those other women out there are bitches.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Eolivet

[cooksdelight]

Given the fact that Andi was talking in such a friendly and fun manner to the girls when they lost a challenge and had kitchen duty that time.... I felt like Anton was deserving of what happened, and we'll probably never know what all was said that never made the final cut. Go Andi! :)

[Kromm]

Given the fact that Andi was talking in such a friendly and fun manner to the girls when they lost a challenge and had kitchen duty that time.... I felt like Anton was deserving of what happened, and we'll probably never know what all was said that never made the final cut. Go Andi! :)

Exactly,  It didn't come out of left field. There's context we haven't been shown.  

 

Given what we know out of Anton's own mouth--even BEFORE this incident from earlier talking head pieces--he's got a problem dealing with women. 

 

As for the power imbalance?  It's a professional kitchen--even if in reality show form.  They're dictatorships by nature.  If everyone else can deal with that, then so can poor wittle Anton.  You take your lumps (ESPECIALLY if deserved) and if there's a real ongoing problem you appeal to the Executive Chef (or if the problem is with the Executive Chef, then to the owner).  Anton simply not saying "Yes, Chef" showed his arrogance, even before we put likely sexism into the picture.  

[KathH]

I breathed a sigh of relief when Anton was eliminated last night. I was thinking they might keep him around for high drama purposes but, thankfully, that didn't happen.

 

I have to agree with some other posters who have mentioned that this group of contestants doesn't really seem to have one that could lead a kitchen. Rochelle seems to be getting stronger. And forgetting the preview for next week, Joy is usually pretty strong.

 

Putting Scott up for elimination last night though was ridiculous. I agree that he's not a strong chef but in no way should he have been next to Anton.