On Monay’s episode of Hell’s Kitchen, the 10 remaining chefs either earn a high-rolling reward in Vegas or end up prepping the kitchens - again - for that night’s service. Hell’s Kitchen host Chef Gordon Ramsay has the teams rolling the dice to determine which ingredients they will need to combine to create a tasty dish. One team dares to take a risky ingredient but end up winning big time with a night out on Sin City, while the losing team stay in the kitchens.

Meanwhile on the service, things get pretty tough as Chef Ramsay invites chefs from his restaurants to sit at the first-ever Hell’s Kitchen chefs’ tables. One team continues to make the same mistakes over and over again, while another has to deal with an annoyingly bossy teammate - good vibes to those who can guess who this is. At the end of the episode, one chef will be sent home.

On the last episode of the Fox cooking show, the girls outshone the boys during the 700 calorie challenge, thanks to their tasty entree and dessert (although their three-course meal had around 100 more calories than the boys’). As punishment, the boys had to buy all the ingredients of the Red Team’s winning menu as well as prepping up both kitchens, while the girls got to spend a day at Venice Beach with Olympian volleyball players.

Come dinner service, Robert was rushed to the ER after he started to get dizzy, and Tennille was called a cow. Not to take that sitting down, she snapped back at Chef Ramsay and was consequently sent out of Hell’s Kitchen. Nevertheless, the girls still won, and Jim got the boot because he seemed like he was sleepwalking all the time.

It could just be that I’m in a small phase of disgust at the FOX broadcasting network.

For the first time I find myself rooting against a show’s ratings – the Octomom special on Wednesday night.  I want it to bomb worse than Quarterlife or Chopping Block.    What, you never heard of those shows?  Exactly!

There’s a certain type of person… Some sports, like baseball, figured out how to handle it.  For years you’d see the occasional idiot from the stands running out onto the field. Finally after years of it, the networks figured it out: don’t put the idiots running out onto the field on television and you won’t encourage other idiots to act like idiots so they could be seen on TV.  Now when some idiot runs out on the field, they don’t get any screen time.

Octomom strikes me as even more unseemly than those idiots running out on the field.  But, unlike the idiots who run out on the field, she is potential ratings gold.  It’s still distasteful though, and I hope fewer people watch her than the series finale of Mental!

I know it makes me a hypocrite because you can’t watch any reality television if you don’t like people acting like idiots so they can be on television at least a little.

I’m here to kvetch about Hell’s Kitchen.  If it turns out the entire thing was scripted, that’s fine, in fact, I’ll feel better about it.  There’s a contestant, Robert, who is back from last season.  Robert is definitely an entertaining contestant and he’s hard not to like.  He’s also morbidly obese.  As last season was nearing its end, Robert wound up in the hospital with some kind of heart condition and had to leave the show.

They brought him back again this season, and he’s still entertaining, but every bit as morbidly obese.

So what did they do in tonight’s episode?  They made him get on some wacky bicycle built for six.  And then they made the six guys pedal to the store, which happened to be uphill.  Blah, blah, blah, 911 is dialed, Robert is back in the hospital with his fate to be decided next week.  I suppose I could sniff around on the Internet and find out what happens, but I hate spoilers.

I also hate the idea of taking a morbidly obese guy you know has a heart condition and subjecting him to strenuous exercise when he’s not in that kind of shape.  Again, if it’s completely scripted, that’s fine.  But if it wasn’t, if it’s just that they had all their i’s dotted and t’s crossed legally and they did it simply because they could…

[source]

That’s what you get if you don’t listen on Hell’s Kitchen. 27-year-old New York sous chef Tek got the boot for being stubborn. She obviously had a problem on the grill, but kept on insisting that she had everything under control. When Hell’s Kitchen host Chef Gordon Ramsay started sending back steak after steak after steak for not being the right temperature, we pretty much know that it’s goodbye Tek.

On the last episode of Hell’s Kitchen, team leaders Robert and Suzanne sat down with Gordon Ramsay and LaTasha, the wife of newly returned US Marine (not Joseph, we hoped), to get an idea what she’d like to see served at his homecoming dinner.

Things were OK for the guys, who were very happy with Robert’s leadership skills, while some of the girls notably - surprise, surprise - Tennille thought Suzanne wasn’t being clear with what the family wants served.

Come tasting time, this proved to be true, as LaTasha loved the guys’ first and second entrees: a trio of macaroni and cheese, fried catfish and collard greens, and grilled lobster tail. As a result, the men got to ride in - gasp - fighter jets, while the girls had to acquaint themselves with Mrs. Gordon Ramsay, Tana, who turned out to be very controlling herself. Of course, everyone was still blaming Suzanne because she didn’t listen well to the client, namely baking the lobster instead of grilling it.

Right before the dinner service, the men were not exactly helpful to the girls, since they had all the recipes. As it turned out, steaks became a cause of headache for both teams. Just ask Jim and Tek. The only difference was, Jim had Kevin bailing him out, while Tek only had her stubborn self.

Tune in next week for a brand new episode of Hell’s Kitchen, including a challenge that involves food and 700 calories.

By now, a lot of people are familiar with Joseph “I’m nobody’s bitch” Tinnelly. The former US Marine was the stuff of online forums after he showed off his fiery temper on the season premiere of Hell’s Kitchen last week.

As the New York sous chef is the first to show chef Gordon Ramsay this kind of attitude, some float the idea that maybe Joseph is just a ploy to pump up ratings for Hell’s Kitchen. Ploy or not, it worked, with some critics already predicting that this just might prove to be the Fox reality show’s most watched season to date.

A quick lookup for his identity will reveal that Joseph Tinnelly is at the very least a real person. The son of Mary and Edward Tinnelly, he graduated from the US Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. He graduated from Massapequa High School in 1999 and was set to specialize in culinary arts. So while it does not prove that Joseph wasn’t planted on Hell’s Kitchen to spur interest, his background is very much genuine.

Regardless of Joseph’s intentions, however, Los Angeles Times commented that the “most shocking” part of the whole Joseph debacle was the fact that a member of the US military would have such a harsh reaction to authority. He “so poorly represent the armed forces,” the article said.

On the next episode of Hell’s Kitchen, we get the thrilling continuation of the Joseph-going-off-on-Gordon-Ramsay incident at the end of the Fox cooking show’s two-hour premiere last week. On tonight’s edition of Hell’s Kitchen, the 14 remaining chefs (meaning an additional two will be eliminated at the onset of the episode) are woken up in the middle of the night and called to the restaurant for an impromptu challenge. What they find is Gordon Ramsay and a room full of hungry firefighters waiting.

The teams, then, must cook a pasta dinner complete with garlic bread for the local heroes, with the first team to feed their group of firefighters first wins. The reward for the challenge will include a day of relaxation, while the losers will have to deal with washing, polishing, and waxing the fire engines. Unfortunately, Fox is reporting that two contestants are rushed to the hospital for injuries.

Just the same, the chefs are still competing for the grand prize of head chef position at the Canadian restaurant of Araxi in Whistler, British Columbia.

The much-talked about ending of Hell’s Kitchen last week included former US Marine and sous chef Joseph from New York going off on Ramsay, tearing off his jacket, and getting into Ramsay’s face, with f bombs flying all over the place. Earlier, asking him to give the first nominee, Ramsay made a reference to his background by telling Joseph, “That’s a pretty sorry battalion you got there,” to which Joseph said, “I know it is.” Ignoring Ramsay’s question, he asked the men could speak for themselves and that “they know who they are.”

After giving the Tony and Andy’s names, Ramsay called him “slightly stupid.” Ramsay was clearly not satisfied with his answers, while Joseph started throwing the f bombs, not sparing the other contestants who tried to calm him down. Maybe he’s trying to show Ramsay that he’s already ready to be like him?

Hell’s Kitchen 3 winner Rock Harper writes on Reality Wanted that he thinks former US Marine Joseph will be the next to be eliminated following his shocking and, some say, unwarranted display of rage toward Hell’s Kitchen host Gordon Ramsay on the show’s Tuesday premiere. Yet other than his temper and apparent lack of knowledge on how the show goes, Chef Rock pins the blame on the New York native’s talent, or lack thereof.

Let’s see; he can’t cook, he’s a sexist, he hasn’t been to any of his anger management classes since the conviction, he can’t cook, he has tons of Marines pissed at him, he threatened Chef G and he can’t cook! As much as we would love to see a brawl, it ain’t gonna happen… He’s gone, very soon.”

Rock adds that perhaps advancing on Hell’s Kitchen is the least on Joseph’s agenda, after he took off his jacket and practically challenged Ramsay on a physical brawl. “The guy is obviously hoping for a lawsuit or some show of his own, and no one on the set will allow that.”

If anything, however, Chef Rock says this season’s two-hour kick off was the best Hell’s Kitchen
start ever, or at least “as good as could be without” him.

As for the other chefs, Rock thinks that Milwaukee sous chef Suzanne did the best job, despite undercooking the risotto. “No one ever cooks the most famous dish from the show and she did, that’s just smart… She made up for it with her beating everyone on the shrimp challenge and strong showings in the kitchen during service.”

En route to its July 21 premiere, Hell’s Kitchen looks like it’s going to be hotter than ever, when the Fox cooking show sizzles with 16 new contestants go under the knife, so to speak, of the infamous Chef Gordon Ramsay. The sixth season of Hell’s Kitchen will kick off with a two-hour premiere to introduce the 16 people feature in its sixth season. Of particular interest was a rain of shrimps shown in the sneak peek released by Fox.

This season’s winner of Hell’s Kitchen will win the position of head chef at Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia, in the first time a Canadian-set restaurant is featured on the show. He or she will also have the added privilege of joining executive chef James Walt in welcoming the world during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

On the first episode, Ramsay will go by the tradition, asking the contestants to cook him their signature dishes. The men and women will be pitted against each other in separate teams, with the winning team (and gender) awarded a special prize.

Gordon Ramsay’s reality TV show Hell’s Kitchen is to be turned into a porn film, it has emerged.

This Ain’t Hells Kitchen XXX will serve up tasty treats and saucy morsels – but in the form of an adult movie, say reports. It is based on the basis of Ramsay’’s programme, in which wannabe top chefs battle to become kitchen devils and run their own restaurant, reports Contactmusic. The new Hustler film will star Brit Marcus London as the racy Ramsay. He will use sexual favours to get the best out of cooks and critics alike.

A Hustler insider says, “Not only do these competitors use their bodies to get ahead and satisfy their cravings, the customers get in on the action as they indulge right on the dining room tables! This is hands down, the most titillating cooking show you’ll ever see!”

Besides London, the new film features Hustler honies Kagney Linn Karter, Missy Stone and Veronica Rayne. Adult film star Karter says, “Gordon Ramsay is a very dominant man, which I find really sexy. There are many housewives who would love to see what’s underneath his apron. With Hustler, we were able to have a lot of fun with that fantasy in this parody.”

Download Hell’s Kitchen Full Season DVD

Another week, and another exciting episode.  It is no surprise that Danny and Paula are pitted against each other in the finals.  It seems to me that they have been paired up together throughout most of the challenges, and both have had nothing short of stellar stints throughout the dinner services.

What was surprising to me is the amount of support Danny’s hometown restaurant has shown him.  If you read the FOX blogs, you have already seen the smattering of posts about the grand re-opening of the restaurant Danny works for in the small town of New Smyrna Beach, FL.  It just so happens that I was in central Florida at the time working on a deal to integrate our line of spices and few of the more healthy recipes into a program with one of the nation’s leading diet companies.  So, after a long day of marketing ourselves, I was ecstatic to receive an invitation from Danny to his event last Thursday.  

I really had no idea what to expect, and was blown away by the support that was shown not only by his employers and fans, but also by the previous cast mates who were in attendance.  We pulled up to the small Flip Flops Grill, and were affronted by two huge projection screens set up in the parking lot, and a crowd of nearly 300 onlookers.  In addition to Danny, Robert, Ben, and Gio had made the trek to Western Florida to show support for their “Blues Brother.”  The four were dressed in their chef whites offering autographs and photo ops, and it was incredibly fun for me to hang back and watch others enjoy the thrill that I so recently endured.  

As the show began, Danny whispered to me that this was perhaps not his most shinning performance in the kitchen, and we watched him get torn apart by Paula in the challenge.  But the fans never wavered, and never seemed to doubt that Danny would pull through.  After Andrea was dismissed, there was a champagne toast, and then the evening really got interesting.

One should know that all of the contestants who have ever been on Hell’s Kitchen are bonded.  Win, lose, it doesn’t really matter.  There is no way anyone could survive an experience like that and not form a friendship.  So, even though this was the first time I had met my predecessors, it felt more like an old fraternity gathering.  We all had similar experiences, and though our outcomes vary, we had a great time catching up on “the good old times.”  

Earlier in the season, Robert missed out on a reward where the contestants got to ride segways.  He instead was forced to tool behind on a bicycle.  Not tonight, however, as Danny had arranged for a local segway dealer to provide transportation to the bars after the party.  So, helmets on, the four rode off from the event in true HK style.  It was later that night, in the more subdued setting, that we were able to catch up further, and all of the secrets came out.  Since the airing of the show, Robert has been cooking in the NY Yankees locker room, and is opening a restaurant next month with their backing.  Gio, who lives in Destin, FL, said he was happy to leave.  “I just got out of Jersey,” he explained.  “I live in Florida right along the beach, so I’m not too keen on the idea of going back north.”  

Ben was the most surprising to meet.  As my previous blogs detail, I was no fan of Ben, and like many others, I thought he was an angry, loud-mouthed jerk.  Well, in truth, Ben does have a lot to say, but it was his charisma that shocked me.  He is not entirely the same person he was portrayed to be, and had for me, quite possibly the most interesting tidbit of the night.  Some time ago, Ben, who hails from Chicago, went on a date with a girl who started asking him about Hell’s Kitchen.  This was before the cast of season 5 had been announced, and there is a strict confidentiality agreement that prevents us from admitting that we were on the show, let alone the outcome.  So, Ben’s on this date, being probed about the show.  He starts to panic, thinking that he has been set up by FOX. Turns out this girl was talking about Season Four, and her childhood friend that was in the cast. This friend was me, and Ben happened to be on a date with my neighbor whom I’ve known for nearly 15 years.  I guess it really is a small world.

The night ended in the wee hours of the morning with us five former contestants and a few close friends at a small breakfast joint.  I think we scared our waitress half to death as she looked up and exclaimed, “OH MY WORD!  Weren’t you all on that show?” Yes, we replied, but at that moment we were just five old friends hungry for some over-easy eggs and bacon.

So when will I see my newest old friends again?  Sooner than you might think.  Next week, we’ll watch Danny and Paula transform Hell’s Kitchen into their own dream restaurants.  Following that, it is off to Atlantic City for a finale party sponsored by the Borgata. All of my season’s contestants, as well as the chefs from Season Five, have been extended invitations.  It should be extraordinary, as you never know what will happen when we all get together.  Just think of the possibilities: Matty, Jen, Lacey, and Seth all in the same city?  Maybe there will be a surprise visit from Gordon, you never know.  So, till next week…. eat well and be well.

From FOX’s official press release:

The Top 3 compete on Hell’s Kitchen Thursday, April 30 on FOX.

The final 3 chefs must prepare a meal for 100 of the finest chefs and owners from restaurants across Los Angeles. The winner is whisked off to be pampered for the day and has the chance to appear on Los Angeles’ morning show, “Good Day LA” on FOX. While the losers are forced to clean, reset and iron all the linens in the dining room and watch the winner’s TV debut. Find out who has what it takes to be a finalist on Hell’s Kitchen airing Thursday, April 30 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

The three remaining chefs are:

Andrea Heinly, 30, a line cook from Reading, PA
Danny Veltri, 23, an executive chef from Edgewater, FL
Paula Dasilva, 28, an executive sous chef from Coconut Creek, FL