23 replies to this topic

[KatieLoeb]

Is anybody watching the latest installment of Hell's Kitchen?? Winner gets the job as Chef de Cuisine at Gordon Ramsay Steaks in Las Vegas along with a 250K salary and the joy of calling Chef Ramsay their boss. I'm watching because there are two Philly chefs competing - Christina Wilson, formerly of Mercato restaurant, one of my favorite little BYOBs in town, and my good friend Barbie Marshall, who is a brilliant chef and also helps out at Han Dynasty, my current place of employ. We hosted a fun viewing party for the premiere earlier this week. Barbie was very funny. I'm looking forward to seeing her best the other contestants and not have to stoop to their level of crazy bitchiness to do it. Those women can be really mean!!

[Broken English]

Stopped watching this around season five, the level of retarded people competing made it too hard to enjoy the few talented cooks that were there. I sort of grew tired watching Ramsay do the same thing over and over in the quest for ratings as well.

I much prefer Top Chef now, as far as the reality shows go. Good luck to your friends though, I bet they'll get a fair way into the season, considering some of the "talent" they'll no doubt be up against.

[liuzhou]

The American version is garbage. Formulaic to the point of drudgery. Every shot is repeated at least three times meaning the show is actually only about 10 minutes long. And the censorship is childish.

Question: How many of the "winners" have actually got the job supposedly offered as a prize? Is multiple Michelin starred Ramsay stupid enough to appoint anyone from a reality TV show as head chef in one of his restaurants? Get real. It has never happened.

[Zeemanb]

Question: How many of the "winners" have actually got the job supposedly offered as a prize? Is multiple Michelin starred Ramsay stupid enough to appoint anyone from a reality TV show as head chef in one of his restaurants? Get real. It has never happened.

I can't say NONE of them have gotten the advertised position, but I did get to talk to Season ? winner Holly Ugalde about her experience on the show. She definitely did not receive the grand prize job as a chef in London, but didn't get into the details other than to say that there's "a lot more to the story" when it comes to the fate of the winners. She did travel TO London, did some HK related appearances, and mentioned there was very long lag time between the filming of the season and receiving any money for it after it finally aired. Totally pleasant person to speak with, really sharp and knew how to cook. Oh, when discussing the overblown drama between contestants, she said that when she watched her season that the fighting and insanity was actually toned DOWN compared to what was really happening.

[KensethFan]

Gordon Ramsay is the new Jerry Springer. I've lost every ounce of respect for tht man. HK is repulsive.

[annabelle]

Does he still have everyone making risotto and beef wellington?

[David Ross]

There is absolutely no redeeming value in watching someone berate, belittle, harass and disrepect others.

[Holly Moore]

Seems like this year a third of the chefmasochistestants make a point of being from "Da Hood."

[Tri2Cook]

If Katie's mixing, I'd go to the viewing party. But the show itself? Same as it ever was....

The evil b (expletive omitted).
The fat dude too.
The mediocre chick
that thinks she's hot.
The complete idiot
and the rest
are here on Gillig... errr... Gordon's Isle.

[annabelle]

Seems like this year a third of the chefmasochistestants make a point of being from "Da Hood."

Serously. I need a translator or Babelfish or maybe turn on closed captioning. Anyway, I'm with Dave. It's unwatchable. I never learn anything and the person I want to win never does.

But, I hope it's Katie's friend!

[KatieLoeb]

SInce the contestants aren't allowed to reveal too much before the season airs, I can't really get the inside dirt from my friend, other than that apparently Ramsay isn't nearly as much of a dick when the cameras aren't on and that there's quite a bit of editing to create drama that may or may not have taken place. I agree that watching him berate everyone gets old pretty quickly, but I'm committed to watching, at least while Barbie is still on the show. She had fun with the experience, from what little she can tell me, and refers to the other women cheftestants as friends, so for whatever that's worth, it's a bit of an inside view. I don't think she would want to move to Vegas anyway, since she lives in a beautiful home in Lancaster County, PA and has a full farm of gorgeous produce at her disposal. Who'd want to leave that to go to Vegas??

[Todd in Chicago]

SInce the contestants aren't allowed to reveal too much before the season airs, I can't really get the inside dirt from my friend, other than that apparently Ramsay isn't nearly as much of a dick when the cameras aren't on and that there's quite a bit of editing to create drama that may or may not have taken place. I agree that watching him berate everyone gets old pretty quickly, but I'm committed to watching, at least while Barbie is still on the show. She had fun with the experience, from what little she can tell me, and refers to the other women cheftestants as friends, so for whatever that's worth, it's a bit of an inside view. I don't think she would want to move to Vegas anyway, since she lives in a beautiful home in Lancaster County, PA and has a full farm of gorgeous produce at her disposal. Who'd want to leave that to go to Vegas??

I do watch and enjoy, to a point, Hells Kitchen. We thought that in order for a contestant to quality they must do a complete #FAIL trying to cook scallops! ;-) Honestly I much prefer MasterChef. I'm not too fond of the auditions, but once it gets past that part, I pretty much enjoy it.

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

P.S. Plus judge Graham Elliot's restaurant is about 3 blocks away from where I live!

[rod rock]

Where is it broadcasting? I'm constantly looking for some good quality tv show about cooking. I have only 24 kitchen on my cable... :/

[Holly Moore]

Does anyone sense they are watching "Lockup: Women's Prison" rather than a chef's competition? Some hard stuff going down among the women participants.

Edited by Holly Moore, 03 July 2012 - 07:34 AM.

[Zeemanb]

Not sure how I feel about a major change to the formula.....the fat guy hasn't collapsed and needed EMT's yet.

[Holly Moore]

Last night Gordon Ramsay got so upset he threw both teams out of the kitchen. Yawn.

[LynnFoodies]

Prefer last season rather than the new one. I used to like his style, but now I personally think Ramsay is a bit too much by now (IMHO)

[Beth Wilson]

I think it would be more interesting to watch if Ramsey calmed down and was less explosive...then people would watch just to see if he goes off this week. I was surprised with last weeks episode where the sous chef blew up at the girls, she is usually very quiet and you gotta figure when she gets pissed, it was for a reason!

It has become very predictable and all I can think of is how many would be young chefs watch a few shows like this and decide to become accountants instead..it really does not inspire anyone to become a chef.

[Toliver]

The crop of contestants this season seem to be lacking in knowledge and talent. They all talk the big talk (with a lot of censor-bleeping) but don't have the dishes to back up their talk.
The 30 minute challenge where each team member had 5 minutes to cook and then hand it off to the next team member with only 15 seconds to tell the incoming team member the status of the dishes and so on until the 30 minutes was up...was inteseresting to say the least. "Start the risotto! Start the risotto...start the [bleeping] risotto!" seemed to be the mantra for the blue team (and yet the first two blue team chefs didn't start the risotto which wasted 10 precious minutes of cooking time).
I think it just reflects their lack of experience and maturity. I kept thinking about how on Top Chef, despite personal differences, team members still acted like a team in some of the challenges. Hell's Kitchen? Not so much.

Edited by Toliver, 25 July 2012 - 10:12 AM.

[RAHiggins1]

I'm watching it, but that is because of it's comedic value. I'm pretty sure one of the requirements to be on the show is to be a chain smoker. I can't imagine any of them having a decent palate with the amount of taste-buds they keep slaughtered daily. What does make me curious is the amount they must have to pay celebrity chef guests.

[Beth Wilson]

There are so many times that I see that "I gotta think about me....I wanna win attitude" and think, would I wanna work for or with that person. When it comes to the running of a business, is that the person that is going to inspire my employees and get the customers coming back again and again for wonderful food and atmosphere..... I am thinking this circus act is not going to produce that person. Those "confessional moments" where they mouth off at their co-chefs....It doesn't make me want to rush to his new Las Vegas Restaurant to see what the brilliant winner created this month. Not much confidence in the bunch and I have no idea who will be left standing...is it winner take all or the last one left in the bunch. I don't see much difference.

[Toliver]

Are any of the remaining contestants worthy of the final prize? They throw each other under the bus so often it makes me wonder how they'll fare in a professional kitchen.
The Blue team was outshone by the Black team (made up of returning also-rans from previous seasons) for the dinner service. It was just sad and so bad to watch.
So the exiting contestant from last night was ejected because she seasoned raw scallops too soon? Really? Or was it the last straw of many that broke the proverbial camel's back?

[Toliver]

How ironic that it was Italian Night at Hell's Kitchen and Clemenza got the boot.
Now, I've never made it myself, but is risotto really that hard to make? Every week, it seems to be the one app dish the contestants keep screwing up.

[chileheadmike]

It's not that hard. I am assuming that it's somewhat pre cooked so all the have to do is heat some stock with the rice. And remember to add salt.

How hard is it to sear a scallop? They can't seem to get that right either.