Hell's Kitchen U.S. Season 2

[Grub]

Heather -- idiot; child.

I caught this earlier episode (Number three, I think), where the red team won and were rewarded with a day out on a yacth, and the blue team had to do the laundry. When the gals got back, they decided to rub it in... Now, that's totally uncalled for, but of course it's a TV reality show, so fair game, of course.

I woulda thought the punishment vs. the reward would have been more than enough, and that rubbing it in would be just a sign of a generally petty and/or insecure nature...

Now, it should be pointed out that one of the guys made an idiotic comment about women being better at doing laundry, and whoever said that was a retard, and certainly a misogynist, but that was said before the red team returned -- that was while they were struggling with the laundry.

What happened next was fucking pathetic on Heather's part... Not the rubbing in part, though: Heather really went for it. She shook her money maker, baby -- in the parlance of our time -- in their faces. That's not pathetic. It's not fucking pathetic. It's just a little cruel. A little vicious. That's all. And that's cool -- it's a TV reality show.

When Garrett responded with some idiotic jibe about well, you bitches better have my dinner ready when I'm done with this day's hard work, well, what can I say -- what a retard... It was primitive and stupid. But they had already lost, been given a humiliating task to carry out -- and now their competitors came back to rub it in, and Heather was really getting into it, shaking her ass at them.

If she'd just laughed it off, I woulda thought she was a damn cool chick. Seeing her completely freak out from that jibe, after everything, well, she's an idiot.

Her freaking out about the chauvinistic nature of his comment made her look like a child.

Caint have yer cake and eat it, babe.

[tabasco cat]

Season One winner Michael was the obvious winner from day one, but I find it hard to believe ANYONE from this season is capable of running a decent kitchen of any size. Does anyone know where Michael is working now?

I guess I'll root for Heather, with Virginia being my second choice because, let's face it, she's smokin' hot!

Keith is a joke. A very unfunny joke.

Edited July 17, 2006 by tabasco cat (log)

[Joisey]

Yeah, I'm putting a "Salad Chef" ad up on Craigslist in my next kitchen in hopes Virginia will show up.

[Holly Moore]

Difference between reality and reality tv. A delivery shows up in the middle of turnout 1) do I tell the driver to either unload it himself or take it away, or 2) do I shut down the line to unload the truck?

If I really need the delivery and it is the middle of turnout (ie the supplier is doing me a big favor) I offer the truck drive $50 or $100 to unload it or grab a dishwasher to two to take care of it.

Wonder what happens if a supplier makes a mid-turnout delivery in one of Ramsey's real restaurants?

[FistFullaRoux]

I have to think that Sarah staying is done by the producers. She's conflict, pure and simple. Not that Maribel was strong, but she's there because she's the shit stirrer.

[djsexyb]

Difference between reality and reality tv.  A delivery shows up in the middle of turnout  1) do I tell the driver to either unload it himself or take it away, or 2) do I shut down the line to unload the truck?

If I really need the delivery and it is the middle of turnout (ie the supplier is doing me a big favor) I offer the truck drive $50 or $100 to unload it or grab a dishwasher to two to take care of it.

Wonder what happens if a supplier makes a mid-turnout delivery in one of Ramsey's real restaurants?

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the fact of the matter is that the suppliers know when to deliver to 4-star restaurants. if they delivered during service they would have to turn around and go home. that why chefs always have three distributors at all times, one pisses you off you go to their competitor and make sure they know that you did, thats how you get want you want/need at all times. i remember a story anthony bourdain told me about a guy who CALLED during the rush. he stopped the line to talk to him and said, "Ok, so you're in the business of selling your products directly to chefs, correct?" the guys like, "Ya." "So you know what hours a chef has, correct?" "Ya." and then he screams, "So why the F**k are you calling me during the G*d D**n rush!!?"

I have to think that Sarah staying is done by the producers. She's conflict, pure and simple. Not that Maribel was strong, but she's there because she's the shit stirrer.

as for this, i watch hells kitchen, dont like it or dislike it, dont care who wins. the fact of the matter is that the producers chose all these "characters" if you're surveying thousands upon thousands of cooks and chefs, im sure they could have come up with the dream team, but they want a fun show. thats hollywood. sarah's spunky, cant cut lamb for s**t, but spunky.

[Sugarella]

Oh, Rachel and Heather had a little flirtation going on.  Heather actually initiated it, which surprised me.

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Remind me never to be friendly to female coworkers, for fear of everyone assuming I'm gay. I failed to see how that friendly exchange between the two could be taken as sexual.

I'm bored with this show now. And I hate Gordon Ramsey now too. I'm sure there were plenty of qualified applicants who have the experience to do the job and who would have given anything just for the opportunity to win (pardon me, I meant to say EARN) their own restaurant.

And I can already tell who the "winner" will be: Heather. Here's why..... she was deliberately moved to the men's team early so that she still has all of the opportunities to prove herself. The girl's team keeps winning every challenge so they get to go on yacht rides and to fancy dinners instead of hauling ass in the kitchen before a full shift. They can't prove they can lug supplies and clean the kitchen spotless and do all of the prep before putting in their full shift and if they can't prove that, they can't win.

And out of the blue team I think Heather is still an idiot but Gordo made her the Captain of the Idiots early on by telling her she's in charge, so I'm pretty sure this is already decided.

[Joisey]

--Remind me never to be friendly to female coworkers, for fear of everyone assuming I'm gay. I failed to see how that friendly exchange between the two could be taken as sexual.--

The only thing missing from that scene was some 70s background music with the "wocka wocka" guitar. There was totally something there, sorry you missed it (though honestly Rachel scares me so the moment had little erotic value).

[Fai Jackson]

Season One winner Michael was the obvious winner from day one, but I find it hard to believe ANYONE from this season is capable of running a decent kitchen of any size. Does anyone know where Michael is working now?

I guess I'll root for Heather, with Virginia being my second choice because, let's face it, she's smokin' hot!

Keith is a joke. A very unfunny joke.

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Michael has his own website and is selling his line of knives(?). He explains in it that he and Lola decided not to go to London or start a restaurant just yet. I think that was a mistake and we shall never hear of him againe.

The current crop seem really lousy. I don't honestly think any of them could run a restaurant, especially not a multi milllion dollar establishment in Vegas.

I

Edited July 19, 2006 by Fai Jackson (log)

[Brad K.]

Oh, Rachel and Heather had a little flirtation going on.  Heather actually initiated it, which surprised me.

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Remind me never to be friendly to female coworkers, for fear of everyone assuming I'm gay. I failed to see how that friendly exchange between the two could be taken as sexual.

I'm bored with this show now. And I hate Gordon Ramsey now too. I'm sure there were plenty of qualified applicants who have the experience to do the job and who would have given anything just for the opportunity to win (pardon me, I meant to say EARN) their own restaurant.

And I can already tell who the "winner" will be: Heather. Here's why..... she was deliberately moved to the men's team early so that she still has all of the opportunities to prove herself. The girl's team keeps winning every challenge so they get to go on yacht rides and to fancy dinners instead of hauling ass in the kitchen before a full shift. They can't prove they can lug supplies and clean the kitchen spotless and do all of the prep before putting in their full shift and if they can't prove that, they can't win.

And out of the blue team I think Heather is still an idiot but Gordo made her the Captain of the Idiots early on by telling her she's in charge, so I'm pretty sure this is already decided.

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Potential spoiler alert.

I too believe that Heather will "win" this competition. Here is her deal: she got a spot on the show because the chef in the place she worked at the time of taping (Almonditio) is good buddies with Ralph, the runner-up of last season (in fact he was on Ralph's team during his Iron Chef episode). She is a sous chef, working under this chef, who works under an exec chef (who is usually at the restaurant). People who work with her say she's really nice and a good cook - but still quite green. Can't imagine she's ready to be a chef, no less one at a "multi million dollar Las Vegas Restaurant". But she is probably the best of the bunch and this is Fox TV la la land. That said, soon after taping ended a crew arrived and footage was taken at the her restaurant and soon after that she quit work and I do not believe that she is currently working. Draw your own conclusions...

FYI - the place where Keith, aka "K-Grease" (yak!) works is a mediocre French bistro not too far away from the place Heather works/worked.

[CharityCase]

There is even less "food" subject matter in this season vs. last. For instance with all of that market produce in the last episode why did we gloss over all of the prep and skip to the final products?

I cast my vote for Heather too, although K-Grease has been doing alright. Either way this season is pretty sucky and I don't think we'll see another go at this next year.

[MGLloyd]

I think it will come down to Heather and Keith, with Heather winning.

[ThatGrrl]

Season One winner Michael was the obvious winner from day one, but I find it hard to believe ANYONE from this season is capable of running a decent kitchen of any size.

I heartily agree. To borrow a phrase from the show, we're left trying to single out the best of the worst. My money is on Heather, but I truly wish there were better options.

[Heidi the Pilgrim]

Apparently, the Kitchen Nightmares Gordon is the "baseline" Gordon.  As for the Hell's Kitchen cooks, AB only said THOSE people deserved being screamed at.

I'm not defending Gordon, by any means.  I remember how he trashed an Australian food critic just because of her name, hassled her from the stage, and threw her out of a dinner - and then savaged a few other food professionals (writers, TV chefs, etc.) just within a four-day run between Brisbane and New Zealand.  He was nowhere near a kitchen, and not surrounded by any under-achieving subourdinates.  (Although, that, too, might have been manufactured for TV, too - as part of Gordon's football hoodlum persona.)

So I believe that, yes, he sometimes certainly exude all the charm of a rabid pit bull even in situations in which it is totally uncalled for, I also believe what we are seeing a TV Gordon, to a degree.  He can be awfully tender to the poor cooks and restuarant owners on the brink of losing their lives' savings and their dreams, even when they are almost as clueless as the Hell's Kitchen "beauty pageant" contestants. 

So . . . anyone out there NOT willing to have a pint with Gordo if the opportunity arose? (!!)

Jumping in here - thank you for bringing up the Australia thing, trashing one of their best loved presenters for really no apparent reason, and then when confronted by the man, he booked it out the backdoor like a coward. I despised him for that, and decided he was a jerk with a bit of an integrity problem.

Now I wonder if he saw himself on Boiling Point and thought he'd better clean up his act, (certainly his wife was not pleased with his performance) because in subsequent shows he seems to be less pointlessly vicious and more honestly pissed off at incompetence. There's plenty of that in HK to be pissed off at. Good grief, I'm just a home cook but even I know what an egg glaze is - don't know where they found these losers but ain' t none of them fit to work at Denny's, much less a fancy resort.

Back to Gordo, after watching HK and Kitchen Nightmares, I have to say I'm almost liking him, he's quite decent to the silly restaurant owners who can't manage their way out of a paper bag, and sincerely seems to want to turn them in the right direction. And I love that even while Virginia is fairly flashing her naughty bits at him, he takes absolutley no notice of her or of any kind of suggestive, lacivoius comment from the girls - for that I could like him a lot. Yeah, I'd go for a beer, but I'd be ready with my knee if he got obnoxious...

[johnsmith45678]

Yeah, I'd go for a beer, but I'd be ready with my knee if he got obnoxious...

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What do you mean by "obnoxious", in that it would "justify" a knee? I've never known of GR engaging in any behavior that I felt meritted serious physical violence in response.

[Heidi the Pilgrim]

What do you mean by "obnoxious", in that it would "justify" a knee? I've never known of GR engaging in any behavior that I felt meritted serious physical violence in response.

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Shame my smiley icon didn't work - that was a joke. In fact, from what I have seen of him on tv he has never once acted inappropriately towards a woman (I said as much above)- for that, I respect him.

[johnsmith45678]

Shame my smiley icon didn't work - that was a joke.  In fact, from what I have seen of him on tv he has never once acted inappropriately towards a woman (I said as much above)- for that, I respect him.

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Aahhhh...yeah, I'm sure a lot of people would have loved to taken a swing at him, at the least! I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened...

I think GR did upset a lot of women with his remark that "they can't cook to say their lives."

[Heidi the Pilgrim]

I think GR did upset a lot of women with his remark that "they can't cook to say their lives."

I don't know why women would be upset by that - he's not saying that women are incompetent, he's saying that women just plain don't/don't know how to cook. As a child of the 60's and 70's, with a full time working mom who was a good cook when she had time, I was pretty much raised on Hamburger Helper, Rice A Roni and Shake and Bake, and every other convenience food that was touted as a working woman's best friend. When you don't show kids how to cook from scratch, the icky boxed stuff is all they know. When I grew up and learned how to read labels, I vowed never to touch the stuff again and started getting passionate about learning to cook real food. Some women just canna be arsed, I guess.

I have to confess, harsh as it is, when I meet other women who say "I can't/don't cook", my immediate thought is "Pah, how USELESS..."

[shelly59]

I think GR did upset a lot of women with his remark that "they can't cook to say their lives."

I don't know why women would be upset by that - he's not saying that women are incompetent, he's saying that women just plain don't/don't know how to cook. As a child of the 60's and 70's, with a full time working mom who was a good cook when she had time, I was pretty much raised on Hamburger Helper, Rice A Roni and Shake and Bake, and every other convenience food that was touted as a working woman's best friend. When you don't show kids how to cook from scratch, the icky boxed stuff is all they know. When I grew up and learned how to read labels, I vowed never to touch the stuff again and started getting passionate about learning to cook real food. Some women just canna be arsed, I guess.

I have to confess, harsh as it is, when I meet other women who say "I can't/don't cook", my immediate thought is "Pah, how USELESS..."

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I guess my take on this is "So what?" Why single out women? EVERYONE who puts food into their mouths should know how to cook it. Across the board. Period. Now, whether or not they ever USE that knowledge is another thing entirely.

Bravo to the men who have stepped-up to the plate and are cooking the family meals. In MY childhood, the men sat and waited until the women came home and cooked the meal. It was women's work and they would have starved the whole family before they'd set one pinkie in the kitchen. Several of my friends were cooking the family meals from the age of 6 or 7 cus their Da's absolutely refused to do it.

So, times change. Less women are cooking, perhaps because its not considered their "duty" anymore, so those who can avoid it, do, and more men are doing the daily cooking, not just the flourishy, fancy-dancy stuff, but making real contributions to the everyday family kitchen...sweet.

IMHO, of course

[Grub]

The good thing about women not cooking anymore is that it makes it that much easier for us guys to impress a date. Okay, that's a damn goofy thing to say, but hey -- true.

The bad thing about women not cooking anymore, is two-fold:

Firstly, to uh, "un-learn" a skill, or rather to not learn a skill that normally has been learned, is a step down, not a step up. Granted, if men had been similarly disfavored in the gender gap, and had been forced to say, tinker with car mechanics in order to support the family, men might today pride themselves on their ignorance of automotive functionality, and consider that progress. But it would still be a step back. To know less is never progress.

The second thing is, cooking is one of the few skills that are passed on from generation to generation in our civilized, Western societies. That makes it a very, very special skill. Of course, the upside is, this bonding experience no longer has to be an exclusively mother-daughter thing anymore.

Sensitive stuff to talk about, so go figure that Ramsay's comments got people riled up, heheh.

[howard88]

I have thought for a while, Keith is going to win the competition.

Gordon seems to praise his efforts more than his teamates.

Heather seems more inconsistent in her cooking than Keith.

Sara didn't have too much to say after her total screw up and

I look forward to her arrogant self going up in Hells Kitchen flames.

[tryska]

i have only one thing to add to this conversation

I truly hate all of these people - Virginia most of all.

I wish none of them would win, because i am so full of hate.

The only reason I'm still watching is because I love Gordon.

[Chris Cognac]

In the words of Yoda "hate leads to the dark side of the force"....I love the show cause its a train wreck and was cast that way....

[tryska]

aye, a trainwreck is certainly what it is.

And yeah - I am definitely in the grips of the Darkside right now.

I find none of these characters redeeming - well perhaps Heather, primarily because she is a trooper.

But the Farting Girl, the dumb Salad Chef who can't keep her trap shut, and K-Greazy? Good Lord, make it stop. At least Garret keeps his useless head down, altho he is in need of some further self-mastery.

[brooklyncook]

Something I should add from personal experience concerning this show: they are definitely NOT casting for technical prowess.

I came across a press release for the casting call of Season 2, and was given an initial phone screening by casting agents (to see if it was worth me coming in).

After describing myself, and making it known that I was tattooed, the question came up as to whether or not I was "...like Michael."

Well, no, I answered, Michael's got about $2000 more in tattoos than I do, given the looks of his arms.

Are you rock and roll?

I guess you could say that. Not all the time, though.

Well, when you show up for the casting call, make sure you wear jewelry, rings, you know, any piercings you might have, that sort of thing.

And that's when I realized that they were casting for characters, not so much for how well I cook. I backed out of the casting call, and I figure that ultimately that was the best choice.