Category: hell’s kitchen 8

In Hell’s Kitchen 5 Episode 6, the previously largely invisible Coi (aside from her occasional flipping out at Lacey) was eliminated.

Carol is surprised she wasn’t put on the block. She should have been.

Today’s challenge is tapas style cooking. First, they’ll need to even the teams. The chef fakes out Lacey, who has performed well since leaving the women (who have not performed well since she left). They’re relieved, as is she. Giovanni, however, will be moving over to the ladies. Good luck.

The teams will have 20 minutes to create their dishes. Lacey doesn’t think she’ll go very much further if she can’t even come up with a dish, which she can’t.

Paula: pepper steak and eggs
Danny: filet mignon with mushroom ragu
Both get a point.

Lacey: mushroom bruschetta (Ben’s suggestion) on top of uncooked sauteed leeks
LA: asparagus and ginger soup – looks and tastes like it came out of the bottom of a dishwasher
Neither get a point.

Carol: ginger seared tuna with fried leeks glazed with a ginger soy reduction (bad news… there wasn’t actually any soy sauce in the kitchen, so what she actually used was balsamic)
Robert: pasta with butternut squash – good flavor, albeit too large
Point for Robert.

Andrea: lobster and asparagus ravioli – boring looking but delivers in taste
J: lobster with fennel and leek broth – too simple
Point for Andrea to tie at 2.

Giovanni: surf and turf style tapa
Ben: grilled tuna and asparagus
Both are called extraordinary, but thanks to their new chef Giovanni, red team has won.

Punishment for the blue team is a double prep with service that night. Red team, meanwhile, will go to Hollywood Park horse racing.

Giovanni wants his new team to stop bickering. If they don’t, they’ll lose again.

Lacey’s not overly interested in the punishment. Time to slack off and whine. She and Robert hate each other (still), so she says she’s leaving if anybody fights with her. Ben has to babysit her. J is okay if she just leaves. She says she quits and walks out. Robert wants her to go be a chef in a psycho ward so she can get some free therapy. Ben goes to talk to her. Again. Telling her they need her. Again. She’s not buying what he’s selling, but she agrees to go back inside.

With a positive attitude following his challenge win, Giovanni hopes he will rub off on the rest of his team. Not likely.

Chef Ramsay tastes the women’s rice, which is overcooked and mushy. J cooked it during their punishment. That means the blue team’s rice is messed up, too.

Half an hour later, appetizers are leaving the kitchen. Then they’re being brought back since they’re undercooked. Andrea and Carol hate each other again. Before going back to service, they’re forced to eat the uncooked pasta.

J’s messing up again, with cold/burned fish.

LA’s sleeping or something, so Ramsay calls her a cow.

Ramsay has finally had enough of J. He’ll be leaving the kitchen now. Not just that, he’s off the show. That was… sudden.

Giovanni seems to actually be making progress on pulling the red team together, even if they still hate each other’s guts.

Ben is struggling to cook the wellingtons, so Ramsay tells him he’s next. He’s watching him because he wants him out. Paula, however, is told that hers are perfectly cooked.

After the service, Carol and Andrea return to bickering. Carol’s about to lose her cool. Funny, I thought she already lost it.

Blue team has lost, which doesn’t surprise anyone. Ben acknowledges he performed poorly. That said, he doesn’t understand why Lacey would consider nominating him. Speaking of Lacey, Robert is tired of dealing with her emotional issues.

Robert nominates Lacey because she doesn’t care. Lacey nominates Robert because he nominated her. Danny nominates Lacey due to her attitude and threats to quit. Ben nominates Lacey for the reasons already mentioned. Regardless of the nominations, Ramsay wants Lacey to step forward along with Ben.

Ben admits that he was the worst performing chef on the blue team tonight. He’ll tell the truth no matter what. Ben gets one more chance. Lacey can also get back in line. Since J was already booted, nobody else is going home. Lacey agrees to work with her team, even though she hates them like she hated the red team.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 8, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Ramsay decided he didn’t care what the teams wanted, opting instead to choose his own person to be booted, so he sent Colleen home in Hell’s Kitchen 5 Episode 5.

Red team seems disappointed by Colleen’s departure. Andrea knows she got what she deserved and doesn’t mind that she was nominated.

Ramsay is impressed with Lacey’s recent performance.

The chefs will be doing a bar mitzvah. The boy’s mother and grandmother are there to discuss what food he likes. Each team will create a hamburger, a brisket, and chicken soup. Their task is to transform everyday foods into gourmet dishes.

Blue team’s depending on Ben, who is Jewish.

Carol will be doing the burger for her team. She’ll be using bleu cheese, which the others don’t think is a good idea.

Max, the guest of honor, will be judging the dishes.

Blue team made a traditional chicken soup with pasta, vegetables, and riceballs. The girls have a spring chicken soup with spring vegetables and homemade past. Although the grandmother seems to like the red team’s dish, Max picks the blue team.

Ben believes he’s a brisket master. His brisket is pretty sweet. Red team has a cherry barbeque sauce on theirs. Red team is chosen.

It’s down to the burger. Robert’s burger is Kobe beef. Carol has combined lamb, veal, and Kobe beef and stuffed it with bleu cheese. Oh, now this one’s just too obvious. While Max liked the burger from the red team, he didn’t like the cheese. Blue team wins.

Blue team’s going to the spa. Red team will be transforming the room into the dining room for the bar mitzvah.

Francisco will be helping them with the party. JP wants to slap him around.

J has never had a facial. J is too busy talking about himself in the third person.

Andrea and Carol both believe they’re the boss of each other… and everyone else. They’re not alone. Paula hates both of them, too.

In addition to the regular menu, the winning foods from the challenge will be featured.

Andrea’s mushroom risotto is lacking… mushrooms.

For the second part of their punishment, the girls have to lift Max up in his chair for the traditional dance. Just don’t drop him, or you’ll probably lose.

Coi forgot the burgers. Oops. No entrees can leave the kitchen until Max’s table’s food is ready. When she does cook the burgers, she doesn’t cook them completely. They can’t serve cold burgers.

Danny brings out dirty plates.

As for Coi, now she’s struggling with her brisket.

Red team’s running into each other and completely unable to communicate.

Lacey has brought out cold beef as well. Where’s the beef?

Carol and Andrea hate each other. Still.

Francisco has dropped the cake. A couple of the kids will still eat it off the floor.

To cap off the night, the Harlem Globetrotters have come to pay Max a visit. Robert remembers those guys from when they were on Scooby Doo.

Andrea apologizes to Carol for the confusion over the fries. She didn’t realize why nothing was being done with them. Carol’s response: “Oh, I wanted to punch you in the neck.”

Ramsay says that both teams were pretty even across the board. He will be basing his decision on the level of determination throughout the service. Blue team wins. Since Andrea bounced back from her poor start, she will be able to nominate two people. The rest of the team is shocked by this decision.

Andrea comes downstairs and says she still doesn’t know. Ramsay forces her to make her choices. Her first nominee is Coi due to her performance. Her second nominee is LA because she’s a line cook, not a leader. LA finds this amusing.

As Chef Ramsay is about to announce his decision, Coi says that Andrea is the worst. LA agrees. Carol falls in line. Paula is finally able to give a non-vengeful answer, and she says it was Coi. Coi will be leaving Hell’s Kitchen.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 7, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Seth finally got to the end of his rope in Hell’s Kitchen 5 Episode 4.

The girls are jumping up and down. Lacey’s the other team’s problem now. They’re honest with her and tell her she may well be dead weight just like Seth.

The chefs head to an Asian market to participate in Asian fusion. They will each select one poultry, one seafood, and one meat dish with a strong Asian influence. The teams have 25 minutes and $100.

Andrea has a loud voice and loud thoughts. Carol doesn’t believe loud always makes a good leader.

Lacey just wants to be heard at all. Her new team doesn’t care any more than her old team did.

Both teams are able to get to the checkout in time and on budget. Now they’ll have an hour to make the meals.

Red team tells Chef Ramsay they’re working on tuna wrapped in seaweed. He wants Asian fusion. Not boring. The whole team will need to try to fix the dish.

Does anybody need anything from Lacey? That would be a no.

Tanya Steel, editor-in-chief of Epicurious, which everybody in the world knows (I had to look up how to spell it personally), is going to be the judge.

Carol and Coi make pomegranate cinnamon glazed chicken breast. Slightly boring presentation. A little dry. Nice flavor.

Robert and Danny make a traditional pad thai with BBQ chicken. Nice. This dish is the winner.

Paula and LA made ahi tuna tempura. Perfectly cooked.

Ben and Lacey made pan seared scallops with sea urchin and caviar sauce. The girls win in a nice team effort. Perhaps Ben should have actually utilized his partner.

Colleen and Andrea made a kobe beef sashimi brushed with a Korean style sauce. Clumsy seasoning. Shame because the beef’s delicious.

J and Giovanni made some sort of beef. J doesn’t know what it is. Perhaps Giovanni should have brought the dish up because he knows it’s pizzaiola style beef. Way undercooked rice. Red team wins, and they take the challenge win 2-1.

Blue team will be preparing homemade fortune cookies, and they will decorate the whole restaurant with origami. The cookies are supposed to be extremely difficult, and the directions on the origami say that at first it will seem impossible.

Lacey’s sick of losing, and she’s ready to go home. Ben tells her they need her. Oh really?

For their reward, the women are watching wannabe sumo wrestlers: Chef Ramsay and Jean Philippe. After Ramsay beats up JP, the girls get to hop into the sumo suits.

While the men struggle with the origami, Lacey seems to be the only one able to get it. Ironically, this punishment has united the team, at least for the time being.

The women return, and they’re drunk from the sake.

Red team continues to focus on how much they hate Lacey.

Chef Ramsay says that the tuna dish, the one he thought was going to be boring, was one of the best dishes he’s ever seen on this show.

Ramsay likes Giovanni’s risotto, and he likes LA’s as well.

Appetizers are flying out of the kitchens, but the customers with the biggest appetites just arrived. The sumo wrestlers want one of everything on the menu. Each team will need to split that duty.

The boys are impressed by Lacey’s performance.

Andrea has burned her wellingtons and decides to hide them. J’s having the opposite problem. His are still rare. The fan’s on low instead of high.

Colleen has left the oven door open. She doesn’t think she did, but it’s open, so it would appear she did.

So where are the women’s wellingtons? Hiding. Not very well. Ramsay ends up finding them.

Chef Ramsay keeps calling Robert Bobby. His name’s not Bobby. That was his dad’s name, and he apparently hated his dad. He’s throwing a bit of a tantrum, so Ramsay takes him into another room and screams at him some more.

Andrea’s still trying to recover from her earlier issues. She’s making up random numbers as to how far behind she is.

J’s chicken is raw, and no entrees have left their kitchen in nearly 14 minutes. He doesn’t even know what they need.

Red team has moved on to rock hard and raw dessert from Colleen.

Dinner service has collapsed. Again. Both teams lose for the second week in a row. The good news is that Giovanni and LA did a good job. Otherwise, it was a disaster. One individual from each team will be nominated.

The chef wants to see Bobby in his office. He doesn’t want to be called Bobby any more.

Andrea’s okay with being nominated because she screwed up so bad. Colleen’s okay with being nominated because she believes the blue team will be sent home.

On the other team, Lacey’s safe. It’s between J and Robert.

Red team has nominated Andrea. Blue team nominates J.

Ramsay disregards the nominations. He wants Robert to wake up. All that aside, Colleen has been sent home.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 6, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Ramsay kept Seth around because, well, I guess because he finds him more entertaining, instead choosing to eliminate Charlie in Hell’s Kitchen 5 Episode 3.

Giovanni’s pissed off at Seth for suggesting him as a nominee.

Chef Ramsay asks Carol who the strongest chef on the red team is. She responds that it’s herself or Andrea. For the boys, Danny volunteers to answer and says it’s him. The lesson here? Both teams are missing teamwork. Hell’s Kitchen will open in 30 minutes for breakfast.

Paula hates breakfast. Lacey wants pancakes because she doesn’t know anything else. Seth volunteers to do eggs because he’s got Ramsay’s recipe.

Their customers? A team of kids and their cheerleaders. Whoever can feed all their kids wins the challenge.

Colleen becomes more interested in cheering than her hash browns. She thinks she’s a cheerleader.

Coi is having trouble with her eggs.

Meanwhile, Seth is struggling to keep up with the demand for scrambled eggs, which costs them their early lead. Both teams are at 40 out of 50 each. The women manage to finish first, marking their first challenge win.

For their punishment, the men will have to clean up the dining area and both kitchens, then they’ll have to prep both kitchens for dinner service later that day.

The women will be going camping Beverly Hills style.

Danny takes some heat from Ben after the challenge, largely because he jumped forward to say he’s the best cook.

Robert has just one request: Lacey, don’t wear a bikini.

The girls head to a hotel for some pampering, while the guys stay behind and clean, attempting to forget about their earlier explosion.

Robert wants Ben to go because of the fighting. He blames Ben more for it than Danny.

Although they’ve been in the kitchen all day, the men have not yet finished prepping by the time the well rested women get back.

Giovanni gets the men off to a slow start, not checking to make sure his equipment was ready so his water could boil.

Coi attempts to get ahead. Ramsay’s not having that.

Andrea comes into the blue kitchen to get the tomato butter sauce that the guys didn’t make for them. It’s not ready yet, so Ben will have to drop everything and work on it. He puts it together but fails to taste it before bringing it out. Ramsay is not happy.

More than an hour in, no food is leaving the kitchen.

Andrea takes control of the red kitchen to try to get some leadership in there.

Danny makes the tomato butter sauce that Ben botched, and he does a good job.

J is making salad for the blue team, which is finally making its way out to the customers. Unfortunately, it’s not all entirely edible.

Ben’s ready to impress Ramsay, or so he believes. His lamb chops are too thin.

LA and Colleen are struggling to work together on the meat station. LA doesn’t want to talk all the time, but Colleen can’t shut up.

Danny is struggling on the garnish station.

Seth wipes his face with a cloth, then wipes a pan. This comes after him not listening to Chef Ramsay calling out the orders.

After all the chaos and limited success with the night’s meal, both teams have lost.

Coi says she’s done because of her poor performance. Some of the others say that if Lacey tried to do what Coi did, it would have been worse. Nonetheless, Coi nominates herself. Giovanni picks Seth and Ben. Danny obviously wants Ben as well, and vice versa. Robert suggests Ben and J.

Seth and Ben have been nominated for the blue team. Colleen is the first nominee for the red team based on her overall performance. Lacey is the second nominee, despite Coi’s performance. Coi thinks it was her worst performance so far.

Lacey believes she’s getting stronger, despite her rough start. Colleen says she works hard and is not yet done learning. Seth goes on and on again. Ben believes he’s a motivator for his team.

Ben is safe. Seth is finally going home. Should have happened before now.

Lacey is safe… but on the men’s team. Dropped some dead weight for some more dead weight. The women are pleased, though they still keep Colleen.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 5, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Ji injured herself in Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 2. Regardless, she stood on her feet and completed the task without complaining. The women ended up losing in a close race. Colleen and Lacey, a pair of disasters, were nominated, but Ji ultimately decided to leave due to her injury.

Andrea wishes Lacey would twist her ankle.

The chefs get to bed at 3am. They’re awakened at 6am.

Nobody has a heart condition or fear of heights, so they’re good to go once they grab their barf bags. It’s a meat processing plant. They should probably be paying attention. Lacey says she isn’t.

They get back to the kitchen to meet Chef Ramsay, where they need to know their meat. First, they must identify the meat, then they must identify where it is from the cow. Ben goes first for the men and gets 1 wrong. Andrea gets 2 wrong for the women. Giovanni’s attempt for the men fixes the mistake. Paula is able to correct the mistakes for the women. The men try first to get the cow parts and get 3 wrong. Colleen gets 3 wrong for the women. Seth tries for the men and brings it up to 7 wrong. Robert drops it to 6 wrong. Lacey brings the women to 6 wrong. Ben wins it for the men.

For their punishment, the women will have to butcher some sides of beef. Once they’re done lugging the cow corpses off the truck, they have to butcher them, then eat the less popular parts. Tongue, kidneys, hearts, and liver. It’s not long before everyone is throwing up. Andrea’s drama seems to actually be uniting the team.

The men will do some wine tasting and dinner at a steakhouse, and they will travel via private jet. Robert gets to wear his wedding shoes now, which he wasn’t able to do before since he had to postpone his wedding to come on the show.

Hell’s Kitchen is a steakhouse for the night. There will be two seatings. One team will cook; one team will serve. Then they’ll switch. The men opt to cook first. Giovanni is confident because he works in a steakhouse. It takes the women 20 minutes to get the first ticket in. Obvious sabotage, which probably is not the wisest move. Charlie’s cloth catches on fire. Somebody might want to step in before he burns the place down. Ben has the brownies and cheesecake ready before the appetizers are out. Giovanni is leading the meat station. He’ll need to cook his meat completely, and many of his steaks appear to be coming back. Lacey forgets her table until JP tells her. They’re running out of filets, down to just one left. Seth doesn’t know how to cut them, so Charlie has to show him. Chef’s not only not impressed but aggravated that he wasted so much of the meat. The men started on a low note and have continued on that note throughout.

The women are up next. Charlie’s not sure whether he took one of his table’s orders, but they have time to kill anyway since there’s nothing coming out of the kitchen. Chef Ramsay has Colleen repeat her tongue twister of an order list again and again and again knowing she has to screw it up eventually, which she does, so he uses this opportunity to tell her something’s wrong with her. 45 minutes in, the salads have started leaving the kitchen, but Coi has made raw shrimp. Charlie’s spilling food. At least it’s just on the table and not on their clothes. With less than 30 minutes left, Andrea’s starting to get the steaks out. Steaks are coming back, but Chef Ramsay says the customers are wrong and that their steaks are cooked perfectly. See if those customers come back in a real restaurant if you tell them that.

The teams will be examined on cooking, service, and feedback from the customers. Charlie is the worst waiter; Lacey is the worst waitress. Despite how they’re supposedly judged on other factors, it comes down to the team that served the most entrees. The women finally win. LA is disappointed by not being able to get rid of dead weight.

Seth wants to take out the strongest guys. Then he’s the strongest guy. Yeah, once he gets rid of like everybody else. Giovanni’s starting to get some votes, but some people also blame him for being a steakhouse guy and doing so poorly on the steakhouse task.

Despite the talk, the nominations come down based on performance. Seth is the first nominee because of his lack of experience. Charlie is the second nominee because of his performance during the task.

After J makes the nominations, Seth wants to go down the line because he doesn’t agree that that’s what everybody wanted.

Ramsay doesn’t care whether these are the actual nominations or whether J just made them up in his mind.

Charlie believes he should stay because he has more experience than Seth. Seth agrees that he has a lot less experience and is looking for a mentor. Then he goes on and on. With that said, Charlie is going home. Ramsay’s looking for a head chef, not a prep chef, and nice guys don’t get to finish.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 4, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Chef’s Ramsay was back and yelling in Hell’s Kitchen season 5 Episode 1. Despite an impressive start, both teams failed to finish their meals before the customers walked out on them. Based on the lousy performance of Giovanni as a waiter, the men lost and nominated Wil and Seth, with the hope that Seth would go home. Ramsay didn’t agree with them, though, and sent Wil packing.

J is especially upset that Seth is still around.

Coi apologizes to Lacey for being a nutcase. Lacey’s not particularly thrilled with this discussion or the apology, which leads Coi and LA to begin swearing and ranting.

Before 6:00 the next morning, they’re awakened by a band (three people) playing loudly.

They won’t be digging through the trash, but they will be digging through the scallop crates. Ben would have preferred the garbage. Colleen falls inside one of the crates. The actual challenge is to clean the scallops up to the chef’s standards. They must remove the scallop from the shell without any gashes and remove the muscle surrounding it. Andrea will be sitting out for the girls. It doesn’t appear anybody has ever done this before.

Carol: 8 out of 8
Paula: 1 out of 10
Coi: 6 are acceptable
Colleen: 5 out of 6
LA: 8 out of 8
Ji: 4 are acceptable
Lacey: 3 out of 6
Total: 35

Ben: 3 out of 11
Danny: 9 out of 10
Giovanni: 13 out of 15
Robert: 5 are acceptable
Charlie: 2 are acceptable
Seth: 3 are acceptable
J: 1 out of 6
Total: 36

The men win the challenge thanks largely to Danny and Giovanni. They’ll spend a day on Catalina island, which they will arrive at via helicopter. The women will be setting up the raw bar.

When they get back, Lacey is crying and thinks they would be better off without her, which is probably true. Ji tries to comfort her.

Because of the helicopter insurance policy, Robert can’t go with the others by helicopter because he weighs over 300 pounds (over 400 for that matter). However, they will allow him to head over by ferry.

Lacey stays in bed crying while the others get started on the seafood. None of the women liked her in the first place, and it’s not getting any better.

Seth is a stalker. He knows more about Chef Ramsay than he probably should.

6 hours into the red team’s punishment, Lacey stolls on in. “Sorry I’m late.”

Robert gets off the ferry. Chef Ramsay tells him they all had a great time and that he needs to turn around because everybody’s going back on the ferry. This is just mean.

Ji has injured her ankle on the floor and may have sprained it. She thinks she’ll be okay and hopes she’ll be able to get through service. Paula and Robert are assigned to the raw bar. The raw bar will hopefully give them enough time to actually get finished cooking.

Carol burned the garlic. Then the risotto sticks to the pans.

Charlie’s risotto doesn’t stick to the pans, but it’s not cooked properly either. Ben agrees to show him how to cook it right.

The guests seem to be impressed by Robert’s charm.

Then Chef Ramsay flips out on Colleen, who is going to be tutored on how to cook in a busy kitchen by Lacey of all people.

Ramsay likes Ben’s and Lacey’s results.

The men have cooked spaghetti lobster… without lobster.

Obvious advice for Colleen: quit already. Don’t put yourself through this. Despite the chef trashing her as a person and her reputation, she says he won’t break her, though. He’s seen enough of her and throws her out to be a waitress.

Chef Ramsay is pleased with Danny’s performance.

Ji’s struggling but trying to forget her injury.

The chef announces that the women have 5 tickets left while the men have 4 tickets left. Whoever gets through them all first will win. The men end up winning by 1 ticket.

Afterward, the women are concerned about Ji’s injury, but they think she did a good job with or without an injury. Ramsay is impressed with her determination and not giving up.

There are three obvious potential nominees: Lacey, Carol, and Colleen. Had Lacey not whined all day long, she probably wouldn’t be on the list.

Colleen is the first nominee because she didn’t listen well. Lacey is the second nominee because of her lack of confidence in herself.

As Ramsay’s about to announce his decision, Ji speaks up and volunteers to leave. He accepts this and tells her she should be proud because she’s done well. Both teams know that Ji is better than both of them combined.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 3, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Chef Ramsay is back for season 5 with a new cast of cooks vying for the top prize. The 16 Hell’s Kitchen 5 contestants are:

Andrea
30
Line cook
Reading, PA

Ben Walanka
26
Executive sous chef
Chicago, IL

Carol Scott
30
Sous chef
Knoxville, TN

Charlie McCain
24
Prep chef
Las Vegas, NV

Coi
22
Caf cook
Austin, TX

Colleen Cleek
41
Cooking school instructor
Papillion, NE

Danny Veltri
23
Executive chef
Edgewater, FL

Giovanni
37
Executive chef
Destin, FL

J Maxwell
32
Food court chef
Clifton Park, NY

Ji-Hyun Cha
33
Private caterer
Palisades Park, NJ

LA
23
Line cook
Las Vegas, NV

Lacey D’Angelo
24
Corporate buffet cook
Charlotte, NC

Paula Dasilva
28
Executive sous chef
Coconut Creek, FL

Robert
29
Sous chef
Quogue, NY

Seth Levine
27
Private party chef
New York, NY

Wil Kocol
27
Quality-control chef
Elgin, IL

Immediately after being selected, the teams get right to work preparing their signature dishes.

Carol
Dish: Caramelized onions.
Discussion with Chef Ramsay: she began cooking professionally at age 25.
Critique: Flavor is spot on.

Wil
Dish: Rabbit cooked two ways.
Discussion with Chef Ramsay: His pride pin.
Critique: Great flavor, 0 for presentation.

Ji
Dish: Miso sake Chilean seabass
Discussion with Chef Ramsay: Has been cooking about 4 years.
Critique: Looks like she’s been cooking for 15 years.

Robert
Dish: Potato and white truffle wrapped Chilean seabass.
Discussion with Chef Ramsay: Doesn’t do small portions.
Critique: Bass cooked nicely, but sauce is disgusting. The dish is clumsy, like him.

Lacey
Dish: Chicken and blackberries
Critique: You serve, they eat, then they vomit.

Danny
Dish: mahi gone bananas
Critique: Looks like you’ve gone slightly bananas. Hideous.

Giovanni is called the only executive chef in America who can’t cook rice. Charlie is told his meal is a joke. L.A. is told her dish is terrible, and J gets an F.

Colleen
Dish: Smoked chicken enchiladas
Discussion with Chef Ramsay: After pronouncing her name repeatedly because Chef Ramsay is too slow to get it, she says she’s not a trained chef but teaches chefs to cook.
Critique: Spits it out.

Oh, and Colleen wants Chef Ramsay to know she teaches manners, too.

Andrea is told the flavor is spot on. Coi is told her dish is delicious and perfectly cooked. Paula cooked beautifully.

Seth
Dish: Lamb chops on a bed of ratatouille
Critique: Spits it out. Worst dish he’s ever tasted.

Ben
Dish: peking duck breast
Critique: Nice, attractive, tastes good, by far the best on the men’s team (which isn’t saying a lot).

Based on the signature dishes, Chef Ramsay calls this the best group they’ve ever had, although the women clearly dominated the men.

The chefs are prepping for the grand reopening. They have 10 hours from 8am to get ready.

Lacey says she wants to watch the others before doing anything because she doesn’t have line experience. It’s not long before she’s whining and saying she quits. This is before the first dinner service even begins. The women are over her already.

The guys think Seth is useless.

After having a smoke and pouting for a while, Lacey returns to her team and remains as useless as she had been previously.

The women are team Saffron. Not all of them are happy with this choice. The men are the Blues Brothers.

Chef Ramsay asks for two volunteers. Carol and Giovanni volunteer… and are made waiters. Charlie is made to shave his freaky beard.

Coi begins yelling a bunch of words that aren’t entirely clear since they’re mostly bleeped out. She’s not happy with Lacey.

Both teams give off their first impression with their waiters. Giovanni’s first trick is to figure out what’s actually on the menu. Carol seems to be doing okay, though.

Lacey continues to struggle in the red kitchen, apparently not knowing how to turn the gas on in her oven. Colleen has decided to change Chef Ramsay’s recipe for one of the dishes.

Then the power goes out. No food is coming out of either kitchen, so Carol starts handing out wine. It takes about 20 minutes for the power to be restored.

Danny’s got a big mouth and realizes it.

Giovanni’s still clueless as a waiter. He doesn’t remember what the customers ordered.

Colleen says she’s okay with taking criticism because she’s a lot older than most of the people there. This is a good thing because she’s screwing up everything.

Ramsay has a nickname for Seth: Forest (as in Forest Gump).

Wil’s struggling to keep up and needs assistance from everybody on the garnish.

As if they weren’t having enough trouble already, all of the customers walk out. Having to make a decision about who won, Chef Ramsay must base it on the service in the dining room. 88% of the people rated Carol above average. Giovanni, on the other hand, was rated below average by 90%. So the men have lost and need to nominate two team members.

Danny nominates Wil, who is okay with that and nominates himself. Seth and Giovanni are the other two names that are mentioned.

Wil has been nominated for his performance on the garnish. Seth has been nominated for not caring about being there. They believe Wil has the heart to be there. Robert claims he’s willing to go up there in place of Wil, if only Wil didn’t nominate himself.

Chef Ramsay has chosen to eliminate Wil. He doesn’t think Wil has the will to succeed.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 2, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Chef Ramsay narrowed down his season 4 choices to the final two: 47-year-old catering director Louis Petrozza from Charlotte, North Carolina, and 25-year-old culinary student Christina Machamer from St. Louis, Missouri. This week it’s time for some filler before the final two minutes of the show when something actually happens.

The Hell’s Kitchen 4 winner is Christina. As the winner she will become the senior sous chef at London West Hollywood and will have a $250,000 salary to go along with that title.