Hell’s Kitchen (Season 6, Episode 10 & 11) – “7 Chefs & 6 Chefs Compete”

“7 Chefs Compete”
Gordon starts off at Whistler BC, at the Araxi restaurant where the winning HK chef will be one of the head chefs. The challenge is each team will have to cook with 15 ingredients from the region. Gordon arrives to judge the dishes with guest judges Olympic medalists Sasha Cohen and Johnny Mosley.

First entrée goes to blue, second up is Tennille who’s not sure what her meat is, she thought it was lamb… wrong. Second entrée goes to red. Third entrée goes to blue. Red team loses and has to work at a local farm, including cleaning up a pig pen. Blue team goes to Campanile to meet with Mark Peel. They get to enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich with Mark. Meanwhile the women are back at the farm moving hay and cleaning out the pig pen.

Back to the kitchen and Gordon tells the team it’s not his menu being served tonight at HK. Each team will have to come up with their own menu and go head to head with the other team. The blue team comes together fairly quickly to form their menu, but the red team has a little trouble. Gordon seems to like the blue team menu… a little so-so on the red teams menu.

HK opens with both sides having some trouble. Ariel keeps serving up stone cold ravioli. Vans having a little trouble with the scallops, but the blue teams starts’ running a little smoother until Dave’s injured hand gives him some terrible pains when he goes to lift a heavy pot. Off to the medic again. After a few moments he’s back. Van’s getting a little frustrated with getting yelled at, but I think he’s keeping his composure fairly well. Once again though, Van keeps screwing up the fish. Then over to the red team and they too bring up undercooked fish. Gordon’s about to blow his top and he calls up Sabrina and Van. “Switch it off”, Gordon says.

Gordon asks for one name from each team. Red team sends up Sabrina. Blue team sends up Van, but Dave says the weakest team member is Suzanne. Van puts up a fight and sends Sabrina packing.

“6 Chefs Compete”
The final 6 start their morning off getting new chefs coats. Black and white, no more red or blue teams. They arrive into the kitchen with Gordon cooking a filet of beef. The same dish that’s on his menu in London. The challenge is to recreate another of Gordon’s dishes based on seeing and tasting… paired in 3 teams of 2. Each of the dishes is fairly close with the win going to Dave and Suzanne since they got the fruit right that was used in Gordon’s dish. The reward is a meal at Gordon’s LA restaurant, the London West Hollywood, and then they get to meet Christina, winner of HK 4. Losers get to prep and do some work on the dining room for a special couple’s night service.

Couples night starts with a special menu set up for couples. Timings off with table service and hot apps, and Van starts having some problems again. This time he’s dripping sweat in the scallops. Looks like he’s close to blowing his top. He sends up some raw fish again. Gordon pulls Van to the back and tells him last time… next time he’s gone. Gordon gets pissed after Ariel burns some salad, and out the door Gordon walks saying he can’t take it anymore. Overblown Fox drama. Get back in the kitchen Gordon, you know you’re not leaving. After commercial break, the chefs start plating up dishes themselves and try to get a handle on things since Gordon’s not around. They’re not really sure if he testing them to see if they’ll send out sub-par food, but they try to keep things going. Suzanne starts saying she doesn’t want to plate since she’s not sure if it’s right, but Van steps up and takes control. The chefs seem to be moving along fairly well when Gordon walks back in and says he’s never been pushed so far as to walk out of his own restaurant. He tells Van, Suzanne and Ariel to get out of the kitchen. And sure enough that sends Van into a tailspin, which I think Gordon knew would happen. Back in the kitchen service gets wrapped up and Gordon tells Tennille that she’s done really good cooking the meat. Gordon tells Tennille, Dave and Kevin to pick two people to put up for elimination.

The two sent up are Suzanne and Arielle, but Gordon asks Tennille is she agrees and she says no. She thinks Suzanne and Van are the weakest chefs. Gordon tells all three to step forward. Van puts up another good fight, but this time he’s out. Gordon sends him packing.

My pick is down to David and Kevin as the final two.