He kept saying he had experience, but it didn’t show. I think he said he’s 49 years old.. but he acted about 19, kind of a immature 19 if that.

Sabrina was on the chopping block I thought, but then Ramsay decided it was time for Raj to leave the building.

Here’s a pic of when Ramsay said you’re out of here.

Looks a little shocked don’t you think

The only time Raj looked or acted normal was after he was let go. Strange. Did Fox ask him to act nutso?

Next up was I thought Sabrina again. She’s really annoying. But nope, she hangs on for another round and it was Louis’s time to go.

Since this was his first go at a live show, it was obvious that he was a little rushed. While his three course meal looked eatable, I’m not sure about his quest cooks. They showed their plates, but it would be interesting to know if anyone actually tried them.

I think it would be nice if Fox tried this show out a few more times. With a few tweaks it could have great potential. Let Ramsay get a little more comfortable with the live format, slow down the pace of the show with fewer interactions with all the other cookalong viewers and possibly ease up on the menu itself. I think Gordon had to do much at one time. What makes Gordon fun to watch is simply watching him cook and explain along the way. Cut out all the Skype video feeds and that alone would be a big improvement.

One last thing… air the show an hour earlier show people might actually cook along. The show aired at an 8pm time slot for me… two hours later than I prefer to eat.
Fox, try again with some slight alterations to the shows format and I think you could have another winning show on your hands.

It’s down to the final three… Kevin, Dave and Ariel. Time for the fun to begin. After a good night’s sleep (with the exception of Dave), the 3 remaining chefs head into the kitchen. Gordon tells them they will make and match a cuisine from one of three dishes from around the world. Ariel gets China, Dave gets India, and Kevin gets Mexico. The chefs must use the items in the kitchen and they get 45 minutes to make their one international dish. The judges for this challenge will be Gordon, Vikas Khanna (World renowned chef of Indian cuisine), Thomas Ortega (executive chef of Ortega 120), and Eddie Wong (executive chef of Mr. Chow). Ariel’s up first, she does ok, but gets a watery comment from Eddie Wong. Kevin’s next, but he has to tell the judges he forgot the sauce. Chef Ortego tells him that’s the one thing his dish is missing. Dave’s last with his Indian dish. Dave explains his protein is pork, since he believes the cow is worshipped, but to Dave’s surprise Chef Khanna explains pork is also not a protein that is eaten by Muslims, and he should have gone with chicken or seafood. Overall though the judges seem to like Dave’s dish. Chef Wong picks Dave, Chef Ortego picks Dave and Chef Khanna picks Dave. Clear win for Dave. The prize is each of the three chefs will cook a dish for Dave to enjoy at lunch. Losers have to clean and prep for service.

Before service begins Gordon tells them he’ll be handing over the reins. Each chef will have their turn up at the hot plate. Hell’ Kitchen opens and orders start coming in. Service starts off good and Gordon calls up Kevin to run the pass.
Kevin calls out the first order and things are looking good. But here comes the quality control check. The old switcheroo with the fish, but Kevin makes a good catch with the wrong fish that was brought up. Kevin sends back a lamb to Ariel and she starts to slow things down. The kitchens come to a halt because of Ariel’s lamb and Gordon tells Kevin he better get a grip. Ariel finally brings up some good lamb and Kevin’s turn is over.

Dave turn at the pass and he starts getting very aggressive. A little yelling, kicking the bin… taking charge. Quality control time and Chef Scott sends up spinach puree for asparagus puree. Too bad, he doesn’t catch it. Gordon pulls him out and tells him he has to take control. Another sabotage dish comes up with the wrong Tuna coming to the pass. Dave misses it again. After the first two misses, Dave rallies and finishes strong.

Ariel’s up and she calls out her first order. Her first quality test is parsnip puree instead of mashed potatoes. Ariel misses it. Next sabotage is a salmon for sea bass switch. This one Ariel catches. Then she starts yelling out multiple orders, really confusing the chefs. Kevin starts complaining a little, but Gordon tells Ariel to run it and not let the other chefs run her. Ariel does her best to take control… without the help of Kevin though and finishes her turn.

Service ends with all three doing fairly well. Gordon tells each chef they must each nominate one person and tell Gordon why they nominated that person. Kevin picks Ariel, Ariel picks Kevin, and Dave picks Ariel. Gordon says the picks haven’t helped him and asks each chef why they feel they belong in the kitchen. After hearing each of the chefs comments Gordon sends Ariel packing.

2 Chefs Compete “Finale”:
Time for the Hell’s Kitchen finale. It’s down to Dave and Kevin. The winner gets to head to the Araxi in Whistler. The next service each chef will design their own menu. First up is a limo ride to somewhere. They arrive at a hotel and head up to the roof top. After looking down at a big crowd, Gordon tells them they must prepare a dish and the judges are down in the crowd. The cooking is complete and they bring up their dishes for judging. 5 judges will be tasting. Alain Gayot (Gayot Publications) is first and he picks Dave. Jamie Maw (International Food Critic) is 2nd up and he picks Dave. Tanya Steel (Epicurious) is 3rd and she picks Kevin. Warren Geraghty (Executive chef, West) is 4th and he picks Kevin. Colman Andrews (Gourmet Magazine) gets to be the tie breaker and he picks Dave. Dave wins.

After a good night’s sleep they both have to design their menus. Kevin will be working with Heather in the red kitchen, while Dave will be in the blue kitchen with Scott. Gordon take them out for a special delivery and when the open the door, it’s all the previous chefs that have been eliminated. Dave gets to pick first since he won the challenge. He picks Ariel. Kevin’s first pick is Van. After the remaining picks the final teams are:
Dave with Ariel, Robert, Suzanne
Kevin with Van, Amanda, Sabrina

After a quick change, the chefs start getting everyone prepared for service. Dave’s kept his simple, while Kevin’s gone a little further and more complicated. Kevin’s menu features caramelized scallops; coffee cured beef tenderloin; and a crème brulee trio. Dave’s menu features a wild mushroom risotto; roasted loin of venison; and a dark chocolate mousse. Gordon explains how Kevin’s dishes are artistic, but may be hard to execute, while Dave’s dishes are simple so he mush really keep on top of them and not get sloppy.

Hell’s Kitchen opens with some of the previous judges including the Chef from the Araxi restaurant. Both sides get going and call out orders.

Kevin has some trouble with Amanda and her getting scallops going for appetizers. Meanwhile, Robert starts cranking out risotto on Dave side. Kevin could be in trouble with a start like this. Van starts to come to the rescue and takes charge on Kevin’s side. Ariel sends up overcooked venison and Dave sends it back. Ariel sends up another one that passes. Guests from both sides seem to be enjoying the meal and make some nice comments.

The Araxi table tickets come in and Amanda starts sending up problems. Kevin keeping it under control, but he’s having trouble. Right when he’s about to blow up, Kevin calms down and gets busy helping out and leads his kitchen to serve up the table. Kevin decides to fire up to tables at once. Dave’s side gets fish sent back, undercooked. It’s down to the last 4 tables, then the last table. Really close. Both sides finish about the same time.

Gordon calls both Kevin and Dave to his office. As they stand next to the two doors, Gordon tells them they both did really well and it’s the closest competition so far. He said he’s reached his decision and tells them to step up to the doors. Whoever’s door opens is the winner. Dave’s door opens and he wins Hell’s Kitchen season 6. Big congratulations to Dave and also to Kevin for putting up a first rate fight.

This episode of Hell’s Kitchen starts with little Gordon Ramsay coming out from the office and giving the final 4 chefs a little hell of his own. If you’ve never seen any of Little Gordon’s videos, here’s one of many which can be found on YouTube and Little Gordon’s site www.littlegordon.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcZqwR9tbJE

After a laugh with little Gordon, big Gordon comes down and tells the chefs their first challenge is to cook a stunning vegetarian dish for 80 demanding visitors that will be coming to try them out.
The 80 visitors turn out to be little Gordon and 79 other kids. Once the chefs see who their cooking for they realize what they made is probably not the best thing for kids. The win ends up going to Tennille who made vegetable lasagna. Tennille gets a day of pampering at a spa and then gets to enjoy a sushi lunch with Ramsay at Nobu.

Back at Hells Kitchen, the other 3 chefs have to clean up the huge mess that all the kids made.

Once Tennille gets back, she joins the other 3 and they prepare to service.

Ramsay opens HK and dinner service gets started. Things are going really smooth with appetizers, but then it’s time for entrees and all hell breaks loose. Tennille just can’t seem to get a piece of fish cooked properly. Over and over again she under-cooks, or poorly cooks the fish. Ramsay takes her to the back and tries giving her a pep talk, but the damage was already done. Meanwhile, Dave is having some terrible pain from his wrist, but he keeps struggling through. He’s definitely not the quitting type.

After dinner service, Gordon lines them up in the kitchen and tells Tennille that he won’t prolong the agony anymore than he has to. It’s time for Tennille to go. Gordon sends her packing, but with a good positive message for her to not give up. After a big group hug for Tennille, the final three head up stairs for a beer. After a few minutes, Gordon phones up to the room and tells them all to come down to the kitchen.

Gordon looks at Dave and says he’s really been thinking if he made the right choice to keep Dave around with his injured wrist. Dave looks really panicked, and rightfully so, but Gordon says Yes, he’s made the right choice. Then he says there are some people here to see you. All of the various family members come in for some hugging and catch up family time. The family members leave and Gordon tells them how close they are to winning. And the episode ends with high-fives all around.

The first challenge is their first individual challenge of the season where Gordon says one of the most important things they will be judged on is the presentation of their food. Gordon will have some help judging this challenge from the editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit magazine, Barbara Fairchild and a few of her staff. The judges will rank the dishes based purely on presentation, with the top 2 being tasted by Barbara and Gordon.

During judging, Kevin’s stood out to me as the best looking. But looking at dishes on the TV compared to seeing them close up is very different. The judges scored the following:
5th place goes to Tennille, 4th to Suzanne, 3rd to Dave, 2nd to Ariel, and 1st to Kevin. I think I called that one right.
Next it was tasting time. Both Kevin and Ariel bring up their dishes for tasting and the win goes to both. Gordon says Barbara and he couldn’t pick a clear winner, so they tie. Their reward is a photo shoot with Gordon and Barbara with both dishes being featured for the world to see.

Losers get to clean up a street adopted by Hell’s Kitchen… pick up trash, sweep – sounds fun. While Dave and Suzanne got busy cleaning up, Tennille was doing the most complaining. And I really can’t blame her. They had to wear bright orange jumpsuits, and as Tennille said, they looked like convicts. But they should know by now that humiliation is usually what comes along with losing on HK.

After the photo shoot Dave’s back in bed with his hand and wrist hurting again. What does he expect after using it all day? Kevin does a little nibbling at Dave telling Kevin he needs to really think about if this is worth it. Nice try Kevin. I don’t think Dave will back down now… at least I hope he doesn’t. I think he’s put up with the pain up to this point; he can make it a little further. And I have a feeling Kevin thinks Dave is his biggest competition.

After commercial break everyone’s back in the kitchen prepping. Kevin decides it’s time for him to take charge and starts giving out orders, much to the dislike of Suzanne. Gordon tells the chefs he wants everything perfect and wants to complete the service tonight.

HK opens with the normal menu, plus the two additional dishes from the first challenge.
Service starts with some communication breakdown between Tennille and Suzanne. Tennille takes up overcooked risotto, Suzanne takes up poorly cooked scallops, but Dave seems to be going strong. Tennille sends up more bad risotto, but after a little digging by Gordon it turns out that Kevin’s to blame. Kevin overcooked the risotto during prep. Bad mistake. As everyone knows, you’re not going to get poorly cooked risotto past Gordon. And as expected, Gordon gives Kevin a BIG reaming.

Once more rice is brought up by Suzanne the kitchen gets a few more appetizers out when hell breaks loose again. This time its Ariel bringing up undercooked chicken and Suzanne sends up raw fish. Gordon’s getting really steamed now. Ariel sends up some bad lamb and gets called out of the kitchen. In front of the customers Gordon asks Ariel if she would serve that to customers at the Araxi and she quickly says “no”. Gordon yells out something harsh, not sure what, but I could see the express on the customers in the background. They got a kick out of it.

Back in the kitchen and Gordon’s blowing his top again. The chefs finally complete service in a really poor way. Gordon says no one came together as a team and they all have to come up with two people for elimination. Back in the house they all put up a fight stating their opinion, complaining and saying everyone was worse than the other person. In the dining room Gordon asks for the nominees and they are Ariel and Suzanne. Just what I expected. Suzanne says she was focused tonight, but Gordon says while she may have been focused she accomplished nothing. Ariel admits to mistakes but says she’s a better chef. Gordon says honestly they should both go but sends Suzanne packing. Gordon closes telling Tennille she dodged the bullet tonight and that she should have been on the chopping block. Down to four. Kevin and Dave are my picks for the final two. Hopefully Dave’s hand doesn’t handicap him so bad that it sends him home.

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.

The starter went over fairly well with the diners, but after that everything was so-so. During desert Gordon went out into the restaurant and visited with a few patrons. After seeing burnt deserts I knew the Bunton brigade wouldn’t be coming back.

The recipes can be found by clicking the links above or you can watch each of these dishes being cooked in the F Word videos below.
The starter (Gnocchi with peas and broad beans) starts at 02:15:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXOwFxjVD4g

The main (Dover sole with shrimp butter and nettle champ) starts at 00:55:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEpYVUUX42Q

The desert (gooseberry and elderflower crumble) starts at 07:40:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fVzSJ3QiDQ

So on to the challenge. Gordon tells them to make 4 crepes each. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and a desert crepe. Each team has a terrible time trying to actually make the crepes. And while Gordon makes it look easy, it’s not. When I was in Paris, I ate a bunch of crepes from street side vendors. Getting good at making crepes takes practice, it’s not something you pick up right away. While they all did fairly well, I think Sabrina was the obvious clear winner, not only with the ingredients that went into her crepe but with the actual making of the crepe itself. And next to Dave’s crepe, it looked like it was made by a master. The women win the challenge and they get the reward. Pantomime lessons and dinner at La Cachette French restaurant.

Back to the kitchen and right before service is about to start, Andy accidentally slices off the tips of 3 fingers while slicing potatoes on a mandolin. Ouch…! He’s off for stitches, but shows up right in time for service to start. Andy starts with a few bad crepes, but Kevin helps out. Dave steps up to help Andy with risotto. And Gordon gives Dave a big kudos on doing a good job with one hand. Meanwhile the girls look like they’re falling apart. Bad risotto from Sabrina, delays from Suzanne. Back to Andy and more problems.. this time with salads.

At this point, it looks like the red teams crashing and then the blue teams seems to be sliding down the same slope. Gordon’s blown his top and sends Andy, Sabrina and Suzanne out of the kitchen. Heather steps in and Ariel and Tennille step up to finish service. The blue team finishes with Kevin, David and Van. Gordon says no team wins since both teams were incomplete and says both blue and red need to come to a consensus on who goes. This should be no brainer. Suzanne and Andy in my opinion. And I was right, the first nominee is Suzanne and the second is Andy. Gordon sends Andy packing, telling him he has a big heart, but to stop panicking. And to throw a little surprise he asks Sabrina to step up. He says he wants the old Sabrina back and then tells Suzanne to take of her jacket. She think’s she’s out, but Gordon sends her to the blue team. The men don’t look to happy. He tells Suzanne, she better start rising.

Watch the ending of this episode here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6rD04J-w4E

Meanwhile, back at HK, the men had to prep for dinner, clean the glasses and make a sorbet that would be served in between courses.  And while they’re doing that, Scott brought them a couple of nice looking plates of food and then dumped it all in a blender. Most of the men didn’t seem to enjoy blended duck, but Van didn’t have a problem with it. He just thought of it as a protein shake. Hard to imagine though… blended duck. Not for me.

Dinner started and it looked like it might be a good night, but then the normal problems started. The women couldn’t get their timing together, Sabrina served up some undercooked lamb, which Gordon sent her out of the kitchen to eat for herself. Over on the mens side, Andy was running short on mash, but one armed Dave stepped in to make some on the fly.

Gordon declared the blue team the winners, with Tennille being the best of the worst. Tennille sent up Suzanne and Sabrina for elimination with Gordon throwing Amanda into the mix. I think it was obvious at this point where Gordon was heading. Amanda was sent home, with Gordon ending the show with “Amanda was a sweet girl, but sweet girls don’t make great head chefs.”

My favs are still Kevin, Dave and Sabrina.