I didn't get to watch this last night but did get it on DVR to watch tonight. Just wonder if anyone still has an interest in this show. Do we want to do recaps?
I am going to watch but probably due to the overlap of BB and DWTS it will be the day after.

Anyway, if no interest I am not going to try to recap this.

Yeah, this show was too redundant for me during the 2nd season and lost it's luster. It fell of my TiVo never to return chairo.

Hi Charo. I am still watching although have no idea how often I will watch. Nevertheless, I have written a recap, naturally printed in the weong place, so I hope you don't mind my copying it here. if nothing else it will save you the trouble this week.

Tonight we met fifteen men and women who are in a 15 week hands-on job interview for a phenomenal executive chef's position in a new Gordon Ramsay's restaurant, London, in West Hollywood. It comes with a 250k salary. If you were going to offer someone a quarter million dollars, how would you search for candidates?
Here's the list:
Ben, 29, an electrician and former chef from Charlotte, NC
Bobby, 37, an executive chef from Niagara Falls, NY
Craig, 30, a sous chef from Coram, NY
Jason, 29, a sous chef from Las Vegas, NV
Dominic, 43, a stay-at-home dad from Catawba, SC
Louross, 24, a hotel cook from Las Vegas, NV
Matt, 35, a sous chef from Pinehill, NJ
Petrozza, 47, a catering director from Charlotte, NC

Christina, 25, a culinary student from St. Louis, MO
Corey, 25, a private chef from Brooklyn, NY
Jen, 24, a line cook from Chicago, IL
Rosann, 33, a receptionist and former cook from Staten Island, NY
Sharon, 31, a room-service chef from Las Vegas, NV
Shayna, 28, a catering-company owner from Buffalo, NY
Vanessa, 31, a line cook from Bozeman, MT

Riding in on the bus, Ramsay is in disguise with the 15. We listen to some real egos and get a sense of some personalities. After they all arrive at HK, Philippe gives an impression of Ramsay and encourages some of the others to do the same. After that, Philippe introduces Ramsay in disguise. He looked like Dennis Hopper from Easy Rider. What did we learn except that some chefs have an ego? Frankly chefs are sometimes irritating SOB's but that's part of what makes some of them good, at least sometimes. The entire entrance was a bit anticlimactic other than the fact that the makeup was great.

Ramsay then challenges the chefs to make a signature dish for him. Most are positively wretched, even without smelling them. Only Rosann's halibut dish and Vanessa's mussel soup were even remotely like anything someone would actually eat. On the amazingly terrible side, there was a Cornish hen in a pumpkin, surrounded by the greasiest potatoes I had ever seen and the dish that made Ramsey wretch, a raw venison tartare with sea scallops, caviar, capers and white chocolate tartare. The rest of the dishes were either mis-prepared or just disgusting. I confess that at this point, I would have verified that any of these people had actually cooked for people before! I was absolutely sure that someone had given them heavy hallucinogens in order to perform so poorly.

After splitting into men and women, going to the dorms, the women chose a leader, Vanessa, and then studied the 15 item menu. The men took forever to beat down the many egos and then chose Bobby who talked the loudest. He described himself as "the black Gordon Ramsay." Bobby, how did your signature dish go with Ramsay? Oooooookay!! They went to sleep so that they would be rested. When did they think they were going to get time to know what to cook?

The nest day as they are preparing in the kitchen Ramsay stops them and asks one of the men what the entrees are for the evening. None of the men know, but all of the women do. One of the men murmurs that you don't have to know what something is called to be able to cook it. Excuse me?? If you have no idea what the ingredients are, how in the heck do you even get it out of the refrigerator??

Ramsay says that he has a pre-appetizer for this night, something which has a French name "amuse-bouche." I think Ramsay says it reversed. This is intended as a kind pf palate tickler. He chooses Petrozza and Shayna to do the tableside flambé'. Both look like they do credible jobs. It's the only real acceptable food that makes it to the tables.

First, Jason is shown outside sucking on something resembling a cigarette but he smokes it down to the end. Everyone else is working wondering where Jason is. When he comes in, he looks kind of glazed over and proceeds to screw up everything he touches. Bobby the captain manages by telling everyone they can do it, but refuses to jump in and get it done. Dominic turns 30 beautiful sea scallops into rubber. The guys look completely lost, unable to turn out any appetizers at all. Finally Louross is given the captaincy and starts actually leading the kitchen. Unfortunately it is too little and too late.

On the women's side, I have to ask a question first: if anyone has watched the show before, what would it be that Ramsay always has? If you guessed, risotto, you would be right. How is it that no one who was in the kitchen on either side can manage to cook risotto?? It just isn't that hard!!

Vanessa may be able to cook, but she couldn’t manage and was replaced by a New Yawker, Rosann. She did better and managed to get a few appetizers out. Jen appears to be a very good anchor, but she has an attitude problem. I couldn't tell who was doing the actual productive cooking at the end. Sharon appeared to be lost and unable to cook anything, even after several tries much like Jason.
Ultimately people left before the first entree was served and Ramsay shut down the kitchen. Louross has to pick two and they are Dominic and Bobby.

Personally I would have loved to get rid of Bobby's mouth, but Dominic's ability to murder so many scallops was just appalling. Ultimately Dominic, someone who hasn’t worked in a kitchen in ten years, was the one chosen to leave by Ramsay. Maybe Bobby is a better cook than a manager, but I have bad feelings about Jason. The entire show left me wondering whether Wal-Mart had a culinary school and, if so, how many of these “chefs” went to cooking school there.

Things can only get better.

I finally got a chance to watch the show. It was pretty good. I thought Bobby should have gone home. His arrogance and refusal to help his team should have had him out the door

It started already? BAH! Thanks for the recap!

I only got to see about the last 40 minutes of the show because I forgot it was on. Of course I WOULD miss the first minutes--I always do when they promote "don't miss the first 10 minutes!"

What happened? Did Gordon puke after eating someone's food...again?

YES~at least it appeared that way.

Well last night was about as you would expect. Gordon Ramsay makes my husband so mad he can't even stand to walk through the room when that show (or any of his) is on--he can't stand the unnecessary swearing.

I agree totally. I think Ramsey needs someone to stuff a bar of soap in his mouth. That is the most disturbing part of the show. Once again I haven't watched last night's show yet. I have attributed Ramsey's bad language to being English, but then I am not sure that makes a difference. I think he just likes to hear all the bleeps.

I don't think being English has anything to do with it. I have several British friends and they do NOT swear like that. I think he does it for "shock value" although one must ask "is it REALLY shocking anymore?" Don't you kind of expect it now? I still like Top Chef better... :S

BTW, why is this stickied? Just curious.

Not sure what you mean ... pinned? I did it because it is a current show and was not moved to the front page. Made it easier to find.

I am not going to do a recap. Both teams were a mess. They tied in the reward challenge and then the guys won when they came closer to picking out a perfect fillet. A trip to a yacht and great meal while the ladies did the prep

Neither team worked well together but the men did get more of their service out.

Corie was chosen best of the worst and given the task of selecting to for eviction. She made her choices for personal reasons and Ramsey ignored her picks and booted Sharon who really needed to be booted.

Sorry I am late with my comments. It has been a bad week for meeting deadlines.

Ramsay’s tactics are designed for good television. I don’t understand why these people knowingly accept his abuse. I confess that this show reminds me somewhat of wrestling. Ramsay beats people up until they are able to perform under that pressure. The real question is whether you get the best results from these tactics or simply people who learn to abuse other people. On the other hand, maybe all his roaring is just an act for TV. Regardless, it’s a very poor management style.

As far as the show went, I thought the episode in the garbage was just atrocious. Further, I was surprised that both crews were able to do so well in slicing the fish so well. I thought that was pretty near professional kitchen standards to get that many acceptable fish portions. It was interesting that Jen said that Sharon didn’t know what she was doing during the fish cutting. My impression is that Sharon is a complete ditz.

After Petrozza had his meltdown trying to remember the night’s dishes, something that doesn’t bode well for a chef at any time, I was pleased that Bobby came to get him and help him through his anxiety. Bobby’s showing last week left me with an unfavorable impression of him.

However soon thereafter in the kitchen, Bobby messed up a fried egg and then tried to blame Jason. He drops back to the basement for me. Rosan was completely lost in the dining room and incredibly inept. Corey got the risotto right: that was the high point for the women. Jason prepped a Halibut and plated it raw and cold: you get the impression that there are some neurons that aren’t firing in Jason’s brain or he is smoking something. I confess his eyes often looked glazed to me. When Sharon put the raw food next to the cooked food, that was a sign she had never worked in a real kitchen. It looked like Christina was suffering because of Sharon.

When the women lose, Corey, the only one who did much is in charge of picking two people to leave. She picks Christina and Jen, both for personal issues. Besides, Rosan, who is obviously someone you will never allow in a dining room ever again, I think that Jen and Christina are the best chefs on the team. When Ramsay overrides Corey and picks Sharon to leave, you can tell that Christina and Jen are going to be out for Corey’s head. I fear that the next week will have the women fighting against one another instead of focusing on the product.

I haven't said anything but Jen's cocky attitude gets on my last nerve. As did Bobby's the first week ... he seems to have had an attitude adjustment and it was for the better. Jen just criticizes everyone and she isn't good enough to have that privilege

Hells’ Kitchen 4 Recap
Week 3
At the end of last week, the women were summarily upset with Corey because she chose two other women for dismissal not on the basis of their performance but simply because of what Corey described as personal reasons. She described Christina as a “spoiled little brat” and Jen as annoying. She may be right about both, but she should learn an aphorism about glass houses. Jen chose to react with anger outwardly in the dorm and Christina fell apart in tears. It didn’t bode well for the women’s team.

Corey made serious error in judgment: both of these women are a solid anchor for the women’s team. You can’t win a competition without solid people. As someone else voiced, it was simply a power-play and it was much too early. Besides that, she failed.

In the early morning, Ramsay got all of them out of bed by flooding the dorm with chickens. They each caught one and came downstairs where Ramsay did a mock horror demonstration of killing a chicken. It fooled no one. Someone get better writers.

In the kitchen after they were dressed, Ramsay gave them each an assignment to prep a chicken by cutting it into the 8 serving pieces. The girls did it very well with 44 out of 48 pieces. Unfortunately on the men’s side, Craig was not only last to get done but really butchered the poor chicken producing only 2 usable pieces out of 8. This gave the win to the women. The guys got to pick peppers in the hot sun and the girls went to a restaurant on the strip, the Saddle Ranch where they rode a mechanical bull. There they met a last year’s failed contestant Aaron. Aaron was carted away from Hell’s Kitchen in an ambulance and was not allowed to come back for medical reasons. He seemed much changed for the better but then again, maybe it’s anti-depressants. No, I am not making light of psychological difficulties and for all we know, it may have been something else entirely such as diabetes.

The women decide that they will chip away at the men one at a time by using psychological warfare and their feminine wiles. They lure Jason into the hot tub where he spills his guts about the guys’ weaknesses. However it is unclear exactly how they are going to use this information: it gave me the creepy feeling of a Wicca meeting. The guys tell Jason they are pissed that he ratted them out. What difference does it make?

Ramsay adds a special dish: Scallops of chicken with peppers, capers and crème fraîche. Frankly it sounds yummy. I would have left out the peppers and added sun-dried tomatoes. The girls, surprisingly, have decided to work together. I suppose that’s the benefit of missing all that testosterone: they have gotten together on this psychological effort and I guess it kind of puts the past behind them, even though Christina is still clearly pissed at Corey.

Jason is put on desserts by Ramsay and he can’t even name them. He goes away to study them but begins to have brain freeze. He says he wants to quit under Ramsay’s questioning but at the last minute pulls out the names of the four (?) desserts. However, this victory is short lived as he doesn’t know much about making desserts. That brings up an interesting issue: I never saw anyone assigned to making desserts before. Who made them before? If Jason made desserts for the men, who made them for the women’s team? We will come back to Jason’s debacle in a moment.

After Craig’s screw-up with the chickens in the morning, I don’t think he ever recovered. It was clear from the beginning that he had a problem with his self-esteem because he was short, but in the kitchen he is just a mess. Tonight he forgets to cook the bacon. He finally gets it under control, but never quite gets with it. Matt and Louross get into it briefly but they correct themselves.

The men get the appetizers out but fall down at the entrees. Ben first burns the edge of a salmon: it probably would have been ok at a regular eatery, but he should know better. Later Ramsay screams at Ben for sending out a raw salmon when it should have been medium. Frankly, it looked pretty close to medium to me. Salmon doesn’t have to be cooked all the way through until it is opaque, if and only if it is a very good grade.

Because the men haven’t gotten any entrees out, Bobby takes his chicken special out to a table and suggests they divide it up between them. It was a decent stop-gap measure and I give him credit for doing it, even though he gets none from Ramsay.

On the women’s sides, Vanessa is falling apart and finds herself ruining the beef. Then Rosann is cooking the beef and the pan catches fire. Ramsay yells at her to back up and throws the pan dramatically into the sink. For anyone who has ever had a pan catch on fire, just put a lid on the thing and take it off the heat; no yelling required, but she did ruin four filets.

Jason is the prince of misogynistic remarks and constantly sticks his foot in his mouth. As it turns out, Jason is completely inept at making desserts. He had little idea whether crème brûlée was cooked and his soufflés did not rise. For anyone who thinks that a soufflé is difficult, if you know how to beat egg whites and you know the difference between mixing and folding, then you can make a soufflé. Jason says that his came out like little muffins. I am dying laughing on the couch. I think Jason is a total write-off.

Neither group wins. Christina is picked from the women because she did the appetizers well and Petrozza was picked from the men’s team for doing something or other right. Each has to pick one. Christina picks Vanessa and Petrozza picks Jason. I would have gotten rid of Vanessa just because of that stupid lip stud, but she wails about something or other and Ramsay gives her a break. Jason stands there almost oblivious to anything he did wrong. Ramsay picks Jason and we are glad to see him go.

Well, as there are no comments since last week, there is no point in writing a recap. Anyone interested in discussing this show, please let me know: I'm in it for the season and would enjoy trading points of view.

So, this was the first show I got to watch of Hell's Kitchen last night. It was good, already there are some people that irritated me. I like the blonde girl and Jen seemed to be good...and that Ben guy sounds exactly like Owen Wilson...anyone else think that? haha Anwyay...no one really exciting for me so far on the boys side.

I agree here Kira .. I can't think of one of these people I really think could handle or deserves a chefs position with Ramsay. Bobby was my choice at first but he lost me with his attitude on the first show. I am liking him a little more now that he has become a team player.

Jen I do not like. She was more full of herself than Bobby was and I haven't seen that changing.

Maybe later I will have a favorite but not yet. The one with the piercing in her lip?! I wouldn't want to look at her much. I guess piercings are the thing now, but for me they are kind of disgusting, especially in the lip.

For those who read this and have piercings ... no offense intended.

Well! I AM offended!!!! Hahahahahahahaha

Not. I totally forgot this was even on last night. I was caught up watching the Pennsylvania primary results come in.

I finally got a chance to watch the episode and all I can say is that I am surprised ANYONE would let someone talk to them as Ramsay does. Maybe a lot of this is scripted for ratings, but actually think it is hurting the show.

Jen did step up and do a good job this week. She has been so full of herself in the past but actually worked like a team player this time. So I don't dislike her as much as I once did....when she first came.

Corey is my least favorite of the women. She is self centered and seems to think she is entitled to this. Instead of praising Jen for pulling everything together she was nasty in her remarks about her.

I can't remember the name of the woman who got burned but if she didn't have bad luck as they say, she'd have no luck. I can't see how she is going to be able to compete at this point.

Bobby impressed me this time. I was very happy Greg was booted. That guy was a totaly disaster.

Great to see you all commenting again: I was a little worried everyone had left:)

I was a little bored with family night. I think there was something seriously amiss with Craig; he never seemed to get his confidence back after Ramsay told him to take off the ridiculously high toque. Yes, he was short but then so is Louross. I think it all goes to show you how much someone yelling at you can affect your performance.
On the other hand, Craig wasn't alone: Matt sent out chicken wings which were uncooked: that's inexcusable and, if you think about it, almost impossible. I didn't see how they prepared the chicken wings, but if they were in a deep fryer, well you can pretty much tell by the color. If they are baked,you know according to time. It looked like they were coming out of a pan but that seems an odd way to cook chicken wings.
Ramsay is clearly after Ben: frankly, I think Ben exhibits good cooking characteristics for the most part. When Ramsay was criticizing him last week, it was because Ben was attempting to establish a little team spirit. If that happened, then they might just find how much of an ass Ramsay is being by beating them to a pulp.
Vanessa burned her hand, evidently badly. Chefs often cook with burns, but it's painful. Take a look at any one who has been a broiler cook and his arm will be covered with scars from burns. I cannot see how Vanessa will be able to compete after dumping the hot oil on her hand: it was probably a third degree burn, according to what was said. I still can't figure what all that oil was doing on the heat in the skillet anyway.
Corey is still being an isolationist, Jen is learning to shut up and just work, Christina is doing well as is Rosann. Basically I think they have a very strong cooking team whereas the men do not. Louross is doing well and Petrozza is settling down. As Chairo said, Bobby is looking better each week, but Matt has to improve and Ben has to settle down. I think Ramsay is just picking on Ben because he seems to have a sense of working under stress without letting it bother him. Ramsay doesn't like it when he can't make someone pee on him or her self when he yells.
When you think about all of this, there are really only a few dishes on the regular menu and they are the same every night. I just can't understand why each and every person there couldn't make each dish blindfolded. I hope things are more interesting next week.

Ben, I believe is Ramsay's star this year. SO he will ride him and ride him till he either shines as the best or is evicted because he doesn't live up to Ramsay's expectations.

Every year there is one. Ramsay seems to see something in them and even when they screw up and get nominated, Ramsay keeps them. I think it was the first season that they went on to win the game, but that's been so long ago I can't remember.

Last year although I can't remember who it was I do remember Ramsay kept saving him until it became obvious they had to go. So we will see if this year, Ben survives to win, or gets booted

Due to her burned hand Vanessa decided to leave.

The challenge tonight was to make a pizza worthy of Hell's Kitchen. Jen's entry was the winner and they got a helicopter ride and a meal with Ramsay.

Both teams finished their service but Matt was a mess and so was the Italian woman who's name I just can't remember. Ramsay said there was no losing team so both teams had to choose someone to nominate.

As mentioned Matt really messed up but they nominated the Korean guy (another name I can't remember or spell) and the women nominated Christina. Both nominations blew Gordon's mind. He knew they were not the worst chefs that night. Christina is probably one of the best female chefs in the group as is the Korean guy.

Ramsay told the Italian woman she had just screwed her team but typical Ramsay fashion, after all the drama nobody was eliminated since Vanessa had chosen to leave.

Since I have some time today, i will attempt a mini-recap of last night's show. Dflem, you may decide to front page this show now that at least 5 of us watch it! LOL.

I missed the first 10 and am going on memory....The challenge this week is to host a sweet 16 party. Each team is given $100 and 25 minutes to plan and buy grocery to cook 3 things - one app and 2 entrees. The winning team's items will be on the menu for the birthday girl's party to be held at HK the next day. CR (Chef Ramsay) reminds them to think like a 16 year old girl when planning!
Both teams are off, the girls taking the time to come up with a round the world theme. They plan and serve a shrimp appetizer, a flank steak entree with pomegrante and homemade fries, and a halibut with mango salsa. (remember SB is going on memory. Bentley can probably do better. B) )
The boys run around the store thinking and scrambling all the while Matty keeps saying that "there is a little grocery store right over there". it was funny. He also tossed out an idea for sushi pizza which all the men unanimously declined. Their menu consisted of stuffed chicken wings, a shrimp and filet surf and turf, and another shrimp dish with asparagus. Matt was acting all pouty the entire time and in his confessionals was a little cry-babyish. He really wants to lead and be heard, but he is lacking the cajones, honestly.

Back at HK, each team has 45 minutes to prepare their dishes. Shayna makes the salsa for the halibut. I say this because she is very proud of her salsa. Jen and Corey emerge as the leaders in making the dishes for the women.
In the men's kitchen. Matt continues to whine and complain and hates the menu choices and Ben chews him out about prepping the asparagus wrong. All the men cannot stand Matt at this point. His whining reminds me a bit of Aaron. Even the puppy eyes and droopy lips!
CR asks them if anyone has been to a sweet 16 recently and Matty says yes. When asked if any of his ideas were used, he throws himself onto the matt and complains how no one will listen to him and wah, wah, wah. The Blue team is pissed!!!! Next...
CR calls them over for the judgement and enters in the sweet 16 herself, Melissa and her bitch on wheels mom, Melissa's mom. We all know they are paid actors....not foolin me!
They judge the food. Melissa has never had shrimp before which does not bode well for either team since both have shrimp on the menu.
She picks the men's stuffed chicken wings since she is afraid of shrimp. Silly girl!
Next she picks the ladies halibut since again, the men have shrimp. They say that the rice is undercooked (Jen) and the halibut is dry (Corey or Rosann), but if it were prepared right it would be good. Then as Melissa is about to pick the ladies Flank Steak, her BOW mom says, "think of everyone's pallets" and she goes with the surf and turf Blue entree. Making Blue win (finally).
The men have a fun day riding go carts and eating junk food with CR while the girls have to make the dining room decorated for the party - with a party planner. Half way done, and the BOW shows up and tells them she hates it and wants it all different. This punishment seems not very punishing at all and the men's reward sucks if you ask me.
Dinner service:
(SB was cleaning up after her own dinner service so i may have missed a beat)
The men's wings and surf and turf and the ladies halibut were added to the menu. Shayna spent 4 hours making the salsa and pissed off her team who had to do all the other prep. She is on the outs and making everyone mad because she is so SLOW. Ben refuses to rechop his salsa ingredients to her specs, so now the men are hatin on her too. Men are still hatin on matty. That will never change.
To recap: Rosann can't cook a steak and Melissa's was sent back. Matty can't cook fish and the BOW's was sent back. CR was so PO'd he kicked Rosann off her station and made the bloody steak himself. Bobby was so PO'd he kicked Matty off his station and refused to let him back on. CR scared an assload of 16 year old kids with his yelling in the kitchen and even the party planner had to calm down the crowd. At the end of the night, they did complete a full service.
The result was close enough to make CR decide a tie and each team had to nominate a player. The boys chose Matt, the girls chose Shayna. CR asked the blonde (not corey) who she would have picked and she said rosann, so all three were sent up.
Matt says in his speech that he deserves to be there and requests he be on the red team to show that he has what it takes and he has no problem working with women :rolleyes: CR tells him that Louross has bigger balls than he!
In the end, Shayna is sent home because CR says she needs to be home with her new born where she belongs.




And Matty is now on the red team - which everyone on the red team is not happy with.

Thanks SB! I LOVE your recaps! Our neighbor was trimming trees on Sunday and downed our power line which sent a HUGE power surge through the house and blew out our new computer AND the satellite dish so... I've been without a dish until today! I feel like I was there. Thanks.

Thanks SB, great recap. I was horrified when Matt was sent to the womens team. At least Christine will have nothing to worry about next week since the ladies will be gunning for Matt ... nothing like an intruder to bring peace to the gals.

Thanks JB and Chairo. Maybe Mr. JB can calm down since he got to miss another of CR's foul-mouthed rampages!