TVSquad

(S04E07) "He must be on his period." - Jen, about Chef Ramsay

That's not Chef Ramsay singing "Stop, In The Name of Lunch" above, he's screaming an order to the teams in tonight's episode. He screams a lot in this episode (and that's saying a lot when you're talking about Gordon Ramsay). The thing that's different about tonight was, I'm not quite sure what he's yelling at half the time. So the teams screw up and send out undercooked food and are slow getting things done in the kitchen, OK, we get that every week. But this week it seems like something is different. That Ramsay is pissy as well as irritated by the lameness of the teams, and for the first time I don't think he quite gives them a chance. He's yelling at them while they should be cooking and working and fixing things.

Wow, maybe Jen's right.

OK, maybe he's just super-frustrated at the fact that he actually has to pick a winner out of these contestants. Tonight was the first night that Matt played for the red team (the narrator still calls the red team "the women" even though Matt is on it now). The challenge is a taste-test: each player is blindfolded and fitted with headphones and have to taste various foods. Both teams actually do very well, and it comes down to Ben vs. Matt (of course - what a coincidence!). They have to name the 10 ingredients in one dish (clam chowder maybe?). It comes down to the wire, but in the end the winner is Matt. Beating Ben makes him very happy.

The reward for the red team is a day at the spa. This probably sounded a lot better when the team was all women. Not that men don't like manicures and pedicures and mud masks, but I do wonder what the reward would have been if the men had won. Meanwhile, the men have to clean the living quarters (oh my God, women hair in the bathroom!), and Ben is further humiliated because he has to serve them iced tea while they lounge around.

The evening's service in Hell's Kitchen begins in a typical way: Roseann undercooks the scallops and Louross is late getting the eggs out. But while Roseann flounders all night, Louross gets a lot better and impresses Ramsay. So does Matt, who cooks the best risotto Ramsay has seen in Hell's Kitchen (I could have really done without Matt's thanking of Ramsay and his friends and cooks that he knows - what is this, the Oscars?). But Jen completely ticks off Ramsay, who isn't thrilled with her attitude, her slouching and her silence when anyone tries to talk to her (he's right - these people are rather immature, for the most part). However, Ramsay leaves his special screams and hatred for Ben (this pleases Matt immensely). Ramsay says that not only is Ben one of the worst people he's ever seen in a kitchen, he's also like someone on Dr. Phil. I'm not even sure Ramsay would like Ben outside of the kitchen. He tells Ben that he's shutting the kitchen down, and Ben talks back a bit. I think he's trying to show that he's a hard worker and that he doesn't want to shut down the kitchen, even though Ramsay wanted to. It doesn't work. Ramsay shuts down the kitchen anyway, and the customers who have been waiting 90 minutes for their entrees (and forced to eat snacks from their purse) head off to Burger King.

It's obvious which team is the loser: the men. Ramsay tells each person to pick another for elimination. Ben tries the lame "I'm going to vote for myself" self-deprecating, humble bit, but that quickly turns sour when no one but Bobby wants to play that game. In the end, Louross picks Ben, Ben picks Louross, Bobby picks Petrozza (I think because Bobby assumes Petrozza with pick him in a deal), and Petrozza picks...himself! Now, this was the smart time to do that, as the last player to name his choice. Ramsay likes this and compliments Petrozza on his integrity.

Do I even have to say who's going home? Yup, it's Ben. And good riddance. I really thought he might be one to root for early in the game, but he became a lazy, kinda nasty person you wouldn't want to work next to on a busy night.

Next week (SPOILER ALERT!!!!): Ramsay says that one of the red team players has to go over to the blue team to even up the teams. And even though they don't say which player it is, if you look quickly in the previews for next week's episode you see Jen in a blue uniform.