Other Great Reality Shows > Other Reality TV Shows & News
Hell's Kitchen Season 5
puddin:
marigold is back :yess:, and I want you know that your absence did not go unnoticed!
welcome back!! :jumpy:
marigold:
:'( An interview with Ji :hearts:
Hell’s Kitchen’s Chef Ji Chose To Leave The Show
On last night’s Hell’s Kitchen, Colleen and Lacey managed to frazzle the nerves of their fellow competitors and infuriate Chef Ramsay, and were thus banished to the elimination round. But as Chef was about to announce who would leave the show, a wheelchair-bound Chef Ji dropped a bomb: She would be leaving instead, due to the injury that she sustained during a cooking session. Colleen and Lacey seemed relieved; not only because they were able to stay, but probably also because Ji was one of the strongest contenders on the show and could have easily won the top prize.
Why did Chef Ji bow out and is Chef Ramsay really that intense? She filled us in on these things and more after the episode.
What was going through your head right before you spoke up about wanting to leave?
A million things were going through my head. I felt like an incomplete chef. I don’t know how well I would perform on one leg, so to speak. I was debating if I should volunteer or no. If I did volunteer would I be letting my teammates down? Because they saw me as a very strong member of the team. All these thoughts were going through my head and I just didn’t know what to do. And then at the very last moment I figured that I need to look out for myself and my health. And just the thought of losing future challenges and if the cause was me I would not be able to live with that. At the very last minute I just decided that that would be the best thing to do. I had to volunteer to leave.
What happened after? Did you go to the hospital? Did you have to get treatment for your leg?
I was rushed to the ER.
Was there one particular person that you got along with or got close to?
Well I especially felt close with Andrea and Paula. It seemed like we were getting to become close. We were kind of like the Charlie’s Angels or the Three Musketeers. It was slowly developing. I wasn’t there long enough to develop a better friendship with them. I think I felt more comfortable with them because the three of us were the strongest members of that team.
Do you remember any funny behind the scenes moments?
We did hang out at the hot tub at one point and we were talking about stuff that was just funny and hilarious. I wish I knew specifically what we were talking about.
What was it like day-to-day? Did you have any time to yourself? Or do you always have to be doing something and getting ready for the competition?
There’s not that much down time. We have our daily thing that involves challenges, being in the kitchen, doing service, and as a result of that we would talk about each other’s performance. So I guess that would be considered the down time. We’d also have a couple of brews and chit chat about it. Tell each other straight up how we felt about each other. It was kind of an intense therapy session in a way.
What about Chef Gordon? Is he really as intense as he seems? Is he that scary in person?
When I see Hell’s Kitchen on Television versus when I’m actually there it’s totally different. I would be able to be like ‘Oh sure I can tell off other contestants and like tell them to F themselves.’ But the thing is when you’re in that kitchen and you are literally face to face with chef Gordon Ramsay and he’s yelling at you with that bright cherry red face of his. You don’t know what to say. You are on the spot, you’re stressed out, and you don’t know what’s going to happen next. It’s really intense.
Did you have any particular moment like this in the kitchen with Chef Ramsay?
Yeah well he yelled at me for running out of tuna. Yeah I think he called me a donkey, I don’t remember. Yeah he told me that I had to go into the dining room and tell John Pierre that I ran out of tuna. And John Pierre was telling me how could you do this? I was trying to help you guys out. I buy you cushioned appetizers and now you’re telling me you run out of tuna? It was like yeah can you tell them that we don’t have tuna? So that was my moment of glory with chef Gordon Ramsay and John Pierre.
So what’s next for you? What’s on your plate?
Well I have a web site up and running it’s www.chefji.com and I’m working on more cooking classes in people’s homes. Some events and demonstrations. I’m also working on a new concept for a cook book. I still do little intimate parties. Please check out the web site. I have free recipes on there. And polls. I hope people start visiting and we get some traffic and people enjoy my web site.
Link: http://www.fancast.com/blogs/hells-kitchen/hells-kitchens-chef-ji-i-got-yelled-at-because-of-tuna/
marigold:
--- Quote from: marigold on February 07, 2009, 01:25:12 AM ---
I’m also working on a new concept for a cook book.
--- End quote ---
:jumpy: Oh I would love to get the cook book :wohoo:
marigold:
An interview with Ji:
Exclusive Interview: Ji Cha of 'Hell's Kitchen'
This season of Hell's Kitchen is shaping up to be a season of firsts: last night, for the first time, the Blue and Red teams completed a full dinner service on their second try. Another first: Robert, a sous chef from New York, missed out on his team's prize (a trip to Catalina island) because he weighed too much for the helicopter insurance policy. And perhaps the most shocking first: chef Ji Cha, 33, volunteered to leave Hell's Kitchen after seriously injuring her ankle. She's not the first chef ever to ask to leave, but she may have been the first that Chef Ramsay was truly sorry to see go.
We had a chance to talk to Ji today about why she decided to leave Hell's Kitchen, who she's rooting for this season, and what the future holds.
Ji, a private caterer from Palisades Park, NJ, started off as one of the strongest chefs on Hell's Kitchen this season. She wowed Chef Ramsay with a perfectly cooked Signature Dish in the first episode, and was a solid team member on the line for the Red team. Which is why it shocked everyone last night when a freak injury cost her a chance at the grand prize.
Just before their second dinner service, Ji slipped on a wet spot in the Red team's kitchen area and severely twisted her ankle. She powered through the entire service and never complained, helping her team finish all their orders. But the stress of being on the line all night irritated her ankle so much that she required a wheelchair to leave the kitchen.
When the time came for elimination, Ji nominated herself, afraid that her injury would make her a burden in future competitions.
“I really would have liked to stick around a lot longer,” Ji said. “But the thought of losing challenges, and feeling like I was the cause of it… I wouldn't be able to live with myself.”
But the decision wasn't an easy one for the chef, whom her teammates openly considered one of the best in the competition.
“I'm really pissed off that I had to do that,” Ji reflected, months out of filming the show. “After my decision, I felt I had made a mistake. It hurts me that I had to leave my teammates and my chance at the prize—that was the reason that I came to Hell's Kitchen.”
“And my team saw me as a strong member of the team, I mean they said that Lacey and Colleen [the two Red team members up for elimination] together wouldn't meet half of me.”
But perhaps no one was more disappointed in the turn of events than Chef Ramsay. Normally the head chef asks his eliminated contestants to return their chef jackets as they leave, but Ramsay asked Ji to keep hers as a symbol of her talent and courage during her time on the show.
“Just the fact that Chef Gordon Ramsay said those wonderful things to me and gave me a chef's jacket, I melted inside,” said Ji. “I felt so honored that he let me be in his kitchen and work with him side by side. It was great.”
As far as where the contest will go from here, Ji has her favorites to take the grand prize of executive chef at the Borgata Resort in Atlantic City:
“I was able to see how the other contestants are on the Red team, and Andrea was the strongest, aside from me, to be able to go all the way. I wasn't able to see how well the men perform, but Ben has the drive, the ambition, and the knowledge of a very good chef.”
Now that Ji has had time to heal, she's back on her feet with exciting cooking projects, including a new website, ChefJi.com, which hosts several personal recipes from the chef's arsenal. Ji is also keeping busy with her cheffing business, which ranges from cooking classes and private demonstrations to catering. And at-home cooks can expect even more tips from this master chef in the future.
“I'm trying to get my concept up for a new cookbook,” Ji said. She couldn't reveal the concept just yet, but “it's definitely my recipes,” she promised.
Link: http://www.buddytv.com/articles/hells-kitchen/exclusive-interview-ji-cha-of-26235.aspx
TexasLady:
--- Quote ---...Yeah well he yelled at me for running out of tuna. Yeah I think he called me a donkey, I don’t remember. Yeah he told me that I had to go into the dining room and tell John Pierre that I ran out of tuna. And John Pierre was telling me how could you do this? I was trying to help you guys out. I buy you cushioned appetizers and now you’re telling me you run out of tuna? It was like yeah can you tell them that we don’t have tuna? So that was my moment of glory with chef Gordon Ramsay and John Pierre.
--- End quote ---
Am I having a senior moment?? I don't remember seeing this. :umn:
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version