HK6, ep. 9
Teams start even at 4 men, 4 women. Tennille is on Suzanne's case for poor teamwork. Ariel is also on Suzanne's case. They are fortunate to be performing well enough that they have earned the right to criticize others.
Ramsay says that he will teach how to make crepes. He zips through it in about 20 seconds and a perfect crepe results. So nobody is surprised when the Challenge is about making 4 different types of crepes - breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Teams have 20 minutes to make suitable crepes and it looks like nobody has figured out how to do it. Ramsay says that he could not find another French pallette to judge this with him, so he got the next best thing, Jean-Phillippe from Belgium. The final dishes are:
Breakfast
Van - bacon and quail eggs and pepperjack cheese 0 (due to crepes damp and spongy; ingredients were good)
Ariel - smoked salmon herbs and honey 1
Lunch
Andy - ham and chees, prosciutto, fresh avocado sauce 1
Tennille - pepperjack chesse, bacon and shrimp in black bean sauce 0 (Ramsay and Jean-Phillippe say it's too spicy)
Dinner
Kevin - seafood, with scallops and crab, and goat cheese 1
Suzanne - onions and poached quail eggs 1 Suzanne says there was no Voila in my finish (like Ramsay got).
Dessert
Andy - mixed berry sauce that looked like glop; Ramsay refused to even taste it 0
Sabrina - cinnamon and Grand Marnier 1
which results in a score of Blue 2 Red 3 and Red wins.
The reward for the women is to go to a pantomine lesson in proper costume and makeup. They then go to the La Cachette, a new but acclaimed French restaurant in Los Angeles. They have a fine time.
The punishment for the men is prepping both kitchens for everything but particularly the new menu items of crepes, escargot and frog's legs which are on a special Vive la France menu. Their lunch was actually quiet reasonable, head cheese, cow's tongue and baguettes, very country and tasty French food. Dave cuts his left (most used) hand slicing something in a mandolin and chops off the tips of 3 fingers. The medic sends him to the hospital for stitches. It looks like the men will operate 1 short, but Andy does return just as Hell's Kitchen is opening (isn't that amazing how the timing always works out that way?). He has to quickly learn the new dishes and he doesn't do a good job of that.
The rest of the Blue team "help" Andy but basically they do his work. That goes on all night as Dave and Kevin step in to "help" but it does not go unnoticed by Ramsay. Dave did Andy's first risotto over and got a "very good" from Ramsay for his efforts. Sabrina has 3 risottos that have to be redone. Ramsay notices tha Dave's crepes are poorly constructed and will not pass a simple visual test. This time Kevin slides over to help. It is obvious that Andy can't keep up. He whines how his injury cannot be compared to Dave's (no use of his entire arm) or Kevin's ankle injury. I have felt throughout HK that Andy was living on borrowed time. Suzanne tells the others she needs 6, then 8 , then 6 then 5 then 6 minutes to cook several plates of lamb, all apparently within the same minute. She is having a poor night, with tremendous inconsistency. Ramsay asks her what is slowing down the Red Kitchen. She answers "lamb". Ramsay tells Dave that he is "10,000 times" better as a one-handed than 2-handed chef. He is ignoring that Dave has learned a few things from being in Hell's Kitchen in the interim. Suzanne slices the lamb early to get ahead, but that is a dumb thing to do most of the time because Ramsay then asks why and there is no defense. You lose the juices, which are critical to good taste. Andy continues to screw up and Ramsay asks him if he has given up. Suzanne is diagnosed by someone as being disorganized, inconsistent and stupid. Touche, although I think it is a temporary phenomenom if she gets the opportunity to continue. Ramsay has his blowup about the other blue team members bailing Andy out but Andy doing nothing to help himself out. He sends Andy upstairs. On the women's sides this was not a good time for Suzanne to overcook lamb and Sabrina also did something stupid. They were both sent upstairs. The remaining 2 women and 3 men were able to do the small amount left to finish.
Ramsay declare neither team a winner and tells the 8 chefs to get together and decide which 2 to nominate for elimination. It is fairly obvious, Andy and Suzanne, but a sidebar discussion on why not Suzanne and Sabrina (to force Suzanne out) is considered but rejected. So for Andy inconsistency is the reason stated by Ariel for his nomination. For Suzanne it is her timing failures and lack of teamwork. Ramsay asks Ariel and Tennille what they recommend. They tell him to fire Suzanne. He gives the usual hangman's last statement to both Andy and Suzanne. He then selects Dave to leave and Suzanne to take off her jacket. However, the purpose is for Suzanne to be able to don a Blue team uniform. Both Suzanne and Sabrina are told that they had better get it together very quickly or they will be gone.
I must comment that Tennille's extensive commentary is very self-serving, frequently inaccurate and turning me off on her despite her strong culinary talent. Why do I want to listen to this bitch? I don't want to is the answer. If she wants to audition for comedy roles there are plenty of opportunities in greater Los Angeles.
