'Hell's Kitchen': Bye-bye Ben

And don't let the door hit you on the way out of "Hell's Kitchen."

Thank goodness he's gone. I would have organized a boycott of Chef Ramsay's new Los Angeles restaurant if Ben had gone on to claim the prize as its executive chef. That one was a manipulative, back-stabbing trash talker. I'm all for trash-talking the competition, but when you start ripping into people's personal appearances -- like his nasty aside that Jen should go fix her "weave" -- that crosses an unforgivable line. Oh well. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Matt was vindicated, and relish it he did. He was shipped over to the red team -- the women's team  -- and sure enough did quite well for himself, serving up what Chef Ramsay said was the best risotto to ever leave "Hell's Kitchen." "I'd like to thank my wife, my best friend, Chef Ramsay...." Matt said. Someone should tell him he won props for dinner service. Not an Oscar.

Petrozza was annointed a gentleman for refusing to nominate a teammate for dismissal, and instead putting himself on the chopping block.

Louross turned street. What exactly was he saying as he defended himself like he was on the witness stand? Something about how he "don't fake the flunk?" Um. Okay.

Jen completely shut down. Rosann was showing wear and tear under the pressure. Corey and Christina continued to circle each other.

With the exception of Matt, no one stood out during the dinner service performance that Chef Ramsay labeled, among other derogatives, "slow and somewhat pathetic."

And absolutely none of these supposedly sophisticated palates came came close to winning the night's big taste test. The challenge? To figure out what was missing from three dishes: Chicken parmigiana, a beef stew and sausage ravioli. What was missing? Meat. All three dishes were made with a meat substitute, and no one picked up on it. The closest was Ben, who said the parmigiana was made with processed chicken.

That aside, things feel like they're idling just a bit. Like it's just a slow march toward one elimination after another. Looking forward to next week, when -- could it really be? -- the preview suggests that someone loses a body part: "Check the pancetta!"

-- Rene Lynch

Isn't the basic job of a cook to cook? So how is it that so many raw dishes can leave "Hell's Kitchen?" The latest challenge was to prepare dinner for a Sweet 16 party. If you were in "Hell's Kitchen," would you be sure to properly prepare the meal for the Belle of the Ball, and her overbearing, persnickety mother? Instead, the crew sent raw steak to the daughter and overcooked halibut to the mother. "You just turned a 16-year-old girl into a vegetarian!" Chef Ramsay screamed at Rosann, the culprit. (I've always wondered whether the diners in "Hell's Kitchen" could hear the kitchen antics. Turns out they can. Guess that's the entertainment that makes up for the raw meat!)

Am I the only one surprised that that Matt -- or Matty, as his teammates have taken to derisively calling him -- made it off the chopping block? Now, he'll have to make good on his claim that his fellow teammates have been holding him back, as he heads over to play for the women's team. ("As far as I'm concerned, Matty's a little ... anyway, so let him go over there with them," Ben said. And here's hoping that Matt's defection to the other team will help Ben fall on his face that much faster. That is one nasty dude.)

At the same time, it wasn't all that surprising to see Shayna, the new mom, go on her way. ("She is overweight and she can't really move fast," is the way the always pleasant Corey put it.)

Chef put it this way as he was bidding her farewell: "A big heart. Solid cook, yes. But...just a little too slow. Goodnight, my darling. Go back to your daughter."

And if that sounded like it was too nice, it was. Seconds later, Chef offered this parting shot: "That's why she's going back to something she's good at -- changing diapers!"

Are there any standouts in this crew? I'm not sure I'd put any of them in charge of anything.

--Rene Lynch    

Each week, Chef Ramsay lays the trap. And each week, someone walks right into it. Haven't they learned anything by now? Ben fell for it last week when Chef Ramsay told him that he was "surprised" by his dinner service performance. Ben profusely thanked the chef, puffed out his chest and started yammering about how he was giving it his all....until chef interrupted to say he was surprised at how bad the performance was.

This week, Louross fell for it. Chef told him he was the evening's standout. But not for the reason Louross thought. Ooo. That backhand had to smart.

It was inevitable. The clock has been ticking on Craig from the moment he walked into Hell's Kitchen wearing that sky-high chef's hat. But he didn't do himself any favors, either. A sous chef in his civilian life, Craig struggled to keep up again and again -- and that's saying something on a show where the majority of the remaining chefs seem to have trouble knowing when the chicken and salmon are no longer raw. But he crossed the line when he delivered uncooked pasta to be served in Hell's Kitchen, and then sassed back -- "I said in a [expletive] minute!" -- when Chef Ramsay demanded to know when the re-do would be done. The kitchen nearly came to a standstill at Craig's audacity.

It was a moment perhaps best summed up by Roseann, delivered in that Staten Island accent so thick you could cut it with a knife: "You've got some attitude, son."

Aside from that -- and Vanessa's severe hand burn, which could jeopardize her ability to stick around -- it seems like we were just biding time to get to the next elimination. Jen and Bobby (the self-professed black Gordon Ramsay) raised their profiles by rallying their respective teams. But where are the promised fireworks between the women? Will the men continue to implode? And was that really Corey canoodling with Louross, as the coming previews suggested?

Hmm. Maybe it's time to go vegan.

Jason was sent packing for several mess-ups, including his inablity to "break down a chicken" without mangling it beyond recognition.

But Chef Gordon Ramsay should have kicked the Las Vegas sous chef out for his inabilty to follow through on his trash talk.

This is a guy who jumped on the "men" vs. "girls" bandwagon from the start by scoffing that he'd never lose to a "girl," and spouting off stuff like, "The girls surprised me. They did good" and "I hate desserts. Women make desserts." But then he turns around and crumbles when he can't remember the dessert menu and quits before the night's dinner service even starts? Come on. Man up! (That's actually what did him in. He kept saying "I'm done" and told Ramsay that he wanted to go home. Ramsay urged Jason to pull his head back into the game. Only to chop it off later.)

Speaking of chopping, I was on the edge of my seat in fear that the cleaver was going to come down on that chicken's head. Brilliant move to remind people what their food looks like before it ends up on their plate. That reminded me of a bumper sticker that says something like "I don't eat anything with a face." And that reminded me of another cheeky bumper sticker that says something like "If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?" But I digress.

Revenge might be a dish best served cold. But Corey can expect it to be red hot.

She was blasted last week on "Hell's Kitchen" as plain, boring, blonde and bland, but this week Corey showed her stripes after the women’s team found themselves facing elimination in the wake of a dreadful dinner service.

She made no bones about the fact that she was placing two teammates on the chopping block that probably didn’t deserve to be there. She said she nominated Christina “for strategic reasons” and Jen for personal reasons, adding “I want her out.”

Chef Gordon Ramsay turned the tables by dropping the ax on someone else entirely.

You have to give it to Matt, a sous chef and Gordon Ramsay-wannabe who prepared "exotic tartare" during his first challenge in the new season of "Hell's Kitchen."

He said the dish, a combination of venison, caviar, scallops and -- wait for it -- white chocolate, would set him apart from the competition: "My signature dish is going to help me stand out, cause I'm a true culinarian."

He was right about that. It's the first dish in "Hell's Kitchen" to make Ramsay throw up. Really. As in bent over at the waist, retching into the nearby garbage bin.

Chef Gordon Ramsay was right: It was a tough choice picking the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" to go run his Las Vegas restaurant.

Bonnie's arc on the show was incredible -- she appeared destined to lose her way early on but kept fighting and scrapping and cooking her way into the next round. And with each victory, the nanny's self-esteem blossomed. (In last night's show, she was talking about herself in the third person, boasting that she was a force to be reckoned with, and "Don't #$%& with Bonnie!" And she sounded like she meant it!)

For their last challenge on the show, both Bonnie and her opponent Rock, an executive chef, delivered a fantastic dinner service. There were some hiccups, mainly return-contestant Josh proving why he got kicked off in the first place and Julia being a little sassy and coming across like a bit of a sore loser. Bonnie and Rock showed why they deserved to be in the final.

In the end, Ramsay understandably gave the edge to the more polished, more professional Rock. But have no fear for Bonnie. As she said: She's sure opportunity is about to knock on her door.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Would you trust these people with your food?

Isn't the basic job of a cook to cook? So how is it that so many raw dishes can leave "Hell's Kitchen?" The latest challenge was to prepare dinner for a Sweet 16 party. If you were in "Hell's Kitchen," would you be sure to properly prepare the meal for the Belle of the Ball, and her overbearing, persnickety mother? Instead, the crew sent raw steak to the daughter and overcooked halibut to the mother. "You just turned a 16-year-old girl into a vegetarian!" Chef Ramsay screamed at Rosann, the culprit. (I've always wondered whether the diners in "Hell's Kitchen" could hear the kitchen antics. Turns out they can. Guess that's the entertainment that makes up for the raw meat!)

Am I the only one surprised that that Matt -- or Matty, as his teammates have taken to derisively calling him -- made it off the chopping block? Now, he'll have to make good on his claim that his fellow teammates have been holding him back, as he heads over to play for the women's team. ("As far as I'm concerned, Matty's a little ... anyway, so let him go over there with them," Ben said. And here's hoping that Matt's defection to the other team will help Ben fall on his face that much faster. That is one nasty dude.)

At the same time, it wasn't all that surprising to see Shayna, the new mom, go on her way. ("She is overweight and she can't really move fast," is the way the always pleasant Corey put it.)

Chef put it this way as he was bidding her farewell: "A big heart. Solid cook, yes. But...just a little too slow. Goodnight, my darling. Go back to your daughter."

And if that sounded like it was too nice, it was. Seconds later, Chef offered this parting shot: "That's why she's going back to something she's good at -- changing diapers!"

Are there any standouts in this crew? I'm not sure I'd put any of them in charge of anything.

--Rene Lynch    

Each week, Chef Ramsay lays the trap. And each week, someone walks right into it. Haven't they learned anything by now? Ben fell for it last week when Chef Ramsay told him that he was "surprised" by his dinner service performance. Ben profusely thanked the chef, puffed out his chest and started yammering about how he was giving it his all....until chef interrupted to say he was surprised at how bad the performance was.

This week, Louross fell for it. Chef told him he was the evening's standout. But not for the reason Louross thought. Ooo. That backhand had to smart.

It was inevitable. The clock has been ticking on Craig from the moment he walked into Hell's Kitchen wearing that sky-high chef's hat. But he didn't do himself any favors, either. A sous chef in his civilian life, Craig struggled to keep up again and again -- and that's saying something on a show where the majority of the remaining chefs seem to have trouble knowing when the chicken and salmon are no longer raw. But he crossed the line when he delivered uncooked pasta to be served in Hell's Kitchen, and then sassed back -- "I said in a [expletive] minute!" -- when Chef Ramsay demanded to know when the re-do would be done. The kitchen nearly came to a standstill at Craig's audacity.

It was a moment perhaps best summed up by Roseann, delivered in that Staten Island accent so thick you could cut it with a knife: "You've got some attitude, son."

Aside from that -- and Vanessa's severe hand burn, which could jeopardize her ability to stick around -- it seems like we were just biding time to get to the next elimination. Jen and Bobby (the self-professed black Gordon Ramsay) raised their profiles by rallying their respective teams. But where are the promised fireworks between the women? Will the men continue to implode? And was that really Corey canoodling with Louross, as the coming previews suggested?

Hmm. Maybe it's time to go vegan.

Jason was sent packing for several mess-ups, including his inablity to "break down a chicken" without mangling it beyond recognition.

But Chef Gordon Ramsay should have kicked the Las Vegas sous chef out for his inabilty to follow through on his trash talk.

This is a guy who jumped on the "men" vs. "girls" bandwagon from the start by scoffing that he'd never lose to a "girl," and spouting off stuff like, "The girls surprised me. They did good" and "I hate desserts. Women make desserts." But then he turns around and crumbles when he can't remember the dessert menu and quits before the night's dinner service even starts? Come on. Man up! (That's actually what did him in. He kept saying "I'm done" and told Ramsay that he wanted to go home. Ramsay urged Jason to pull his head back into the game. Only to chop it off later.)

Speaking of chopping, I was on the edge of my seat in fear that the cleaver was going to come down on that chicken's head. Brilliant move to remind people what their food looks like before it ends up on their plate. That reminded me of a bumper sticker that says something like "I don't eat anything with a face." And that reminded me of another cheeky bumper sticker that says something like "If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?" But I digress.

Revenge might be a dish best served cold. But Corey can expect it to be red hot.

She was blasted last week on "Hell's Kitchen" as plain, boring, blonde and bland, but this week Corey showed her stripes after the women’s team found themselves facing elimination in the wake of a dreadful dinner service.

She made no bones about the fact that she was placing two teammates on the chopping block that probably didn’t deserve to be there. She said she nominated Christina “for strategic reasons” and Jen for personal reasons, adding “I want her out.”

Chef Gordon Ramsay turned the tables by dropping the ax on someone else entirely.

You have to give it to Matt, a sous chef and Gordon Ramsay-wannabe who prepared "exotic tartare" during his first challenge in the new season of "Hell's Kitchen."

He said the dish, a combination of venison, caviar, scallops and -- wait for it -- white chocolate, would set him apart from the competition: "My signature dish is going to help me stand out, cause I'm a true culinarian."

He was right about that. It's the first dish in "Hell's Kitchen" to make Ramsay throw up. Really. As in bent over at the waist, retching into the nearby garbage bin.

Chef Gordon Ramsay was right: It was a tough choice picking the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" to go run his Las Vegas restaurant.

Bonnie's arc on the show was incredible -- she appeared destined to lose her way early on but kept fighting and scrapping and cooking her way into the next round. And with each victory, the nanny's self-esteem blossomed. (In last night's show, she was talking about herself in the third person, boasting that she was a force to be reckoned with, and "Don't #$%& with Bonnie!" And she sounded like she meant it!)

For their last challenge on the show, both Bonnie and her opponent Rock, an executive chef, delivered a fantastic dinner service. There were some hiccups, mainly return-contestant Josh proving why he got kicked off in the first place and Julia being a little sassy and coming across like a bit of a sore loser. Bonnie and Rock showed why they deserved to be in the final.

In the end, Ramsay understandably gave the edge to the more polished, more professional Rock. But have no fear for Bonnie. As she said: She's sure opportunity is about to knock on her door.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Burn victim heads home, Chef Gordon Ramsay goes back to grilling

Each week, Chef Ramsay lays the trap. And each week, someone walks right into it. Haven't they learned anything by now? Ben fell for it last week when Chef Ramsay told him that he was "surprised" by his dinner service performance. Ben profusely thanked the chef, puffed out his chest and started yammering about how he was giving it his all....until chef interrupted to say he was surprised at how bad the performance was.

This week, Louross fell for it. Chef told him he was the evening's standout. But not for the reason Louross thought. Ooo. That backhand had to smart.

It was inevitable. The clock has been ticking on Craig from the moment he walked into Hell's Kitchen wearing that sky-high chef's hat. But he didn't do himself any favors, either. A sous chef in his civilian life, Craig struggled to keep up again and again -- and that's saying something on a show where the majority of the remaining chefs seem to have trouble knowing when the chicken and salmon are no longer raw. But he crossed the line when he delivered uncooked pasta to be served in Hell's Kitchen, and then sassed back -- "I said in a [expletive] minute!" -- when Chef Ramsay demanded to know when the re-do would be done. The kitchen nearly came to a standstill at Craig's audacity.

It was a moment perhaps best summed up by Roseann, delivered in that Staten Island accent so thick you could cut it with a knife: "You've got some attitude, son."

Aside from that -- and Vanessa's severe hand burn, which could jeopardize her ability to stick around -- it seems like we were just biding time to get to the next elimination. Jen and Bobby (the self-professed black Gordon Ramsay) raised their profiles by rallying their respective teams. But where are the promised fireworks between the women? Will the men continue to implode? And was that really Corey canoodling with Louross, as the coming previews suggested?

Hmm. Maybe it's time to go vegan.

Jason was sent packing for several mess-ups, including his inablity to "break down a chicken" without mangling it beyond recognition.

But Chef Gordon Ramsay should have kicked the Las Vegas sous chef out for his inabilty to follow through on his trash talk.

This is a guy who jumped on the "men" vs. "girls" bandwagon from the start by scoffing that he'd never lose to a "girl," and spouting off stuff like, "The girls surprised me. They did good" and "I hate desserts. Women make desserts." But then he turns around and crumbles when he can't remember the dessert menu and quits before the night's dinner service even starts? Come on. Man up! (That's actually what did him in. He kept saying "I'm done" and told Ramsay that he wanted to go home. Ramsay urged Jason to pull his head back into the game. Only to chop it off later.)

Speaking of chopping, I was on the edge of my seat in fear that the cleaver was going to come down on that chicken's head. Brilliant move to remind people what their food looks like before it ends up on their plate. That reminded me of a bumper sticker that says something like "I don't eat anything with a face." And that reminded me of another cheeky bumper sticker that says something like "If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?" But I digress.

Revenge might be a dish best served cold. But Corey can expect it to be red hot.

She was blasted last week on "Hell's Kitchen" as plain, boring, blonde and bland, but this week Corey showed her stripes after the women’s team found themselves facing elimination in the wake of a dreadful dinner service.

She made no bones about the fact that she was placing two teammates on the chopping block that probably didn’t deserve to be there. She said she nominated Christina “for strategic reasons” and Jen for personal reasons, adding “I want her out.”

Chef Gordon Ramsay turned the tables by dropping the ax on someone else entirely.

You have to give it to Matt, a sous chef and Gordon Ramsay-wannabe who prepared "exotic tartare" during his first challenge in the new season of "Hell's Kitchen."

He said the dish, a combination of venison, caviar, scallops and -- wait for it -- white chocolate, would set him apart from the competition: "My signature dish is going to help me stand out, cause I'm a true culinarian."

He was right about that. It's the first dish in "Hell's Kitchen" to make Ramsay throw up. Really. As in bent over at the waist, retching into the nearby garbage bin.

Chef Gordon Ramsay was right: It was a tough choice picking the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" to go run his Las Vegas restaurant.

Bonnie's arc on the show was incredible -- she appeared destined to lose her way early on but kept fighting and scrapping and cooking her way into the next round. And with each victory, the nanny's self-esteem blossomed. (In last night's show, she was talking about herself in the third person, boasting that she was a force to be reckoned with, and "Don't #$%& with Bonnie!" And she sounded like she meant it!)

For their last challenge on the show, both Bonnie and her opponent Rock, an executive chef, delivered a fantastic dinner service. There were some hiccups, mainly return-contestant Josh proving why he got kicked off in the first place and Julia being a little sassy and coming across like a bit of a sore loser. Bonnie and Rock showed why they deserved to be in the final.

In the end, Ramsay understandably gave the edge to the more polished, more professional Rock. But have no fear for Bonnie. As she said: She's sure opportunity is about to knock on her door.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

Hell's Kitchen: Oh no he didn't!

It was inevitable. The clock has been ticking on Craig from the moment he walked into Hell's Kitchen wearing that sky-high chef's hat. But he didn't do himself any favors, either. A sous chef in his civilian life, Craig struggled to keep up again and again -- and that's saying something on a show where the majority of the remaining chefs seem to have trouble knowing when the chicken and salmon are no longer raw. But he crossed the line when he delivered uncooked pasta to be served in Hell's Kitchen, and then sassed back -- "I said in a [expletive] minute!" -- when Chef Ramsay demanded to know when the re-do would be done. The kitchen nearly came to a standstill at Craig's audacity.

It was a moment perhaps best summed up by Roseann, delivered in that Staten Island accent so thick you could cut it with a knife: "You've got some attitude, son."

Aside from that -- and Vanessa's severe hand burn, which could jeopardize her ability to stick around -- it seems like we were just biding time to get to the next elimination. Jen and Bobby (the self-professed black Gordon Ramsay) raised their profiles by rallying their respective teams. But where are the promised fireworks between the women? Will the men continue to implode? And was that really Corey canoodling with Louross, as the coming previews suggested?

Hmm. Maybe it's time to go vegan.

Jason was sent packing for several mess-ups, including his inablity to "break down a chicken" without mangling it beyond recognition.

But Chef Gordon Ramsay should have kicked the Las Vegas sous chef out for his inabilty to follow through on his trash talk.

This is a guy who jumped on the "men" vs. "girls" bandwagon from the start by scoffing that he'd never lose to a "girl," and spouting off stuff like, "The girls surprised me. They did good" and "I hate desserts. Women make desserts." But then he turns around and crumbles when he can't remember the dessert menu and quits before the night's dinner service even starts? Come on. Man up! (That's actually what did him in. He kept saying "I'm done" and told Ramsay that he wanted to go home. Ramsay urged Jason to pull his head back into the game. Only to chop it off later.)

Speaking of chopping, I was on the edge of my seat in fear that the cleaver was going to come down on that chicken's head. Brilliant move to remind people what their food looks like before it ends up on their plate. That reminded me of a bumper sticker that says something like "I don't eat anything with a face." And that reminded me of another cheeky bumper sticker that says something like "If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?" But I digress.

Revenge might be a dish best served cold. But Corey can expect it to be red hot.

She was blasted last week on "Hell's Kitchen" as plain, boring, blonde and bland, but this week Corey showed her stripes after the women’s team found themselves facing elimination in the wake of a dreadful dinner service.

She made no bones about the fact that she was placing two teammates on the chopping block that probably didn’t deserve to be there. She said she nominated Christina “for strategic reasons” and Jen for personal reasons, adding “I want her out.”

Chef Gordon Ramsay turned the tables by dropping the ax on someone else entirely.

You have to give it to Matt, a sous chef and Gordon Ramsay-wannabe who prepared "exotic tartare" during his first challenge in the new season of "Hell's Kitchen."

He said the dish, a combination of venison, caviar, scallops and -- wait for it -- white chocolate, would set him apart from the competition: "My signature dish is going to help me stand out, cause I'm a true culinarian."

He was right about that. It's the first dish in "Hell's Kitchen" to make Ramsay throw up. Really. As in bent over at the waist, retching into the nearby garbage bin.

Chef Gordon Ramsay was right: It was a tough choice picking the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" to go run his Las Vegas restaurant.

Bonnie's arc on the show was incredible -- she appeared destined to lose her way early on but kept fighting and scrapping and cooking her way into the next round. And with each victory, the nanny's self-esteem blossomed. (In last night's show, she was talking about herself in the third person, boasting that she was a force to be reckoned with, and "Don't #$%& with Bonnie!" And she sounded like she meant it!)

For their last challenge on the show, both Bonnie and her opponent Rock, an executive chef, delivered a fantastic dinner service. There were some hiccups, mainly return-contestant Josh proving why he got kicked off in the first place and Julia being a little sassy and coming across like a bit of a sore loser. Bonnie and Rock showed why they deserved to be in the final.

In the end, Ramsay understandably gave the edge to the more polished, more professional Rock. But have no fear for Bonnie. As she said: She's sure opportunity is about to knock on her door.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Taking out the trash (talker)

Hmm. Maybe it's time to go vegan.

Jason was sent packing for several mess-ups, including his inablity to "break down a chicken" without mangling it beyond recognition.

But Chef Gordon Ramsay should have kicked the Las Vegas sous chef out for his inabilty to follow through on his trash talk.

This is a guy who jumped on the "men" vs. "girls" bandwagon from the start by scoffing that he'd never lose to a "girl," and spouting off stuff like, "The girls surprised me. They did good" and "I hate desserts. Women make desserts." But then he turns around and crumbles when he can't remember the dessert menu and quits before the night's dinner service even starts? Come on. Man up! (That's actually what did him in. He kept saying "I'm done" and told Ramsay that he wanted to go home. Ramsay urged Jason to pull his head back into the game. Only to chop it off later.)

Speaking of chopping, I was on the edge of my seat in fear that the cleaver was going to come down on that chicken's head. Brilliant move to remind people what their food looks like before it ends up on their plate. That reminded me of a bumper sticker that says something like "I don't eat anything with a face." And that reminded me of another cheeky bumper sticker that says something like "If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?" But I digress.

Revenge might be a dish best served cold. But Corey can expect it to be red hot.

She was blasted last week on "Hell's Kitchen" as plain, boring, blonde and bland, but this week Corey showed her stripes after the women’s team found themselves facing elimination in the wake of a dreadful dinner service.

She made no bones about the fact that she was placing two teammates on the chopping block that probably didn’t deserve to be there. She said she nominated Christina “for strategic reasons” and Jen for personal reasons, adding “I want her out.”

Chef Gordon Ramsay turned the tables by dropping the ax on someone else entirely.

You have to give it to Matt, a sous chef and Gordon Ramsay-wannabe who prepared "exotic tartare" during his first challenge in the new season of "Hell's Kitchen."

He said the dish, a combination of venison, caviar, scallops and -- wait for it -- white chocolate, would set him apart from the competition: "My signature dish is going to help me stand out, cause I'm a true culinarian."

He was right about that. It's the first dish in "Hell's Kitchen" to make Ramsay throw up. Really. As in bent over at the waist, retching into the nearby garbage bin.

Chef Gordon Ramsay was right: It was a tough choice picking the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" to go run his Las Vegas restaurant.

Bonnie's arc on the show was incredible -- she appeared destined to lose her way early on but kept fighting and scrapping and cooking her way into the next round. And with each victory, the nanny's self-esteem blossomed. (In last night's show, she was talking about herself in the third person, boasting that she was a force to be reckoned with, and "Don't #$%& with Bonnie!" And she sounded like she meant it!)

For their last challenge on the show, both Bonnie and her opponent Rock, an executive chef, delivered a fantastic dinner service. There were some hiccups, mainly return-contestant Josh proving why he got kicked off in the first place and Julia being a little sassy and coming across like a bit of a sore loser. Bonnie and Rock showed why they deserved to be in the final.

In the end, Ramsay understandably gave the edge to the more polished, more professional Rock. But have no fear for Bonnie. As she said: She's sure opportunity is about to knock on her door.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Corey, get ready to watch your back

Revenge might be a dish best served cold. But Corey can expect it to be red hot.

She was blasted last week on "Hell's Kitchen" as plain, boring, blonde and bland, but this week Corey showed her stripes after the women’s team found themselves facing elimination in the wake of a dreadful dinner service.

She made no bones about the fact that she was placing two teammates on the chopping block that probably didn’t deserve to be there. She said she nominated Christina “for strategic reasons” and Jen for personal reasons, adding “I want her out.”

Chef Gordon Ramsay turned the tables by dropping the ax on someone else entirely.

You have to give it to Matt, a sous chef and Gordon Ramsay-wannabe who prepared "exotic tartare" during his first challenge in the new season of "Hell's Kitchen."

He said the dish, a combination of venison, caviar, scallops and -- wait for it -- white chocolate, would set him apart from the competition: "My signature dish is going to help me stand out, cause I'm a true culinarian."

He was right about that. It's the first dish in "Hell's Kitchen" to make Ramsay throw up. Really. As in bent over at the waist, retching into the nearby garbage bin.

Chef Gordon Ramsay was right: It was a tough choice picking the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" to go run his Las Vegas restaurant.

Bonnie's arc on the show was incredible -- she appeared destined to lose her way early on but kept fighting and scrapping and cooking her way into the next round. And with each victory, the nanny's self-esteem blossomed. (In last night's show, she was talking about herself in the third person, boasting that she was a force to be reckoned with, and "Don't #$%& with Bonnie!" And she sounded like she meant it!)

For their last challenge on the show, both Bonnie and her opponent Rock, an executive chef, delivered a fantastic dinner service. There were some hiccups, mainly return-contestant Josh proving why he got kicked off in the first place and Julia being a little sassy and coming across like a bit of a sore loser. Bonnie and Rock showed why they deserved to be in the final.

In the end, Ramsay understandably gave the edge to the more polished, more professional Rock. But have no fear for Bonnie. As she said: She's sure opportunity is about to knock on her door.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': The dark lord of cooking reigns again!

You have to give it to Matt, a sous chef and Gordon Ramsay-wannabe who prepared "exotic tartare" during his first challenge in the new season of "Hell's Kitchen."

He said the dish, a combination of venison, caviar, scallops and -- wait for it -- white chocolate, would set him apart from the competition: "My signature dish is going to help me stand out, cause I'm a true culinarian."

He was right about that. It's the first dish in "Hell's Kitchen" to make Ramsay throw up. Really. As in bent over at the waist, retching into the nearby garbage bin.

Chef Gordon Ramsay was right: It was a tough choice picking the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" to go run his Las Vegas restaurant.

Bonnie's arc on the show was incredible -- she appeared destined to lose her way early on but kept fighting and scrapping and cooking her way into the next round. And with each victory, the nanny's self-esteem blossomed. (In last night's show, she was talking about herself in the third person, boasting that she was a force to be reckoned with, and "Don't #$%& with Bonnie!" And she sounded like she meant it!)

For their last challenge on the show, both Bonnie and her opponent Rock, an executive chef, delivered a fantastic dinner service. There were some hiccups, mainly return-contestant Josh proving why he got kicked off in the first place and Julia being a little sassy and coming across like a bit of a sore loser. Bonnie and Rock showed why they deserved to be in the final.

In the end, Ramsay understandably gave the edge to the more polished, more professional Rock. But have no fear for Bonnie. As she said: She's sure opportunity is about to knock on her door.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen' finale: A Rock-solid winner

Chef Gordon Ramsay was right: It was a tough choice picking the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" to go run his Las Vegas restaurant.

Bonnie's arc on the show was incredible -- she appeared destined to lose her way early on but kept fighting and scrapping and cooking her way into the next round. And with each victory, the nanny's self-esteem blossomed. (In last night's show, she was talking about herself in the third person, boasting that she was a force to be reckoned with, and "Don't #$%& with Bonnie!" And she sounded like she meant it!)

For their last challenge on the show, both Bonnie and her opponent Rock, an executive chef, delivered a fantastic dinner service. There were some hiccups, mainly return-contestant Josh proving why he got kicked off in the first place and Julia being a little sassy and coming across like a bit of a sore loser. Bonnie and Rock showed why they deserved to be in the final.

In the end, Ramsay understandably gave the edge to the more polished, more professional Rock. But have no fear for Bonnie. As she said: She's sure opportunity is about to knock on her door.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': What in the world are you crying about?

This is what it all comes down to: executive chef Rock and nanny Bonnie duking it out for top honors in "Hell's Kitchen."  But that's next week's finale.

This week we watched the previous six contestants return to take sides for the final service -- it ended up being boys vs. girls again -- and to see Julia completely fall apart.  She cried into the arm of a chair. She ran into the bathroom and cried into a handful of toilet paper.  She cried again in the kitchen.  And then cried as she talked about why she was crying.  What gives?  She arguably walks away from "Hell's Kitchen" with a better deal than next week's runner-up will.  (Remember, chef Gordon Ramsay offered to personally pay for the waffle house chef to attend culinary school and then come back on the show.)

Julia was our favorite for her gumption and spirit and the fact that she cooked "real food" instead of hoity-toity fare.  We'd hoped that it would come down to her in the final.  And that prediction still might come true, although certainly not in the way we had envisioned it: Julia was the second-to-last cook picked by either side, in part, both Rock and Bonnie later said, because they were worried about her emotional state.  Well, Bonnie might have that, and more, to worry about.

Julia said that in her heart of hearts, she wants Rock to win.

-- Rene Lynch

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Moms know best

Who saw this coming -- Bonnie is in the final!

This, after all, is "blond Bonnie," the nanny that chef Gordon Ramsay has spent much of the series ridiculing. (Remember the time she was trying to cook on the stove, sans any actual heat?) But here she is, going toe-to-toe with Rock, an executive chef. Jen may have won Monday night's challenge, when the contestants' moms had to blind judge their high-falutin takes on comfort food, but she ended up on the chopping block anyway after a so-so dinner service performance. Good riddance. She was getting annoying with her falsetto-speak confessionals.

We'll soon see if the newly bolstered Bonnie can follow through on her threat to Rock: Watch out, she said, I'm gunning for you.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Look what's lurking beneath the chef's jacket!

It appears that Gordon Ramsay has a heart.

The terrorizing, fire-breathing chef showed his softest side yet as he booted off underdog Julia, the waffle house cook who showed plenty of spunk and drive, even if she'd never heard of ahi tuna or cooked a lobster before. As the field winnowed down to four -- Josh was summarily dismissed mid-service and without much fanfare for repeatedly under- and overcooking his risotto and pasta -- it was clear that Julia had no business running a high-end restaurant.

At least not yet.

As chef prepared to send the quietly sobbing short-order cook on her way, Ramsay told her that he was so impressed with the remarkable progress she'd made during her tour of duty in "Hell's Kitchen" that he was personally going to send her to culinary school and then invite her back for a chance to win the competition outright.

"There's something quite amazing about you," he told her. "You have an exceptional amount of talent."

Awwwwwwwwww.

Now there's three: Jen the pastry chef; Bonnie the nanny; and Rock, who, as an exectutive chef, has been a front-runner from the get-go. Once again, though, Rock appeared unable to control his emotions when things didn't go precisely his way in the kitchen. (He knows it, too, and at one point was crying and hitting himself in the head in frustration at his inability to keep it together.)

But perhaps that out-of-control temper is considered an asset in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

-- Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Livestock need not apply

With the field winnowed down to six contestants, Chef Ramsay gave a moving motivational speech to the men and women competing for a shot at running their own restaurant. It was time to dig deep, step up and prove themselves, he told them. (Translation: The infuriated chef shrieked, "We're under pressure ... this is where it separates the $%^& chef from a donkey!!!!")

Guess the contestants didn't get the memo, because it was much of the same as the two teams were tasked with crafting, and then executing, a menu of their own making. Bonnie continued her air-headed ways. (Chef had to point out that she was trying to cook on a stove -- sans any actual flames.) Jen showed zero leadership but plenty of scowly expressions. Brad did a lot more talking than cooking and got sent home for it. Josh proved to be the come-back kid of the night, single-handedly saving what could have been a disasterous service. Rock showed that he continues to lack true leadership -- by refusing to come to Josh's aid when he couldn't get his lamb dishes moving out of the kitchen. (Yes, this is a competition, but the customers of Hell's Kitchen shouldn't suffer because of it. A real chef would have put his diners' interests first, Rock.)

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Out-of-control Rock

What a shame. We won't get to see what a "jumped-up little cave woman" would do with the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's newest restaurant.

Coming into the competition for the role as head chef, Melissa looked like a contender. The New Yawk line cook clearly knew her way around a kitchen and wasn't afraid to play boss. (Or try to, anyway.) But she earned that bizarre little nickname during one-too-many run-ins with chef Ramsay and was sent packing Monday night after serious questions emerged about her cooking abilities. (Overcooked fish, scallops that didn't pass inspection, etc.)

Perhaps even larger question now loom over the other frontrunner, Rock: Losing that lobster competition sent him into a stomping, fuming, refrigerator door-slamming rampage. Not exactly the  cool-headedness one wants in a chef overseeing a new venture that's bound to have its share of frustrations.

And then there were six.

The B-word revisited: OK. Uncle. Everyone's using this one. Including the women's team -- gleefully vindicated as a well-oiled machine once they were freed from Melissa. When the ladies called a red team meeting early in the episode, one of the piped up, "Not you, bitch!" and startled Melissa. But she was already on her way -- to weighing down the men's team.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Did he just say the b-word?

There’s really only one reason to watch "Hell’s Kitchen": to see just how high Chef Gordon Ramsay can turn up the heat on his charges.

Using colorful from-across-the-pond language like "donkey" and "cow," combined with other spicy adjectives and expletives, the British chef heaps all kinds of verbal abuse on the men and women who have made a deal with this devil, signing away any shred of self-respect for their shot at running a professional kitchen. Contestants do little more than try to keep their faces from crumpling up and respond, "Yes, Chef!"

Monday night’s episode, though, seemed to cross an unwritten boundary in this S&M mash-up.

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen:' Mmmm, nice pancetta

Julia, Julia, Julia.

Those scallops were not overcooked. Worse, you were duped into misbelieving your own eyes by Bonnie. Bonnie! She's been ridiculed again and again by Chef Ramsay for living down to that dumb-blond stereotype. Rock and Melissa are already sharpening their knives.

Other highlights of the night: Vinnie getting the boot, not for mistaking seared tuna for pancetta, of all things (probably thanks to his smoker's palate), but for overcooking one beef Wellington after another. (Does all that food really end up in the garbage? Can't Jen retrieve it and feed it to the homeless?) Rock talking about himself in the third person, and Ramsay prancing about, imitating Bonnie looking for her chicken.

But the piece de resistance required the assistance of TiVo. It was the almost-indecipherable remark Ramsay spat at the towering woman in the red-patterened dress who decided she'd get her 15 minutes by complaining about the wait for food in Hell's Kitchen: "Get the giraffe out of here."

For a moment there, she almost looked genuinely surprised.

--Rene Lynch

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.

'Hell's Kitchen': Wake up and smell the garbage, Julia!

Julia, here's a recipe for you: Take two dollops of self esteem and win this thing.

Yes, all your fellow contestants didn't miss an opportunity to snidely remind you that you're "just" a shorter order cook from a waffle house who doesn't know a Michelin restaurant from a Michelin tire. But your on-the-job hustle was precisely what you needed to lead your team to that Army-Navy victory. Yet you were willing to throw yourself under the elimination bus Monday night over Jen, who tried to feed a customer food she had retrieved from the garbage.

What part of that didn't you get? Food. From. The. Garbage.