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by Arthur Perkins

This episode starts where ep.6 left off, with the surprise move of Matt to the Red Team. Matt states that he is not afraid of anyone and that Ben hides behind Bobby. Matt's new Red teammates are totally wary and basically not willing to accept him. However, Gordon Ramsay has just the ticket, an exercise to discover whose palates were more sensitive (although the real answer to this is none meet his standard). He cooked 3 dishes "while the others were sleeping" and offers for them to taste and identify what ingredient is missing):

Chicken Parmesana
Beef Stew
Sausage Ravioli

Nobody got the right answer on the chicken or the beef stew. Petrozza guessed that something was odd on the sausage but could not say precisely what while the other chefs were praising how good it was. Of course it was a trick question and the proper answer was "Where's the beef/chicken/sausage?" Ramsay used soy protein to replace chicken and beef. He did not identify what he used for the sausage, but probably the same thing.

Now it was time for the Blind Taste Challenge. Jen was appointed to not compete due to the 5 to 4 numbers on the teams. This would be Matt's first experience with the Red team and Ramsay not only had him going last but also had a surprise. This is what happened:


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Rosann Petrozza Corey Louross Christina Bobby
Chicken Pork Yes Meatloaf X X Shrimp X X
Sweet Potato Yes Turnip Watercress Yes X Radish Yes X
Nectarine Yes Pineapple Turnip Yes X Chopped Truffle Yes X

There are a few salient points to make before I cover the finish of this challenge:
1. Petrozza was the only Blue team member to get even one point above. Louross and Bobby struck out.
2. Rosann and Christina both contributed 2 points, so they were the real stars of this challenge.
3. Editing set it up to make Matt as either the goat or hero deliberately, but his head-to-head contribution was 0. The only reason he was able to claim victory for his team was the lead of 4 points.

OK, so if you are like me you are thinking there will be one more pair with a maximum of 3 points, so it's over right now and what's the big deal. Well, Gordon Ramsay knows a redemption edit when he sees one, so he wants to give Matt the easy opportunity to bring home the win and if he can't then he shouldn't be around. Gordon has the final pair taste a dish and identify each of 10 ingredients, alternating so that if each one went all the way they would both have 5 right. It went Ben - clams YES, Matt - potato YES, Ben - cream YES, Matt - thyme YES, Ben - celery YES, Matt - onion YES, BEN - parsley YES Matt - carrot YES and with that 4th point makes it mathematically impossible for the Blue Team to catch the Red Team. The dish turned out to be clam chowder, one of my favorites.

The Blue team got to clean the kitchen, refrigerators, rooms, toilets, and bathrooms. The Red team went downstairs to the PATIO where they were pampered with champagne, massage, manicures, pedicures and classy snacks. Ben was asked by Scott to serve iced tea to the women (Scott was being sexist by forgetting that Matt had just joined the Red team).

The dinner service begins. Matt wants to show the blue team that they had made a mistake by essentially dropping him. The lineup by station was:

Christina - Meat
Rosann - Fish
Jennifer - Vegetables
Corey - Dessert
Matt - Appetizers

Ben - Meat
Louross - Fish
Petrozza - Apps?; Dessert?
Bobby - Vegetables

Christina received a kudo from Ramsay for one perfectly cooked dish. Ramsay then asked her "where are the other 20?" so she might have gotten behind. Rosann started off poorly by cooking scallops only on one side. She later got in trouble with a stone-cold langoustine. If the Red team had lost she was gone (and will be very soon). Jen rubbed Ramsay the wrong way by being "cocky" and trying to do his job of calling out the dishes. She now understands that he does not appreciate her leadership style and will quash it whenever it gets in his way. There were many camera shots of Matt laughing at the problems of the Men's team. He got a compliment from Ramsay and was in 7th Heaven over it. However, Matt had better watch out. The next week transfer of one member of the Red Team (I expect Corey or Christina) would strengthen the Blue team quite a bit. Only if it is Rosann would it weaken them and I doubt that either she or Jennifer would go. We know that Matt would never consent to go back. Louross' slow cooking screws up Bobby and Ramsay comes down hard on both of them, Louross for making the mistake and Bobby for lack of teamwork and communication(that comment was really aimed at the entire Blue team. Ben states that he "is having trouble getting used to Ramsay' brigade system and asks for for time to adjust. He also makes a critical error of running out of lamb and failing to notify Ramsay. Since no more lamb can be served and there are lamb orders waiting for a long time, this is a major faux pas impacting the customers. Petrozza is criticized by Ramsay for being very sloppy with the kitchen implements. He just left them in a pile, which is what he is used to. In Hell's Kitchen when you have a spare moment, you clean them and put them away. Petrozza was forced to do just that.

At 833pm there was no food going out from either kitchen to customers. At this moment some well done Beef Wellington dishes were sent back for being improperly cooked. Ramsay goes ballistic. At what may have been the end of a tirade, Ben pointedly asks him "Are You Done?" I think Ben's doom was sealed at that moment.

The final assessment of the evening by Ramsay is that both teams were overconfident, slow and pathetic. Matt was singled out because his risotto was the best ever from Hell's Kitchen. The Blue team loses. Each member is asked to nominate someone for eliminate. Initially Ben wants to nominate himself but then he learns that Louross will nominate him. All of them forget that this is just play-acting since Ramsay is the one making the decision and if he doesn't like who is nominated then he will call out anyone he thinks deserves it. That suggests that you just be rational, have a well-developed case to defend and don't be vindictive because Ramsay hates that and may turn on you. So Louross nominates Ben and Ben nominates Louross. Bobby nominates Petrozza. FOX hypes Petrozza's dilemma and decision, but really it's trivial in the greater scheme of things. He nominates himself because of his own errors. Ramsay does not dally, he thanks Petrozza for his honesty and he eliminates Ben, who he said dug too deep a hole. Then he directs the Red team to nominate one member to transfer to the Blue team. I do not think either Jennifer or Rosann would go, I know it won't be Matt, and that leaves Corey or Christina to make the switch.

The promotional material for Hell's Kitchen 4 included one item that I had included below interspersed with some commentary:

It's too bad that we have never ever previously seen on Hell's Kitchen:
1. chefs serve food intended to be cooked raw.
2. teams failing to communicate
3. Gordon losing his cool.

These caused it to be such a novelty in Hell's Kitchen tonight!


For additional Hells Kitchen Links visit Sirlinksalot.net