by Gina Scarpa

 

Tonight’s two hour season finale of Hell’s Kitchen kicks off with a challenge for the final three chefs – Ariel, Kevin, and Dave.  They’ll each choose a location and then they must match the cuisine from that country.  Ariel draws China, Dave gets India (yikes), and Kevin ends up with Mexico.  India is certainly the toughest of the three and Dave is going to have his work cut out for him, especially since he’s never made an Indian dish in his life.

 

After cooking for 45 minutes, the chefs present their dishes to Gordon Ramsay... except he won’t be tasting them alone.  He’s brought along three master chefs to help him: Vikas Khanna, Thomas Ortega, and Eddie Wong.  Ariel presents her dish first and I use the word presents loosely.  She can’t manage to explain the dish or sell it at all.  There is just no personality there when it comes time to present and be in front of a crowd, which is slightly strange since she always seems cool and collected in the kitchen and her interviews. 

 

Ariel’s dish does not go over that well, and that brings Kevin up to bat.  He screws up royally by forgetting to put the sauce on his plate.  How do you forget something so huge?!  The judges seem to like what he did despite his blunder.  Dave presents his dish last, which involves pork.  It’s a bad choice, since Indian people do not eat beef or pork.  Chicken would have been a much better choice.  The judges deliberate and shockingly, Dave wins!  I’m not shocked at Dave because he’s been solid throughout much of this season but it’s just impressive that he won with a difficult cuisine and one he’s never cooked for that matter!

 

For his reward, the chefs will be cooking lunch for Dave as well as a brand new set of cookware.  I’m jealous!  Of course, that leaves Dave and Ariel to do all the cleaning and prep work for dinner service. 

 

Later that night, Chef Ramsay rattles off those orders at dinner service like he’s the Micro Machines guy from the 1980s commercials.  Who talks that fast?  Each chef will get the chance to run the service and Kevin is up first.  The sous chefs, Scott and Heather, intentionally try to throw everyone off but Kevin has a good eye and is a natural leader.  If he can cook as well as he leads, he should walk away tonight the winner without much of a problem.

 

Unfortunately, Kevin starts to take the fall for Ariel’s slow service but he’s determined not to let anyone bring him down tonight.  Dave is at the helm next and acts like the second coming of Gordon Ramsay.  He runs around, yells at people, kicks things, slams counters, and seems a bit overdramatic.  Then again, it works and food is getting to the diners so I guess I can’t really complain. 

 

While Dave may be good at getting food out, he’s not so good at quality control and lets subpar dishes get past him more than once.  When Ariel takes the reins, she immediately mistakes parsnip puree for mashed potatoes.  She makes up for it by catching the second sabotaged dish that is sent her way.  Kevin starts to get confused when she calls out too many orders and it’s not clear if she’s really not expressing herself well or if he’s trying to throw her under the bus.

 

Both Kevin and Dave tell Ramsay that they think Ariel should be eliminated tonight but of course, he’s always going to do what he’s going to do.  Everyone pleads their case to stay and then it’s time for a decision.  The final two contestants in Hell’s Kitchen will be Dave and Kevin.  Not too surprising but I have to say… in many ways, I did like Ariel this season.  She did a great job and should be very proud of herself.

 

Dave and Kevin will compete in a cookoff judged by Alan Gayot, Jamie Maw, Tanya Steel, Warren Geraghty, and Colman Andrews.  Colman ends up being the deciding vote after the pair are tied at 2-2.  He chooses Dave’s venison over Kevin’s lobster.

 

As usual, for the final dinner service, Dave and Kevin will choose previously eliminated contestants to work with.  Dave chooses Ariel, Robert, and Suzanne while Kevin decides to go with Van, Amanda, and then gets stuck with Sabrina. 

 

In the red kitchen, Kevin may come to regret his decision to pick Amanda because she immediately starts screwing up.  When a single dish can’t seem to get to a diner, Kevin does a smart thing: he gets her off of the appetizer station and puts Van there instead.  She fares better cooking risotto and dishes finally start to move.  Over in the blue kitchen, Dave is cranking out the food and he makes sure that every dish is up to his standards.

 

It is definitely going to be a tough decision for Chef Ramsay.  Kevin and Dave are very different chefs but have both been strong throughout this season.  After some kind and encouraging words from Ramsay, it’s time for a decision.  The two head to their doors but only one will open.

 

The winner of Hell’s Kitchen is… DAVE! 

 

(Image courtesy of FOX)

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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