Hell's Kitchen 3 - anyone watching this train wreck?

I'll admit right off the top that I cannot help myself. I love this show and hate myself for loving it. Is anyone else wathcing or is my shame going to be a solitary experience?

I was astounded by the near-complete incompetence of the contestants this time around. Of course, if they were highly (or even moderately) skilled, the show couldn't exist. But at first glance, these participants seem far more clueless than the groups that participated in Season 1 or 2.

Ramsay was immediately in rare form. But from what I've read, the Ramsay who appears on HK is somewhat of a persona, based loosely on the 'real' Ramsay of 10 years ago. Nonetheless, his saliva-laced rants are highly entertaining. I like to think that if I were a participant on the show (having lost some sort of horrible bet), I'd be able to laugh off his camera-inspired tirades but who knows . . .

=R=

I watched about 15 minutes of it and that's all I could take, although that's about 5 minutes more than previous seasons. The whole thing is so staged and contrived that it's really sad to watch. As soon as I heard them say, "a reservation at the new Hell's Kitchen is the hottest ticket in LA", I turned it off.

If you've seen the most recent season of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares or even The F Word, it's abundantly clear that he's playing a character on Hell's Kitchen.

Best,
Michael

Is that the show where one of the contestants, who is a rather large Asian or Polynesian guy, ended up bursting into tears and blubbering for the camera all the wihle being yelled at drill-seargent style? I saw that clip on a promo and thought, "now there is a show I'll never watch."

Oh man, I'm right there with you Ron. HK is way high up on my list of guilty pleasures (right up there with Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School). Sure, they pick people who are guaranteed to screw things up. And sure, Ramsey is just playing a role. But I find it all highly entertaining.

A few random thoughts on last night's premiere:

- Brad the sous chef is my early favorite
- The crying Asian cowboy reminded me of the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz
- The woman who is a cook at Waffle House could actually turn into a really nice story
- The "announcer" is one of the more underrated parts of this show (from an unintentional comedy standpoint)
- On my new HDTV, some of the "signature dishes" looked absolutely terrifying
- I 150% agreed with last night's elimination

stevez wrote:Is that the show where one of the contestants, who is a rather large Asian or Polynesian guy, ended up bursting into tears and blubbering for the camera all the wihle being yelled at drill-seargent style?

His blubbering was actually unprovoked. He was merely crying before service and wondering if he could handle it. Ironically, it was not directly in response to being yelled at by GR. FWIW, the guy is a 48-year-old retirement home chef. But it does speak a bit to the contestant selection process

=R=

I just don't get how they have Sous and line chefs that can't make a simple risotto. I mean c'mon, even a short order cook with a few months expierence should be able to fire off a single app if shown how once. Last night you had, what, 5 women with some culinary backround that couldn't cook a quail's egg? I don't buy it. They have to have been told to mess it up.

I think the only reason I watch this is that I watch pretty much anything on TV that has food in it (save most of the Food Network dribble these days). While Top Chef is the better show and more slickly produced all of those product placements drive me totaly bonkers after a while. They reran the finale from 2006 last night and I counted about 9 ads in under 2 minuets...sheesh...

Absolutely contrived and nigh-unwatchable...but somehow...

---

there was the whole "you served me FROZEN! gnocchi!" bit: um...if it was in the kitchen shouldn't the contestants be able to use it?

then...thankfully...that horrible possibly racist, definitely classist woman who made the Waffle House crack about the competent fry cook(who...of course ended up saving the day by cooking *eggs*)...thankfully, that obvious backstabber got cut...

then there's the guy who appears possibly retarded until you learn he has a rare kidney disease...and Ramsey pretty much tiptoes around him...

Weeping Asian Cowboy, tho'...they're obviously setting him up for male-bonding later in the season...

I can't wait for the major kitchen mishap they teased...knives! fire! incompetents!

now

if only it were more about the food

damn-nit ... my TiVO is on the fritz and I missed it. I <heart> GRrrrrrrr. But, the "disaster" teases are usually not much at all, unfortunately.

ronnie_suburban wrote:His blubbering was actually unprovoked.

That's all the more reason why I probably won't watch this show. I can see all the unprovoked blubbering I want to right here on LTH .

stevez wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:His blubbering was actually unprovoked.

That's all the more reason why I probably won't watch this show. I can see all the unprovoked blubbering I want to right here on LTH .

???

Christopher Gordon wrote:???

Humor, Chris, humor, Steve Z was making a funny.

G Wiv wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:???

Humor, Chris, humor, Steve Z was making a funny.

I got it...I'm just racking my poor pickled brains trying to remember "blubbering" on LTH.

eatchicago wrote:If you've seen the most recent season of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares or even The F Word, it's abundantly clear that he's playing a character on Hell's Kitchen.

He obviously is hamming it up, but way back when (11 years ago), I was a kitchen porter at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Scotland, and I must say that Gordon Ramsey's fire and abuse is only a slight exaggeration of what I observed in a high-pressure kitchen. He may be hamming it up, but I don't think he's stretching reality that much.

This show is totally a guilty-pleasure for me, but I missed the premiere due to a family event...does anyone know if they'll replay it? I think I remember that last year they'd reply the previous week's episode prior to the new one.

Love the show and I'm rooting for Julia, even though I know deep down that's the way the producers are manipulating the season and she's not going to be the eventual winner. Yes, it was a guilty pleasure to see the (supposedly) racist Tiffany get the boot. I wish Fox would reveal more about the contestants: found this on a local Atlanta site:

HEATING IT UP

Gordon Ramsay’s hilarious summer series “Hell’s Kitchen,” which starts Season 3 tonight, has finally recruited two Atlantans. And both are memorable.

Julia Williams, a sassy, emotional College Park resident, spent five years as a short-order cook at a local Waffle House, smothering and covering mountains of potatoes. Her pro cooking resume is otherwise slim.

As a result, her other team members in tonight’s episode ignore her. “A lot of people tended to underestimate me,” Williams told Buzz.

Eddie Langley’s background is more impressive. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts, the grill cook has worked at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead, the Hotel Marriott and the Crowne Plaza. He’s now at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead. He also runs his own personal chef business at www.pizzazzatlanta.com. His favorite restaurants in town are Bacchanalia and Joel, and he’d love to open up a high-end restaurant someday. (“Atlanta needs more great chefs,” he said.)

Because Langley has had two kidney transplants, the youthful-looking 28-year-old Alpharetta resident emphasizes healthy, yet classy, food.

>>Brent

"You deserve a kick in the @%!$."
"Thank you chef"
That cracked me up last night as did the spaghetti and crab trash drama.

Who knows what finally caused our crying cowboy to succomb?
It seems like every time there is a big job to be done, he passes out.
My favorite episode to date...

I missed what happened to Aaron as well. Did I just walk out of the room at the wrong time, or did they not explain it very well?

And thank you, Fox, for another gratuitous shot of the females in their underthingies. We're running two weeks in a row for Bonnie in some state of undress. Let's go for three!

I do feel kinda ripped off by the promotion for this episode. I know the magic of editing can do wonderful things, and I shouldn't be surprised that they promised one thing and delivered another - but am I the only one who thought that a diner actually would end up in the hospital?

Or did they? I stepped out for about three minutes - maybe they were more vital than I thought. (The sopranos were on A&E as well. Damn the remote control!)

Ugh, what do those girls have against Julia?

She essentially hit a home run with the breakfast challenge and was even sent over to the men's side to show them how it's done!

Because she hadn't done a creme brulee before? Fine dining product you can learn quickly, but good leadership, good organization skills, that's something inherent. Something those other girls lack. Are they threatened by the poor little waffle house cook?

Aaron fainted when the men were doing KP duty after losing at breakfast, hitting the counter. They never said specifically why the doctors wanted him to stay in the hospital, but I don't think he's a healthy puppy to begin with.

Go Julia! (G-d, am I being played by the producers!)

>>Brent

I think the girls are trying to get rid of the "good" competition.

As for the girls in their undies.....all I can say is that this is the least attractive group of people I have ever seen! All they do is smoke! The girl who got voted off last night looks like the female twin of Tracey Morgan from 30 rock.

I guess they look too "realistic" for my reality tv!!!!

JeanneBean wrote:I think the girls are trying to get rid of the "good" competition.

As for the girls in their undies.....all I can say is that this is the least attractive group of people I have ever seen! All they do is smoke! The girl who got voted off last night looks like the female twin of Tracey Morgan from 30 rock.

I guess they look too "realistic" for my reality tv!!!!

Cooks smoke... its a fact of the business. Basically, the only way you get a break at all in most pro kitchens in to go smoke. If you want even 10 minuets of daylight in your 16 hour shift you can either quit in the middle of lunch rush or go out for a smoke between services. That is the "reality" of it.

eatchicago wrote:The whole thing is so staged and contrived that it's really sad to watch.

My thought too. I like the Food Network, Top Chef and even Gordon Ramsey's prior series on BBCA - but HK is worthless and beneath Gordon Ramsey IMHO.

abe_froeman wrote:This show is totally a guilty-pleasure for me, but I missed the premiere due to a family event...does anyone know if they'll replay it? I think I remember that last year they'd reply the previous week's episode prior to the new one.

u can watch em online. myspace.com/fox and just pick your show.

thanks- that actually played the first episode before they played the second one that week.

It hit me during this last episode that I've gotten bored with this show anyway. Not that I just noticed this, but since they're doing Ramsey's recipes, there's not really any creativity among the contestants (no chance given for them to exhibit it and even if there was, I doubt they'd have much to exhibit). It's just gotten formulaic and staged. Every year there's some big guy who's got health issues, someone who's cocky...

The first season, I really believed the guy who won (Michael, I think) could probably actually run a restaurant and succeed. The second season, I didn't believe that Heather could run a restaurant and I'm having a hard time picturing any of the current contestants doing it either.

Hi,

What surprised me was the uneasiness the male contestants expressed at eating variety meats: kidneys, tongue, trotters, stomach. Either they are drama queens or they really haven't exposed themselves to off the beaten path food.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

What surprised me was the uneasiness the male contestants expressed at eating variety meats: kidneys, tongue, trotters, stomach. Either they are drama queens or they really haven't exposed themselves to off the beaten path food.

Regards,

I agree. Their reaction to those ingredients seemed to be, across the board, remarkably un-chef-like. Of course, we don't know what preparations they were asked to consume. Still, I was a bit surprised, too.

=R=

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

What surprised me was the uneasiness the male contestants expressed at eating variety meats: kidneys, tongue, trotters, stomach. Either they are drama queens or they really haven't exposed themselves to off the beaten path food.

Regards,

I would find it hard to believe that if you showed up at a culinary program (even in Chicago) that you would find too many young people who have tried a good number of the variety meats. Do realize that outside of Chicago, it is pretty hard to find too many markets that even carry "parts". Most purveyors bring in BOX beef as opposed to carcass beef.

Prepare some chitterlings and take them down to kendall sometime (g).

abe_froeman wrote:thanks- that actually played the first episode before they played the second one that week.

It hit me during this last episode that I've gotten bored with this show anyway. Not that I just noticed this, but since they're doing Ramsey's recipes, there's not really any creativity among the contestants (no chance given for them to exhibit it and even if there was, I doubt they'd have much to exhibit). It's just gotten formulaic and staged. Every year there's some big guy who's got health issues, someone who's cocky...

The first season, I really believed the guy who won (Michael, I think) could probably actually run a restaurant and succeed. The second season, I didn't believe that Heather could run a restaurant and I'm having a hard time picturing any of the current contestants doing it either.

I could barely get through this past episode; the stock characters(and shenanigans) were actually making me ill.

But, looks like they've gone and scripted a US Kitchen Nightmares. That *could* hold promise...doubtful...hope does spring eternal.

Has anyone else watched the season 4 premier?

JeanneBean wrote:Has anyone else watched the season 4 premier?

Yes and I am struck more than ever by the intrinsic irony of this show. Each year the contestants are more clueless and more talentless than in the previous season, yet the expectations for them appear to remain the same. The goal of producing 'train wreck' programming is clearly more important than actually finding a qualfied candidate for the chef's position to be filled. If that were not the case, they would have long ago stopped casting the show with mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging miscreants and actually attempted to find talented people to participate.

Perhaps at this point, genuinely talented folks avoid partipating in the show because they have had more than an informative glimpse of what it entails but I'm guessing that there are still a few bona fide prospects out there who are probably being passed over because they'd simply be too competent in the kitchen and just wouldn't be ripe fodder for Ramsay's calculated ridiculousness.

In any case, I did see the premiere but I don't think I have another episode in me. This is really bottom of the barrel television and in the 'vast wasteland' that's a pretty sad designation.

=R=