Hell Hath No Fury Like Gordon Ramsay

The kitchen was hot as Christina, the culinary student from Missouri, and Petrozza, the catering director from North Carolina, battled it out in Hell's Kitchen. Two worthy opponents battling it out for the chance to be the new executive chef at Gordon Ramsay's new restaurant, London West Hollywood. A position worth a quarter of a million dollars.

The two opponents started out the evening choosing their team of competitors. Petrozza, having one the last challenge, was rewarded by being first to choose his first team member. Up for grabs are Ben, Corey, Lou Ross, Jen, Bobby, and Matt. Bobby is first pick, followed by Corey, who is chosen by Christina. Petrozza chooses Ben next, which is followed by Christina choosing Lou Ross, leaving Matt and Jen to be the last two standing. Tough call for both teams. Had it been me, I would have said no thank you to both of them! But alas, they each have to take one. Petrozza's turn to pick next, and after debating which is the lesser of two evils, he pulls Jen to be on his team; Christina happily takes Matt.

This is where the heat really kicks in and things really start to get interesting. While Ben and Bobby are eager to do everything they can to help Petrozza win, Jen is none too happy to be returning to the show as a team player and not a team captain. Of course, one of the more interesting things said on the show was when Jen said something like this:
"I know that I was picked next to last because I am one of the best cooks in this competition and they didn't want to be outshined by me."
She also had the nerve to ask Chef Ramsay for a letter of recommendation. Needless to say, he didn't say yes. Jen, I think it's safe to say that it's time to get a clue. You suck as a cook. You suck as a person and you need to freaking get over yourself!

On the flip side, we have Corey and Lou Ross who are very excited to be back in Hell's Kitchen supporting Christina and eager to do their best to help her win. The same, however, cannot be said for Matt who told his fellow cooks, as well as Christina and Chef Ramsay himself to "shut up" and let him cook. Let him cook? Get a grip Matt. You don't know how. Let us all take a moment to think back to the episode when he suggested that they serve "sushi on a tortilla" at a girls' 16th birthday dinner.

The evening gets even hotter as each of the kitchens run into their fair share of obstacles. Over in Christina's kitchen, she has trouble getting Matt to actually cook his fish, meanwhile steaks come back to the window cold. Petrozza is not without problems of his own. As if just having Jen on his team were not enough, he can't get her to produce him a decent onion ring. In addition, both Bobby and Jen announce that they are out of ingredients needed for two different appetizers. Because they wouldn't be in the top 2 if they couldn't, they both recover from each of their individual problems and cruise on to serve the last of their 13 tables.

And now the moment we've all been waiting for. Christina and Petrozza are finally called to Chef Ramsay's office where he gives them the traditional pep talk. It was during this time that I actually thought that Chef Ramsay was going to pull rank and present them both with offers they couldn't refuse. After all, really, they both deserved it. But, alas, he did not. Instead, he instructed them to take their respective positions in front of their doors, place their hands on the handles, and open the doors on the count of three. As a reminder, both door handles turn, but only one of them will open. The one that opens leads the winner out into the dining room to be presented to family and friends. Chef Ramsay counts to three, they turn their handles, Christina proceeds through her door out into the dining room of cheering family, friends, and Hell's Kitchen production staff. In the end, Chef Ramsay said he thought Christina not only had the most potential, but had the most potential long-term.

Until next time folks, remember, it's not real, it's just reality!!