Season 4 Episode 1

The first episode of Season 4 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on April 1, 2007. On that episode, the contestants arrived in Hell’s Kitchen with a big surprise, a captain for each team is chosen, and one contestant is given a reality check at elimination.

Intro

The season began with a brief recap of the past three seasons, in which the winners from those seasons were shown, and Ramsay telling that he would push the contestants further than ever.

The contestants met up on the bus going to Hell’s Kitchen. What they did not know was that Ramsay was in the bus with them, incognito. On the bus, Craig was seen, with his chef’s hat on, saying “Fuck you!” to everybody, as it was the way he was playing. Bobby claimed he was the “Black Gordon Ramsay”, which led Ramsay to take his sunglasses down and staring at him. Then, the contestants arrived at Hell’s Kitchen, where they were greeted by Jean-Philippe, who claimed he was good at doing an impression of Ramsay. After he did, Jean-Philippe asked Shayna and Jason to do their impressions themselves. After that, Ramsay revealed himself, which excited every contestant, with Rosann even trying to give him a hug. After that, Ramsay instructed the chefs to create their signature dishes, while reminding Bobby’s “Black Gordon Ramsay” rant.

Signature Dish Challenge

The contestants were given 45 minutes to cook their signature dishes. Craig’s Chilean sea bass was deemed too sweet and a pile of shit by Ramsay. He also told Craig to not come in the kitchen with his ridiculous hat, otherwise he would stick it in his ass sideways. Jen’s Dungeness crab with risotto and lobster tail was spat out by Ramsay, who described the rice was raw. After Ramsay told her that because she was a Garde-Manger chef confirmed that she could not cook. Jen started to give him attitude by saying he did not know what he was talking about. Corey’s salad was deemed simple, plain, blond, and boring by Ramsay, who told her it was saying a lot about her. After that, Ramsay told Jason that his dish would not even pass as something tinned in a can, and Shayna’s dish was burnt. When Matt described his Exotic Tartar dish, which consisted of raw venison, Diver scallops, caviar, and white chocolate, Ramsay asked him if he was smoking weed. Ramsay tasted it and, for the first time ever, became sick, started puking it out. He then described it as one of the worst combinations he ever tasted, in 21 years of cooking. Matt stated he did not understand what Ramsay did not like about his dish.

Dominic’s Chicken cacciatore did not impress, and Ramsay told him he expected something more exiting from the 45 minutes given. Rosann’s spicy mussel soup was the first dish to be praised by Ramsay, who told it was seasoned perfectly. Petrozza’s Hen-in-a-pumpkin deeply confused Ramsay. When he lifted the pumpkin to take a look at the potatoes, Ramsay asked Petrozza how much oil and fat did he use to fry them. Petrozza declared he used some butter, but when Ramsay squeezed the potatoes and they started dripping in grease, Petrozza corrected himself saying he used a lot of butter. Ramsay trashed the potatoes, and looked inside the pumpkin, which shocked him. He asked Petrozza how he was supposed to get in there and eat it, and Petrozza said it was a tableside dish. So, Ramsay told him to serve him a plate himself. After looking at the mess, Ramsay declared he would like to stick Petrozza’s head inside it. When Ramsay tasted it, he described it as dry, with the pumpkin not even seasoned. After getting back in line, Petrozza declared that he thought his dish was memorable.

After that, Ramsay declared that Sharon’s dish was not up to scratch for Hell’s kitchen, Ben’s dish was deemed not bad by him, Christina’s dish was described as a good concept with a terrible execution, and Louross was told that he could have done a lot more. Vanessa’s pan-seared halibut was praised by Ramsay, who described it as the best dish by a mile so far. Finally, Bobby’s Hawaiian butterfish was scolded by Ramsay after he found out the fish had been deep-fried.

Team captains

After the challenge, Ramsay announced that the prize of that season was an Executive Chef position at his brand new restaurant in Los Angeles, the London West Hollywood, with a salary of $250,000. He introduced the contestants to the Sous Chefs, Scott and Gloria, and told them that for the first time, they would be going into service with a team captain. Ramsay instructed the teams to decide amongst themselves who they think should captain their teams.

In the dorms, Vanessa was quickly chosen as the captain for the red team, because of her great signature dish. For the blue team, the men took far longer to decide, as everyone on the team wanted to assume that role. After choosing their captain, the red team sat down and studied the menu. Finally, the men came to an agreement and chose Bobby as captain for the blue team. When they made their decision, they went to sleep immediately, and Petrozza was seen snoring.

Before service

During prep, on the men, Bobby was praised by Matt for his motivation and keeping his team in high spirits. Jason declared he did not want to lose to a team of girls, as he thought the only thing he would lose to a woman would be an ironing contest. On the women, Vanessa was acting quiet, and was questioned by Corey for her ability to be a leader, heading into service. Moments later, Christina fell to the floor while carrying pots.

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay asked Bobby to name the 5 entrées from the menu. When he failed to answer correctly, he asked Matt, and then Petrozza, but got the same result. When he asked Christina, she successfully answered the question, relieving Ramsay. After that, Petrozza and Shayna were assigned to serve amuse-bouche tableside.

Dinner service

When Ramsay called out the first ticket, he noticed that Jason was missing. Jason was seen on the patio, smoking and picking his toes on his right foot. Ramsay went in the back store to scream his name so he would come. Jason finally showed up and got on the appetizer station. Petrozza and Shayna, in the dining room, started to work on their tableside flambé appetizers. Ramsay told Petrozza to not set the place on fire, and called him a donkey. In the red kitchen, Sharon worked on her appetizers, but was pushed around a lot by Jen, who called her Barbie. When both of them gave a different time, Ramsay asked them who was running the station, which Jen answered Sharon, but she was not trusting her that much. Sharon became irritated by Jen’s behavior. When she sent her first risotto, Ramsay told her to taste it and said it had no seasoning. He asked her to start again, and Sharon shifted some of the blame on her teammates. After that, Ramsay told Vanessa to wake up, but she thought she could not do anything at the moment, despite being the captain. Sharon made one more risotto than needed, and discouraged Ramsay. In the blue kitchen, Jason sent his first risotto to the pass, and when Ramsay asked if he tasted it, Jason let a big burp go. Ramsay asked the team to taste it, with Bobby acknowledging it was terrible, leading Jason to start again and Dominic to bin his scallops. Bobby was then asked to assume his leadership duties, but told Ramsay he did not want to dig in, which Ramsay answered by telling him to show some confidence and support. Even Ben acknowledged that even if he did not know what was happening, he had to show some balls at least. In the red kitchen, Ramsay spat out Sharon’s other attempt at her first risotto, but it had too much garlic, leading him to tell her to fuck off and put more makeup on. Jen took the appetizer station over.

45 minutes into service, no food whatsoever left either kitchen. Jean-Philippe even suggested to a customer to give him his smile, which the customer found useless. In the blue kitchen, Jason sent a burnt risotto, and Ramsay told him to sit down at the pass and eat it. In the dining room, Petrozza was trying his best to keep the customers from hunger. Jen sent unacceptable quail eggs, and was mocked for it by Christina. After that, Ramsay ordered Vanessa to hand over her captain’s title to Rosann, who quickly became vocal and asking time to her team. Vanessa acknowledged she sucked as a captain, and Jen questioned Ramsay’s decision of not picking her as captain instead of Rosann. At one point, she asked Vanessa if she was mad at her when she corrected her, but Vanessa told she was not. In the blue kitchen, Dominic got schooled by Ramsay about boiling scallops, with Ramsay mimicking his actions. After that, Ramsay asked Bobby to take control of the disgusting and embarrassing mess. He also told that Jason was not caring, Dominic was dreaming, Matt was standing still, pissing in his pants, looking for his tartar crap, and Louross was running around like a toilet brush. When his teammates asked him to jump in, Bobby refused to saying they got it and that he did not want to join the chaos. In the red kitchen, Jen finally sent an acceptable risotto out, and she enjoyed a moment of proudness to herself.

With Jen mastering the risotto and Rosann’s leadership, appetizers started to come out of the red kitchen. However, in the blue kitchen, the men were at a standstill, waiting for Jason’s call. When a disgusting sauce was sent to the pass, Ramsay told the entire team to taste it, and called it “snot” while throwing it back on the stove. Ramsay then kicked the counter and called the men “Useless fucking pieces of shit.” At that point, Louross, disappointed with the fact his team never tasted their food, started to be more vocal, and Ramsay asked Bobby to lend his captain badge to him. Then, Louross gave clear instructions to his team, relieving Ramsay. In the red kitchen, with appetizers going out, the women began serving entrées. However, Corey’s chicken was rubbery and dry. After passing it around, Ramsay threw it towards the back store and schooled Corey on that mistake. After that, Jason finally got his appetizers correct, and felt like a million dollars. However, it was too late as most of the tables walked out of the restaurant. After Ramsay told both teams to take a look at the empty dining room, and shut down the restaurant. Everybody cleared down, embarrassed, with Rosann crying in shame.

Post-Mortem

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay told that no entrées left either kitchen and reminded Bobby that he hid behind his team, performing like a coward. He also told Jason that he sunk his kitchen. After that, he compared Vanessa’s performance like having a mouse on service, and told Corey that her chicken bounced off the wall and nearly left the restaurant. Despite those struggles, Ramsay still declared the men the losers. He also named Louross, who at least tried, “Best of the Worst”, and asked him to choose two of his teammates for elimination.

During deliberation, Jason pleaded his case to Louross, stating he did better than Bobby, who himself acknowledged he had a bad night, but did not want to go over to Louross to kiss his ass, as that was not his type. Dominic also pleaded his case to Louross, saying he did what everybody told him to. Jason also told Bobby that he had a feeling that both of them would be nominated.

Elimination

Louross named Bobby as his first nominee, and Dominic as his second. After both of them pleaded their cases, Ramsay eliminated Dominic for his poor performance on the fish station and lacking the experience of working in a fine-dining restaurant. During his exit interview, Dominic called being the first one eliminated a real heart breaker, and said his dream of working for Ramsay was now dashed.

Ramsay told Bobby to wake up, saying he threw the towel in, and Jason that he dodged a bullet. Before leaving, Jason made one more sexist comment saying he would never lose to girls again.

Ramsay’s comment: “To be a great chef you need passion, creativity and talent. Dominic had passion, but that was it.”

My opinion

Both of the teams were shit tonight but the red team was a bit better than the blue team. Bobby and Vanessa who were the captain for the team were rubbish, Bobby didn’t help his team and Vanessa was like a mouse on service which Ramsay said to her which I agree with. I would have nomination Dominic and Jason up but Bobby would have been my next person to go up. When the Captain badges were switch for both team, they did better than the first half of service.

My comment: Dominic said he cooks at home for his kids but after tonight performance I feel sorry for his kids.