So here we meet as we enter the finale. Who is going to get stuck with Lacey? Or Seth? Or Colleen? This is going to be interesting.

So we start with the infamous screen drop. Then both of our finalists proceed to get blato. Danny wanted mounted fish in his fine dining restaurant. Ick! Paula seems to have a real picture where as Danny seems to be a little more unknown.

Paula and Danny then go off to make their menus. Once the menus are done the finalists are off to Atlantic City. But first they get their 2 “helpers” each so that they can work while the finalists are gone. Paula’s help is her mom and sister. Danny’s help is his girlfriend and his father. They then had 5 minutes to communicate their vision. So of course, as soon as the finalists are gone there is an issue. Paula’s side can’t use real candles so her sister oks fakes even though she didn’t want fake. Danny’s girlfriend came over and started changing things a bit. Then they webcamed together with their loved ones.

Then Danny and Paula had to go to a meeting with the Director of Marketing and 500 staff members of the resort. I am guessing it is a challenge that effects the picking of sous chefs. They got to meet the COO of the Borgata. Ramsay handed him their menus and asked him what he would order off them. Once Larry said what he would order Ramsay said they had 45 minutes to make it. Then executive chefs of different restaurants in the resort tasted their food. Paula won the first course. Danny won the second course. Danny’s beef won the 3rd course and thus the competition.

The next morning back in Hell’s Kitchen Ramsay has a row of domes. It is our former cheftestants. It is Andrea, LA, Ben, Lacey, Giovanni, and Carol. Carol was shocked that she was left for the last 2 with, of course, Lacey as last. Andrea, LA and Lacey are Paula’s team. Danny has Ben, Giovanni and Carol.

And this is where we break. See you next week for the conclusion.

We are down to the final 3! I am glad that we are finally rid of Ben. I think Paula is a good bet because she hasn’t been a problem but has been consistently good. But Ramsay has shocked me before. There was a promise of a treat and the preview alluded to people. Having watched all the other seasons I am predicting it is family or loved ones but I have been wrong before (I just don’t think I am now;).

And I was right!!! Not one of them seemed to have a spouse. Danny had a girlfriend but hmm… I guess it does make sense if you are going to be willing to pick you life up and move it. Now I predict that they will cook for them and the family will determine the winner. But that is just a guess.

Next morning and it is challenge time. They have to serve lunch to 100 “distinguished” customers. They each have 90 minutes to cook 100 portions of a lunch dish (tasting portions). Andrea was freaking a bit. The guests were chefs from good restaurants in California, all Zagat rated. I recognized quite a few chefs and restaurant names. Our final 3 looked as if they might wet themselves and I don’t blame them. 76% of the chefs disliked Danny’s dish. Over 76% chose Paula as the best!

Paula is getting the full Hollywood treatment and a surprise to come the next day. The punishment is in 2 parts. They have to clean up the dining room and reset it for the next day. The other part is doing the laundry and starching up everything. Danny is taking this lose really hard. The fun part of Paula’s win is that Jean Phillipe went with her. The other part of Paula’s reward was going to Good Day LA. Then Andrea and Danny got to clean all the screens in the dining room (which conveniently had Good Day LA on it;) and the floors.

Tonight is the final service before the finale so they are all going to take a turn on the pass. Paula seemed petrified as she took the pass. She failed Ramsay’s first test of the wrong puree but she caught Scott’s attempted switch out on the soup. She seemed to recover from her start and did ok. Then is was Danny’s turn. He also seemed to stumble at the very beginning. Danny didn’t catch the order test and he was putting apps on the wrong plates. Danny also didn’t catch the potato problems. He did seem to hit a stride. Andrea stepped up for her turn and didn’t seem to have any problems finding her assertive side. But Andrea didn’t spot the fact that Scott switched out dory with halibut. Then she seemed to go a little to far on the assertiveness. Scott was cussing all ways to Wednesday and it was not going well when he said he was going to punch her in the face. Overall the service was a success. We see such a small snippet of service, we have no idea who has done best on the pass.

Ramsay sent them back to the dorm for each of them to figure out who they think shouldn’t be in the finale. Danny picked Andrea and Andrea picked Danny. Paula picked Andrea. Ramsay picked Paula and Danny for the Finale.

I agree with his choice! I am looking forward to next week’s finale. But if Paula remains consistent I think she will win.

Sorry for the delay but I have been out of town! But lets get to it! Hell’s Kitchen is down to the final 4. Will Andrea go home or will Ben screw it up even more?

So Gordon Ramsay did the taste and make challenge. They all had to recreate Ramsay’s Fish Stew. Danny won but was really close to Paula. The thing that made the difference is that Paula used water as the base instead of fish stock.

The punishment is polishing crystal and silverware, cleaning the carpets and prepping the kitchen for that night’s service. Danny got to ride in a biplanes with Ramsay.

All through the punishment Andrea is seeming really beaten down. But my question.. Is she really or is it a ploy? Ramsay gave all of them sets of cookware out of his line before service also. Then Ramsay told them that they all were starting with clean slates. Then service started.

Ben was calling out the wrong order pretty quickly. But the first apps went out well. Ramsay was really cheering them on and then Ben had a little hiccup. Paula was being a bit slow. Danny was also a bit slow on the garnish. Andrea seemed to be rocking out the meat station. There was a marriage proposal in the dining room and things were going well over all. We get close to the end of service and Andrea can’t find 2 wellingtons. So Danny and Paula go and make 2 wellingtons from scratch (roll it in pastry etc).

Ramsay was mad that they didn’t perform 100% the whole time. He sent them all back to the dorms to come up with the person to be on the block. Ben says that Andrea should go because he is many levels above her and has run a big kitchen. Andrea said that Ben should be up. Danny also said that Andrea should go and said that she didn’t have enough experience. Paula says that ever station that Ben has been on he has had problems. Ben said that it is because he isn’t a line cook. They couldn’t come to a consensus. So Ramsay calls both Ben and Andrea to the front. Ramsay chose to send Ben home.

Finally!

And then there was 3….

So here we meet again. According to the previews, Ramsay is going to close Hell’s Kitchen but I think that will all be short lived and we will be back to business as usual. But we shall see.

So Ramsay tells them he is shutting down Hell’s Kitchen but they are going to Borgata in Atlantic City so they can get inspired. I knew it!!! So they arrive there and are greeted by the “Borgata Babes” (ug). I do have to say that it was an impressive place. They have all the big chefs and nice stores. They got to look about the place and relax. I have a feeling that there is a challenge coming.

They all go to have dinner with the higher ups in the food aspects of Borgata. Robert go up and left a few minutes in. He started to have chest pains and went to the hospital. What bothers me is not one of them got up to go see why he left or if he was coming back. Now he didn’t make a big deal out of it or say anything but still. If I was eating with anyone and they just dissapeared from the room, I would definitely go check in on him. Robert had to stay over night in the hospital. After a couple of days he got to come back to Hell’s Kitchen but he wasn’t all better. He has pericarditus and so he wasn’t going to continue.

Now that they are back in the thick of it. The challenge is to make a signature dish that could be on their menu at the Borgata. Ben tells the camera that his dish is above and beyond anything that is currently being done at the Borgata. What a punk! Everyone’s seemed pretty good except Ben’s. He made a dish where he cut off the prawn from the tail and then put the tail on the plate and not the prawn. Andrea won the challenge and immunity. Everyone seemed to think that Andrea was next to go so everyone is a bit annoyed.

And then service began. Andrea got scallops back on the first table. Ben was having a hard time keeping up with the orders and gave Ramsay cold puree. Andrea was slow on the fish and she was kind of dragging Paula down.Ramsay found out that Andrea wasn’t cooking on High. Ramsay said not to wait for Andrea. Ben kept messing up the garnish by not following what orders where working and was actually doing them wrong. Then Ramsay tossed him. So Ben went and collected himself. Andrea sent out a raw salmon. Ben seemed to get better after his break. But Andrea was turning out more raw fish unless it was tuna and she was burning it. Danny and Paula seemed to both be having a real decent service.

He told them to go upstairs and figure out which 2 should be up for elimination. He didn’t say they were getting eliminated, I wonder if no one is going to get eliminated because Robert went home. Paula and Ben got nominated. Ben said he should stay because he has never given up and tries to better himself. Paula said she should stay because she has always been a solid performer. Then Ramsay told Paula to get be in line and called Andrea up. He went through everthing wrong with Andrea but said she was still safe because he was a man of his word. He kept Ben because Andrea was worse and since she was staying he was too.

So who will leave next week? Ben or Andrea? Both of them still think they can win.

Sorry it has taken so long to put this up. I had to go out of town this last week and then again for Easter. It can really put a cramp in the blogging;). I am wondering if the Red Team is going to flow a little more smoothly now that Carol is gone. Let’s see!

Ramsay starts off the day asking who the weakest chef on each team was. Paula was asked and said Andrea while Danny was asked and said Ben. So Ramsay called them both up and asked why they should stay.He told them to take off their jackets….because they were part of the finale 6 (so they can get the black coats, duh). That leads into the 1 individual challenge. They each get 14 ingredients and they have to each make a dish using them all. Ben won the challenge because he was the only person who actually cooked the drumstick off the chicken. So he picks Robert to go with him and Ramsay to San Francisco. Everyone gets to do delivery day. Giovanni just kind of gave up on the punishment and while he didn’t completely quit he was just futzing about. Of course, at least one delivery was short or so they thought;).

It is going to be interesting to see how they all work together in 1 kitchen. Ben’s chicken dish is also going to be on the menu. Out the shoot Giovanni was opening the over and Robert turned out rubbery scallops. Giovanni had to redo chicken because the leg was bloody. Giovanni said that he wasn’t familiar with chicken. Huh? Andrea was just having issues. She was starting stuff to early and then not listening to the tickets. They told her again and when she still didn’t know, Ramsay kicked her out the front. JP was talking her into going back. She told Ramsay what was going and he let her back in. When Giovanni messed up the chicken (again) Ramsay yelled at him. Then Giovanni yelled back that he wasn’t the bad name. So Ben gets on the station to help Giovanni and then Ben messed it up too. The over all team work was so off. No one could get the food done together. Then Giovanni had put a hot tray in the cold frig and then it burned Robert (bad).

Paula was told to put up 2. She put up Giovanni and Andrea. Ramsay sent Giovanni. That wasn’t surprising. He could do well sometimes but he just wasn’t consistent. But I do think that Ramsay is gunning for Andrea and possibly Ben.

Then Ramsay did call them all back into the dining room. He is shutting down “Hell’s Kitchen”. I am wondering what that is going to mean.

As we are at the final 5 I am interested to see what happens. See you later this week!