Category — Hells Kitchen

For fans of Gordon Ramsay’s you can now see him on Hell’s Kitchen USA on One HD. This is one of the TEN’s digital channels.

It is Season six and it is still fairly early in the season  with twelve chefs remaining.

The premise of this food reality TV show is chefs vie for the prize to become the Executive Chef in a top restaurant, normally one of Gordon’s own. However don’t expect them to be talented cooks like you see on Top Chef, a lot of these cooks are line chefs or burger flippers.

Their stuff ups means Gordon has a lot of opportunity to yell, yell, yell.

It is a show to check out and the contestant’s too camera pieces are hilarious. Not for people who don’t like expletives.

Hell’s Kitchen USA on ONE HD on Thursday nights at 8.30pm.

A contestant on America’s Next Top Model‘s current cycle has left the competition after throwing a fit on set while standing in front of the show’s judging panel. It’s not surprising, as she flipped out earlier in the competition when she didn’t respond well to a makeover.

British-born Louise Watts, 25, ran off the set after hearing criticisms of her photos from the judges and threw a tantrum outside the building and requested to leave the show immediately. She even made a physical threat against guest-judge, publicist Kelly Cutrone, who was involved in that week’s photoshoot.

It’s definitely something you want to see for yourself, so check out the video below:

Surely, some contestants would be cheering inside, with a fellow model out of the running for the Top Model title!

Did you think that was great flip out? Check out my Top Ten Reality TV Tantrums and Meltdowns below! Some real shockers in this list. Reality television is amazing.

10. Nilka getting fired by chef Gordon Ramsay on Hell’s Kitchen (US)

It’s not a massive outburst from aspiring cook Nilka, but you really feel for her when she begs to come back into the kitchen. Of course, Ramsay says no again and again. And she’s eventually kicked off the show. You can’t make judgements about her cooking just based on this clip, but you do feel her passion, and seeing her leave was a real downer. Something nice does happen in the end though!

09. Water throwing  tantrum on The X Factor (UK) – but is it too over-the-top?

This one is almost too theatrical for me to take it seriously, but let’s give ‘em the benefit of the doubt that it’s not a set-up! It’s really fun to watch the drama unfold and how judges Sharon, Louis and Simon react! I must admit it is a shame that we don’t get to see the contestant sing in this video. Please take note of the dramatic music, which definitely adds to the comical nature of it all!

08. Wanna count the number of f*cken beeps coming out of this contestant’s mouth? Again, from The X Factor (UK)

Judge Simon Cowell described auditionee Rachel as one of the rudest, deluded and untalented people ever to grace his competition. You can feel the delusion when she admits to being bigger and better than Madonna. It doesn’t get physical, but it sure does get verbal! She definitely has attitude. Talent? Less so.

07. Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa throwing a double-tantrum on The Celebrity Apprentice (US)

Joans Rivers sure is a piece of work! And she sure has a thing against poker players! After daughter Melissa is eliminated, Joan has a go at the two responsible contestants. Melissa is even more pissed off as she grabs her things and leaves the building immediately with her mother. Don’t miss this one!

06. Farmer Dave threatens to leave Big Brother (Australia) after an argument with intruder Perry

Having been accused of playing the game, Dave gets into a hissy fit and threatens to walk out of the reality show to prove that he isn’t in it for the money. There isn’t any wall punching, but you can tell he is really upset and angry. Of course, he doesn’t go through with the promise and stays in for a few more weeks until he finishes fourth.

05. Thirteen year-old Rachel Crow has a serious meltdown on The X Factor USA

OK, so this is where it starts to get crazy! After hearing that she’d been eliminated from the competition, Rachel drops to the ground and starts screaming and sobbing uncontrollably! She’s inconsolable, but it does make for fantastic television! This could only happen on reality TV! It’s a real moment caught on tape. She’s clearly distraught. And judge Nicole Scherzinger feels the impact too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-S9Flw3CRk

04. Tyra Banks goes apeshit on contestant - America’s Next Top Model

Sure, you get lots of crazy contestants on reality programs, but here, you see the tables turned with host and judge Tyra Banks really having a go at one of the modelling hopefuls! She’s been known for being outrageous at times, but this is really a shocking moment! You might feel sorry for the girl getting yelled at and I question if it was necessary for Tyra to speak to a contestant like that. You judge for yourself!

03. Gretel Killeen losing all professionalism while interviewing evictee Michael McCoy - Big Brother (Australia)

This interview has since been labelled ‘The Gretel Incident’. The way Killeen treats Michael in this video is absolutely horrendous. In a heated discussion about the editing of the show, she becomes extremely defensive and hostile towards her interviewee. It’s all centred on Michael’s perception that he was being portrayed as having been intimate with openly gay contestant, Dave. Michael claims that footage of him speaking with Dave seems to suggest that the pair may be kissing. And Killeen is quick to brush of these allegations in the most unprofessional way.

She’s the host of the show and her behaviour, in my opinion, was completely unacceptable! She paid no respect to the evictee, who was actually calm, polite and respectful towards her throughout the whole ordeal. I shook my head when this was going live to air, and I’m still shaking my head now watching it on YouTube:

02. Contestant Tarisai Vushe shows her true colours backstage and has a real go at judge Mark Holden - Australian Idol

This outburst is one of the few that I remember clearly in my mind, despite having only watched it on air once. And the reason is simply because of how brilliant it was to see a contestant really take a verbal swing at a judge! It all started on stage, with Tarisai receiving generally negative reviews for a performance that was suppose to show the angry and ‘true’ side of her personality.

In the weeks leading up to this, she had been accused of being fake and little support was given to her by the judges. And then on performance night, she is panned by all of them and especially Mark, who admits that he thinks she isn’t showing her true colours. You should watch how she reacts when Mark comes backstage to see how she’s doing. And she really lets it rip! The footage was shown during the results show, and you can hear the crowd cheering her on. It was definitely a great moment in Aussie reality television!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save Tarisai from being eliminated that night, as she finished fifth overall in the competition. Her singing career doesn’t seem to have hit off, with a short appearance on The X Factor Australia last year, where she was quickly booted off after meeting the four judges.

01. A near punch-up in an extremely heated argument between Bianca, Renee and Alice about Bianca’s body - Big Brother(Australia)

Here’s my number one! It’s a really tense scene, with a real ugly atmosphere. Things were absolutely uneasy in the Kombi van that night with the discussion being a possible breast reduction for Bianca. The chat is mostly between Renee and Alice going up against Bianca about the issues of having large breasts. And everybody gets defensive. It’s really hard to watch at times, especially knowing how it all ends. It’s gets real ugly!

I personally am on Bianca’s side because it is her body and regardless of how the discussion has progressed during that short time, I think Bianca was right to feel ganged up on. But then again, if you watched the last season of Big Brother, you definitely know how short her temper is! She gets fired up really easily and things could have really gone pear-shaped here.

I picked this as the top tantrum/meltdown because it’s centred on a really sensitive issue and the way the tension grew was really unpredictable. And when you watch this, especially when it was on air, you don’t know what could happen. That’s what’s special about reality television. You just don’t know what’s going to happen! It’s not scripted. It’s real. And it’s about real people and real emotions. If Big Brother is coming back for good, then I hope we’ll get to see more of these shocking, unreserved moments.

I hope you all enjoyed these videos! Tell me what you think of them. Which ones really shocked you? And what are some of your Top Reality TV Tantrums and Meltdowns?

The good news? A casting call has gone out looking for professional chefs to be in the “only professional cooking competition”.

Are we finally going to get an Australian version of the fantastic reality show Top Chef? However when I read the prize was “the chance to secure the role of head chef of Australia’s “hottest new restaurant” I thought it must be an Australian version of Hell’s Kitchen the show Gordon Ramsay hosts in the US, where the skill level in the kitchen is not great.

Or maybe they will be just mix the two.

Anyway it is a Fremantle production, and my guess is Channel Ten have commissioned it as a vehicle for Matt Moran.

Maybe the piece of viral marketing he did for OZ Harvest here was really an audition for the show. The network wanted to ensure his Gordon Ramsay impersonation was up to scratch.

If you are interested in applying email nicole@acastofthousands.com.au with a recent photo and your CV.

Source: Hospitality Magazine

“It’s Vyvyan from The Young Ones versus Crystal from Dynasty” runs the promo, which also promises two teams, no Marco, 72 customers… who will win? The decision is not actually up to Marco, despite the misleading ads. British viewers will decide.

Recap, and this week it takes us back to the first episode with Marco glowering, gripping a knife, and telling his new batch of celebs that the restaurant doors would open in an hour. “If we fail, he fails, so we’d better not fail,” says Bruce. They should have realised that the “if we fail, he fails” equation would really mean that Marco wouldn’t let them fail.

Marco interviews that the celebs looked like rabbits in the headlights during the first service. And then we get another clip fest of Marco ranting: “I’m waiting, I’m waiting!” “I want my crab! I want my crab!” As much as I love Marco, this is filler that we’ve seen over and over. I have a feeling that we’ll get approximately ten minutes of new footage tonight.

“I never complain in restaurants because I believe that chefs spit in the food… which we have, actually.” Ade’s comment  completes a montage of crabby customers.

Next up is the Jody package. “Fucking wanker”, “tosser” and “cock”, to quote Ade and Anthea. The Jody reminiscing leads us into a “best of” sackings – Jody, Grant and then Anthea. We’re 15 minutes in and I might as well be reading my own recaps or watching the recordings. I do get to see the Bruce departure for the first time, however, so that’s good. I wonder whether he quit just before the public vote started because he wasn’t sure that he’d have much support against Ade, Linda and Danielle. Not that his “my wife needs me” reason wasn’t enough *snort*.

We are finally back in the “present”. Ade and Linda are opening Marco’s last missive. They read it in unison. Marco’s cooking breakfast! And Ade’s daughters are joining them! They all “blub”. And then Linda’s “friend Gary” turns up. More blubbing.

After breakfast, Marco gives Ade and Linda their last “mission” – “their toughest task yet”. Marco is having a guest for lunch and it’s Raymond Blanc. Our celebs have an hour to turn out a starter and main each. Ade suffers a bit of prep fright, then decides on pheasants eggs and Linda sticks with her old favourite, the crab. Ade, fortunately, has a plan B for when his pheasants eggs won’t crack: the “huntsman’s breakfast” from the earlier egg challenge. Raymond thinks a poached goose egg might have been better than the boiled one.  Linda’s crab dish is noted for its “simplicity”, but M. Blanc doesn’t explain if that means he likes it or not.

Claudia’s in the dining room canvassing the level of support for our two finalists – so far three for Linda and one for Ade.

Back to the lunch for Raymond. Both Linda and Ade seem to be getting frustrated. Ade’s happy with the meat and vegies, but feels that the sauce ruined the plate. Raymond agrees, and suggests that the sauce should have been on the side. Still, he loves the lamb. Linda’s hoping her main course makes up for her starter and Raymond seems to like her salmon.  So, who wins?  Raymond liked Ade’s starter best, but loved Linda’s main, which makes Linda the overall winner of this challenge. Precedent says that the challenge winner loses the war – will this be true tonight? We’ve only got 20 minutes left to find out.  Ade’s confused by the verdict – he thinks Linda’s starter was superior, but that his main course was the best. “Perverse,” he muses.

Now, the bombshell! Marco’s not going to be in the restaurant tonight. As compensation, each celeb is allowed to choose two of their former colleagues to help them achieve service. Ade generously allows Linda to choose Bruce, and then he takes Danielle and Niomi. Linda completes her team with Anthea. It seems that Linda definitely has the stronger team, on paper. Her team gets the red bandanas and Ade’s team is yellow.

Linda’s team gets off to a good start, although it does seem like Anthea is in charge, not that Linda minds. Anthea notes that not only has Linda never worked the pass, she’s always been right up the back. Lucky Anthea’s there to run the whole thing! “Anthea was a take charge woman – that’s why I chose her!” says Linda.

Ade’s also looking at a different style of leadership: “dictatorial consensus. I decided how it was to be done and then we all agreed.”

Reds are falling behind, and Linda’s having trouble understanding Bruce’s accent. Still, there’s not quite the level of madness the previews suggested. Ade does a bit of hand-burning in honour of Marco and Danielle appears to be calmly marshalling orders. Anthea and Bruce are working hard – Linda acknowledges that she was “lucky” to be with them. Ade realises that he’s about to send out a lump of raw lamb, so pulls Marco’s stunt of halving it and bunging it on the grill. Claudia pulls him out for an interview and asks what else he’s learned from Marco: “to be very, very tired”. We get Ade highlights.

Linda obviously didn’t learn Marco’s meat trick, as one of her customers is pretty much having to slaughter the lamb himself. He returns the dish to the pass and Anthea and Linda prepare a new one for him. Ade’s team finishes! Yay – they’re done first! Except that a customer brings an “overcooked, cold” dish back, so another one must be prepared. That’s a bit of an anti-climax. I’m not sure how “Britain” is going to be able to choose a winner, since we haven’t seen much of our two finalists in this service. Now it’s time for Linda’s highlights. She reiterates that she’s going to have “Ade withdrawal” and Claudia asks what her favourite English word is. After some consideration, she chooses “wanker”. Judging by the reaction she gets from the diners, she could well win just from that.

Teams are now lined up in the kitchen for Marco’s final address. He says that he underestimated Ade and that he’s very proud of Ade’s achievement tonight. He acknowledges that Linda worked hard as usual and that she’s a “very graceful lady”. Ade notes that his team enjoyed the evening and “had fun”.

Nick comes in for the final diners’ verdict. I shall have Nick withdrawal. Linda and her team get lots of compliments. Ade also gets compliments, including (for the veal) “once in every life time/comes a dish like this”, but nobody seems to respond to the reference.

Marco delivers the final marks: Linda 7/10, Ade 9/10. So, that’s it then! Ade wins!

Ah, but wait. We must wait for the phone verdict…

“The vote was incredibly close.” Ade mouths the cliché as Claudia says it.

LINDA!!! Confetti, squeals, and… is that Jordan?

The Food channel promises double Hell’s Kitchen from next week, but it’s the US version, so no substitute at all.

*Because the final episode is next week.

There are only two celebs left in the kitchen and the pressure is on. How will they manage to serve diners and maintain calm in the face of Marco’s clam mantra? Hopefully, they won’t; meltdowns are far more entertaining than ruthless efficiency (except when it comes to public transport, Connex).

Claudia reminds us that Danielle has recently departed and that our two finalists are Ade and Linda. “A journey without knowledge is just a mystery tour” according to Marco. Claudia shares this with us as an awkward segue to a recap of last episode’s eviction (the “unbearable agony” of waiting to hear who was out was an improvement over listening to Marco’s proverbs is how that link was made. Clumsy, yes). In this version of the announcement we follow first-to-be-safe Linda as she heads back into the kitchen sobbing and getting a warm hug from Marco. “I don’t want them to go!” she weeps, clearly not understanding that they won’t BOTH be going. “The British were generous,” she interviews, and adds “How sweet England is!”. The cameras are still on Linda as Claudia announces that Ade will be joining her in the final. “Oh, no!” she screams. But then claps, so it’s all okay.

Ade is very flattered and happy. Also somewhat amused that he and Linda are the finalists in a cooking competition. “Who would have thought that would happen, twenty five years ago?”.

We have gone back in time, so Danielle is still on deck as they read through the challenge for the day. It’s a taste test.    Claudia explains that Marco has a very sensitive palate, and that the celebs will have to match it. “Imagine having Marco’s tongue in your mouth,” she says.  ”How d’you think I got this job?”  I’ve really warmed to old Claudia.

Ade goes first at tasting the sauce and starts trying to identify the ingredients. Marco goes through the ingredients for Nick, as they both watch on the CCTV. Ade thinks he’s identified ketchup. “That’s ketchup! Fuck me! That’s ketchup! Bloody hell!”. He makes his version from olive oil, ketchup, parsley and shallots. He’s missed half a dozen ingredients. Marco tastes and Ade tries to interpret what the wink means. Danielle picks the shallots, oil, vinegar and tomato – and when she realises that ketchup is an ingredient she blobs half a bottle into it. Marco tastes, and smiles. Linda notes that she doesn’t even know what some of Marco’s ingredients are. “You’ve confused her with your love of bottles,” says Nick. They both giggle as Linda dashes around the kitchen grabbing as many ingredients as she can. Marco tastes, and clears his throat ambiguously.

Scoring. For every correct ingredient, they score a point. The catch – for Linda, who seemed to go a bit bananas with her choices – is that they also lose a point for incorrect ingredients. Ade ends up with two points. Danielle has three points. Linda got the most ingredients right, but also the most wrong, so joins Ade on two points. At this stage, Danielle should have seen that the writing on the wall – Niomi won the challenge before her booting, too.

Letters from home time. Linda reads Gary’s letter to Danielle and starts crying straight away. So does Danielle. Ade starts crying before Danielle even starts reading his letter from Jennifer. As Danielle reads, he lies back with his face covered. Ade reads Linda’s letter from her sister. Linda’s crying even as she remembers it in the interview. By the end of this segment, everyone is drowning in tears, but laughing, too and it’s much nicer than the Survivor letters segments.

Claudia’s in the dining room with some people I don’t recognise, except that one of them is a “lady actor”, so she’s going for Linda. “This is going to link in lovely” says Claudia, for the American viewers, presumably.

Linda clip package. She reminisces about her early experiences. Actually, it’s not so much a Linda montage as a “crab, crab, crab” montage. This is not a criticism – Hell’s Kitchen is always better when Marco is a strong presence. We also get to revisit Linda learning to say “wanker” and “tosser”. For some reason, we also get – as a highlight – Bruce farting.

The next challenge for our remaining three contestants is to revisit sandwich making. Ade is bringing everything he’s learnt to his beef sandwich. “Feeling pretty bloody confident,” he says. Linda’s making a kidney sandwich (“She’s American,” is Ade’s explanation for this odd idea) and Danielle’s doing egg mayonnaise.

They present their sandwiches. “Doesn’t come much better, does it?” says Marco, of Ade’s sandwich. Danielle has decorated her sandwich with cress. “How good’s that?” asks Marco, rhetorically as it turns out. “You should be proud of yourself,” he adds, as Danielle’s about to apologise for her effort. “That’s a proper sandwich.” He’s pleased that Danielle characterises him as “blokey” and even adds a little extra Yorkshire when he says “straightforward”. Marco looks astounded when Linda reveals her kidney sandwich. Marco suggests that she could have fried the bread and served the kidney on top. He pronounces Ade and Danielle joint winners.

“Three weeks with a Michelin starred chef and Danielle can nearly make an egg mayonnaise sandwich” is Claudia’s assessment.

In tonight’s service, Marco tells his chefs that he will do the first nine tables and then will disappear, leaving each celeb in charge for a portion of service. “Nick! Let them in!” signals the beginning of the battle. We see the usual parade of famous-in-Britain diners.

Ade and Marco watch Nick talking to himself as he organises the first orders.

“Take them back, start again. Take them back, start again. Take them back, start again.” “Clams, clams, clams, clams.” Ade interviews that he thinks Marco is making fun for himself because he’s bored.

It’s time for an Ade montage. He says that he thought, at first, that the intimidating part of Marco must just be an act, but that he soon realised that Marco is genuinely scary. “I’m only his fish bitch. He’s the fish master.” The highlight of Ade’s time in the kitchen has been running the pass. He talks about bonding with the others, but says that he values the friendships with Bruce and Linda most of all.  He doesn’t mention Jody at all.

Claudia sets us up for tonight’s drama: “To say that service didn’t go well is like saying the people on the Titanic had their holiday spoilt”. Oh, good. As Marco leaves the kitchen , the three chefs get together to plan how to run the night. First, Danielle and Ade have to teach Linda how to run the pass, since she’s only been doing crab for three weeks. Her first table seems to go well. Each celeb has been allocated tables, but since the tickets are coming in at once, the celebs are running the pass together – and sometimes not at all. As Ade points out – there’s no General.

Ade laments the fact that halfway through, they were called out to face the sacking and the dishes that were underway just went out the window (not literally, of course). Marco steps in and tries to get the kitchen back on track. “We were running round like headless chickens, burning cockles and mushrooms” says Ade, which is a surreal image. “Danielle, the lucky bitch” is how Ade welcomes the end of service.

We’re back in the present and the kitchen has been divided into two. Ade is running half and Linda is in charge of the other half. The soundtrack is an 80s disco version of Beethoven’s 5th and Nick is reminiscing about how daunting it’s been dealing with so many celebrity diners. Barry McGuigan, Phil Tufnell… the star power is out of control. At least we see Nick falling over again (although we also have to suffer seeing Chris deBurgh, too).

Service is winding down and our celeb diners are rhapsodising over the celeb chefs. From what we see, opinion is divided, although those who support Linda seem to do so with a great deal of passion. Marco calls service “…the biggest mess I’ve ever seen in a kitchen in 31 years. I was about to ask Nicholas for a snorkel”. Ade is disappointed that they didn’t meet the standard they’d set for themselves. Marco calls on Nick to give the diners’ verdicts. Starters get 8/10 and mains are 7/10. I’m not really sure what that proves. Marco congratulates our celebs for reaching the final and says that they would have been the two he’d have chosen.

Ade and Linda retire to share a glass of champagne. Linda wants to “ask Jennifer if they can come to Seattle, because I’m going to have Ade withdrawal”. As will I, but not – it seems – until next week when we find out who’s cuisine reigns supreme.