From Zap2It:

Jen. Jen Jen Jen. What a MORON. I mean, good for her to step up at the end, I guess, because she picked FOOD out of the GARBAGE, for fuck's sake. Piss off, indeed.

Hmmm. Raw seafood, or pasta out of the "bin." Good call to boot Joanna, GR.

Joanna is such a twit. "Men in uniform are so sexy," giggle giggle giggle. Whether it's true or not (which it generally is), it just makes her look so damned immature to do that. And Bonnie is working my last nerve, too.

Now that I think about it, I'm not really liking Melissa that much either. It really wasn't necessary to make dumbass comments, rubbing it in to the guys that they lost, when she left for the helicopter. And her voice just grates and grates and grates.

I don't really have anyone to root for, I guess. I just can't root for Julia, because I like to be contrary.

However, was there any doubt that red would win the breakfast challenge? Hello, Julia can make a fucking omelet and some hash browns, JOANNA.

But then those Hell's Bitches want to nominate her? I don't root for her, but come the fuck on.

Am I a really bad person because I'm not entirely convinced that Aaron wasn't faking? It really looked like he looked around for a moment before he fell backwards, just to make sure he wasn't really going to rack himself. Oh well. Good riddance, weepy.

Waffle House rules! GRrr loves Julia. The producers (if the edit she got tonight is any indication) love Julia. I love Julia! You go, girl!

Melissa and Airhead Bonnie are totally on my shitlist for trying to nominate Julia for stupid nonperformance reasons.

Rock finally got a personality. Unfortunately, he’s kind of a dick.

And lastly, thank god Aaron is gone. I hope he’s okay health-wise but that man was just too much.

I think I would rather eat in a restaurant where the chef doesn't know what creme brulee is (of course, I don't like it anyway) than one where the chef takes food out of the trash. You can learn how to make creme brulee, but if you're the type of person to serve food from the trash, you just are.

I wanted to slap every last one of those trifling morons on the red team for daring to even think about nominating Julia for elimination after the way she saved their ass in the breakfast challenge and the dinner service! It's a valid point that she may not have the fine dining knowledge and experience that they all have, but when it comes to cooking ability, she's the only one who's consistently demonstrated the ability to get dishes out of the kitchen. And at least she has the knowledge and experience not to pull spaghetti out of the fucking garbage or serve rancid crab to guests! I've never seen anything so appalling on a cooking show.

Bonnie, Jen and Melissa can all kiss my ass. Haaaaate!

I won't miss the hapless Aaron, either.

Okay, maybe I missed something, but how did Bonnie go from looking like a drowned rat, to perfectly done and dry hair?

It is a shame, I liked Joanna a little this time, especially during the nominations. Personally, I would have thrown out Jen. Have you not seen Seinfeld? In what universe is it okay to give paying customers (assuming it were a real restaurant) food from the garbage? Yuck!

Julia is really great and I hope as the women are thinned out, some of their mistakes will be showcased so they can shut the fuck up. It's not Julia's problem that it took you ten years to learn your herbs.

I hate the men. Sabotage? That was funny. And I got a nice voice crack tonight.

I'm glad Aaron is gone. I hope he recovers, but I couldn't take it anymore. Did they ever mention exactly what "illness" he had?

The hell is up with Melissa and Bonnie? Julie might not have classical training, but at least she knows that you don't serve fucking pasta that's been thrown away! You don't need to know fancy cooking terms or shit to know that...

It may have just been the editing (and I didn't record, so I can't watch it again), but that's what I thought, too. It looked like when Ramsay told them what they were going to do, Aaron got a panicky look on his face. I thought he looked like he was trying to figure out how to get out of all that work. But maybe I'm too cynical.

Women did a great job with the breakfast. Julia strutted her stuff. Very impressive.

Dinner was a a nightmare. Joanna had a tough time of it and she realized it. Bonnie is hot and all but when her and Melissa started in on the same old junk about Julia it made it clear that our relationship would be purely physical, lol. That pissed me off big time, especially when Bonnie has had her own troubles, and I'm glad that Jen stepped up and didn't let that happen. I knew the Chef wouldn't accept that either, cause he clearly views her number one at this point. Bonnie and Melissa have to get over themselves. Melissa is doing well but big ego there.

I couldn't believe Jen took the spaghetti out of the garbage. Yikes.

Men, same old, same old. Total mess. I could tell Josh had been getting under Rock's skin, and he gave confirmation of that. I suppose Rock is the best of them at this point but nobody has really stepped up there.

Aaron finally gone. Clear he just couldn't keep up with his health issues. Hope he is alright.

Tell me again where Bonnie gets off being so superior? Did she not know how to cook hash browns at breakfast? Did she not try to serve raw scallops? Once again, where does she get off? Blondie better be gone next week! She has been yelled at every service. The men dodged a bullet! They should not have been celebrating.

I'm mostly tired of Rock. All he does is complain that he's not leader. The only other thing he said was "Shut the fuck up." twice.

Seriously. And WTF ladies? Who died and made y'all queens of the kitchen? I must have missed the episode where Bonnie showed any sign of competence, or Melissa didn't wear her camo gear to a navy carrier. Melissa looked like she was going to a high school "camo day" pep rally, which means in this case, she looked completely ridiculous. At least Jen had the good sense to realize that Julia did not deserve to be up there.

And guys? Shut up. It didn't take a genius to figure out that GR is going to go for the red team when both teams sucked things up, so as to even things out. The red team being up on the block didn't mean that the blue team did any better, they were just lucky.

I was hoping to hear what was wrong with Aaron. But maybe they couldn't divulge his illness due to medical privacy issues. I'd still like to know what his serious illness is.

Hmm, garbage or rotten crab? I don't know!! I was so hoping for a double elimination. And I can't believe those bitches would rather throw out a woman who doesn't have total knowledge of ingredients over a woman who went garbage can diving for food to serve to customers, especially after they just heard that she did that.

Melissa and Bonnie are on my shit list too. I especially hate Bonnie's attitude. Like she's an expert on "high-quality" ingredients and food. She's a damn nanny/personal chef for Christ sake. She knows as much if not less than Julia knows about working with that kind of food. At least Julia works in a restaurant.

Amen.

Glad to see Joanna go. She really tends to spread her panic to the other woman. As soon as she lost it, so did everyone else, on both services. And her "oh... well... everyone ELSE thinks Julia should go...." had me wanting to smack the TV.

(edit... I stand corrected..... nose was half in a cookbook during the team decision process and I swore Joanna was also on the "get thee out Julia" bandwagon. Just watched that part again. She wasn't. My bad!)

And Melissa's Cyndi Lauper-like-kewpie-whining voice is already on my last never. I think she can cook, but I'd be happy to see her go 'cause I wouldn't have to hear her anymore.

Poor Aaron. Yeah.... ya knew it was coming, and it's sad to see history repeat itself (hey Fox.... maybe try some stress tests on next season's people before you let them in the kitchen) on a personal level for Aaron, and because's IT'S SHIIIIIIIT television.

It's odd to me that everytime there was work that needed to be done Aaron would develop a cramp or pass out. He seems quite capable to cramp-up and faint on cue. I wonder how much of his 'sickness' is all in his head?


I can be 100% comfortable as a straight female saying that I am completely in love with Julia. She apears to be the kind of person that takes nothing for granted.


Oh, and Jen? While I do appreciate you stepping up at the end, I could never eat in your restaurant for obvious reasons.

First, you can't tell me that Aaron didn't know before the call that he was going to be sent home. He'd had severe cramping the entire time, and not one, but TWO fainting spells. They should have called the ambulance when the wuss went catatonic during the last dinner service, IMO. Smell ya later, Aaron.



Yeah, and their reasons have nothing to do with knowledge and EVERYTHING to do with feeling threatened. Julia may not have the know-how now, but she's shown a huge willingness and ability to learn. And she seems to learn pretty damn quickly. I like the gal.

THANK GOD JOANNA'S GONE! Good Lord she was insufferable. How she could not smell rancid crab I do not know. She thought she was just so damn cute and darling and loveable and flirty and girly and wonderful. BARF. She gave GR a look on her way out the door my friend's three-year-old gives us when we won't give her any candy. Yeah. So long, bitch.

And Jen, I sure as hell wouldn't pull food out of my trash to serve to myself. Why in the HELL would you think it's appropriate to do so in a restaurant?!? Remind me to ask if that crazy broad is the chef next time I eat out. Hell, she may have been the awful "chef" they had at Applebees today...It sure would have explained a lot...

Her voice reminds me of Fran Drescher or her character the nanny. I didn't like Melissa from day one and haven't seen any reason to change my mind.

I don't much like anyone on the red team except Julia at this point. I don't think she'll win it. Although I want to see her be the last of the women to leave. I can't believe they all turned around and nominated her after hearing the about the other one pulling food out of the trash.

The men are a mess too. Rock seems the most competent at this point.

I thought Aaron might have narcolepsy. It looked like he fell asleep standing up and then fell backwards.

I also miss "Shut it down." I don't think we've had one this season.

I just. Don't. Get. It. WTF is the women's problem? They'd rather eliminate Julia due to her supposed lack of knowledge of the "product", even though they all sat there and recoiled in horror when Jen's trash-picking was exposed? I repeat, WTF? It makes no sense. They must be threatened by Julia because they can see that GRrrr loves her, and for good reason, given her breakfast performance.

You can learn what products are. You can't learn judgement (as in, "should I pick the spaghetti out of the trash to save time, or not?").

Melissa is starting to grate big time. Can't wait to see her get her comeuppance.

Go Rock and Julia.

Word! Lack of home training, that's what that was . . . It doesn't take culinary training to know not to take things out of the trash-- especially not on camera! And she didn't even kiss it up to God . . . At least she stepped up and admitted her wrong at the end. Nice.

What are the chances the show put rancid crab in the refrigerator to see if someone would use it? Was there *any* legit crab in the joint? Was it hidden behind the rancid crab? We'll never know.

I don't like the chicks this time around . . . or the dudes . . . Still like GRrrr, even after reading about some unseemly undertakings in a New Yorker article (accusing his one-mentor of stealing his reservation book when he himself had arranged to have it stolen, in order to undermine said ex-mentor). I should be boycotting the show on general principle, but . . . I don't have cable and can't watch Top Chef . . .

Well, I have to give props to Jen for adding herself to the elimination pool, though she is horrible. While I'm sure in some restaurants they resurrect food from the rubbish bin, I sure did not want to see that on TV. I have three siblings whose food industry stories back up this kind of behaviour.

Melissa and Bonnie have a lot of nerve being so condescending re Julia's background. There are always new things to learn, and to believe that just because you have not experienced sonething that you are incapable of ever doing so just enhances their ignorance.

No surprise that they eliminated a woman from the competition. While Eddie was no star, with Aaron out the picture, I'm sure TPTB wanted to keep the numbers close per side.

Way to go Julia for stepping up. Yes, she may not know the fine dining but she got the team through the breakfast & dinner service.

As for the men's team, Rock seems to be the only consistent piece. Everyone seems a little chaotic.

At least Aaron got out of the show alive. He was utterly hopeless, but to me at least he seemed like someone who was genuinely very ill for whatever reason and shouldn't have been hanging around any longer.

The ladies' snobbish elitism made a comback tonight when they nominated Julia for elimination, but given her breakfast performance there was no way that GR would have picked her. Jen saved herself by admitting her screwup, since GR seems to value honesty and hates coverups, plus presumably she learned her lesson. Joanna never got her act together in the kitchen. She was the obvious one to go tonight.

That was actually the first (and only) thing Joanna ever did that I appreciated. She had the good sense to know it was bullshit that Julia was being nominated for elimination and she was making it clear that she didn't agree with that choice. She probably knew Ramsay would find that choice ridiculous too. Good for her.

I had no problem with Jo telling the truth, i.e. everyone else wants Julia to go. She stood up for Julia and honestly, she knew that between her and Julia, she would be the one to go. So I give her props for being courageous and going to what would obviously have been her ejection calmly. She may have won more points for herself if she had addressed the crab incident. I saw that as youth and the desire to get caught up in other people than remembering your own mistakes. Jen not only tried to serve garbage, but didn't communicate the issues with her wellingtons. She is extremely lucky! Her ass needs to be gone.

I strongly suspect that if Aaron hadn't been eliminated for health reasons tonight, both of them would have been gone - it would screw up the number of shows they are contracted to produce too much if 3 went in one ep.

That said, Jen is a dead chef walking. No way Ramsey is giving a restaurant to a trash can scavenger - she's like the fucking raccoons in my back yard.

Forgive me, foodies, please, but what about fine dining takes 10 years to learn?

I feel better about Waffle House every week. Go Julia.

I personally am rooting for Julia to go the distance because she has leadership skills and the ability to coordinate a kitchen, qualities no one else has demonstrated. She can learn what a fricking creme brulee is as she goes.

I'm rather shocked that Ramsay didn't make both Jen and Joanna go, considering their food shenanigans, but I suppose owning that you'll pick spaghetti out of the trash to your customers, JEN, buys you a little more credit than making spaghetti with rancid crab and being a prissy little diva.

The other two women can just shut the hell up and do whatever Julia tells them.

The men can also shut up because while they didn't lose, they sure as hell didn't win.

Well, I disagree. I would have eaten your spaghetti followed by a chocolate eclair.

Yours truly,
George Costanza

I've been thinking that since the first episode, I think it was, where she laughed...she sounded JUST like her! I was sort of on the fence about Melissa, but the look she gave Julia after GR sent her back safely into line kind of got me. And after Julia practically saved their necks singlehandedly in that breakfast.... I'd rather trust my meal to a cook who may not KNOW everything but is willing to learn and has a modicum of common sense than one who'd pick my dinner out of the trash or doesn't know what rancid food smells like. Donkeys indeed!

Anyone know what Ramsey was saying when he was yelling at Brad for burning the wellingtons? Between the bleeps and the mouth "smudging" I only got one word out of it.

Waffle House snobbery redux!

Really, Julia carried their asses in the breakfast challenge and that's how they repay her? While Melissa Drescher is annoying, she at least seems like she has something to back it up. Bonnie is completely useless and I cannokit, for the life of me, understand where she gets off looking down on Julia. I'm sorry, but does the kitchen she works in have Michellin stars? I so doubt it.

I'm drinking the same margaritas that ya'll are. Even my husband, not known for picking up minute details yelled "he just faked that!" Let's put it this way...I'm sure the guy has high blood pressure or something going on for sure, which any doctor would probably advise needs immediate treatment.

How did Joanna not smell that crab? It's pretty friggin rank when it goes bad. And Jen? Ewwwwwwwwwww! Cripes, if she's doing that on a national show, I bet her pastry orders really drop off.

Fuck you Melissa...Julia just made the comment previously that she was studying...you know, so she could learn? What's that tell you? I bet she cooked those omlettes way better than you could have. Ugh. At least Jen at near zero hour nommed herself, and props to Joanna. She knew she fucked up and was willing to go to the chopping block, and she told Bonnie and Melissa that Julia was going nowhere.

I have to say, after watching HK I don't think I ever want to attempt a Wellington myself.

You have GOT to be kidding me. Putting Julia on the chopping block simply because she doesn't know the "product"??? She saved all your elitist behinds during breakfast and were it not for her, Jen would have been serving garbage to customers!! Holy crap!

Julia might not win this whole thing, but I'll make the prediction now that Ramsay asks her to either train with him or with some of his other chefs. You can teach haute cuisine, you can't teach common sense. But I want her to win just to show up the snobs. Yes, bitches, the Waffle House chef CAN get her own restaurant in Las Vegas!

I think I enjoyed eating out more before it became associated with dumpster diving. This goes on in real restaurants? It was bad enough when I learned about the spitting in your Coke at the fast food joints. Yuck.

I must be the meanest person here because I cheered when Aaron was let go. How does he hold down a job? I think these attacks seemed to conveniently come when it was time to DO something, like skin the sole or peel a truckload of potatoes. I won't miss the weeping or the ailment of the week. Maybe he could audition to be a MEOW on House.

I've made a pork wellington, and it's not hard at all. You just have to pay attention to how long it's been in the oven so the meat isn't overcooked and the pastry shell isn't burned. It's actually pretty easy. I think nerves (and basic famewhorishness that forces them to try and seek out the cameras instead of paying attention to what they're doing) tend to cause them to fuck it up as often as they do.

Y'all, Julia is making Waffle House look goooood. They really ought to give her a bonus for all the good publicity she's throwing their way.

I'm glad Aaron is gone. He wasn't healthy and as someone who has passed out a few times, you do have a level of awareness as you're losing awareness. You try to sit down or get yourself in a position where you won't hurt yourself or where you can feel better as the world slowly starts to go black. I have passed out where I didn't know it until I came to and was all "wtf?" It's a shame, but maybe he can get his stuff together and try again next year. I'm buying privacy as why no disclosure of his condition.

I do give them both props for stepping up, and I think both of them had more cooking skill than frigging Bonnie, who is there why, exactly? But I still would have liked to see a double elimination, 'cause in my world, serving rancid seafood and serving food out of the trash bin are pretty much equally heinous.

Julia rules. I'm glad Gordon sees (at least so far) her positive attitude, her ability to handle herself in the kitchen, and her willingness to learn, and doesn't have the same snobbery that the other contestants have.

I wondered about that, myself. On Kitchen Nightmares, the state of the refrigerators and their contents were something that often set GR off big time. I find it hard to imagine him having rancid crab in his own place.

I still love Grrr season after season. It's cathartic to watch and reminds me of how cool it would be if for a day I could just go around yelling at people...just because.

OTOH, this show is such a joke because they never choose people that can cook. It's always the same lame dishes which gets boring for me and also people that don't have basic skillz.
Which is why I love Julia.

I would much rather eat her food than anyone else's on that team. Of course I would pick rancid food girl to leave because well, food poisoning is some serious shit. But, pulling stuff out of the garbage is no great idea either. I'm quite amazed that anyone would do that, especially while being filmed, on tv, with Grrrrr running the show. I would hope that it doesn't happen in restaurants, but, from what I've seen and heard, all kinds of shit goes down that you wouldn't want to know.

Ok, so that leaves Melissa Drescher and Bonnie, both of whom are insufferable and can't leave my teevee too soon. Yes, as has been said upthread, you can teach a cook to cook dishes they haven't heard of, but, you can't teach leadership, honesty and innate sense, all of which Julia has. I loved the way she saved breakfast for both kitchens.

The blue team? There's no one for me to root for there either. I dislike Rock because he is so hung up on his ego and need to be the leader and all his STFUs. Brad, Vinnie and Josh are about equal I suppose. And, Aaron? Well, about time, eh? That phone call was so staged on Grrr's end and I wonder why they never mentioned what "illness" he had. Anyway, I wish him well.

And, I liked Grrrr in jeans on the military excursion.

This season is lacking.

I was trying to figure that out myself.

I'm rooting for Julia, but is it normal for a chef to be touching the omelette so much while cooking it? That kind of grossed me out. I wish they would wear gloves and hair nets and Rock needs to be wearing a bandana or something to catch his sweat. Ew.

I briefly considered that the rancid crab might have been planted there, but I can't see Gordon or the network going for that, mainly because of the potential for liability if anyone wound up eating it. Rancid shellfish can make a healthy person seriously sick.

It's called a sweat band, get one! They give em away for free at many sporting events. Go get one! And Rock, check your ego! You and Melissa need a reality check. You aren't the shit! Recognize, ok?

Certainly better than, say, Jen or Joanna's employers to say the least. I mean, I know boiling would theoretically kill any bacteria from the trash-ghetti; but with all the work she put into picking, cleaning, and reboiling, it probably would've been quicker just to make new pasta from the start. And, I don't have the greatest sense of smell (thank you very much, seasonal allergies...) but I'd like to think I'd be able to tell if seafood has gone bad or not...

ETA:
So long Aaron, have fun back at the old folks home.

So the breakfast service went well for the red team except for Joanna who showed that she was a bit easy with the salt on her hashbrowns and in her risotto. So with her elimination, we get full dictatorship from smug Melissa who will rule over deadweight Bonnie, unsanitary Jen and supposably questionable Julia.

I hope one of the three will grow some balls and face Melissa because she's getting overconfident judging with the gloating from the reward challenge.

I also don't get why Bonnie kept attacking Julia when Jen made a horrible judgement over picking spaghetti in the garbage. And she kept ragging over and over about Julia's level of knowledge. So I really hope that Julia's late studies pans out...preferable in the form of a crème brûlée. I like her leadership and her tight quality control which probably saved Jen from a verbal lashing.

I also congratulate Jen for being honest and willing to expose her mistakes but she should have been eliminated with Joanna regardless of her selfless act just for fishing food from the garbage.

And for the first time, I realize how often people attempt to cover their mistakes...I am speechless. There's Brad trying to scrap up the bottom of his burnt wellingtons, there's Jen trying to save face from a bad judgement call, there's Bonnie trying to be all inocent about her raw scallops, there's Vinnie getting the nerves to get all pissy about his raw eggs and it goes on and on and on. People should just be honest already, you'll get a tongue lashing anyway from Ramsey...at least I'll think you'll be trustworthy...which is the second or third time he mentions trust.

Rock is an idiot. First he attacks Josh who was willing to expose himself in the position of leader by putting him in the chopping block, hoping to achieve the same result as Melissa did to Joanna. Then Rock's plan backfires when everyone steps up to get his coveted leadership position. So, why not step up first in the first or second dinner service? Did Rock prefer to work in a team without a leader or a team led by him only passive-agressively?

Previews? Palate testing! Rock gags for some reason. And Vinnie shows once again what a useless donkey he is.

If Aaron was faking in order to avoid work, it certainly backfired on him.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ramsay decided that "Doctor's orders" 'wouldn't allow' Aaron to return, and all Aaron could do was eat the decision. Imagine him lying there thinking, "But I was faking! I'm in perfect health! Can't say that, though... Damn! He got me!" <g>

I figure they get put through make up before the show actually starts filming for each day, and there is some down time between scenes where they are awakened and the actual time they go to the kitchen, despite what the editing shows.


And of course you can't teach class, which Julia has in droves and Melissa has none.

You get an amen to that! Hey Bonnie - I'm also a nanny and personal chef. And a nurse, an accountant, personal shopper, maid, mechanic, chauffeur, pc fixer, and movie reviewer. Don't think you're too special there babe. And you know what else? That blonde color in your hair is too brassy. Go see somebody on Shear Genius and get it fixed.

Felt good to let that out...

I don't know what's up with the guys...I like Rock a whole bunch but he needs to watch out or that ego will trip him up and into the garbabe can Grrr just kicked. Brad seems like he'd be good too, but he froze up. I can do without Vinnie and Josh.

I do see our Waffle House Queen going far, but dunno about the final two. If Melissa gets there, I'll be rooting against her no matter who's up against her. I'm sure she can cook, but she grates.

In my chat group, we came to the consensus that Aaron is probably diabetic. That is a serious illness which needs to be brought under control and he did exhibit all the symptoms.

I missed the breakfast portion since I was out, but the ladies REALLLLLLY need to check themselves before they wreck themselves about Julia. Can someone remind the Kitchen Mean Girls that Julia was the ONLY one that managed to fry a quail egg? Recipes can be learned, technique can be perfected, but ignoring common sense is just asking to be called an idiot. I'm happy that Jen did admit her error and Joanna called the others out on Julia's behalf and that more importantly, Grr recognizes that she can be a good chef.

Since I can't tell most of the Blue Team apart other than Rock, I'll just say goodbye Aaron. May you learn how to drink more water and smoke less (both with the cigarettes and the alledged pot) when under stress.