Hell's Kitchen: Season 3

Anyone who has watched "Gordon Ramsay's The F Word" on BBC knows that at heart Gordon Ramsay is really a nice guy--a loving father, great husband, a keen restaurant owner, and a man who has a number of friends. Unfortunately, American reality shows seem to demand rude behavior, crying, and general frustration. The third season of "Hell's Kitchen" has begun and Gordon is just as dismayed with the latest batch of contestants. Failure to work as a team, crying (lots of crying), and pathetic skills seem to be high on this list with this group of competitors.

Viewers are treated to a glimpse of Heather and Michael, previous season winners, and what they are doing now at their own restaurants. This season's prizewinner will get his or her own restaurant at the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa in Las Vegas and a yearly salary of $250,000 plus a portion of the restaurant profits.

Let's start by discussing the contestants. On the women's team (Red Team), Bonnie is a nanny/personal chef from Los Angeles; this I took to mean that she cooks for the children. Jen is a pastry chef from Pennsylvania. Joanna is a chef's assistant from Detroit, and it became quickly apparent that she is not a team player. Julia is a short order cook from Atlanta and the comments from other women that she works for a waffle house and is therefore unqualified made me hope she outlasts them all! Melissa is a line cook from New York. Tiffany is a kitchen manager from Phoenix.

The male team (Blue Team) has the ever so weepy Aaron, the oldest contestant, who is a retirement home chef in Palos Verdes. Brad is a sous chef from Scottsdale. The child lookalike (due to a kidney disease) Eddie is a grill cook in Atlanta. Josh is a junior sous chef in Miami. Rock is an executive chef from Virginia. Finally, Vinnie is a night club chef in New Jersey.

For those who have recorded the show and plan to watch it, stop reading because what follows is a brief synopsis of the entire show. The contestant booted from the show will also be revealed.

The show starts as always, Gordon asks each contestant to make his or her signature dish and then he samples them. For the most part, many of the aspiring chefs fail miserably.

Vinnie and Joanna are the first two to have their dishes judged. Vinnie's chorizo enrobed red snapper contains a pathetic portion of red snapper that is barely visible. Joanna's Parmesan crusted chicken is overly brown, too salty, and lacks any moisture. Rock and Josh go next. Rock's pan seared scallops look good, but he serves frozen gnocchi and that causes his dish to fail. Josh serves fois gras which is undercooked and far too salty. Rounding out the first six are Bonnie and Eddie. Bonnie serves a tray of cheeses prepared in different ways. While she has the audacity to tell Gordon which order the cheeses are meant to be eaten, he does enjoy the dish. Eddie's scallops with a vermouth cream sauce are raw.

Brad and Jen are the first of the remaining six dishes. Brad's scallop and prosciutto terrine is also undercooked. Jen practically passes out when her dish is revealed, peach filled crepes that contain far too much alcohol. Melissa and Julia are next. Gordon is impressed by Melissa's steak and hopes it tastes as good as it looks, Melissa is thrilled when he enjoys it. Julia's chicken fried chicken penne tastes good except for the excessive amount of pepper which Gordon says ruins the dish for him. Tiffany and Aaron are the last. Tiffany's seafood tostada gets rave reviews. Aaron's finger foods also impress Gordon, but he feels Aaron provided too much food on the plate.

So only Tiffany and Melissa truly impressed Gordon, while Julia and Aaron came very close. With that the teams are broken up into men versus women and get a good nights sleep for service tomorrow. Plenty of discussion into strategy ensues. The women are quick to say that working as a team is the way to beat the men.

The next night, the doors to Hell's Kitchen open and diners pour in. Soon tables are completely filled and orders are placed. On the girl's side, the quail egg appetizers are proving to be a horrible challenge to Tiffany. Her eggs come out rubbery and are all sent back. Julia offers to help, she cooks eggs regularly and can get it done, but Tiffany virtually tells her to get lost and chop apples. Eventually, this leads to a rather teary outburst in which Gordon forces Tiffany from her station and Julia takes over and gets the job done. Meanwhile, Melissa decides to take over as the kitchen's lead and that annoys many of the women.

Meanwhile, the Blue Team is doing much better with their appetizers. After Vinnie is pulled from the appetizer section failing to make a decent risotto, Brad takes over and suddenly plates are flying out to tables. Soon more than half of the tables on the blue side have been served. However, it is the overly emotional Aaron that brings things to a stand still. He's crying, sweating, and his nose is dripping mucus. When his burnt, pathetic looking chicken is sent back, he is pulled from his station. After getting dizzy, he leaves the kitchen to take a break and recoup. Before long, the Blue Team is out of chicken.

Guests begin to leave and Gordon shuts down the kitchens. After scolding them for a pathetic attempt, he announces that the Blue Team wins. Melissa is chosen as the best of the worst and has to pick the two worst women so that Gordon can eliminate one. Melissa heads back and is quickly told by many of the girls that Julia is the weak link because she works in a waffle house, despite the fact that she saved the appetizers. Melissa makes her decision--Joanna and Tiffany are the two weak links. Thankfully, Julia is saved for another week.

This year's show is shaping up to be fantastic. Viewers are left to wait and see which contestant is going to require urgent medical care while Gordon says "Don't die on me now." One can only wait and see.