Polly is kicked off the first episode of Hell’s Kitchen

Tonight was the first episode in this season’s Hell’s Kitchen. I just hate the first show in a reality series, because there are just too many people to keep track of. By the time you get to know people they’re being kicked off the show. But I digress.

The show begins with the 12 contestants at a cocktail party. Out pops Chef Gordon Ramsey and he instructs the competitors to make their signature dishes – and they have 30 minutes to do so. One by one the contestants are called in front of Chef Ramsey, and one by one he insults them. When he even finds a dish that is somewhat edible (like the one prepared by Giacomo) he is less than complimentary.

After Ramsey tears apart the contestants he informs them that they are going to be divided into two teams – men versus women. They were given a few minutes to change and then they headed to the kitchens to prep for the restaurant’s opening the next day.

At first it appeared the women had it going – they were working well together prepping for the next day and even finished in time to get some sleep, while the men worked individually and didn’t have much time to rest before the restaurant opening.

Chef Ramsey asks for two volunteers – all the women raise their hands while only Giacomo raises his. The two people he selects (Heather and Giacomo) were to be the “donkeys” that night and could not help in the preparation of food.

The restaurant opens and the drama begins. Both the men and the women had difficulty in getting the food out of the kitchen to the patrons, but the men were somewhat more successful if you could even say that. Very few, if any, of the patrons had received their entrees when Ramsey decides to close down the kitchen and the restaurant for the night.

Ramsey says that no one really was the winning team, but that the blue team stunk less than the red team. He singles out Heather as the best performing person for the women and tells her it’s up to her to nominate two people for possible elimination. Heather nominates Polly and Virginia, and Polly is ultimately sent home.

I’m not too sure yet what I think of the show. I loved Top Chef so I am naturally comparing the two shows and I think that might be like comparing apples and oranges. While both shows are a competition with a big prize at stake (for this one, an Executive Chef position at a restaurant at the new Red Rocks casino in Las Vegas and a share of the profits), Top Chef didn’t seem to pit people against each other. Yes they all lived together, and yes there were personality conflicts (can you say Tiffani), but it wasn’t a show where they were teams competing against each other. Hell’s Kitchen seems to be based on the whole team, creating alliances, plotting to get rid of the competition show. Top Chef had the competitors working to do their personal best, while this show seems to encourage the contestants working against each other instead.

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