To wonder if the Blue team will make a comeback implies they were ever on top of their game in the first place.
By the end of Hell’s Kitchen Season 20 Episode 2, we’re now two challenges and a dinner service into the competition, and the Red team is smoking the guys.
And on top of that, these kids are embarrassing the hell out of Ramsay.
Hell, they’re embarrassing, and I’m not even there. What is going on with these guys?! Pull yourselves together, folks!
You know you’re off to a terrible start when your dinner service is so disastrous you get kicked out of the kitchen.
Inquiring minds want to know if legendary Mike Tyson ever got his food!
Of all the nights to screw up, who wants to be responsible for not serving Iron Mike the chicken he asked for damn near an hour before?
But first, we have to back it up to the questionable decision Ramsay made. The first dinner service was a sh!tshow because he got rid of the wrong person.
The alcohol challenge was a way to test everyone’s skill set and creativity. In theory, it should’ve been a piece of cake. How difficult is it to incorporate spirits into a dish?
If you pick the right protein or veggie and pair it with the right alcohol, you can have a great infused dish.
Nevertheless, the kids seemed to struggle, most of them only opting for booze when they’re partaking in some black-out drunk partying.
Surprisingly, Brynn bounced back from her anxiety-ridden first day, and she led the pack during the challenge.
You can’t help but respect her come-up, and when she came in second during the challenge with her tequila-infused sea bass, she didn’t hesitate to pick the worst dishes from her group.
Emily was pissed that after bonding with Brynn and holding her hand through a rough night that Brynn would put her up. However, this is a competition, and it’s about who can make their team stronger.
I respect Brynn for not letting personal relationships interfere with business. She picked the right people, too.
Ava was the worst of the worst. The woman’s salmon was undercooked, and it was the second time she effed up a salmon dish.
Unfortunately, Ramsay held it against her that she messed up so badly as an Alaskan native.
It’s the only reason he let her go when the clear choice was Matthew, who presented Gordon with raw freaking chicken.
I couldn’t have been the only one channeling my inner Gordon and yelling. “It’s RAW, you donkey!” at the screen.
Matthew effed up when he served chef poop shrimp. No way in HELL he should’ve made it past again after presenting an inedible dish of raw chicken.
But somehow, Chef granted him another life like they were in Mario Kart or something, and he proceeded to waste that THIRD shot.
The Blue Team is a hot mess, and Steven can’t be the only one carrying the team. His jerk spiced rum pork chop looked wonderful, and I say this as someone who detests pork chops.
He deservedly won the punishment pass, but Ramsay surprised Brynn with one of her own.
At some point, if the Blue Team continues down this path, it’s only fair if Steven gets shifted to the Red Team. Let him shine with the other winners. It’s what he freaking deserves!
Steven played it safe with his choices for possible elimination. Matthew and loud-mouthed Antonio were the obvious choices.
He picked Alex too, but while his dish wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t awful. I wonder if Steven may have caused issues for himself with that move.
Credit where it’s due, the guys didn’t seem to take things personally and weren’t afraid to compliment each others’ dishes.
They probably would’ve had a shot at winning if they didn’t let Antonio bulldoze over them with his ceviche dish from Hades.
Again, Antonio was loud and wrong. It’s the worst combination. And to make matters worse, he wouldn’t shut up when he got back to the quarters.
If everyone is pissed off at you already, the wise move is to keep your mouth shut. Like, my guy, at the risk of sounding like Chandler Bing: Shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UPPPPPP!
His apologies and fortune cookie platitudes were empty and annoying.
But, like Brynn, Antonio stepped up at dinner service and had his sh!t together. And isn’t that what this process is about?
Antonio and Brynn showed that it’s possible to bounce back from crappy first impressions.
However, Matthew was a disaster the entire time, so I don’t know why he got a second or third chance. I’ll be damned if you serve me dirty shrimp and followed that with raw chicken.
He shouldn’t be anywhere near food, and I don’t want to go to any restaurant he works at if those are his standards. The meat should be dead, not the person eating it, my guy.
He wasn’t taking the competition seriously, and when Ramsay chewed them out for their behavior, he laughed about it.
He may be someone who laughs when he gets nervous, but it’s hard to take a man seriously when the only thing he serves up is raw dishes.
After consistently presenting raw food, Matthew resorted to moving a digital thermometer, which is forbidden, to check his meat temperatures. But the crazy thing is, even when using one, he still served up raw food.
Honestly, there’s nothing you can do to salvage that.
Ironically, over on the Red team, one of the biggest concerns was that vegan and vegetarian chefs Josie and Emily would mess up on meats since at least one of them doesn’t taste test their food.
So far, their personal eating habits haven’t affected their abilities in the kitchen yet, but it’s doubtful they’ll make it far into the competition without it becoming an issue.
Emily was clueless about cooking meat. Although, she was willing to give it her all, and she made it work. But Josie’s main issue is that she’s distracted by her crush on Ramsay.
It’s supposed to be one of those cute things they play up, but truthfully, it’s annoying and insulting that this is what the editing reduces her to because her veganism is already enough of an uphill battle.
It makes her look childish and silly, and it distracts from her abilities as a chef.
Matthew, thankfully, is gone. It’s only so many times you can watch a man give you food that’s still making animal noises.
But the hour introduced us to new contestants who could easily slip to the bottom of the pack.
Payton was one of them. Dude, how do you forget how many dishes to serve Mike Tyson?
Payton also has a bit of an attitude and doesn’t like getting called out on his BS, and nothing good ever comes from that, so we’ll see.
For now, the girls are annihilating the boys. I mean, Girl Power, so I’m not mad about it, but these Young Guns are going to need to up their game.
One thing they will do is bring the drama. Bless these Millennial Messes.
Over to you, Hell’s Kitchen Fanatics. What did you think of their first service?
Hit the comments below if you’re watching and reading!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.