‘Hell’s Kitchen’ premiere review: Season 11 is officially insane
“Hell’s Kitchen” is in many ways a remarkable show. It changes virtually nothing from one season to the next, but somehow it still manages to be just as entertaining every time it comes back. We’re 11 seasons in, and there’s no way to better describe the two-hour premiere Tuesday night as anything other than entertainment gold.
Before the show, what we were actually a little more intrigued by was the prospect of seeing the chefs cook their signature dishes in front of a live audience. This was interesting, but we actually ended up feeling like this was just a cheesy gimmick that took away some of the manic energy of the kitchen. The first hour was fun, but it really wasn’t until the first dinner service of the night that we really started to see the show’s full trainwreck potential.
Just how awful and/or hilarious was this service? Let’s try to count the ways.
-Gina taking all of prep off to more or less just have some “me time,” only to come back, cook one set of prefect scallops, and then get tossed. What makes this even more hilarious is that she is going to survive another week, even though she literally contributed almost next to nothing all night long, just because she was surrounded by a good team.
-Did you know that Danielle hasn’t worked in a brigade before? We hope so, since she said it about TWO MILLION TIMES during the episode.
-In the funniest “get out” moment quite possibly of all time, Jacqueline was tossed from the kitchen for drinking water.
-Sebastian tried to rival Jacqueline for getting thrown out after using silly nicknames, and the for whatever reason kept trying to come back, as if Ramsay is going to suddenly change his mind. Has he ever done that?
-22-year old Jeremy complaining during deliberation about being criticized, even though he was literally kicked out for not being able to remember instructions.
On the flip side, we have to give the Gordon Ramsay seal of approval this week to Zach, who completely went into beast mode despite throwing up time and time again in the bathroom … even though he was the last man standing. His team nominated Jeremy and Sebastian appropriately based on their behavior in the kitchen, and Sebastian sent home. Who’s going to call people “Zachy Wacky” now? Disappointing.
What do you think about the premiere, and do you have an early favorite as to who is going to win the whole competition? If you want to check out our full interview with the show’s maitre’d Jean-Philippe, you can do so over at the link here.
Photo: Fox