Hell’s Kitchen Young Guns: Welcome to Dinner Service

When it was announced that Season 20 of Hell’s Kitchen would feature chefs all under the age of 24, I will admit to being a bit worried. Part of the appeal of the series is watching Chef Gordon Ramsay lose it on a chef who is too arrogant or just not getting it. Would he temper his reactions due to the young age of the contestants? Would Hell’s Kitchen still be Hell’s Kitchen?

After watching the first dinner service of the season, no one should have worried. If anything, Ramsay seems to have upped his expectations and refuses to make any excuses for the young members of either team.

But before Dinner Service, there was business to take care of, namely sending someone home. At the end of Episode 1 Ramsay had tasked the Young Guns with cooking a meal using a protein and some form of alcohol. The winner would get the Punishment Pass, enabling them to skip a task if their team lost a challenge and the loser would be told to get out.

Then in a twist, each team had to choose their three best dishes for Chef Ramsay to try. The Blue Team picked dishes by Antonio, Steve and Matthew and, unfortunately things did not go well for them. Matthew, who gave Chef Ramsay uncleaned shrimp in Episode 1, this time gave him raw chicken. Antonio’s dish was only slightly better with Steve’s pork chop saving the day.

The Red Team is once again dominating Hell’s Kitchen.

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By contrast, the Red Team hit it out of the park with Ramsay loving all three dishes they presented, in particular Brynn’s tequila-braised sea bass which ended up getting the win for the women and a second Punishment Pass. Brynn and Steve then had to pick the three worst dishes of their respective teams and in the end, despite Matthew once again proving being a food vlogger doesn’t mean you can cook, Ramsay sent Ava and her undercooked bourbon-marinated salmon home.

You would think this would be a wake up call for the Blue Team but it turns out, not so much. During Dinner Service the women of the Red Team worked as a cohesive whole, getting dishes out super fast and making some great food. On the other side of the kitchen the Blue Team was a complete disaster. It got so bad that at one point Matthew used a meat thermometer to check his chicken.

In case you didn’t know, that’s a huge issue when you’re supposedly cooking at the level where you can be on Hell’s Kitchen.

At the end of the night the Blue Team sent Matthew and Peyton up for elimination with Jay joining them when he was called out by Chef Ramsay. However, for all the drama the choice was easy and Matthew didn’t even get to defend himself as he was told to piss off.

It was obvious from the beginning that Matthew should never have been on Hell’s Kitchen. Saying you can cook on YouTube and cooking as part of a brigade in one of Chef Ramsay’s restaurants are vastly different things. He was overwhelmed and underprepared. Good riddance.

There are now 16 chefs left with both the Red and Blue teams at even strength. Can the women keep up the momentum? Will the guys get a freakin’ clue? We’ll find out next week.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Hell’s Kitchen? Did you agree with the choices Chef Ramsay made? Leave a comment below and let us know of join the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages.