Hell’s Kitchen Young Guns: Chef Ramsay shakes things up

To say things are not going well for the Young Guns of Season 20 of Hell’s Kitchen would be a huge understatement. We are only four episodes in and already the mental and physical stress of being a chef in Hell’s Kitchen seems to be taking its toll on some of the young chefs who want to be Chef Gordon Ramsay‘s new protege.

In particular the men of the Blue Team seem to be out of their collective element. They appear to be lost, unable to work as a unit and completely incapable of serving food in any kind of timely manner. Of course, if you’ve watched Hell’s Kitchen before you know this is usually the case with the Blue Team.

However, for Season 20 it seems worse than usual. And after one of the worst dinner services in the history of the series, Chef Ramsay decided on taking some drastic actions.

But before all hell broke loose during dinner service, the teams were tasked with cooking brunch for the staff of the Paris, Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. First team to finish their service, wins. Simple enough, but both the men and the women ended up having problems.

For the Blue Team, Alex once again showed he has no business being in a kitchen, turning the meat station into a unholy mess. For the women of the Red Team it was making omelets that proved to be their biggest issue.

Chef Ramsay remakes both the Blue and Red Teams in Hell’s Kitchen.

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In the end, the Red Team got the win and an excellent staycation at the Planet Hollywood Hotel. They were joined by Steven who used his Punishment Pass and he chose Brynn to stay behind and make pastries.

Of course, if the Red Team knew what was coming, they may have decided to just stay in the suite and not return to Hell’s Kitchen. Because nothing good was going to happen for anyone once dinner service got underway.

To put it bluntly, dinner service was an unmitigated disaster for both teams. Alex proved to be the undoing of the Blue Team, even at one point having to leave to “gather his thoughts” which Chef Ramsay just couldn’t believe. Antonio couldn’t get his scallops right and things only got worse as the night went on.

The Red Team, which has been fairly dependable until now, seemingly forgot how to cook. Pizzas were landing on the floor, fish was going to the pass undercooked and Brynn couldn’t remember the orders that had just been given to her by Chef Ramsay.

Like I said, an all around disaster.

Alex being the one sent home didn’t exactly surprise anyone. He isn’t ready to work in a Burger King kitchen much less the kitchen of a new Gordon Ramsay Steak. What was surprising is that in the wake of one of the worst dinner services in Hell’s Kitchen history, Ramsay remade both teams.

The days of the women on one team and the men on the other is gone. Victoria, Emily and Megan were sent to the Blue Team while Payton and Sam were moved to the Red Team. It is highly unusual for Ramsay to shake the teams up this early in a season. My guess is that he feels the whole “Battle of the Sexes” format just wasn’t working with chefs this young and he needed to make a move or things could continue to steamroll out of control.

Will new teams create new dynamics and a better dinner service? Or will things continue to get worse by the week? It will be very interesting to watch what happens.

What did you think of the big changes on Hell’s Kitchen? Do you think it will help or hurt the Young Guns of Season 20? Leave a comment below and let us know or join the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages.