I didn't see that coming!

The daytime challenge was to take some ordinary American "comfort food" and
turn it into something gourmet. The judges for that particular challenge
were their mothers! (And Chef Ramsay had his "mum" there, too.) Jen won
that challenge with "fried chicken" which she stuffed with crab, spinach &
goat cheese which she then floured and fried. She and her mother went to
lunch with Ramsay and his mother. Then he took them to a fancy kitchen
shop, gave her $1000 and said, "Have fun!"

Bonnie and Rock got to clean the dorms. Bonnie started whining right away.
She claimed not to know how to do simple things like vacuum or clean a
bathroom fer cryin' out loud! Throughout the competition she's said, "I'm
not really a nanny, I'm a personal chef who baby-sits sometimes." Heck, I'm
neither of those but I know how to do basic cleaning.

Before dinner service began, Chef Ramsay took each of them (Bonnie, Rock and
Jen) aside and had them treat him as one of their chefs who had just screwed
up big time. That was fun! Bonnie was first and she really let him have
it; you could see Ramsay's utter amazement. The other two didn't know what
was going on (yet) and Rock commented wow, Bonnie is cussing at Chef!
Meanwhile Mary Ann, one of Ramsays' soux chefs, was standing back there with
them, chuckling. LOL

Since the kitchen staff was down to three for dinner service, Ramsay had his
two soux chefs working with them during dinner service. The dinner service
challenge was a tough one - expediting at the pass. It's not an easy thing
to do, especially when Chef Ramsay had his soux chef, Scott, purposely
screwing up dishes to see if they caught the mistake(s) rather than send the
food out wrong.

Jen was clearly nervous; she failed to catch the spaghetti with crab being
sent up *without* crab in it. She did a good job of keeping time on the
dishes going out, though. Ramsay pointed out to Rock he was too slow
plating the dishes but he did catch the mistake in one of the entrees.
Bonnie really came through in this challenge. She was quick and in charge
after the first few minutes at the pass. She was calling out times, tasting
and plating the dishes. She sent a few back that weren't purposely
sabotaged but were simply not quite right (Jen's risotto not seasoned well
enough, for example).

Then came time when Ramsay had to make the decision. I was totally
surprised when he sent Jen home, even though tonight wasn't her best. Now
it's down to Bonnie, who I think is doing an amazing job (even if she can't
clean a dorm!) and Rock. Rock has managed to get his temper under control
and communicate better with the team. Except now there really isn't a team.

Should be interesting next week, August 6th, to see who wins the position as
head chef at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Las Vegas.

Jill