Cooking was not berry berry good to him

Dewberry, the high-strung pastry chef who dodged getting sent home last week on Hell's Kitchen, managed to get his walking papers this week thanks to an attempted walk-out on his team. A combination of a late-running kitchen and Gordon Ramsay's vitrol led to Dewberry's snapping, but the rest of his team got him to stay. Not that it helped; stopping to talk Dewberry down put the team even farther behind. Suffice it to say that it was an easy decision for Ramsay to make, as quitting on your team is about the worst thing he can imagine.

Jeff, last week's crappy waiter, was the other nominee for getting let go. He spaced pretty badly in the kitchen, which he blamed on kidney stones. Why he didn't get himself to the hospital for some pain medication is beyond me. Then again, the mentality of contestants on these things seems to be that the competition is more important than one's health. I can accept that when it's a cold. When it's kidney stones, go get checked out.

A second win for the blue team led to some increased cockiness in some of its members (Andrew of the "absolute penne" and Jessica, a bleach-blonde whose response to most things seems to be "whatever," were most notably portrayed). Andrew was also shows in a weasel moment trying to curry favor with the team's sous chef, who had none of it. Next week promises some sort of confrontation between Ramsay and a contestant; editing intimates it's Andrew, which would be no great surprise.

For an unscripted show, it's odd that it's biggest drawback is exposition. The first five minutes of the show were the introduction (which explains who Ramsay is and the point of the show) and a recap from last week (made even less necessary by the repeat of the first episode right before this one). The narrator was omnipresent, leaving no occurance in Hell's Kitchen uncommented upon. Even the obvious ones.

I'd still say that this is the best unscripted show this summer (which isn't saying much). BBC America may be looking to capitalize by bringing back Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, which airs tonight at 9 pm EDT. It's the same first episode BBC America showed the first time they aired the series; we can only hope that there are more than the four they repetitively aired over the winter.