Last night on the box -HELL’S KITCHEN the final

Hell’s Kitchen has finished and Linda Evans was crowned champion… which is not to say she can run a kitchen or cook, it only means she was most popular.

What began as an interesting show, was sadly turned into a ‘Big Brother’ style popularity contest, which had less to do about food or cooking than it did about popularity.

Back when Marco was doing the firing at least he had an insight into the usefulness of the contestants in the kitchen. He judged them on their cooking and their teamwork within the kitchen, but then in an attempt for ITV to make some money through the public voting system which has become so popular in recent years, the show was ruined. The voting public doesn’t know whether these people can cook, all they know is Linda Evans was on Dynasty back in the 80s and they liked her. So ultimately she won.

Personally I would have liked to have seen the show be more about learning to cook then it was about celebrities playing in the kitchen, and I would have liked to have seen some foodies pick the winner, not the great unwashed British public… but that is only my opinion.

All-in-all Hell’s Kitchen was an entertaining show to watch, and a decent example of reality TV, but as a cooking show it was pretty poor!

HELL’S KITCHEN… socks, the sack and some cheating

Thanks to my regular job stealing my life, I have had to catch-up with Hell’s Kitchen in all in one day. I did manage to trudge through the week’s festivities and I am all caught-up in the pressure cooker that is Marco Pierre White’s kitchen… And now we have our first eviction from kitchen, and sadly it was probably the only person on the show with any cooking talent that got the sack, proving once again that there is no justice in the world of ‘reality TV’.

Yes folks, Jody got evicted from Hell’s Kitchen mainly because he was too young and upset the other kitchen inmates with his over-enthusiastic approach. At least he got to tell Anthea off. Something I wish I could do!

If you missed seeing the Jody get the heave-ho, just click here for a handy catch-up from the ITV website.

HELL’S KITCHEN – Sandwich time!

In the first episode of the new series of Hell’s Kitchen, Marco Pierre White set the celebs a task of making him a sandwich. Easy enough, and without any more remit to work on the celebs did what they were meant to do, make a simple sandwich and show MPW what they can do in the kitchen.

Grant showed that he is a bit more perfect at the art of sandwich making than his wife Anthea, and created a fantastic chicken club sandwich that Marco preferred to the others. Niomi showed that she is a bit clueless in the kitchen… and Bruce taught us that Ostrich is not a very good sandwich meat.

Click here to watch a video of the celebs sandwiches.

After the sandwich task, Marco set them to work in the kitchen with very little training and mixed results, but at the end of the day Adrian and Linda became the waiters, so we will have to see if they can survive the next episode on Wednesday.

HELL KITCHEN; meet the celebs!

Marco Pierre White is back, with a group of b-list celebs trying their hand in the kitchen… Hell’s Kitchen. And Marco I guess is the devil… a devil with a tea towel on his head!

The format is the same as with all the others series, with one minor twist. Celebrities enter the kitchen of a ‘top restaurant’, get humiliated by a top chef, and one-by-one they get fired, until finally the public picks the top chef. The only twist in this tried and tested format, is this time instead of getting the sack straight away, Marco will give the celebs a second chance to perform… as a waiter!

So lets get started… lets meet the celebs!

____________________________________________________________________________

Anthea Turner – TV presenter and self-proclaimed “Perfect Housewife”.

Age: 48
Food heaven: “Home made chips the way I make them”
Food hell: Horseradish, English mustard and oysters
She says: “I just want to learn how to be a better cook. I don’t profess to be a brilliant cook although nobody has ever thrown up at one of my dinner parties.”
You didn’t know: Anthea’s husband Grant Bovey is also taking part.

Grant Bovey – Anthea Turners husband and Business man.

Age: 48
Food Heaven: Steak and chips
Food Hell: Shellfish, mussels, oysters and cockles
He says: “Anthea and I are very close as a couple but we do bicker, so I suspect we will bicker in Hell’s Kitchen.”
You didn’t know: Anthea and Grant have their own kitchens. “There is two of everything,” he says. “Two lots of saucepans, two lots of cutlery.”

Adrian Edmondson - actor and one time Young One.

Age: 52
Food Heaven: Yorkshire puddings, roast beef, ice cream
Food Hell: Microwave meals
He says: “I’d have John Lydon, Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper, Giorgio Armani and Fearne Cotton as dream dinner guests.”
You didn’t know: Adrian lives on a farm with wife Jennifer Saunders – and swears she is the better cook.

Jody Latham – actor and one time Shameless cheeky chappy!

Age: 23
Food Heaven: Salmon, prawns and scallops
Food Hell: Brussel sprouts
He says: “My cooking is better than average and I’m quite confident. I don’t have many dishes on my menu list but the ones I do, I do well – I make fantastic curries.”
You didn’t know: The Shameless star is about to open his own restaurant.

Bruce Grobbelaar – one time footballer… not sure what he is now!

Age: 51
Food Heaven: Meat, fish and game
Food Hell: The heart of an animal
He says: “I will probably be very, very nervous… that’s more nervous than going on a football field.”
You didn’t know: Former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce learnt to cook during a stint in the army.

Linda Evans – actress and one-time Queen of Dynasty.

Age: 66
Food Heaven: Italian – “I like anything that tastes good”.
Food Hell: Oysters
She says: “I have always said you can chain me to a stove and I would be a happy girl.”
You didn’t know: The ex-Dynasty star admits she is embarking on the “complete unknown.”

Danielle Bux - lingerie model… and the tastiest dish in Hell’s Kitchen!

Age: 29
Food Heaven: Japanese food – “because you can just eat so much of it”.
Food Hell: Fried food
She says: “I love working with people, I am a people person and quite looking forward to that but I think I could snap if someone gets in my way.”
You didn’t know: She’s the fiancée of football legend Gary Lineker.

Niomi “Ms Dynamite” Daley – one-hit-wonder pop star.

Age: 27
Food Heaven: Thai, West Indian and African food
Food Hell: Baked beans, anchovies
She says: “I’ll definitely be nervous. If Marco starts shouting at me I’m worried that I may answer back, it all depends on the scenario.”
You didn’t know: The double Brit Award-winner’s real name is Niomi MacLean-Daley