Hell's Kitchen Thread

[derekkj 0]

Someone should call Ramsey a "Cook". He'd burst a blood vessel

Or his head would explode.

[Mags 112]

yah julia fried up some good eggs...but i wonder whats going to happen when they are asked to make a fine dining dish!

My thoughts exactly. Julia's good nature will only take her so far....

Ah, you shouldn't underestimate her, she may be rather good...

Edited June 5, 2007 by mags

[Jenn! 918]

I'm even more glad Tiffany's gone....

2 Valley chefs take the heat in 'Hell's Kitchen'

Randy Cordova

The Arizona Republic

Jun. 3, 2007 09:00 PM

For a chef, one imagines the opportunity to appear on Gordon Ramsay's reality show Hell's Kitchen would be the chance of a lifetime.

Not so, says one of two Arizona chefs competing on the show.

"Honestly, the prize is a restaurant," says Tiffany Nagel, one of this season's competing chefs. "Well, my family has two."

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She's not exaggerating. Nagel's family owns and operates Aunt Chilada's, mainstay Mexican restaurants in the Valley. The Phoenix resident manages the kitchen at the Dreamy Draw Drive location.

"You kind of take the whole (prize) thing with a grain of salt," she says. "A lot of people in the cast - it's like this is their life's shot. For me, I hope my restaurant gets a little publicity."

She basically wound up on the show as a bit of lark.

"My accountant called one day and said there's an audition at the Valley Ho for Hell's Kitchen and I should go," she recalls. "I had a Saturday off for the first time in my life, so I went."

At the audition, she met Brad Miller of Scottsdale. A chef at the Latilla at the Boulders Resort, he also showed up at the casting call on a whim.

"A buddy of mine called and said come down and try out, and we'll have lunch afterward," Miller says. "I was kind of stand-offish. I thought, 'I don't want to be on TV, but I'll go to lunch.' But I kept getting called back."

He says he never watched the show before the casting call.

"I work six days a week," he says. "I've caught bits of it in the background, but I never have time to watch TV."

In the program, Nagel, Miller and 10 other chefs compete, under the tutelage of Ramsay, who shouts and glowers a lot. It looks intimidating, but Miller says a hot temper is standard fare for a chef.

"He yells a lot and swears and cusses," Miller says. "I've always worked for chefs like that. I've been called names. I've had filets thrown at my head. Kitchens are like that."

Once Miller learned what the grand prize was, he played - and filleted - to win. (Neither contestant can discuss what happens on air or the show's outcome.)

"That's when it started getting interesting," he says. "I'm a very competitive person and I'm very confident about my cooking skills. I couldn't wait to show everybody what I've got."

Nagel seems more concerned about how she is going to come off on network television.

"When it airs, it will be the first time anybody from the shows views it," she says. "You have no idea which parts are cut, what is on there, what you said, and you're sleep-deprived while you're doing the show."

Is she worried she may have said something she shouldn't have?

"Honey, my whole life is full of situations where I've said things I shouldn't have said," she offers.

Miller is less concerned with that aspect of the whole experience. He kept his eye on the prize.

"I didn't let my guard down," he says. "I didn't get too relaxed, because I wanted to win. I'm a very serious person in the kitchen."

He's not-so-serious in real life. He even has a viewing party planned for tonight, where viewers can come and meet him.

Nagel has a party planned, too, though it's more of a friends-and-family affair.

"You've got to make the most of your 15 minutes, right?" she says with a laugh.

[Reynaldo 0]

I think her strategy might have backfired...

I know there is no such thing as bad publicity, but I wouldn't eat in one of her restaurants...

[Mags 112]

Her family already own 2 restaurants? Definitely glad she's gone!

[Marilyn. 340]

remember the chick from the first season, I think her name was Elsie, she didn't really have a lot of professional experience ..... she made it pretty far because Ramsey liked her, I think because she wasn't as pretentious as the others and she made good tasting food....

Edited June 5, 2007 by MarilynP

[Mags 112]

remember the chick from the first season, I think her name was Elsie, she didn't really have a lot of professional experience ..... she made it pretty far because Ramsey liked her, I think because she wasn't as pretentious as the others and she made good tasting food....

I know that you have to be pretty ballsy to run your own restaurant (look at Gordon Ramsay!) but I think that should come with experience. You shouldn't be full of yourself, like some of those on last night's programme were, when you are just starting out. That might be why GR tends to prefer the ones who don't think they know it all and have the potential to be an excellent cook; rather than a big headed, arrogant idiot who thinks he/she knows it all already.

[Jenn! 918]

I heard that the winner of this season was leaked. Apparently, they've stopped taking bets at gambling sites for the show as soon as they saw this person pull so far ahead.

Don't peek if you don't want to know!!!!

Rock ....is the rumored winner...

Edited June 11, 2007 by jenn3539

[Savanphil 3]

I'm sooo tempted...but I'm not going to look.

[Lisa and Spence 0]

I love Gorden Ramsey! He cracks me up with the way he rules his kitchen and his staff. The man knows what he is doing and I like how he seems to have a passion for helping others succeed (in his Kitchen Nightmares show he helps restaurants get back on track and the way Hell's Kitchen helps launch someone's career).

However, even though he talks a lot about the customer and how important they are (which they ARE)... in the same episode, he will scream obsenities and insults at his customers when they come to the hot plate. To me, that isn't good customer service, but it makes for GREAT TV!

Spence and I LOVE his shows are look forward to watching every Monday night!

Lisa

[LaL 418]

in the same episode, he will scream obsenities and insults at his customers when they come to the hot plate.

to me this all looks fake. the customers are all but laughing usually when he freaks. im sure they are prepped for that in exchange for a second on TV.

[Mags 112]

in the same episode, he will scream obsenities and insults at his customers when they come to the hot plate.

to me this all looks fake. the customers are all but laughing usually when he freaks. im sure they are prepped for that in exchange for a second on TV.

*whines* But it's so good to watch...

[sereia 0]

its not fake. GR is FAMOUS for being an a$$hole to his cooks. thats why he got the show. i'm sure there's tons of added drama, but he really is like that

[LaL 418]

its not fake. GR is FAMOUS for being an a$hole to his cooks. thats why he got the show. i'm sure there's tons of added drama, but he really is like that

i was saying customer complaints were staged, not that GR isnt a royal crab to his cooks.

[Marilyn. 340]

as anyone seen his show "the F word", he seems like a normal human being on that show.. not the screaming fanatic they show on Hell's Kitchen...