"Kitchen Nightmares" and "Survivor"

"Kitchen Nightmares"

This episode was about a restaurant called Secret Garden in Moorpark, CA. It's apparently so secret that Gordon had a hard time finding the front door - not a good omen to start with.

Another pattern I've noticed - the owner of the restaurant is in complete denial about their circumstances. Maybe they just don't like being confronted, and their egos take over. Michel says that he's in debt at the restaurant for something like over $200,000? And they've obviously applied to have the show and Gordon come in. But when Gordon confronts him about it, he says the restaurant is doing just fine? Ummm, ok, whatever.

And then Michel references having worked for Thomas Keller. I have recently learned a lot about and become quite enamoured of Thomas Keller, and if Michel had managed to work for one of Keller's restaurants, he must not have been there long. Michel's restaurant was filthy. Thomas Keller's restaurants are immaculate, and he's a stickler for cleanliness, much like the quick glimpse that we were given of the kitchen of one of Gordon's restaurants earlier in the season. Keller would have been appalled to have seen the state of the store room at Secret Garden, not to mention the inefficiency at getting the food out, making his customers wait so long before they're brought anything they've ordered. And Michel doesn't realize that he's dropping Thomas Keller's name, but Gordon is a name that could be equally thrown out in that vein, and yet Michel is completely dismissive of him.

It was funny to see that Gordon had arranged to have the restaurant boarded up. I guess that was the most extreme example he could give Michel. I thought it was funny that Michel was mad because he said people would see the signs and it would be broadcast on the evening news that he was closed. Does he really think his restaurant has garnered enough attention that its closing would actually make the news, even in a small town like Moorpark?

Gordon's new menu specials are a hit, but that only solves one problem - there's still no one really running the restaurant. There's zero communication between the kitchen and the servers - the kitchen has run out of some food items, but no one bothers to tell the servers, who then get yelled at because they're taking orders for food they didn't know had run out? Michel is also making things worse by not even letting his sous chefs help him. There's "hands on", and then there's an inability to delegate. What's the point of having all those people in the kitchen if you won't let them do anything? No wonder it takes so long for food to be prepared.

I did think the bit with the bus of 24 people arriving was a bit ridiculous. Most restaurants wouldn't even agree to accommodate something like that with zero notice.

But in the end, Michel does learn his lesson. He's still skeptical of Gordon's changes, but he decides to let his customers be the final test. And when they tell him how much they love everything, he finally lets it all sink in. And we were really happy that he promoted Jane to manager!

This is the last episode of the season, so it's another show to cross off my list of shows to watch. With the writers' strike still in full swing and the regular holiday hiatus coming up, there will be fewer and fewer things to watch.


"Survivor"

The reward challenge was fun because it wasn't just a matter of winning or losing on your own. You could potentially have done horribly on your own but still won because of other people. I did think it was interesting that Courtney got the most arrows. I can't believe that it was because she was all that popular. I'm wondering if so many people gave her so many arrows because they figured she wouldn't do well, so she was the least dangerous. Todd did a great job, but in the end, Courtney was responsible for Denise winning the challenge.

Denise picking Courtney to go with her made perfect sense as payback, and while there's a part of me that understands P.G. getting upset that Denise didn't pick her to go, it wouldn't have made any sense strategically to pick her. Denise's refusal to vote off Todd the week before pretty much cemented that Denise was sticking with her tribe, and as grateful as she might have been that P.G. took her to the Shao Lin Temple, that wasn't going to obligate Denise to return the favor. I understood Denise's comment about not wanting P.G. to get stronger, but I was surprised that she said it loud enough for P.G. to hear. I can't remember how close they were to each other in proximity.

I was really surprised at how completely lost Denise, Todd and Courtney were with the hot pot cooking. OK, so there's raw meat and vegetables and a boiling hot pot. It's not obvious that you cook your own food in there? Not a single one of them has had any experience with anything remotely like that? All that food, and they thought it was confusing? No wonder Amanda and P.G. were later annoyed by their comments. I thought Courtney's comment about just having pizza was pretty stupid. Ummm, hello, you're in China - they've already fed you American food a few times. Why would you expect that you'd be having pizza at the Great Wall of China? I thought Courtney's comment about Amanda being less likely to stir up trouble was pretty stupid too. Did she completely forget that it was Amanda who had engineered blindsiding James by voting him off?

It was nice to see the scenes of P.G. and Amanda bonding. I can see how demoralizing the whole experience can be for P.G., so at least she had some time of fun.

The immunity challenge with the revisiting of challenges was fun. It was seriously surprising that Todd did so poorly and was the first one kicked out. You could see the complete look of shock on P.G.'s face. The second person out was, not surprisingly, Denise on the balut challenge. She couldn't do it last time, so I'm not surprised she couldn't do it again. Jeff made a comment about it being a $1,000,000 decision, but honestly, it's really just about money. If it was something else, like her daughter would be killed if she didn't eat it, you'd bet she'd be able to get it down then. It's a matter of what's enough motivation for you. On the bouncing ball on a drum competition, Courtney lost, so it was down to Amanda and P.G. P.G. came close, but in the end, Amanda was faster, mostly because she chopped through the ropes faster.

P.G. fought a good battle, but in the end, she lost the war.

So I guess there's going to be no car challenge this time? I don't remember it coming this late. And it sounds like they're going back to having final two, not final three like they've had the last few times. I still want Todd out. I'd be ok with either Denise or Amanda winning, so that's who I want in final two. I am absolutely going to scream if it comes down to Courtney and Todd. I would pick Todd as more deserving, but to have Courtney in at the end? NO FRICKIN' WAY!

Season finale is on Sunday, and then the reunion episode!