the microcosm

Last night was shocking.

Things are getting chippy in Hell’s Kitchen on both sides of the kitchen. The women are bickering, Corey keeps picking on Christina and Shayna, and the men — mostly Ben and Bobby — are ganging up on “Matty” like they did to Jason and Craig.

Hell’s Kitchen is going to be a battleground from here on out.

If you missed last night’s episode, or any of the previous episodes from this season, head over to Fancast to catch up on the HK action. Hit the jump to see the rest of last night’s analysis.

Last night’s challenge for the two kitchens was to prepare three entrees for a Sweet 16 party on a $100 budget. Since Hell’s Kitchen would be hosting the party, the Sweet 16 girl — Melissa — and her mother were guest judgers with Chef Gordon Ramsay.

To make a long story short, the guys finally won the challenge, 2-to-1.

During the girls’ punishment — decorating HK for a Sweet 16 with a flaming party planner — Corey continues her assault on Shayna, despite Shayna coming up with a good idea to solve a napkin crisis.

And then Corey tries to seduce LouRoss with her OK looks, but LouRoss shoots her down. Corey already played a role in the elimination of Jason earlier this season using the same tactics.

And then Corey blasts Shayna again for being a slow prep and, later, a slow cook. The rest of the girls agree with Corey’s assessment of Shayna later in the show.

As for the guys, it seemed like the plan was to gang up on Matt, and it sure did make him angry. He complained about nobody listening to him during the challenge and called out the guys’ challenge menu even though it ended up being the winning menu.

During dinner service, he continued to screw up in the kitchen. First he overcooked the fish for the Sweet 16 party host, Melissa’s mother, then he undercooked her fish. Bobby kicked him off the fish station and Matt was not man enough to reclaim his position in the kitchen, and Ramsay let him have it about that.

Rosann made a big mistake in the red kitchen by undercooking Melissa’s steak, twice. Ramsay had to step in a cook the steak himself, something he rarely does on the show. Not good, Rosann.

In the end, neither team lost as both completed dinner service for the second week in a row. Both teams were sent to the dorm to nominate one chef from each team. The guys, obviously, sent Matty to the chopping block while the girls went with Shayna.

However, Ramsay had a nomination of his own — Rosann. Rightfully so, as she sent out a rare steak to Melissa, who ordered it medium-well.

During the interrogation, Matt blasted the guys team and asked Ramsay if he could be sent over to the girls team … if he survived elimination. Shocking strategy by Matt, but it paid off — Ramsay dismissed Shayna because of her slowness in the kitchen, despite bad cooking performances from Rosann and continued bad cooking performances from Matt.

And Matt got his wish … next week, he will move over to the red kitchen. Man, this should be interesting. I called for him to get the axe this week, but that did not happen. Next week, it happens.