Louross Edralin the ninth cook cut from 'Hell's Kitchen's fourth season

Louross Edralin couldn't properly cook a steak and paid the price for it.


The 24-year-old hotel cook from Las Vegas, NV became the ninth culinary contestant cut from Hell's Kitchen's fourth season during last night's broadcast of the Fox reality competition series.

"Louross was never short on energy, he was just short on cooking ability," said Gordon after Louross' ouster.

Hell's Kitchen's ninth fourth-season episode began following the previous dinner service, which saw Gordon Ramsay eliminate Rosann Fama.  Matt Sigel, a 35-year-old sous chef from Pinehill, NJ, apologized to Corey Earling, a 25-year-old private chef from Brooklyn, NY, for letting the Red Team down during the service and also realized he's now on "thin ice."

Despite the Blue Team's victory at the service, Bobby Anderson, a 37-year-old executive chef from Niagara Falls, NY, described Jennifer Gavin, a 24-year-old line cook from Chicago, IL, as a "big baby" and wasn't impressed by her first time working with the team.


The next morning the seven remaining contestants met Gordon in the kitchen, and he said they were all still struggling with timing and communication. 

For their next challenge, each team would have to prepare three items -- scallops, John Dory and chicken -- however only one chef from each team would be allowed in the kitchen.  After each six-minute interval expired, the contestant would have only 15 seconds to communicate with their teammate heading into the kitchen.

Since the Blue Team had a one member advantage, they discussed amongst themselves who would sit.  Jen suggested Louross sit, and he unhappily agreed.

"I hate Jen," said Louross, and Gordon also commented he was "surprised" with the team's decision to sit one of its faster members.

The challenge commenced with Matt and Louis Petrozza, a 47-year-old catering director from Charlotte, NC, working as the first two contestants in the kitchen.  They got the ball rolling before time expired, but Matt did a terrible job communicating with Christina Machamer, a 25-year-old culinary student from St. Louis, MO, who didn't understand the instructions he gave.  Meanwhile Petrozza and Bobby communicated well.


Corey was confident as the final member of the Red Team in the kitchen, however she said her swagger "fell apart" when she realized there was still a lot of work to do.  Almost the exact opposite, Petrozza and Bobby had done a good job readying the Blue Team for Jen, who said she had a "great set up" that was "perfect."

The challenge concluded and Gordon began to taste the dishes.  The Red Team's scallops lacked a salad, however Jen overcooked the Blue Team eggs and her scallops were raw in the middle.  The first dish was awarded to the Red Team. 

Gordon thought the Red Team's John Dory was nice, but the sauce was too thick and the presentation was "horrible."  While he liked the Blue Team's presentation, Jen forgot to put the sauce on altogether.  He still awarded the dish to the Blue Team.

Gordon commented that the Red Team's chicken was "nicely cooked" and "moist," the same comments he gave the Blue Team's chicken.  While the Red Team forgot the baby leaf for the dish, Jen forgot the sauce AGAIN.  Gordon awarded the dish and the challenge victory to the Red Team.  Jen admitted her mistake with the sauce, however she refused to apologize for it.

"Jen lost the challenge for the Blue Team.  Period," said Petrozza.


For their reward, the Red Team would be traveling to the beach, where they would receive surf lessons.  For their punishment, the Blue team would have to clean Hell's Kitchen.

The next morning the two teams gathered in the kitchen and Gordon explained the impending dinner service was "very, very important" because both squads would be responsible for creating the menu.  Each team was given one hour to come up with three appetizers, three entrees and three desserts.

The Red Team got off to a fast start, communicated incredibly well and shared all the ideas they had.  It was the exact opposite for the Blue Team, as Jen dominated the conversation and was quick to reject any idea that wasn't her own.

"We're set-up for disaster right now," commented Louross, who called Jen's menu "hideous."

"Let her hang herself," added Bobby.


Gordon was impressed with the Red Team's menu, which included tomato soup, flat-iron pork chops, strip steak and strawberry shortcake.  He called it "clever" and added it gave the Red Team the chance to be a "strong contender."

Louross read off the Blue Team's menu and got to the halibut wrapped in zucchini and squash, which Gordon thought sounded like a "ghastly" dish.  Louross then outed Jen and claimed the team was "not really happy" with the menu, which she was heavily responsible for creating.

"This needs to be upgraded with excitement," said Gordon, and the Blue Team took a few minutes to rework their menu.  With the entire team pitching ideas, the Blue Team's new menu included a crab and shrimp cocktail in a martini glass, filet mignon and pineapple upside down cake.

Gordon approved and both teams began their prep work, with Jen and Louross continuing to bicker in the Blue kitchen.

Hell's Kitchen's eighth fourth-season dinner service commenced, with the patrons having the chance to order from the Blue or Red menu.  While it wouldn't be the only factor in determining the winner, Gordon said each menu's popularity would ultimately play a role in his decision.


Christina immediately said she was a "little worried" about Matt on the appetizer station, and her fears were realized when the first few pasta dishes he served were criticized by Gordon for being salty.

"It just seems like Matt is really careless," said Corey.  "He makes a lot of mistakes."

The Blue Team's appetizers were flying out of the kitchen, however Petrozza was yelled at for keeping an unclean work station -- something he's been constantly criticized for. 

But Matt was having more serious problems, as his pasta dishes began to get sent back to the kitchen by customers for being both undercooked and salty.  Gordon accused Matt of sweating into the pasta and acting like a big baby once he was criticized for it.  As Matt was catching an earful from Gordon, more pasta dishes were sent back by patrons.

"This is like the service from hell," opined Gordon.  Corey subsequently took over Matt's appetizer station.

While the Blue Team had been rolling as they began to serve their entrees, Louross found himself in a similar situation as Matt when the steak he cooked all started to be sent back for being undercooked.  Jen thought Louross "dropped the ball" and called him "horrible" and "horrendous."  Gordon warned Louross that if one more steak was sent back, he would shut down the Blue kitchen.


Working on the Red Team's vegetable station, Matt couldn't even get that right as Gordon characterized his sprouts as "disgusting."  He accused Matt of giving up, and Matt bickered with Corey as he continued to mope around the kitchen.

Louross was finally properly cooking steaks, however it had taken him so long to do so that customers had started to leave.

"I am so disappointed right now," opined Louross.

Despite Matt's lack of contribution, the Red Team had a commanding lead in the number of dishes it had served thanks to Christina and Corey's communication.  Both teams worked on desserts and Jen's station was a mess.  Bobby told her to straighten it out but called her "honey," a comment that didn't sit too well with her.  Gordon then criticized Jen's raw souffle before the service came to a close.

Gordon said the popularity of the menus was "almost even" so he would be basing his decision on quality, not quantity.  He criticized both teams for having "failed miserably" as soon as dished began to get sent back by customers.  Specifically he singled out Matt for being "sloppy" and "absolutely pathetic" and Louross for "going down in flames."

He rewarded the Red Team with the dinner service victory and said Petrozza was the best of the worst despite being compared to a "dirty pig."  Both teams retreated to the dorms and Petrozza wasn't eager to make a decision on who to nominate from his team.


"I really, truly deserve to be here.  I really do," said Jen.  "Louross has done tremendously far worse than me.  Louross definitely should be going home before I do."

Petrozza and Louross -- who have been close throughout the competition -- then met to discuss the nominations, and Louross said if Jen stayed she'd be "poison" for the Blue Team.

"Jen is deceitful, conniving, vindictive, cynical," said Louross.  "She doesn't deserve to be here."

Petrozza realized a case could be made for any Blue Team member, as Louross was the "weakest," Jen was "bossy" and Bobby was "strong competition."

"This is a tough decision," opined Petrozza.  "This is a tough one."

Both teams then reconvened in the kitchen.  Petrozza nominated Louross because he "lacks the skills to compete at this level."  He then nominated Jen because she "feels she has more to teach than she has to learn," which he thought was backwards.


Gordon agreed with the nominations and then asked Petrozza which one of the two he would eliminate.  Petrozza answered Louross, Gordon "completely agreed," and Louross was sent packing.

"I'm not done yet," said Gordon.  "I'm upset because I gave you complete control over the menu, and you let me down."

Gordon said he still wasn't "convinced" by either Matt or Jen and informed them that the next morning they'd both be returning to their original teams -- with Jen going back to Red and Matt returning to Blue.

Hell's Kitchen's next fourth-season episode will air Tuesday, June 3 at 9PM ET/PT on Fox.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio