Shayna Raichilson-Zadok the fifth cook cut from 'Hell's Kitchen'

Shayna Raichilson-Zadok was deemed to slow in the kitchen, so Gordon Ramsay was quick to give her the boot.


The 28-year-old catering-company owner from Buffalo, NY became the sixth culinary contestant cut from Hell's Kitchen's fourth season during last night's broadcast of the Fox reality competition series.

"I'd be a liar if I sat here and said, 'I'm glad to go home.'  No!  I'm not glad to go home," opined Shayna after her ouster.  "I wanted to be here.  I wanted to win this.  But there are great things to come for me.  This has shown me that I can do what I set my mind out to do."

Hell's Kitchen's sixth fourth-season episode began following the previous dinner service, which saw Gordon eliminate nobody because Vanessa Gunnell had quit the competition due to burns she had suffered.

As the 10 remaining contestants returned to the dorms, Christina, a 25-year-old culinary student from St. Louis, MO, opined her situation about not being well-liked by the other Red Team members, whom she commented perceive her as a threat. 


Ben, a 29-year-old electrician and former chef from Charlotte, NC, and Bobby, a 37-year-old executive chef from Niagara Falls, NY, also verbally confirmed their friendship had blossomed into an alliance.  Their alliance was evident to both Louross, a 24-year-old hotel cook from Las Vegas, NV, and Matt, a 35-year-old sous chef from Pinehill, NJ.  Matt accused Ben of hiding behind Bobby, who he described as a "sloppy cook."

"Ben and Bobby are the ones that are ruining this team," said Matt.  "It's gonna keep going down hill.  Once they get rid of me and Louross, they'll turn around and stab [Petrozza, a 47-year-old catering director from Charlotte, NC] in the back.  I don't like not working as team.  It's dysfunctional."

The next morning the contestants awoke bright and early and met Gordon at a farmer's market, where he explained they'd be cooking for the first-ever Hell's Kitchen Sweet 16 birthday party during the next dinner service. 

For their next challenge, each team would have 25 minutes and $100 to shop at the market for ingredients they would use to prepare two entrees and one appetizer.  They would have 45 minutes to prepare the meals once back in the kitchen.

The challenge commenced, and Matt immediately made himself look stupid when he suggested the Blue Team prepare a sushi pizza, not exactly the type of dish that would presumably appeal to a teenage girl and her friends.  Not surprisingly, Matt's comment only made the other Blue Team members ignore his suggestions even more.


Since Rosann, a 33-year-old receptionist and former cook from Staten Island, NY, has a teenage daughter, she thought she'd know what to make for the service.  The two teams grabbed their items and returned to the kitchen, where they all began cooking.

Ben barked orders and took control of the Blue Team while Corey, a 25-year-old private chef from Brooklyn, NY, attempted to take control of the Red Team.  She immediately had a problem with Shayna, who she thought was moving to slowly.  However Matt was having the worst time, explaining he had "no faith and confidence" in his team.

"I'm tired of wasting my f**king breath," said Matt as he was continuously ignored.  "I'm just sick of this whole thing.  I feel like going home now.  I feel like taking off my jacket and quitting."

Once the challenge was over, Gordon asked if any of the chefs had recently attended a teenager's birthday party.  Matt said he had, and Gordon assumed that meant he provided his team with input.  However Matt said that wasn't the case and threw his team under the bus for ignoring him. 

Gordon then revealed that he wouldn't be judging the dishes, and instead introduced the contestants to the birthday party's guest of honor, Melissa, as well as her mother.  Melissa and her mom would taste the dishes and whichever team had the most selections make it onto the party's menu would win the challenge.


For their appetizers, the Red Team prepared a Tuscan shrimp scampi while the Blue Team prepared a stuffed chicken wing.  Melissa immediately stated that she had never had shrimp before and was a fan of the chicken wings, awarding the Blue Team the first dish.

The Red Team's first entree was a Caribbean halibut with mango and avocado salsa, which was Shayna's speciality; while the Blue Team prepared shrimp, sweet mashed potatoes and sauteed asparagus.  While Melissa's mom thought the Red Team's fish was dry and the rice was undercooked, Melissa revealed she doesn't like shrimp AND asparagus.  The Red Team claimed the second dish.

The Red team's final dish was prepared by Corey -- a grilled flank steak with fries.  Petrozza prepared the Blue Team's final dish, a grilled filet mignon.  While it was a tough choice, Melissa took her mom's advice and went with the Blue Team, awarding them the challenge victory.

For their reward, the Blue Team spent the afternoon riding go-carts and dining on gourmet sweets with Gordon; while the Red team was punished by having to work with Melissa's party planner in decorating Hell's Kitchen for the Sweet 16. 

Since Shayna owns a catering company, she explained party planning is part of her business and offered some help to the planner, which wasn't appreciated by her team.


The next morning the contestants awoke and immediately hit the kitchen to began prepping for the party, and the menu would include the Blue Team's chicken wings and beef tenderloin as well as the Red Team's halibut.  Ben criticized Shayna's salsa for being "elementary," and she only further hurt herself by spending the entire morning preparing it.

"When you come up with a creative idea and somebody's going to recreate it, you want it to make sure it still has the integrity of the original," explained Shayna.

"It's getting kind of annoying," commented Jen, a 24-year-old line cook from Chicago, IL, on Shayna's time-consuming salsa.  "I mean it's a damn guacamole with mango in it.   You want to write a recipe book about it?  We've got a ton of stuff on this menu.  Good Lord!  What the hell?!"

Hell's Kitchen's sixth fourth-season dinner service commenced, and the Blue Team was confident while the Red Team was concerned. 

As Melissa took her seat as the guest of honor, her risotto appetizer order was given to the Red kitchen.  However Christina forgot to add mushrooms to the risotto.  So she added them.  But then she also forgot to add parmesan to it, and Gordon openly wondered where her head was.


"I screwed up and screwed up and screwed up," said Christina.  "It was really frustrating."

The Blue Team also hit a small snag when Gordon thought Bobby's chicken wings were dry, but he and Ben corrected the problem quickly by drenching them in sauce.  With all of the appetizers out an hour into the service, Bobby's risotto was receiving rave reviews from the patrons as it was onto entrees.

Rosann was responsible for preparing Melissa's beef -- which she ordered medium-well -- while Matt was responsible for Melissa's mom's halibut.  However he was slow cooking it and kept mom waiting.  Melissa also thought the beef she received wasn't cooked thoroughly enough and sent it back to the kitchen.  Rosann got a good earful from Gordon about the blunder.

"Oh my God," opined Rosann.  "I was feeling terrible."

Matt also wasn't feeling too good, as Melissa's mom sent back the halibut because it was dry and the rice was mush.

"It doesn't matter whose fish it is, it's embarrassing no matter what," opined Matt.


Since Matt then failed to correctly cook the fish a second time, Gordon took over so Melissa's mom wouldn't be kept waiting any longer.

"It was really embarrassing," said Matt.

Things seemed to be pretty bleak for Matt, as he almost served raw fish before Bobby caught him and corrected it.  Bobby subsequently muscled his way in and took over the fish station from Matt.

"I got pushed off my station," said Matt.  "I kept trying to go back on there but Bobby wouldn't let me.  Bobby becomes a control freak and you can't talk to him.  He gets like that and you can't move him or anything because then he gets threatening.  I don't want to mess with somebody who's crazier than I am."

Bobby's takeover didn't go unnoticed by Gordon, who wondered what the hell was going on.

"There's a big difference between helping you out and running the station!" yelled Gordon at Matt.  "Bobby, it's fine for team spirit helping out, but you're cooking it and he's running around wiping your ass.  And the sad thing about [Matt] is you let him!  You can only hide for so long."


"I'm not hiding chef," answered Matt.  "I'm not hiding at all.  I wasn't trying to hide."

"You did a f**king good job of hiding," replied Gordon.  "I made it f**king clear!  Do you want to argue now or are you gonna run your f**king station!"

"Yes, chef!" answered Matt.

"Thank you!"

In the Red kitchen, Shayna continued to do everything incredibly slow -- and it raised Gordon's ire when she took her time adding garnish to a dish that was ready to be served.

"Shayna, wake-up a little bit," said Gordon.  "I'm not slowing down for you." 


Both teams then finished up the entrees and served the desserts, with the dinner service eventually coming to a close.  Gordon revealed every 16-year-old girl at the party filled out a comment card, and 98% said they'd come back for the Blue Team's food, while 99% said they'd come back for the Red Team's food.

Since the difference was only one percentage point, Gordon said there were no losers and instead instructed both teams upstairs to nominate a member.

"I'm going to be the one chosen for the Blue Team and I'm packing my bags," said Matt.

He expressed anger with his teammates, who laughed and joked as Matt packed.  The Red Team's nomination choice wasn't as obvious, as Shayna suggested Rosann since she "fell apart" during the service.  Rosann returned the favor by suggesting Shayna, and Christina said it was a "tough decision."

Back in the kitchen, the Blue Team revealed Matt as their nomination.

"Good choice," answered Gordon.


The Red Team then nominated Shayna and while Gordon understood the decision he also thought Rosann deserved to be nominated, so he did the honors himself.  Shayna and Rosann defended themselves and Matt did the same before asking Gordon for a favor.

"I don't even have a voice in my kitchen.  No one listens to me," said Matt.  "I guarantee if you put me on the Red Team, you'll see the failure in the Blue Team."

"Unf**king real," replied Gordon.  "My decision is Matt -- get back in line.  The person leaving is Shayna.  A big heart, solid cook.  But personally, just a little to slow."

Shayna then exited the competition to return to her newborn daughter and Gordon revealed Matt would be on the Red Team for the next dinner service, which would be a return to fine-dining.

"I'm looking forward to kicking ass on the Red Team and watching the Blue Team flounder," said Matt.

"Shayna has a big heart," said Gordon.  "But at times I felt her heart wasn't here.  It was back home with her newborn baby.  She made far too many simple mistakes, and that's why she's going back to something she's good at -- changing diapers."


Hell's Kitchen's next fourth-season episode will air Tuesday, May 13 at 9PM ET/PT on Fox.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio