Fluff post #6: Hell's Kitchen

I watched this week’s episode of “Hell’s Kitchen” tonight. Man, sometimes that show makes me so mad!

Like all reality shows, “Hell’s Kitchen” has a standard cast of characters. There’s the obnoxious, bitchy woman so Gordon Ramsey can call her “a cow.” There’s the cocky chauvinistic male. Then there’s the fat guy, who Ramsey calls “you pig!” I suppose that as a fatty myself, I’m a little sensitive about the last one.

For the last two seasons, the fat guy on “Hell’s Kitchen” is a fellow named Robert. He’s morbidly obese, probably well over 300 pounds. He went pretty far last season, before he had to pull out because he developed heart problems, so they invited him back this year. It’s obvious that Ramsey likes the guy.

Ramsey sent him home this week, though. In last week’s episode, they had his team, who had lost their challenge and was being punished, pedal a bike up and down a hill transporting supplies. The result wasn’t a huge surprise—it overexerted poor Robert and he was sent to the hospital, making him miss a dinner service. This week, he was weak and everyone took advantage of it and he was sent home.

I get that the guy is probably not healthy enough to be a chef. I get that his obesity has, for the second year in a row, hindered him from succeeding in the show. I think that what they did to him, though, was unfair. Whoever decided to put him on that bike is directly responsible for his ambulance ride to the hospital, and for his ultimately leaving.