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HK Live Blog: "Wow I Didn't Get to Break a Plate"

Hey everyone we're down to the final three on Hell's Kitchen. Tonight the contestants take turns running the kitchen and all hell breaks loose (lame joke, I know).

We begin with the remaining contestants celebrating Jen's demise. The three hug as they go up to their dorms. Corey is relieved to still be around. Christina feels a weight has been lifted now that Jen is gone. Petrozza thinks Chef made the right call in sending Jen home.

Hey Petrozza has a tattoo! He's shown wearing short sleeve PJs and you can see the tip of his tattoo peaking out of his sleeve, although I can't tell what it is. That does make him cooler in my book, though.

The next morning the gang goes downstairs to meet Chef. He decides to cook for each of them personally to celebrate them making the final three. I wonder if he's going to purposely make bad food to see if the contestants have the guts to call him out on it. Well before we find out Chef brings out some surprise guests. It's their families. Not really too surprising, as Chef did the same thing last year. We find out Corey and Petrozza have significant others (and Corey's boyfriend is kind of cute!!).

As JP sits the families down we hear the narrator say that the contestants will have to recreate Chef's signature dish once their families leave. I liked my above idea for a challenge better! Oh well. Aw Petrozza is crying upon seeing his family. But Christina is the smart one. While Corey and Petrozza focus on their families, Christina predicts correctly that the food will be part of a challenge, so she tries to figure out what is in the dish. Looks like she may be well on her way to winning her third straight challenge.

After the contestants say teary goodbyes to their families, Chef announces the challenge- the contestants must make the dish Chef served them. Corey immediately knows she is in trouble. The contestants are given another sampling of the dish, which of course Petrozza and Corey run over to taste since they didn't pay attention when they were served the dish the first time. I think this actually levels the playing field a bit, which seems unfair since Corey and Petrozza should be punished for not paying attention to the dish during the meal with their families.

The fridge is stocked with tons of ingredients, only some of which belong in the dish. Petrozza and Christina think the dish has a buffalo meat, while Corey thinks the meat is venison. But Petrozza retastes the sample and switches to venison. Hopefully his decision will pay off. The contestants have some other similar ingredients. Christina thinks the dish has white beans, but she can't find them in the kitchen, which leads her to think she's mistaken. But she finds the beans in the back and begins to puree them. However she is the only one who has buffalo still, and if the dish has venison and not buffalo she may lose even if the rest of the dish is perfect. Corey, meanwhile, has a potato parsnip puree, while Petrozza has no puree at all. It's unclear if he forgets the puree or just doesn't make it since he doesn't know what is in it. For the sauce, all three have red wine. Corey tastes something sweet in the sauce and decides to go for some raspberries. I think she may win if her instincts are correct.

Chef tastes the dishes and asks for the ingredients. He doesn't say what the true ingredients are until tasting all three dishes, leaving the contestants very uneasy. Chef points out Christina had an extra ingredient in her sauce, Petrozza had forgotten the puree (he admits later he had seen it but forgot about it). Corey meanwhile was right about the sauce and was the only one who put cream in the cabbage (even though Christina's mom had told her earlier that the dish had cream, but Christina did not listen). Unfortunately Corey used the wrong meat (buffalo, not venison) and so is eliminated. I thought for sure her perfect sauce would win but I guess the meat is more important. So it's down to Petrozza and Christina (sound familiar?). I hope Petrozza wins just because he hasn't won in a while and Christina has won the last two weeks.

After the break Chef announces the winner.... Christina. She had everything right but had a few extra things in the dish. Chef tells Petrozza if he had put a puree on he may well have won. Poor Petrozza! This is the second week in a row he's come so close to winning a challenge. As a punishment Corey and Petrozza have to clean the bar and store the ice, which is coming delivered in large blocks that must be C could really help her in the end.

Christina wishes her parents could come on the tour, and sure enough when she steps outside there they are waiting for her. She's really excited to see them again. The tour bus takes them past some great Hollywood sites. At the first restaurant stop (some place named Grace) Chef compliments Christina on her win and notes he doesn't think anyone has ever won three challenges in a row. I've only been watching the show since the end of last year so I have no clue if this is true but if so it's really impressive. Chef tells Christina to do her best in the last few services, and she seems inspired by the presence of her parents.

Corey and Petrozza look like mad scientists as they wear goggles while crushing the ice. Corey says she pretended the ice was Jen to make her angry and thus give her the strength to crush it. I'm surprised she's not jealous of Christina like she was last week- I guess Jen brought out the worst in her. She jokes around with Petrozza about being caveman with no machines to break the ice with. And now more scenes of Petrozza cleaning, just like in last week's punishment! Maybe it will teach him to clean up his workstation too. JP hilariously comes over and shows Petrozza spots he missed on the glasses as he cleaned them.

Like last week Christina joins the group to help in prep. Unlike last week she's not given the silent treatment, but Corey does tell the camera she doesn't think Christina has what it takes to win.

Before the kitchen is opened Chef tells the contestants what the audience saw in the previews- each of them must take turns running the kitchen tonight. As the contestants get ready Chef get each of them to try to practice by telling them to yell at him. The same thing happened last year and I loved it! First up is Petrozza. He starts out a bit weak but really gets loud and mean by the end. This indeed is the clip of him yelling that was shown in the previews. Good to see Petrozza is not going to actually yell at Chef for real (I hope!) Chef too is impressed that quiet Petrozza can be loud and in charge. Next is Christina. I think she's pretty good but Chef says she came across like a cheerleader. She tries again and starts cursing and yelling louder and Chef is satisfied. Finally it's Corey's turn. She tells Chef to feel the raw food just like he always tells them to do. But she is the worst of the three in my view. Chef gives her a demo on how to be mean, and throws a plate in the process. Petrozza then provides the funniest line of the night so far, saying to himself, "Wow, I didn't get to break a plate". Corey's second time around Chef is satisfied, but I still am not convinced she is assertive enough to run a kitchen. This may be what ultimately does her in tonight.

And Hell's Kitchen is now open for service. Chef starts off running the kitchen. They start off strong with appetizers, with the help of the sous chefs. And just like last year, Chef tells the sous chefs to purposely make mistakes while each contestant runs the kitchen to see how the contestants will react. I'm not sure if he did this every year or just last year, but either way shouldn't the contestants see this coming and be prepared for it?

Now it's Petrozza's turn to run the kitchen. He takes charge and impresses Chef immediately. Now it's time for the quality control test. Sous Chef Scott (try saying that three times fast) brings up a rizotto with no peas. And Petrozza fails his first test, as he tastes the dish but does not notice the lack of peas. Petrozza says he wasn't expecting this (didn't he watch last season?) but does reprimand Scott. Hopefully he'll learn his lesson. Petrozza then takes his quality control to Christina, who he claims cooked the scallops too dark. Since Chef doesn't say anything I'm guessing this was a correct assessment. Things go from bad to worse for Christina, who then burns a salmon dish. Then she cooks the salmon too raw. I feel bad for Petrozza having to deal with this. At least the pressure is off him and on Christina. Chef asks her if she wants to go home, and she says no. Petrozza demands the salmon again (now he knows how Chef feels when they give him poor food) and fears that this is making him look bad. I think it's making Christina look bad more than him, since he's at least noticing the poor quality of food being given to him. Then Christina forgets the prawn on the John Dory. Chef wonders if Christina is doing this on purpose to sabotage Petrozza (a though I hate to admit I had as well) but she denies this. I don't think she would do that since it really hurts herself more than Petrozza. Chef tells Petrozza he's impressed by how he ran the kitchen and was assertive (I'm guessing because Petrozza was able to spot all of Christina's miscues) and sends him back to his station.

Now Corey gets to run the kitchen. Hopefully she'll do better than she did with Chef earlier. At first she is slow in reading the first ticket and then messes up what the ticket is. Then Chef notes that the ticket had six appetizers and only five entrees, meaning the waiter forgot to write one of the entrees down. This is of course the waiter's fault, not Corey's but she should have spotted it. She does call out the contestants for not talking to her or each other. Now it's time for her test, as Scott sends up the wrong sauce for the wellington. She notices this error, but of course not until after she pours the sauce on the meat. She is sent back to her station, with a comment from Chef that she was not good enough. She didn't seem that bad to me except for early on but maybe her bad moments didn't make the air.

Chef now tells Christina to run the kitchen, and he warns her that she must pull it together after her poor early performance or she'll be going home. Immediately she makes a mistake, asking the cooks how long they should cook the dishes for rather than telling them herself. Corey cooks some meat well to make up for her mistakes on the pass. Christina yells at Scott for taking too long with the food. She definitely is assertive, more so than Corey. Now the other sous chef Gloria is going to test her quality control. Will she do better than Petrozza and Corey? She gives Christina potatoes with the wrong seasoning. Indeed Christina redeems herself for her poor early performance by being the only one to spot the mistake on time. Chef too is impressed by her performance running the kitchen and sends her back to her station for the desserts.

The contestants complete the desserts and the service and again Chef is impressed. I think Petrozza was the best of the night despite not noticing Scott's mistake on the rizotto. Christina was bad on service but good running the kitchen, and Corey was good on service but bad running the kitchen. If it were up to me I'd send Corey home, since Christina just had a bad night cooking but has proven before she can cook, while it is unclear if Corey will ever be assertive enough to run a kitchen.

Chef tells the group they made it hard for him to decide who will be in the finals. He tells Corey she cooked great but he didn't feel comfortable leaving her on her own to run the kitchen. He tells Christina she was great running the kitchen but was "crap" on her station. Petrozza was a bit careless running the kitchen (referring to his mistake not noticing the pea-less rizotto). According to Chef, he wasn't great, but he wasn't bad. That might be enough to win this sorry season. Chef tells each of them to nominate the person who should go home.

Of course Petrozza struggles with the decision. Corey actually admits she likes Christina (who knew?). Christina also admits she likes working with Corey, and says she'll make a pro/con list for each contestant. I actually might do the same thing in her situation. Petrozza does, as Christina points out, have the most experience.

Now the contestants meet back with Chef to announce their decisions. Chef admits he likes all three and is proud of all of them, so the decision is tough for him as well. Who knew such a horrible original cast of cooks would actually produce three worthy winners?

Corey's nominee is Christina, because she acts like a "deer in headlights" when she's yelled at. Christina' nominee is Corey because she isn't a good leader. So it's down to Petrozza (again). He nominates Christina, mainly because of how she struggled during the time he ran the kitchen. He thinks she is not ready to be a top chef. So if by some chance she did purposely sabotage him it really backfired. Hopefully this means Petrozza is safe from elimination and will make the finals.

And the first person safe and on to the finals is.... Petrozza!!!! Yeah I'm excited! He proved tonight he could be assertive and deserves to make the finals. Corey and Christina obviously thought he deserved to make it too, since neither nominated him for elimination, and they look genuinely happy for him when he gets through.

So now it's down to the two girls. They started out enemies but have seemingly become somewhat friends over the past few weeks. Christina tells Chef that she thinks she showed promise and leadership qualities over the past weeks. Corey tells Chef she is strong and hardworking. Chef clearly struggles with the decision, and we see both the highs and lows of their performances tonight. Chef bases his decision on the contestants' performance throughout the season, since tonight it was more of a tie.

And the person in the finals with Petrozza is... Christina!! Hooray!! The final I have been rooting for for weeks is happening!!! The only thing is now I don't know who to root for. I usually want a woman to win, but I love Petrozza's attitude so much I would love to see him win the title too.

Chef tells Corey to hold her head high. Christina hugs her and tells her she'll pick her for her team in the finale. That will be a good combination. I wonder who Petrozza will pick (maybe Bobby?) Corey is gracious in defeat, and Chef again tells her not to give up on her dreams because she has talent.

In her recap we see some old faces like Ben and Louross (I almost forgot about them) as well as her infamous moment of nominating strong Christina (and Jen, which I had forgotten about) for elimination the first week. But we see some good moments too, particularly her strong meat tonight. She tells the camera there will be something else out there for her. That's a good attitude.

Christina and Petrozza congratulate and hug each other. Chef tells them that one of them will win and run his restaurant, and drops down two huge "HK" signs with flames that scare both contestants.

Next week is the finale! Can you believe the season is almost over? The finalists get to design their own kitchen and menu and get to go to NYC! And we get a glimpse of the booted contestants on the finalists' teams. Just two words: Jen and Matt!!! Entertainment for sure. And Chef tells the contestants he may have the wrong finalists? I disagree entirely, but this may be taken out of context like Petrozza's yelling scene tonight.

So thoughts on our final two? Did Chef make the right call cutting Corey? And who do you think will win HK? Post your comments below.

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HK Live Blog: "Wow I Didn't Get to Break a Plate"