‘Hell’s Kitchen’ recap: They’re dropping like flies

OK, that made sense. Barret was banished from “Hell’s Kitchen” this week, the first of three to go home. Were you surprised by Michael? Were you disappointed at the hint that Nedra was getting busy in the romance department ... only to find out that doesn’t appear to be the case?

And were you sorry to see Zach get away with sabotage during a dinner service meant to honor military men and women who served their country with much more honor?

The week kicked off with the men losing yet another challenge to the women, with the scoreboard reading 1-9. Talk about a throttling. Even worse? Their punishment is one of the most humiliating to get handed down in “Hell’s Kitchen”: Cleaning the dorms.

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Even a day of brutal kitchen prep seems preferable scrubbing your opponents’ toilets.

The women, meanwhile, were purtied up for a photo shoot to celebrate their winning ways. But as fans of “Hell’s Kitchen” know, celebrating is almost inevitably followed up by dinner service disaster. Chef Ramsay said the chefs did the military men and women an “injustice.” Both teams lost, and ultimately Ray was sent home.

Moving on to the battle of the menus, the women win -- again -- and we see how the red team is starting to turn on Nedra. Now, maybe Nedra needs to go. But not because of her gumbo! Plus, she’s still providing plenty of comic relief with lines like, “You can teach a monkey how to tie a shoe. But you can’t teach a monkey how to make a shoe -- know what I’m saying?”

Yes, Nedra, totally!

Michael was ultimately sent home. He says it was because his teammates perceived him as a threat. Um, OK. Let’s conveniently forget that if that were really true, that’s why he wouldn’t have been eliminated. But we’ve already given that bogus argument more mental energy that it deserves.

With the teams lopsided, the women were told they had to come to a consensus about who would go over to join the men’s team. To their credit, all the women wanted to go -- it is a shot, after all, to impress -- so they decided to pick a name out of a hat. That infuriated Chef. He wanted a consensus! But isn’t that a consensus? Oh, that’s right, there is no correct answer. (‘Cause you know if there was a consensus, Chef would have played the “Why is your team trying to get rid of you?” card.)

Any wagers on who will be the last two standing? Mary seems to be gaining on the crowd...

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