Hell's Kitchen

[Gavin Convery]

Well Hell's Kitchen started last night on ITV1 (and 2) with Gordon Ramsay shouting and various micro celebrities battling it out to not be voted out by the viewers.

I don't think this is a patch on Kitchen Nightmares but will probably become more interesting as the week moves on hope. The problem is I have no empathy for any of the so-called celebrities. Perhaps I don't watch enough TV but I couldn't identify some of them at all.

[tony h]

I sat & watched aghast at the utter rubbish unfolding on my screen. Take a great idea – a bully chef & meek celebs & turn them into cooks (chef is too grand) – how could it fail? Add Jordan, Deaton & the son of Judith Chalmers – that’s how. The producers seemed to completely miss the point – it’s the training part that’s interesting not the crap verbiage of some wannabe celebs & has-been quiz master. A great shame & missed opportunity.

PS – If Gordon, Mark & Angela are concentrating on this fake restaurant – who’s looking after their places?

[Gavin Convery]

I wondered whether the reason they started on a Sunday night is because it's a slow night. Then again as Menu and GR@Claridges are both in hotels I suppose they get a lot of custom every night.

I agree, BLH, a missed opportunity and you just feel as though they have tried to throw every format including the kitchen sink (sorry!) into this program.

[Jamsie]

Yeah i wondered given that Mark Sargeant & Angela Harnett are working in the TV studio everynight who's going to be looking after those places.

And i agree the programme was shoddy like some crappy I'm a celebrity in a Kitchen get me out of here.

I can't understand why Ramsay is doing it or what he will gain from it other than increasing his profile and obviously book sales.

As a foody ponce and a person who eats in his places i'd far rather he was actually cooking in his restaurants than doing the pantomime dame angry guy to a bunch of z-list pillocks (Al Murray excepted who's fantastic)

[John Whiting]

I'm glad to see such unanimous condemnation of this utter rubbish. Kitchen Nightmares may have been partially faked as claimed, but it was genuinely informative: you could observe Ramsay's skill as a teacher and a leader. Not unlike a first-rate platoon sergeant in basic training -- you end up proud to have learned and proud to have survived.

[Gavin Jones]

It has convinced me never to eat at a 'Gordon Ramsay restaurant'.

[Basildog]

Well i like it.I get to see my "chef nightmare" live in technicolor .I really have dreamed that i have to run a kitchen with idiot chefs, no prep done etc etc.It may get a bit boring if it 's just GR ranting and celebs crying, but i agree Al has potential and a shame that Rodger Cook had to leave.Tommy Vance? Jesus H Christ on a bike,the alphabet is not long enough for his status.

[tony h]

I have to admit - it was a lot better last night.

[John Whiting]

I have to admit - it was a lot better last night.

To the extent that there are degrees in infinity . . .

[Andy Lynes]

I'm a terrible sucker for this sort of show, be it Big Brother, Survivor, I'm A Celebrity etc, etc or the Games, which this most closely resembles in style and format if not actual content. The fact that it is set in a restaurant is simply an added point of interest for me.

Of its sort, I think its fine, although the "extra helpings" on ITV2 immediately after the main show is an embarrassing shambles. I was talking to a chef friend this morning and I think he hit the nail on the head when he said this will probably signal the end of Ramsay's involvement in his kitchens in any meaningful way.

I can really see Ramsay becoming the next Ian Wright. In my opinion, there is likelihood that the autumn Saturday night line up on ITV will feature Ramsay in there somewhere, perhaps fronting a game show. What is for certain is that he will be appearing in a Walkers Crisp advert soon.

Does this spell the end of the Ramsay Michelin fuelled empire? Probably not, but I would imagine that the inspectors will be looking at RHR very closely indeed for any signs of deterioration.

[jayrayner]

I refuse to sit on my hands. In the spectrum of crap reality progs this comes out near the top for me. It seems to me to be a C4 programme on ITV. And the kitchen stuff is intriguing. this bunch of d listers are clearly learning something. (My money's on Al Murray.)

Re Harnett and Sergeant, get a grip. Do you think they both work 14 services a week? they both have seconds who can run the kitchen without them. Frankly it was a huge pleasure to see Angela with her back to the wall for once rathre than floating serenly through it all. I'm hooked.

[Andy Lynes]

Al Murray's really getting into isn't he? He just loves all the "yes chef, no chef" stuff. Most celebs who get involved in these shows are desperate. As far as I'm aware, Al Murray continues to be a hugely successful stand up and out of the lot of them has the least need to debase himself in this way (although a multi-million audience isn't going to hurt anyones career, unless your name is Amanda Barrie), and my guess is he just really wants to play at being a chef for a couple of weeks.

[Carlovski]

I personally can't stand reality TV shows.

My housemates love them however (One has applied for Big Brother every year) so caught a bit of this. I'm rapidly losing respect for Gordon Ramsay.

I hope Al Murray does well out of it though - He is brilliant live, but all his TV apperances so far have been a bit rubbish.

[oldschooltie]

I sat & watched aghast at the utter rubbish unfolding on my screen.  Take a great idea – a bully chef & meek celebs & turn them into cooks (chef is too grand) – how could it fail?  Add Jordan, Deaton & the son of Judith Chalmers – that’s how.  The producers seemed to completely miss the point – it’s the training part that’s interesting not the crap verbiage of some wannabe celebs & has-been quiz master.  A great shame & missed opportunity.

not convinced about how great the idea was in the first place, so maybe not such a missed opportunity in my book.

totally agree with the "utter rubbish" and "crap verbiage" though.

as someone else has said, the inclusion of Tommy Vance defines it perfectly (notwithstanding the sunglasses).

[endless autumn]

I think Gordon seems much less of a twat on this show than on any others I have seen. At least he seems to realise he is descending into self parody.

I didn't find the training part of Kitchen Nightmares particularly enlightening: clean the worksurfaces; learn some basic hygiene; simplify your offer. His approach seemed to be to decapitate the business and push the young, starstruck chefs as hard as he could. They raised their game when he was there; when he left, things regressed.

What's interesting about Hell's Kitchen is seeing him confront people with egos as big as his. The 'celebs' get abused (ooh! more swearing) and then consoled: they are too brittle to cope otherwise. Poor old James Dreyfus seemed to spend about half of the programme being crushed against Angela Hartnett's breast being told he was 'brilliant'.

I'm out of the country for the next two weeks and am going to miss Gordy's craggy old mug.

[sarah w]

Sundays episode was really cringy. yesterdays was a bit more bearable...

What we cant work out is how are the expecting these people

to cook and cope with running a kitchen?

what training have they had?

Most people would freak if they were dumped into an enviroment they

know little about?

Why havent we seen them learn etc rather than just starting in this disaster situation. How can they improve?

Also am i right in thinking this "restaurant" is down brick lane?

The place and kitchen are Huge!

What was it before?

And do the customers pay?

Thnks

sarah xx

[Andy Lynes]

This site should answer some of your questions. I'm pretty sure the customers don't pay. Especially those that never get any food.

[tony h]

Does this spell the end of the Ramsay Michelin fuelled empire? Probably not, but I would imagine that the inspectors will be looking at RHR very closely indeed for any signs of deterioration.

Given that France & Spain are littered with undeserving 2 & 3 star restaurants i think he'll be quite safe for a while

[slacker]

I can't believe what a farce it is. In the Aussie jungle, what did the celebs have to do? Nothing too skillful. But in the kitchen, they are all fish out of water. I imagined producers convincing each other that it might work. Poor Belinda with her ravioli. What could she be expected to do? Amanda (?) and her ribbon stage? No way. These things take so much time to learn - if indeed you are a cook in the first place.

I wouldn't mind knowing just how 'real' the place is. The diners certainly seem to have low expectations.

I see at this early stage more harm than good for everyone involved.

[sarah w]

Exactly ! it takes more than saying "Oui chef" to be able to pull it off..

No one knows what the hell they are doing

x

[tony h]

I wouldn't mind knowing just how 'real' the place is. The diners certainly seem to have low expectations.

It was designed by the same person who designed the new big brother set (which starts friday). So I guess not real at all.

[VeryApe77]

Reading this thread, I feel a huge regret that I ever moved away from England...just the sentence "Poor Belinda with her ravioli" almost made me get a ticket back home. I just went to the Hell's Kitchen website and watched this trailer in which GR acts like a mixture of Chairman Kaga (from Iron chef) and Harry Potter. I highly recommend it to anyone needing a good laugh.

[Basildog]

If Gordon form Kitchen Nightmares turned up at Hells Kitchen, would he say make the menu simple, and build a reputation for consistancy.?I would have thought it better to start with a simple menu, and then crank it up each service, building to a huge effort on the last night, with a full GR menu.

[Andy Lynes]

Anyone else spot Jay Rayner at table on tonights show? Maybe we can expect a full report tomorrow.

[Carlovski]

If Gordon form Kitchen Nightmares turned up at Hells Kitchen, would he say make the menu simple, and build a reputation for consistancy.?I would have thought it better to start with a simple menu, and then crank it up each service, building to a huge effort on the last night, with a full GR menu.

That's quite right.

Maybe they should send Worral Thompson in to see what's going wrong.....

Seriously though, What do people think of the menu he is trying to put out?

He's obviously tried to keep it fairly simple, Salads, pasta, risotto (I assume this is Ramsay style risotto, with par cooked rice finished in a premade sauce), a couple of bang it in the oven mains etc.

But why the souffle? Is it just to see how long it takes to give Amanda Barrie a nervous breakdown?

Oh dear. I appear to have got rather engrossed in a reality TV show