Kitchen Nightmares - you know you watched it

Okay, I'll confess first. I watched it and loved it.

For anyone wondering, Kitchen Nightmares is Gordon Ramsay's (of "Hell's Kitchen" fame) new show. Rather than herd a bunch of bumbling chef-a-bees, Ramsay's on the road, rehabilitating fading restaurant operations. Sort of a makeover show.

First episode was a family-run Italian restaurant in Long Island. Such fun, lots of disgusting walk-ins and crapped-out equipment and sullen dispositions and rhoid-rage fistfights with bill collectors....and that was just the first 10 minutes.

Yeah, I love it too, but the British version is much better. The Americanized version is (naturally) more sensational and focuses more on the personalities. The British show gets deeper into the nuts and bolts of fixing a broken restaurant and it works more like an entertaining documentary. The American version is a lot of fun too though, and I hope future versions deal more with the kitchens. I do admit, Peter was the single biggest problem with that store.

The British version is on Thursday nights, check the guide, I watch it at 11pm.

Seriously! In 5 minutes I knew the solution was to get rid of Peter. And I've never worked in a restaurant in my life!

Did you see the preview for next week??

SCARY!

Yeah, we watched. And it was incredibly entertaining. Granted there wasn't a lot of nuts-and-bolts in the kitchen here, but it was certainly entertaining, and I know we'll be back for more.

rhoid-rage

Is this caused by over-application of Preparation H?

I love love love the British version. My BF downloaded all the episodes from all the seasons and we have watched them multiple times. I was so excited when I heard they were doing a US version. (and instantly thought of restaurants that could be nominated to be helped by Gordon)

The British version of Hell's Kitchen is more mellow also. I think the US versions are edited for us Springer/Montel watching Americans who think there has to be yelling, fighting, and cursing for a show to be entertaining. I've also enjoyed Ramsey's show "The 'F' word." It's filmed in his restaurant, but he also has a quick meal segment. I've tried several of the recipes, and they are easy, quick, and delicious. I, for one, like Mr. Ramsey. As I said before, I just think the US Hell's Kitchen is just edited to make him look like a complete jerk.

I, too, like the Brit version a lot. He asks about financials in every show and seems to work hard to make the place turn around.
Last night's show was a giveaway- the show bought the restaurant a whole new kitchen! Hell, if I owned a restaurant I'd put up with his yelling for a week to get thousands of dollars in new equipment.
And does anyone really think that that roid-raged owner really changed? I'd like to see a follow up a few months from now the way they do on the British show.

rhoid-rage

Is this caused by over-application of Preparation H?

LOL - how'd that "h" get in there?!!! Although he DID seem pretty cranky...

As I said before, I just think the US Hell's Kitchen is just edited to make him look like a complete jerk.

I think if you spend anytime watching Ramsay in either Hell's Kitchen or his BBC Nightmares show, or if you read his book, you see through that whole "jerk" image pretty quick and realize that he is just really really really dedicated and motivated. Hopefully that will also come through in this American show.

I really never got the "jerk" impression of Ramsay from the show.

Imagine if Bourdain and Ramsey Duoed in a segment... man that would be funny!

There's a German version as well. Just plain scary.

August 28, 2007 . . . TV WEEK

Ramsay Blasts 'Kitchen Nightmares' Lawsuit
By James Hibberd

“Hell’s Kitchen” star Gordon Ramsay broke his silence on a lawsuit accusing the perfectionist chef of faking scenes in a New York eatery for his upcoming Fox reality show.

“I would never-ever-ever dream of setting anything up,” Mr. Ramsay said by phone from London on Friday. “I want to sleep at night. We were issued a writ because, God bless America, if the toilet paper is not thick enough and you come out with a rash on your ass [you’ll get sued].”

In his new show, “Kitchen Nightmares,” Mr. Ramsay visits struggling restaurants and tries to help owners turn around their businesses.

Manhattan restaurant manager Martin Hyde was fired during the filming of a “Nightmares” episode, then filed a $1 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Mr. Ramsay and the show’s producers in June. Mr. Hyde accused “Nightmares” of planting spoiled meat, fixing a chair to fall apart and hiring actors to pose as guests lending the appearance of a successful makeover. Earlier this month, a judge tossed the suit into arbitration.

“The idea of bringing moldy food in and planting actors is a f**king joke,” Mr. Ramsay said. “There’s a man who got very scared and very embarrassed about his lack of professionalism. For a man to waste lawyers’ time and taxpayers’ money to get upset about something you’re the cause of...”

The lawsuit said Mr. Hyde urged his boss to invite Mr. Ramsay’s “Nightmares” production to the restaurant, only to be singled out as a scapegoat by producers who needed a camera-ready villain for the show.

“[Mr. Hyde] wasn’t the one in charge of the kitchen,” said Mr. Hyde’s attorney, Carl Person. “The person responsible left the restaurant a week earlier. They’re going to make him appear he was the one in charge and he wasn’t. They’re setting him up.”

The New York lawsuit is similar to an allegation against the popular UK version of "Nightmares," where a restaurant went out of business after the show revealed rotting food in its kitchen. Mr. Ramsay won a lawsuit against a newspaper that claimed the show was staged.

“I don’t want to start that kind of bullshit over here,” he said. “You know it just scares me that litigation can just happen overnight, and then you’re on the defense.”

A crew member on the U.S. version of “Nightmares” previously told TelevisionWeek that restaurants aided on the show were “so disgusting, we didn’t need to do anything" for them to look bad. The source also said the production does help stock the restaurant with local patrons for some scenes, but “they weren’t told to lie about their experience, only to be entertaining for the camera: ‘If you like the food, then really like it. If you don’t, then really don’t.’”

Both Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Person said the “Nightmares” raw camera footage will vindicate their respective sides of the story.

“We found extraordinary droppings from rats and the most unhygienic kitchen I’ve ever seen in my career,” Mr. Ramsay said. “There should be a government health warning before the program saying ‘all dinner should be consumed before watching this program.’”

Mr. Person acknowledged there may have been sanitation issues at the restaurant, which the lawsuit notes was closed by the New York Board of Health about a week after the episode was shot. “Every restaurant has mouse droppings,” he said. Mr. Person also said Mr. Ramsay “to some extent, may not know what’s going on” behind the scenes of his own show. But Mr. Person maintained much of the production is “showmanship” and that his client was unfairly targeted for humiliation.

Fox premieres “Nightmares” on Sept. 19, the same night as another fall reality series attracting production controversy, CBS’s “Kid Nation.” Though Fox has been silent about the “Nightmares” lawsuit and declined to comment, Mr. Ramsay has never been shy about speaking his mind.

“Trying to say I set up a wobbly chair,” Mr. Ramsay said, his voice full of disgust at the lawsuit. “This is supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world, not the most pathetic.”