Is anyone actually watching "Hell's Kitchen" with any intensity?

(BobGeldof is waiting to help you poor people...)

BUT! She used to go out with Steven Gerrard. So evidently not all wrong (however she is now going out with some scary gangster type and keeps getting her house shot at. Hurrah for Heat magazine gossip)

i like michael best.

The reason this show is entertaining at all is because barely any of these contestants know a god damn thing about cooking. And the whole Dewberry freakout was stupendous! I loved how he was just randomly, beyond ineffectively grabbing and jiggling the handles on things, as sort've a physical expression of how useless he is.

But yeah, those customers are so not even very good at pretending to not be hired thespians.

I know, I kept going on about it!

I was disappointed that Wendy went and not Andrew. Andrew is a dilhole, Wendy is just a little clueless. You can teach a clueless person to get one clue, but a dilhole educated remains a dilhole.

Whatever is going on with him, he is so definitely my favorite to win.

Yeah, that was quite weird. I'm no longer rootin' for Michael.

thats exactly what i said at that moment

But I'm kind of sad that it comes down to the two chefs. I was pulling for Elsie.

But it's still Michael's to lose. His only flaw is his uppity attitude which probably acts more in his favor on the show.

Oh, and supposedly Ralph runs a sandwich shop in the Hamptons. I'm guessing that's where he met Buffy and her unidentifiable accent.

The reason Michael is really obviously the most likely to take it is because, all season long, he's been the only one who has really obviously, like PASSIONATELY wanted to Just Get All The Food Out. Even Ralph, as competant as he is, seems like he's more concerned with how he looks in chef Ramsay's eyes during dinner service than actually getting the tables served. And I think cheffy boy sees that.

I got that feeling too.

Both Michael and Ralph are jerks so it's super hard to root for either one of them (but at the same time it's hard to argue that Jessica or Elsie really deserved it either even if they were marginally nicer) but Ralph is way more obnoxious (noxious) so I am rooting ever so slightly for Michael.

It was either Michael's mother or a random customer/actor.

Ralph, meanwhile, is just a goombah.

I think "Executive Chef" Chris was deposed too early.

i was almost leaning towards liking ralph better because he's more charismatic, but that street salesman shit just turned me off.

Nice suspense at the end. I had Michael pegged as winning all along but wouldn't have been shocked if Ralph pulled it out at the end. Dewberry was the real winner though. I'd like to see a road/buddy-type program with Dewberry and Jean-Phillipe. That would be awesome

dumbass

(but i'm glad "rock'n'rooooll chef" won, couldn't stand ralph.)

Fucking Ralph over by not putting crab in the risotto was bullshit though. Ralph should have busted his ass down to dishwasher right there.

It's a toss up between that line and his asking Andrew to spank him if he got close to passing out. I demand Dewbs should get his own show.

This was the first reality show that I've ever watched from beginning to end (except for one episode on the Fourth of July.) Though I do suspect some off-camera shenanigans from the way people were kicked off to the final prize being switched around, it was entertaining.

I still refuse to watch any of those other reality shows like "Hippies Sing Showtunes!" or whatever the hell that pop idol show is.

I thought it was cool how he had his waiters dressed liked Kraftwerk, though.

x-post, yeah, a couple episodes here and there, it was tailored more towards actual chefstravagance than sensationalism

On Hell's Kitchen I liked how every episode had a shot of Jessica blowing out a fire.

Frankie & Lulu's. The only other food that I can think of that's named after someone's pet is OL' ROY'S DOG FOOD.

were there actual chefs last time or was it just novices?

im really disappointed that onme guy ended up in hospital last night. i thought he was the new dewberry for sure.

'body giving out' means 'im a wuss'. also, when he was in the hospital he said 'this is the worst thing that could have happened to me!'. as i pointed out to pleasant plains, everyone stabbing him to death with their butcher knives after getting zero on the steak challenge probably would have been worse than that.

whats up with that kevin from just shoot me looking guy. he didnt get to do the challenge and they made him a waiter so no cooking. suspicious.

OTM

Also, Cooking Under Fire, but I don't think that's on anymore.

whats up with that kevin from just shoot me looking guy. he didnt get to do the challenge and they made him a waiter so no cooking. suspicious.

My take is that Ramsey hated his baseball hat wearin' What Up? BLIZZAOW! attitude and has it in for him. Also, Ramsey deciding to kick off Gabe instead of the two guys who were nominated was grate.

also:

heather, rachael and tom need to die. obv.

are there really only 3 guys left? am i counting right?

if giacomo hadn't been eliminated i might have watched it again this season...he was kind of cute-ish. everyone else is just annoying.

No one is really compelling this year, which sucks, but I've noticed the lesbian biker chick has kind of flown under the radar. Maybe she'll be around till the end.

its freaking me out the way the girls are acting all 'fuck me' around ramsey on the challenge reward outings. what the hell??

The men need to win a challenge to save Ramsay from those estrogen fests.

now what about this 'so you think you can dance' britisher. is it standard to have one mean englishman on all judging panels?

I liked how the Red Rock dude made the big executive decision. "I liked them both exactly, equally well". This place is doomed.

I was secretly hoping that they had edited the entire season in order to make Virginia seem as incompetent as possible and shock everyone when she eventually won, but alas, it was not to be. Really wonder what Heather would've done if she had lost, though. My money was on "rip out her own tongue in anguish".

I think virginia had just enough self hatred for me to like her

I got hooked on this show during the last three weeks, but missed the final episode 'cause of stupid band practice.

Eh, they all had their ups and downs. Best thing about Keith was ridiculous use of slang ("K-Grease can't kill it every time out!"), best thing about Virginia was the absolutely terrible job she did of defending herself whenever she ended up on the chopping block (although admittedly, not quite as terrible as "I just feel like I'm trying to grab onto a greasy potato"), best thing about Heather was the seal clap and other terrifying expressions of emotion.

it's a shame in a way that the most successful British TV people in the States are doing it on a image of nastiness. the British Hollywood/pantomime Bad Guy thing has spilled further into reality TV. why don't American audiences care for more pleasant Brit stereotypes? too boring?

at least the Brits in Lost are all super nice (but no doubt Benry's parents were born in Chipping Norton)

(I just found out we gave you Eamonn Holmes, but you hated him. Too nice, probably)

is anyone watching this season? i missed the premiere.

It was awful. Why do they include people who are so obviously incompetent, just to watch them get beaten up on the show? Is that good viewing?

Ready for Top Chef in two days.

I hated both of those women in the premiere who wanted the Waffle House woman to go home when she was the only one who actually seemed concerned about getting the opening night dinner service done.

Also WTF why didn't Rock nominate Aaron? Dude is kind of a nice guy but fuck that, he is ruining it for everyone. And Eddie was so fucking weird, and I don't mean the way he looked.

Obviously they have to keep the New Jersey guy and the tall black woman as long as they can because they are great DRAMA.

re: Aaron - 'producer input' (they spend a lot of time following him with the camera) or because Rock was hoping Josh (despite sucking tonight, he seems competent) going away would eliminate some competition. I feel like a horrible, horrible bigot, but I'm kind of glad Eddie went away.

order of elimination for dudes:
1. Aaron
2. Vinnie
3. Brad
4. Rock
5. Josh

wimmenz:
1. Bonnie
2. Jen
3. Julia
4. Joanna
5. Melissa

I get to watch this AND THEN IMMED. AFTER is Kitchen Nightmares on another channel. Ramzor seems so hammy on HK and so alpha-gay on KN. Anyway, Aaron is like the kind of trainwreck you can work around. Okay, he's going to cry and then go off to the back. Josh, meanwhile, thinks he knows things he doesn't know, and is ergo actually dangerous to the team.

this show is so ridiculously over the top. in a stomach churning way.

but yeah, aaron, wtf?

Julia/"Waffle House"...was anyone else infuriated that like ALL of the women refused to let her fry the fucking eggs, and then overjoyed when she finally got a chance at it and they were superb? I was pretty drunk by this point so I may be misremembering.

I think everyone who saw the show felt that way. Straight bullshit that Ramsay lit into her in the process when she was in the right (and ultimately did well).

I was gettting kinda pissed at the egg-sclusion of Julia. But she came through.

I had idea that restaurants actually fileted sole at your table. Is this to prove it's freshness or something?

Aaron has to still be in it due to outside forces. He has done no cooking as far as I can see.

lol Yell's Kitchen amirite

I agree about Aaron, he's a total plant.

I had NO idea

the way this show is put together makes me not believe any of it

I bet Gordon Ramsey has been waiting since episode 1 season 1 to say "HELL'S BITCHES".

OK so what do you think is the deal with the SHOCKING MOMENT OMG that they kept hyping with the crazy-looking goateed dude, ambulance lights, etc?

Top Chef pwns this show, and it's not even that good.

I was amazed at how badly directed it is, ie first episode the maitre d' starts giving them a speech and then Ramsay barges out yelling, the crowd showing up to eat and then the big production about killing service, etc.. All horribly transparent.

I saw that Top Chef supposedly found better chefs this time so it should be less whining/more food this season.

re:ambulance

this has to be Aarons complete breakdown/heart attack episode

the way this show is put together makes me not believe any of it

otm

The patrons most of all.

Top Chef and also the Next Food Network Star are both really superior, but I don't have cable.

The PBS show Cooking Under Fire from a couple of years ago was the best cooking competition I've ever seen on TV, because it was pretty much strictly food-oriented with a minimum of whiny bitching. Ming Tsai is kind of annoying, though.

Cooking Under Fire! Simply Ming is ok but at least I learned something from that show. Hell's Kitchen explains nothing about cooking or even running a restaurant.

I think my actual favorite thing about Hell's Kitchen is that all the contestants purportedly have foodservice experience, yet they're all of 'em like "wha? fire goes under the skillet?".

And WTF with Beef Wellington? What is this, 1930's Britain?

I think Beef Wellington (which I love) and risotto has appeared in every season. Time for a change.

I've been wondering, re: the bloody riSAUGHToh wtf why are they serving a risotto appetizer and why are they cooking it from scratch each time? No kitchen works like that.

I mean, maybe if you served something that only took 7 minutes to prepare instead of like TWENTY you wouldn't get so backed up.

The workings of the kitchen don't seem to make a damn bit of sense. There appear to be an assload of tables out front, all sitting and many appear to be eating... but apparently they're running 30 minutes in between appetizers and shit? Uh, what?

I think the answer to all these questions has something to do with "fine dining" or TV's approximation of it.

worth noting that Melissa is cuet and all, but I can't deal with the Laverne & Shirley accent.

How do you not kick out the pastry chef who pulled food out of the trash????

That was big of her though to step forward.

I have an idea for a cooking show:

Intimate Kitchen
fabulous couples who cook together. Every week a different "real-life" couple doing what they love to do and loving to do it together. There might be some couples who fight in the kitchen. Like any reality show worth its salt, the brilliance would lie in good casting.

is it RACIST that they nominated the two black girls? and one was the one who saved their ass during the breakfast service BUT she doesn't know what creme fucking brulee is? and that to nominate her they had to let the white girl who pulled food out of the trash off the hook? i mean, fuck. also, please somebody slap that girl with the fake boobs and lohan-red hair, please.

I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO AMERICAN KITCHEN NIGHTMARES. thank you, fox.

I loved the quick cut of rancid crab woman licking the tongs that she was cooking with. Between that and sweaty Brock and pulling pasta out of the trash to reuse and Typhoid Aaron I'm surprised any guests have lived to tell the tale of HELL'S KITCHEN.

sorry, pulling SPAAAghetti out of the BIN

Wow, shit, looks like I missed a great episode.

The spaghetti binner, the one that overcooked all the Beef Wellingtons, should've been nominated. Julia seems to be the only one with any pioneer moxy.

every year i can't believe the morons they pick to be on this show, but then i think about it and it makes sense cuz anyone with serious fine dining experience and/or years of serious training would be able to do all this stuff really easily and then you would have a boring show. any diner fry cook watching last night must have had a laugh at their inability to serve 50 people friggin' eggs and pancakes in under an hour or however long it took them. hell, there are a zillion latino prep dudes in good restaurants who aren't even cooks who could do all this stuff without batting an eye.
they must know beforehand that they have two people who are obvious winners. people like rock. i wonder if they tell them to hold back just to make it look more even until the end.

okay, so I know they're probably just trying to make up for the week when they sent two people home, but WTF HOW DID MELISSA NOT GET SENT HOME

I KNOW!

i wanna cut that bitch!

although... judging by the part where she told the other girl (I forget who it was) to "grow some balls", putting her with the dudes may have been a stroke of genius. at the very least, it will make for DRAMA and totally ruin the good chemistry the guys seemed to have going.

(and I do agree with Ramsay that it is sort of ridiculous that she got SO bad, SO fast)

except for that dude that said he would kill her if she was on his team! was it rock? it might have been? haha funny next week i bet when all the dudes are like 'fuck this bitch'
xpost

haha they are just totally fucking with us now

This show is ridic but I kind of love it.

what the hell is that thing on Melissa's chin?
is that somesort of goateeee?

I keep thinking she has a labret piercing or whatever.

soul patch

that duck the women served for the reception tasting was the highlight of my life

they didn't even want to bring it out. that was great

ramsay to melissa: "you look like a hopped-up little cavewoman!"

(that was by far my favorite episode of the season)

Ditto, just kind of there while I did some admin. G/F reading in front of the TV.
-- Enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 10:06 (3 years ago) Link

hey guys way to revive a dick thread!

hahahaha can you lock it and ban us now?

Melissa's rise and fall was like that of a poorly made souffle.

so wait, did melissa finally get dumped??

ugh, this show is so retarded, why do I keep watching - "you two come up here so we can have one last commercial cliffhanger" "ok, all done, back in line"

YES MELISSA IS GONE PEACH PIT HEAD

blonde girl looking nice at the photoshot

Yeah, because she messed up the service again by overcooking the fish and Rock got moved onto that.

Gordon cut the crap and just threw her out! He didn't even bother with any of the nominating rigamarole.

xxxxpost

I'll miss Melissa's soul patch.

xpost
rock is the only chef worth a damn on that show

lol

xxpost

Dude, tell me - was that really facial hair or what? A piercing? I facial hair piercing??

i predict rock or that other secretive chick will win

xpost
she's got the herps

Do herpes sores usually grow hair? I think she should get that looked at and feel lucky just to be alive.

Results 1 - 50 of about 322 for "hell's kitchen" Melissa herpes
vs
Results 1 - 50 of about 182 for "hell's kitchen" Melissa "soul patch"

i think she tried to balance Beef Wellingtons on her chin seal-style resulting in 3rd degree burns

www.myspace.com/melissafirpo
www.myspace.com/hellskitchen_rock

Melissa: is the wellington done chef?
gordon:did you do the chin test? No? get the fuck out of here

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=113863431&albumID=0&imageID=7100941

nevermind.

but who's looking at her chin amirite

you'd hit it?

hopped up cavewomen are my achilles heel

is big brother us edited together as cheesily as this? and is it too stocked with horrible music and overserious announcers?

despite the fact that i don't believe anything at all about it, i still watch it.

i didn't buy "not you, BITCH" at all.

Rock's Myspace headline "Melissa's chin-burnt and blistered from oil. leave her be and grow up. Focus on my pimple, I can take it:-)"

chin-burnt and blistered from oil= got the herpes

Is there any chance in hell you could staff a kitchen with cooks who wouldn't just ignore and/or ridicule any of these people?

Why does Gordo never have any fun on HK? He laughs (and shows A LOT of skin) on Kitchen Nightmares.

Julia and Josh are out. I was surprised Josh lasted as long as he did what with his risotto troubles and all.

what was with the big softie moment he had w/ julia!? haha i mean i get it but woah.

In the end Gordon is much like his risotto, soft and delicate.

They're really playing up Rock's temper.

I missed this :(

Rock said weeks ago that if anyone got him elimated it would be himself. I guess he was talking about his hissyfits.

Bonnie's reaction to her almost elimation was gold.

i've been totally sleeping on this show. i missed the last two episodes

I thought I couldn't hate any group of people more than I hated last years' group, but I was wrong.

the cast pretty much sucks but the show it still somewhat compelling to me.

Why does Ramsay have to punctuate every sentence with, yes?

"Get out of my kitchen, big boy, yes?!"
"You are ruining my fucking service, you turkey, yes?!"

it's nice that he's sending julia to culinary school.

He's from england?

So Jen is gone? I missed the last 10 minutes! Why did Gordo pick her?

maybe because she did not notice there was no crab in the spaghetti? also he has a hardon for bonnie.

Also she's really annoying.

bonnie 4 eva

So he wouldn't feel guilty / there would be no real controversy when he picks Rock in the final episode, whom he has already decided should run the restaurant (and he's right).

Rock is kind of growing on me.

jen had the most annoying ways of expressing emotions in the entire world and I am glad to see her go

it's kind of hard to decide who was more annoying, Bonnie or Jen. Bonnie is whiny, lazy, self-involved and as a guess was one hell of a brat. Jen has a weird accent and gets all hyper like a puppy who's been locked in a cage his entire life.

Can you see Bonnie running her own high-profile restaurant? Completely impossible.

I wouldn't trust her to babysit, much less manage a staff. But I assume it's just a figurehead position for a year until she gets shoved off into the sunset.

In a press release announcing the 12 cast members for Hell’s Kitchen 3, FOX revealed the third season’s prize: “the coveted title of Head Chef at a new fine Italian restaurant at the luxurious Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa and Casino in Las Vegas.”
If that sounds familiar, it’s because last season, the show’s prize was “the coveted title of Executive Chef of a luxurious fine-dining restaurant at the brand-new Red Rock Casino Resort Spa in Las Vegas” (that’s another Station Casino property, and they even used the same sentence structure to describe it).
But the new press release points out that last season’s “winner Heather West is currently working as senior chef at Terra Rossa restaurant.” Yes, senior chef, not the promised executive chef. The restaurant’s web site even says she is “working under the leadership of Executive Room Chef Renato DePirro.” She was also supposed to get some kind of financial interest in the restaurant and help design it, neither of which happened, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, as she was just placed in an existing restaurant.
As I’ve written about before, essentially the same thing happened after season one, when the show ultimately gave kitchen equipment to the winner, Michael, as his prize. During the show’s finale, instead of his own restaurant, he was given the opportunity to go to the UK to study under Gordon Ramsay, which he chose but never did (Ramsay says Michael opted not to go).
Essentially, the show has failed to offer the exact announced prize for its two previous seasons, so it’s probably a safe bet that the winner this year will walk away with something completely different, such as a Turbo Cooker.

I believe it should at least be the Magic Bullet.

i wonder if the reason michael 'chose' not to study in the uk w/ gordon was because gordon was too busy doing hk season 2 stuff in the us to be of any use to someone who was to study with him?

maybe he was just tired of being yelled at?

risotto allergy?

if he saw one more fucking Beef Wellington, he was going to slit his wrists.

rip chef michael ;_;

he was so cuet

jen had the most annoying ways of expressing emotions in the entire world and I am glad to see her go

-- bernard snowy, Tuesday, July 31, 2007 1:27 PM (Tuesday, July 31, 2007 1:27 PM) Bookmark Link

Lee Harvey Oswald expressed less emotion during his prison transfer than Jen did last night at the sight of her mother.

But like Oswald she was a patsy for the Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa and Casino in Las Vegas.

I believe that Chef Michael just opened his own restaurant. Worth noting that from Project Runway on down most of these shows usually don't exactly give the prize which was advertised (or they give it and they attach so many strings that you don't want it) so it's not exclusive to HK or anything.

Although the he may not be involved in the restaurant he opened:

http://la.eater.com/archives/2007/06/07/tatou_wheres_michael_wray.php

Seeing Heather from last season a few weeks ago :: James Caan appearance in Godfather II

could we talk the producers of Hell's Kitchen into poaching some of the Top Chef losers? I would like to see the short blonde woman from last season get yelled at by Gordon.

two hour finale tonight! i know rock will win but i kinda want bonnie in there.

Are you sure? Everything I see says that 8-9 is a repeat of last week, and the finale runs from 9-10.

I have to watch this next week? ugh

ok, so how staged is this? By sheer coincidence the score was 3-3 and it came down to the muckity mucks to decide the winner of the challenge. What were the odds of that happening.

yeah, i saw the two hour block and assumed it was the finale. RONG.

anyway, the flashbacks to the challenge prizes make it pretty obvious its all stage. girls win challenges for spas and bikini boat trips and guys win paintball.

it was good to see michael again. what the hell is up with julia?

i thought maybe they had two options in case men or women won. cause girls can't play paintball and men can't be groomed.

i hope so because it wouldnt want to see any of those guys in bikinis. ok, maybe eddie.

The dudes did go to a spa that one time!

man i can't even watch next week :(

They got massages.

Happy endings?

Giddy, positive Ramsey is creepy. I like him better when he rules with an iron fist.

Xxxxpost
i thought the same thing. 5 minutes left in the show and i'm saying to myself they're not going to get all this done in time.
yeah julia was a mess. who'd want her on their team?

who'd want Melissa (after she was unceremoniously booted to the boys thanks to Bonnie/et al. and then kicked off?)? Or the guy who looks like a weasel? Or Vinny?

Julia is pretty much the only loser I would have chosen for my team.

gr sure pogos a lot when he's trying to say something potentially exciting.

I hope his American 'Kitchen Nightmares' is better than this.

can't wait for that.
all they have to do is find a somewhat interesting cast, throw gordo in there and i'll watch it.

Melissa got her face fixed!

between outbreaks

go ROCK!

although he picked a bunch of dumbasses for his team!

it's not like he had much of a choice

Still waiting for Dewberry cameo.

he's got a goatee now

http://dewberrythebaker.blogspot.com/

:)

no surprise there

i wish they'd stop with the "put your hand on your doorknob" bit. but rock won, which is the best i could hope for.

Rock's wife is quite the signature dish herself amirite.

Josh and his self delusions should have their own cooking show.

gr sure pogos a lot when he's trying to say something potentially exciting

I paid attention to this last night and GR was bobbing and weaving like Ali in his heyday.

im glad rock won too. i guess he needed it more. i kind of wanted bonnie to win , and im pretty sure shes more talented with food, but i just knew if rock didnt win he'd go home and jump off a bridge or something.

julia sure doesnt seem happy with her gordon ramsay scholarship to culinary school

Rock should do OK as long as his new kitchen staff doesn't consist of 10 Joshes.

250k a year salary is pretty whoa. I didn't know a chef could pull that much in.

XPOST yes Julia seems nonplussed.

I kept wondering how long the season took to film and what the schedule was like, ie how long Rock's wife had to deal with the kids by herself etc.

yeah, I dunno the show made it seem like everything was happening day after day so feasibly the show could've been filmed in a couple weeks time.

The outcome was never really in doubt- if they do this next year the competition should be more even.

I think the real question here is why do I care?

reality remorse

Top Chef >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> this show

nah. too much food, not enough yelling.

Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares has some promise, the BBC show was very good.

xpost: Riiight.

Top Chef >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> this show

cable :(

250k a year salary is pretty whoa. I didn't know a chef could pull that much in.

A GM at an upscale chain restaurant (aka 'the poor man's executive chef') can make that much - but that may be more common than actual chefs (whose restaurants tend to be less profitable as I understand it) earning that much.

Haha, Marco has been awesome tonight. "You're obviously not going to enjoy anything that's cooked tonight, so you should just go home."

"you can put a pig in a suit but you can't stop it from grunting"

it wasn't as funny as their laughter made out

that complaining guy seemed so set up

what are you talking about???

Sunny, we have our own version of Hell's Kitchen over here, with z-list celebs. No longer done by Gordon Ramsay, but by Marco Pierre White, who isn't quite as rude.

The guy who won this this year (US) is one of my brother's friends!

Sunny, we have our own version of Hell's Kitchen over here, with z-list celebs. No longer done by Gordon Ramsay, but by Marco Pierre White, who isn't quite as rude.

OTOH he's probably the finest chef Britain has ever produced, and has had the balls to throw people out of the restaurant who have complained about the way the dish was built (given these were 3* dishes) rather than give them a free meal.

I wub him, in case you hadn't guessed.

Aye, I like him too, but Ramsay is better for entertainment and making crap celebs cry. Which is more the point of Hell's Kitchen, I feel.

LOL@Dolwing knowing 6>4.

"The guy who won this this year (US) is one of my brother's friends!"

Haha really! Your brother is friends with ROCK! Is ROCK actually an egomaniac IRL or is that just TV editin'?

I don't know; I've never met the guy. I would guess it's a personality trait that was enhancd by the double-whammy of stressful reality-tv compition mixed with atful editing.

Yeah, he seems like he's probably a normal dude when not being interviewed about his competitors & all that.

I didn't see egomaniac, I saw INTENSE.

Like if Henry Rollins were a chef. And religious.

anyone watching the "secret garden" kitchen nightmares? great tv.

http://la.eater.com/archives/2007/12/11/kitchen_nightmares_in_ventura_co_the_secret_garden.php#more

:[ Last one I saw was the guy with a menu that was straight out of a Dungeon Masters guide. He had two wood fired ovens that were used as decoration with the hope that his cafeteria style food would propel him to franchise ownership.

Loving this.

i have a feeling it was the goateed american cook that sent in the application to be on the show. he seemed to love watching ramsay taking the piss out of the chef.

Loving this.

-- Alex in NYC, Wednesday, December 12, 2007 9:10 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

alex in nyc is ilx's gordon ramsay so this doesn't surprise in the least.

as someone who grew up in ventura county, i am honestly surprised moorpark had a "fine dining" restaurant.

god i love this show. not as much as the UK one, which is all-time classic brilliance, but still.

Someone in the comments on the Eater site links to this local paper's interview with the chef from tonight's episode:

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/dec/12/restaurant-owners-skewered-tv-series-kitchen-confi/

Doesn't sound like he learned anything.

I hate how, at minute 45, everything always seems so incredibly hopeless. Then, miraculously, everything somehow comes together, and people act completely out of the character the production staff gave them. It just doesn't seem real at all to me.

secret garden has had some food safety issues:

http://www.decadeonline.com/insp.phtml?agency=VEN&record_id=PR0003895

SHOCKED.

this show makes me wonder if there are any food safety inspector guys left in america.

The contrast between the article and the "I've been there" subsequent postings!

Anyway, every TV show application form should have this on the bottom:

“If I had to give advice to someone considering being on a reality show, I would tell them not to do it,” he added. “The stress is not worth it.”
Jade Goody, Marc Bannerman, Lisa, Charley, etc....

kitchen nightmares is coming to little rock! yay!

Loving this.

-- Alex in NYC, Wednesday, December 12, 2007 9:10 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

alex in nyc is ilx's gordon ramsay so this doesn't surprise in the least.

Hahahaha. A huge honor. Thankya!

To me, the narrative + editing of these shows feels overly scripted and not really believable (true of all reality TV - and this show is not nearly as bad as, say, The Bachelor). I agree with Polyphonic in the sense that the food critic's initial response, the French dude making a whole other meal, the "drama" of a busload turning up, etc, all feels simplistic and manipulative.

The British versions are much more believable. Gordon's a more compassionate figure in those and less of a cartoon character.

(on BBC America - Thursday nights)

This is an extremely addictive show. Ramsay's hilarious.

the "drama" of a busload turning up

the diners at the restaurants are all plants handpicked by the producers. that seems obvious though -- you don't just go from a perenially empty restaurant to a fully booked one overnight on your own.

unless everyone in town knows that a reality show is being filmed there!

The show sets them up for failure in such a huge way. If you're a small restaurant that is never more than half-full, and then suddenly you're filled to the brim with a line out the door, with people in their Sunday best expecting a Gordon Ramsey-approved meal ... and you still are using the same number of staff you did before ... how could anyone succeed in those conditions?

and with a new menu!

that guy's bleu cheese stuffed filet with pomme frites looked awesome! also i went to high school in simi down teh road from that place.

the appetizer that was a thin slice of an unripe strawberry -- classic

Scraping the bottom of the barrel now.

im pretty sure corey is going to win this

I wanted Bobby to get this! :(

hes a 5-star general in the kitchen!

bobby was not good. he never actually did anything! he just stood around a lot but people were impressed bc he was tall.

I kind of disagree. Bobby was a steady set of hands, he never really screwed up anything he cooked, except in that last episode.

And he never exploded like Matt or whatever dude's name is.

every time shit was hitting the fan they'd cut to him kind of wandering around staring into space and not helping out at all!

tru

Petrozza reminds me of every dude I know who wears those kind of glasses.

Probably because of the glasses.

Christina is totally gonna win this.

i hope christina wins it, she is the most likeable one. she fucks up a lot though. corey is a ho.

remember when she tried to seduce louross? loooooooool

Too bad I missed the other night's episode, I would have loved to have seen Jen get booted off.

Ewwwwwwww I had forgotten about the louross seduction attempt.

I also missed the Jen booting episode. Hated that bitch.

I have been watching this a bit lately. Sort of weird how these people really believe they can run a kitchen. Whatever the level of creativity, if you can't figure out the doneness of meat without cutting it open, then you need to be back on prep for another few years. Also am amazed that the guy who sent out raw chix wings to a kids table wasn't tossed immediately, like even before the episode ended.

There's a third Clemenza? I don't like this at all.

http://www.tvgasm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Clemenza-tongue-HK061812.png

I caught the intro to one episode and the insane flash cut + orch hit three times a second editing style left me shell-shocked.

I kind of love the American one. The British one was a celebrity show where it turned out most of them were pretty good except the obvious comedy entrants. The US one features people who work in catering - some of whom are in really advanced and well paid positions - that it turns out can't cook at all. This year there has maybe been three or four people who can do anything barely competent in a commercial kitchen and one of them was sabotaged in the first couple of weeks by the now-inevitable bitchiness and schisms in the female team.

The flash cuts are bad, but not much more than any other US tv show imo. The worst part is the 'next week' cliffhanger where next week is ALWAYS going to be the most shocking/controversial/unpredictable HK EVARRRR.

Do you still get Gordon bellowing "IT'S RAW!!" every single episode? Always my favourite moment.

Aye. You'd think professional chefs could cook food.

I binged on series 11 (US) of this where not one single person could cook a rack of lamb. If you get to a shortlist of 5 from 16 for a six-figure head chef job and you're still shouting "IT'S RAW!" you probably shouldn't give anyone a job.