Gordon Ramsay…

People cannot get enough of Gordon Ramsay, the great British chef who has a number of shows on the air including, Hell’s Kitchen, Master Chef and Kitchen Nightmares. I have watched all three, but tired of the Kitchen Nightmares show because it is too repetitive. Each week he goes to a restaurant in dire need of help or they will be forced to close. He has to deal with the all the things they are doing wrong, such as too many items on the menu, filthy kitchens, incompetent staff, and spoiled food. Then there are the attitudes of the restaurant owners, who after calling him and begging for help, are resistant to changing anything. So, I stopped watching that.

Now the other two shows are about cooking. Hell’s Kitchen has several “experienced” cooks competing against each other all season and the winner gets to be “head chef” in one of Ramsay’s restaurants. I think the title is in name only, because even the winner cannot handle that huge responsibility. Nevertheless, am I the only one who looks at these people year after year and sees nothing but a Motley Crew? They are all so unkempt for the most part. I would not want to eat anything prepared by most of them if I had to judge their cooking by looking at their appearance. Then, despite their confidence and overly huge egos, many of them cannot cook to save their lives. They can barely boil water. So Ramsay yells for a good part of the show and calls them various names. It’s entertaining. But where on earth do they find these people is what I want to know? Do they go out of their way to find the worst looking, cooking people they can for the show? They are also annoying and aggravating to watch. I find myself rooting for someone to get kicked off instead of rooting for a winner. Enough about that.

Then we have the newest show, Master Chef. I really enjoy this show. Last year an amazing 17 year old beat out all the other contestants. She could cook anything and she now has a cookbook out. In this show a bunch of amateurs, wannabe chefs compete week after week for title of Master Chef. They produced their best dishes and have to perform in various challenges and the three judges decide who stays and who goes. These people not only look better than the ones on Hell’s Kitchen, but they cook better too. It’s confusing to me why the amateur show has better chefs than the show who features experienced cooks? However, I do enjoy this show. For me it’s like American Idol. They take people from all walks of life and give them a chance to fulfill their dream of cooking. One woman actually left her law firm to try to win this competition. Frankly, I would be happy if any of the losers came and cooked for me on a regular basis. Cooking is not my forte and it never will be.

Gordon Ramsay is making millions upon millions with all his restaurant and shows. My daughter happened to look into the cost of 7 course dinner at both his New York and London restaurants and the price is approximately $200 per person! He also has more reasonable priced restaurants, but the high end ones, the gourmet ones, you have to pay for the privilege of eating there. My daughter is planning on visiting one of these in the near future and I will let you know what she says.