Gordan Ramsey??

[trekkor]

What's the deal with this guy?

Sure it's just an act. Or is it?

Rage-o-holic.
That can't be healthy.


Popular on BBC, 'Kitchen Nightmares' and 'Hell's Kitchen'.

I would have never worked for a guy like that.
I'd have told him off.

I'd either tell him 'you will stop or I am leaving'.

Strange.

Every other word out of his mouth is bleeped out.

Ever work for a guy like that?


KT

[Don Plumley]

It's an act. I'm told by friends that know him that he's really rather nice.

[temo79]

Was on top gear and seem very calm there.

[trekkor]

Originally Posted by temo79

Was on top gear and seem very calm there.

Yeah, because he couldn't ride under the hood while the food was cooking on the engine block and rip on somebody.



KT

[AbbyAk]

The current shows on Fox (Hells Kitchen) and the Kitchen Nightmares (Both on US network and BBC) are over the top and somewhat of an act.

However, if you have ever seen one of the early BBC psuedo- documentary programs when Ramsey is trying to attain Michelin stars for his restaurants--and competing with his mentor (can't recall the name) he is running the kitchen--and literally screaming his lungs out at the chefs--those are no act.

Interesting fellow.

A.B.

[dewolf]

Jerk. Someone needs to punch him in the mouth.

[sand_man]

Perhaps someone could order a no-holds-bar Texas Cage Death Match, between Billy Mays and Gordon Ramsey! Then an assasin, hidden in the audience, could take out the victor!

[peppy]

I don't think it is much of a stretch. Chef's are anal.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by peppy

I don't think it is much of a stretch. Chef's are anal.

I've seen cooking pots fly 10 meters from one end of the kitchen to the other end...

Then i found myself a bigger pot, and threw that back...

[dependencies]

Guys a twat actually and not what Brits are about at all,

He was something of a 'soccer' player years ago, but now gets strangely passionate about food all the time going to great lengths to humiliate lesser mortals.

please feel free to kick the **** out of him at your leisure

[JavaBrewer]

Sadly that level of verbal abuse is common in fine restaurants. The pace is frantic and the food/service has to be top notch. I worked the bar for 8 years at a rather prestigious La Jolla restaurant and the turnover was obscene. Many new hires were reduced to tears and left after the first week on the job. You need a thick skin to survive in that sort of environment.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Don Plumley

It's an act. I'm told by friends that know him that he's really rather nice.

Yup. That's what I'm told by a reliable source.

But the language sells. It's become his trademark.

[JavaBrewer]

I watch the Kitchen Nightmares show from time to time and am blown away at how inept the candidate restaurant owners/chef/staff are. The best thing that ever happened to them was having the likes of Gordon come through their doors.

[futuresoptions]

I'd let him date my sister....

[Seric]

I love Ramsay. People can't handle him half the time and that's the fun in watching him. He's the real deal and people have to respect that. I'm not saying he's the G*d of the kitchen (14 Michelin Stars doesn't hurt), but he's damn close (Mario Batali being the IMO, the best of the best).

Hell's Kitchen is getting a bit formulaic though. To see who I thought was going to be the top finisher, Ji, go out with a sprained ankle reminded me last season of that female chef who burned herself and went out dramatically. Lacey is this season's Jen, makes me want to vomit every time I see or hear her. The Stalker dude is pretty scary too.

Kitchen Nightmares is pure comedy. Love it.

[Zeke]

It's freakin" TV! The people that take his abuse and sometimes give it back are getting expert advice, new equipment and furnishings, and in a few cases, a new (expensive) outdoor sign. They need to get jacked by Ramsey or we don't watch.

If I thought I could qualify a restaurant for the show, I'd go buy the worst one in town.

They cloned that show with one that does the same with hair salons.

[widebody911]

I image that someone who was that big of a *****, working in an environment with lots of knives, would fine one protruding from his spleen in short order.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by milt

They cloned that show with one that does the same with hair salons.

Yeah, but I imagine on that show, the screaming and flailing is real...

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by widebody911

I image that someone who was that big of a *****, working in an environment with lots of knives, would fine one protruding from his spleen in short order.

that's not how it works, to be able to work for a chef of reputation, you basically are lucky to be there and you suck it up or pack up and leave...

Thing is, if you work for a big chef for 3 years, you do learn a hellofalot.. and then you can either move up the ranks, in that kitchen, some other kitchen, or start on your own...

Navy Seals applicants don't get sweet talked and pampered into becoming a Navy Seal either, and they have friggin guns and training to kill, it ain't all that different...

The lower you are, the more abuse you get, and as you go along, you learn, grow, and eventually get less abuse... That's how it works.

A kitchen is a work hard play hard enviroment, it's a very underestimated profession.
It's a very high stress job, it only takes one screwup with the wrong customer who happens to be a michelin inspector to ruin your year.
It attracts a wide range of characters, some are just plain mean bastards, some are just freaks... And when the service peaks, harsh words are said, in Europe the term is "coup d' feu"... And once all the plates are out, and cleanup is done... most of it is water under the bridge... If you can't accept that, then you need to look elsewhere...

And most of those in the business, work to many hours, for too little pay, also a lot like the military...I decided for myself ( worked for a master chef of Belgium) that frankly it wasn't a career for me... peanut pay... and i had a thing with computers... worked out fine, and i make probably 4 times the nett of what i would have made if i had stayed in the same business... I was not a hotel school graduate, not that it mattered, i've seen graduates who couldn't hold a plate without dropping it... And i liked the job when i was 18, learned to party hard and drink like a sailor... i just couldn't imagine doing that another 35-40 years for that low pay, working when others had time off, no weekends, no holidays, 60+ hour weeks, no personal life...

And if you start on your own, it just get's worse... taxes, salaries and equipment takes your earnings... you always have to have a good day, you cannot have a case of the mondays when you have 60 guests in your restaurant, you have to deal with freaks and douchebags working for you, a55hole customers, expensive food, working 6 days a week, and do your accounting on the 7th... maybe have 2 weeks off a year... you'll probably make decent money, but you're a slave to your business, your customers, the taxman...Relationships in the restaurant business also don't last that well, you either work with her in the same business till you are stinking sick and tired of seeing eachother, or you don't work together, and barely ever see eachother...divorces, alcohol abuse, suicides... it's all there...

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by svandamme

A kitchen is a work hard play hard enviroment, it's a very underestimated profession.
It's a very high stress job,

No kidding. But it's not only lack of options. There's also a perverse sort of machismo in the trade that keeps people carrying on much longer than they should.