While I totally agree with you IRT Hell's Kitchen this just makes your ignorance of the greatness that is House all the more saddening. Being a reality TV show may actually give the former an overall edge, but given that it's pretty much repeat season now would be a great time to stop depriving yourself and catch the episodes of the latter that you can!

Jen,
I have watched this show since the first episode. You would have really loved that one. When the customers who had been waiting as long as three hours for there food, came to the kitchen to complain, he cussed them out and insulted them. When one group of bleached blonde babes complained he told them to go get some more plastic surgery or botox or silicone, or something like that. Well, I am sure you get the picture.

I had not heard of him before this show either, but since then have seen his show on BBC. It is based in Britain and he goes into a flailing restaurant and whips the place into shape in an attempt to save it. I only saw one episode, but evidently he does a different restaurant each episode.

Hmm. I guess I should have taken advantage of that preview feature. I don't normally confuse "there" and "their" as I did above, but it is late.

Gordon Ramsey has been pretty notorious for years in the UK.

He does treat his staff like that IRL, and while some of it may be scripted, his behaviour isn't. There is the show 'Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares' where he helps failing restaurants, and Ramseys Boiling Point where cameras follow him around, and Beyond Boiling Point which is the sequel to Boiling Point.

While this may be unique for a US reality show, Gordon gets boring. He's like a child who realizes he gets attention every time he says fuck. He is deliberately controversial for the attention and then likes to pretend he is above all that. He likes to think that anyone who challenges his position is simply trying to get into an argument with him just so they can share his spotlight which he firmly likes to claim ownership of.

While he is trying to paint himself as the 'bad boy chef' with the "rock and roll lifestyle", it's hardly holding water. "Oooh, my souffle fell, lets go trash a hotel room". Somehow, coming up with new ways to cook carrots doesn't exactly scream bad boy.

No doubt he is refreshing for US reality shows, and it is a bit of a gimmick for US audiences. However, once you see him in action in Boiling Point, or Beyond Boiling Point, you realize what an ass he really is. It's been shown that his tirades can often be a function of his mood rather than the unwitting kitchen staff's offences in the kitchen, which makes him not so much harsh but fair, as it makes him an ass who cannot control himself.

There's a flaw in that show. As they keep voting people off, they're going to have fewer and fewer staff to serve the customers. Unless they shrink the number of customers allowed in, they're never going to be able to serve them adequately.

I hate to quibble, Jen, but I'm guessing Simon gets more tail than Sinatra.

I find Hell's Kitchen contrived and unpleasant.

Much better is BBC's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, where he goes to failing restaurants and whips them into shape (or tries to, at least). He's mean there, but not contrivedly so, and to a genuine purpose-- he's actually trying to help restuarants not go bankrupt in the following three months.

He can be pretty nasty, and his usual advice is "Fire that fucking useless chef," but he's more human and behaves more realistically. And once in a while he finds some flunkee in a kitchen who he deems to have natural talent.

Lorie,

Those incidents where he insults the customers are soooo set up. He told those blondes to shut up and go back to plastic surgery, they went back to their table and said "He was really mean to us."

And the fight with the customer who ordered the pizza because his food was taking too long? BS!

Now if I could only stop watching the stupid show.

DAMN YOU REALITY TV!!!

Simon is Gay! Gay i tell you! Gay! heh. He probably isn't but he should be, because he is such a bitch. I love Simon. I just lost some respect for him when he refused to bitch slap the crack addled Paula Abdul this season while she tried to fellate constantine on camera. It was such a good set up for him. But the censors might not have like a delicious slap down from Simon.

Simon is a freaking genius. An evil, bitchy genius.

I love it when he fights to suppress a grin while Paula is rambling and then says something like "Thanks for those inspiring words, Paula."

Gordon Ramsey is an arrogant jerk and a pretty miserable excuse for a human being. But he does have a Michelin three-starred restaurant, which enables you to get away with a lot of stuff.