Now I know I risk getting shot down in flames for this one, but although I normally stay away from “Reality TV” shows like they’d give me leprosy, I recently discovered “Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares USA” on Ch4 On Demand.

I’ve cooked a Ramsey’s Recipe for myself and I’m a fan of eating out – always interested in stories about the Great Chefs, so I thought I’d take a look.

It IS formulaic, I grant you, and his strategies for enabling recovery seem by rote, but the personalities and their situation relating to each other within their businesses seems key to the whole thing.

When Ramsay starts to tackle those issues is when it becomes interesting. Although it occasionally seems a bit “staged” and much may be down to the editing, the subjects’ reactions to the process seem genuine and almost embarassingly so.

I noticed that I was left grinning like an idiot by the end of most of them and found Ramsay’s determined positivity actually inspiring. There was a really direct “here and now” focus from him with a refreshing lack of “do you know who I am” about it.

If you’ve had a bit of an off day and want some inspiration from the telly, give it a go…

O.K., crank up the Dragon Guns. 8)

Enjoyable if you like to see ol’ crinkle brow swearing and fronting up to fat American chefs. I’ve caught bits of occassional episodes during bouts of insomnia.
I got bored with it after one series of the UK version.

I quite enjoyed the UK version.

It’s made for the American market, therefore, the hour long show is actually only about twenty minutes of unseen content due to the relentless flashbacks.

I kind of enjoy watching it but the flashbacks are incredibly annoying. 😕

I was thinking more of the “dysfunctional family” stuff where there was a certain amount of emotional grinding followed by what appeared to be genuine resolutions to all the interpersonal problems. I found this genuinely impressive. I don’t THINK there was any acting going on. It certainly didn’t look like it.

The willingness to bare souls for the TV audience was mildly astonishing too and typically American – part of the “culture clash” aspect of the Yank version that I also found interesting….

Always struck me as a way of getting your restaurant redecorated for free and the only cost is having to put up with him for a week.

I kind of enjoy watching it but the flashbacks are incredibly annoying

Gawd yeah, seeing the same row every 5 minutes takes the edge off it a bit!

There was a good episode years back when he helped a family with links to the local mob. Ramsey was truly bricking it when one of the collectors turned up.

Always struck me as a way of getting your restaurant redecorated for free and the only cost is having to put up with him for a week

And yet it doesn’t look like that. Or are all the participants professional actors?

It’s made for the American market, therefore, the hour long show is actually only about twenty minutes of unseen content due to the relentless flashbacks.

I kind of enjoy watching it but the flashbacks are incredibly annoying.

It seems to be an increasing trend, TV for the ADHD generation. Recap of last week – overview of this show – actual content – preview of what’s coming up next – adverts – review of what’s just happened five minutes ago – rinse and repeat – preview of next week’s show. It’s really bloody annoying.

ive been watching ramsey’s US shows for years, hotel nightmares and hell’s kitchen (there is a series of that on now) too, i love them. perfect take your brain out and not think about it evening tv i think.