# Kitchen Nightmares/Restaurant Impossible....Owen



## Zwiefel

I did a search but couldn't find a thread on this....

particularly for those of you in the business...what are your thoughts about these shows? (aside from how repetitive they are :scared4: )

I tend to watch them either in the background or to vegetate....I find it amazing how some of these places are run though...


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## franzb69

watching both almost makes me think it's all staged. probably started out pretty real but i don't think it's all like that.


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## Zwiefel

Well, i guess i should have expected the first response to confirm my cynicism.

I think a huge number of these shows are....seeded/guided to generate the drama....i recently heard even stupid shows kike "storage wars" are rigged with lockers provided by the producers (ostensibly unknown to the participants).


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## franzb69

the same with dual survival, although entertaining and somewhat educational, it just feels too fake to me.


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## knyfeknerd

Robert Irvine is such a douche! His show is awful.
I love how he belittles everyone in the kitchen to the point of tears. The problem is most of the people "cooking" in these places have never been taught anything else, but let's make them cry anyway!
But wait I'm not done with you "Chef" Irvine.......
......I don't know when you started bodybuilding, but I don't care! Wear a shirt that fits! I don't get a boner looking at your biceps! And BTW, the next time you're at the gym -work out your legs. The top half of your body is Lou Ferigno huge but you have skinny toothpick legs. I'm scared your going to topple over. Or that your legs are going to crumple under the enormous weight of your muscle-bound torso.

Have any of you guys seen the Sysco commercial featuring "Chef" Irvine? It's comical. As a lifelong foodservice indentured serf, your face makes me want to NEVER EVER buy ANYTHING from Sysco again. I even got a new Sysco promotional flyer chock-fulla "Chef" Irvine. The cover has him holding a Sysco box that's resting on the hump of his bicep whilst he's kissing it(the bicep) 
-I don't know who at Sysco thought this was a good move, but it's probably the same genius that sent out a 10 page pamphlet about tea and how it makes you so much $$$ it was called "Profitabili-Tea"

I probably should move this to the "Death to celebrity chefs" thread, but I saw my opening and took it!


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## K-Fed

A friend of mine's parents are friends with him and go out to dinner together whenever he's in the area.... Even they says he's a bit of a douche.


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## mano

All of those types of shows are break them down, build them up, overcome a crisis, yay, we're all a team and the lone hero walks off into the sunset or darkness.


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## Mingooch

franzb69 said:


> watching both almost makes me think it's all staged. probably started out pretty real but i don't think it's all like that.



A place near me was in line for the show, it was bad, real bad. They didn't make it and closed. From what a person I know who worked there said, it was pretty much like many episodes you see that make it on the show.


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## ajhuff

A mom and pop type restaurant where I used to live was featured on Restaurant Impossible. It was a favorite haunt of mine. I have not watched the episode but friends of mine tell me the restaurant sucks since it was on the show. Now they have a menu and atmosphere that nobody in town wanted.

-AJ


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## DeepCSweede

They were just west of Scott's (Salty Dog's) about 45 minutes in Twin Lakes, WI filming a show a couple of days ago. Not sure when its going to air, but I had never been to the restaurant. Between chopped and the save my restaurant / bar shows, I don't watch too much FN anymore. I am sooooo sick of all the reality bs shows right now.


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## Lefty

I'm getting a bit tired of these shows as well. However, I'm a Ramsay fan...sell out? Oh, hell yeah! But, the guy came from nothing, used his talents and killer instinct and made a fortune. He's helped a few along the way, and if somebody offered me a show, you're damn right I'd take it! I still watch Kitchen Nightmares, but only when I see that it's on. I don't schedule my day around it or anything. 

Irvine, however...Chris, you can make me laugh more than almost anyone on here. I love it! Haha


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## ajhuff

I loathe Ramsay. I'd love to see someone shove a French baguette down his throat.

-AJ


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## Lefty

Hahaha. Meh.


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## jayhay

Irvine is a douche, for sure. He even lied on his resume a few years back, which got him into some trouble,

http://dayseye.wordpress.com/2008/0...-the-downfall-of-food-networks-robert-irvine/

I enjoy Kitchen Nightmares though. Ramsey can be a bit of a hard-on at times, but he's pretty accurate in his assessment of what's going on. I mean, maybe it's hyped a bit, but kitchens with poor leadership/lack of management, filthy walkins and stations, drama between ownership and front-back-of-house, and employees with alcohol and drug problems are all too common. I find the show entertaining.


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## Salty dog

My Sysco rep grudgingly asked if I would like to apply to have my resto "impossibled". If selected you get 10K cash.

In short, I declined.

I also make him cover up the guys face on his lap top. Seriously.


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## Zwiefel

Salty dog said:


> My Sysco rep grudgingly asked if I would like to apply to have my resto "impossibled". If selected you get 10K cash.
> 
> In short, I declined.
> 
> I also make him cover up the guys face on his lap top. Seriously.



This leaves me with the sense that your response was not, "I think I'll decline."


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## DeepCSweede

See that is just case in point about how BS these shows are. You want to take a successful restauranteur and tell him how to run his business. Wow, that is an "Impossible" situation. 

I think what would be impossible is Irvine trying to cut stuff faster than Scott. THAT I would watch.


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## panda

it's just another form of entertainment. it's funny when people take 'reality' shows and try to compare to the real world. it's all staged drama. i still like watching them when i have the time though, i especially like hell's kitchen where chefs get a heap full of humble pie and are often broken down to tears, now that's good tv!


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## shaneg

Watch boiling point, ramsay trying to get his third star http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lVIodG7lYY
Also the UK kitchen nightmares is a lot better, no hype or dramatization
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gmzT1JezJ4


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## ThEoRy

knyfeknerd said:


> Robert Irvine is such a douche! His show is awful.
> I love how he belittles everyone in the kitchen to the point of tears. The problem is most of the people "cooking" in these places have never been taught anything else, but let's make them cry anyway!
> But wait I'm not done with you "Chef" Irvine.......
> ......I don't know when you started bodybuilding, but I don't care! Wear a shirt that fits! I don't get a boner looking at your biceps! And BTW, the next time you're at the gym -work out your legs. The top half of your body is Lou Ferigno huge but you have skinny toothpick legs. I'm scared your going to topple over. Or that your legs are going to crumple under the enormous weight of your muscle-bound torso.
> 
> Have any of you guys seen the Sysco commercial featuring "Chef" Irvine? It's comical. As a lifelong foodservice indentured serf, your face makes me want to NEVER EVER buy ANYTHING from Sysco again. I even got a new Sysco promotional flyer chock-fulla "Chef" Irvine. The cover has him holding a Sysco box that's resting on the hump of his bicep whilst he's kissing it(the bicep)
> -I don't know who at Sysco thought this was a good move, but it's probably the same genius that sent out a 10 page pamphlet about tea and how it makes you so much $$$ it was called "Profitabili-Tea"
> 
> I probably should move this to the "Death to celebrity chefs" thread, but I saw my opening and took it!




Ready to hate him even more?.... Go look at his wife..


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## Gravy Power

Salty dog said:


> My Sysco rep grudgingly asked if I would like to apply to have my resto "impossibled". If selected you get 10K cash.
> 
> In short, I declined.
> 
> I also make him cover up the guys face on his lap top. Seriously.



Haha. I'm surprised you use Sysco for anything. No knock on the company, one of my good friends is a corporate chef for them. You must have known this person for a long time though. For them to still have teeth that is.


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## Johnny.B.Good

shaneg said:


> Watch boiling point, ramsay trying to get his third star



Thanks for the link. I just spent several hours watching "Boiling Point" and the sequel series, and found it all very entertaining.


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## Zwiefel

I watched only the first ep that was linked...I haven't worked a line before, but it didn't really seem to far from what a few people in the biz have described to me.

Kinda interesting to compare the 1998 Ramsay to the 2013 Ramsay....very clearly has become quite skillful at understanding and using the camera.


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## shaneg

Yeah he is definitely an intense guy.

Only thing that annoys me is how he belittles everyone, and goes on and on and makes them feel 2 feet tall, shaming them at the same time, I wouldn't work with or for anyone like that.


Also if he spent 1.2 million pound on his place, he is very disorganized, where was the foh/general manager when the fans went down? 
Although I suspect Gordon is a control freak and likes to do everything himself.


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## Miles

I saw a few original BBC episodes of KN. It was okay. It lacked all the Hollywood faux drama and the overhyped caricature of GR as a screaming maniac. I can't stand the US version or the Restaurant Impossible version. They have as much to do with reality as a slice of American has to do with real cheese.


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## Crothcipt

I have liked most of what Ramsey puts out there. I have worked for a few chefs that make him look like a pussycat. As for how bad the restaurants are, well I have seen a lot worse than what usually goes in the show. Most restaurants go down because of bad management, which leads to bad everything else. Most people think that being a manager is about cracking a whip, when it's not. Its about making people being better at what they do. You are there not to manage the people, but the money. Most of the time Ramsey is trying to convey this notion.

As for Irvine I liked his other impossible show better. The Restaurant one is just crap. Only watched it once.

Ty for posting that boiling point. That is what a documentary should be like.


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## shaneg

Yeah I agree, teacher/mentor/chef/businessman is what you should be whether you own it or not, from the chef side anyway.

Being from nz we have quite a strong influence from the UK, a lot of our chefs do their working oe in London, I know about 6 people who have been through his kitchens at some point.


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## mpukas

Irvine really is a douche. His show restaurant show is such a blatant rip-off of Ramsay's - I can't believe they even have to balls to be so blatant - and it's terrible. It's a prime example of take something that someone else did that works well, break it down into fundamental components, repackage, rebrand and resell it. Absolute crap. I watched a couple of his first episodes, and some of the things they did to the interiors of some old restaurants was appalling - especially the one in Mystic CT where this quaint old place had some really beautiful oak cabinetry work. The douche-bag "designers" painted this crap pastel-colored plaid all over everything. Absolute crap. Irvince's food leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to fine dining - hell, even ANY dining - he may be good at banging out food for 500 people from a parking lot kitchen, but he's not someone I'd want involved in a restaurant.


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## scott.livesey

Hi,
I watch both shows if they are on and nothing else is. Since watching, I look closely at everything when visiting a new place to eat. Where I live, fine dining is a place where the cutlery is metal, the plates are not disposable, and drinks are not served in "To go" cups.
For true kitchen reality I prefer "Chopped."
Scott


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## bikehunter

franzb69 said:


> watching both almost makes me think it's all staged. probably started out pretty real but i don't think it's all like that.



Not *almost *makes be think it's staged. ALL of these things are staged. I don't have a healthy respect for the intelligence of the average American (or humans in general for that matter) but it's difficult for me to imagine that anyone could be as stupid as the people in these restaurants. Anyone who thinks that any of these "reality" shows are anything except totally phoney should seek the help of mental help professionals. LOL


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## WildBoar

mpukas said:


> Irvine really is a douche. His show restaurant show is such a blatant rip-off of Ramsay's - I can't believe they even have to balls to be so blatant - and it's terrible. It's a prime example of take something that someone else did that works well, break it down into fundamental components, repackage, rebrand and resell it. Absolute crap. I watched a couple of his first episodes, and some of the things they did to the interiors of some old restaurants was appalling - especially the one in Mystic CT where this quaint old place had some really beautiful oak cabinetry work. The douche-bag "designers" painted this crap pastel-colored plaid all over everything. Absolute crap. Irvince's food leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to fine dining - hell, even ANY dining - he may be good at banging out food for 500 people from a parking lot kitchen, but he's not someone I'd want involved in a restaurant.


I never watched any of the Ramsey shows until a couple weeks ago, but I had seen Irvine's quite a few times. All I could think when I watched my first Ramsey show was "Holy carp, DI totally copied this show, but made it a lot worse!" Kinda like the US version of Top Gear...


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## shaneg

Who is this Irvine guy?


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## Gravy Power

I actually really liked Irvine on Dinner Impossible, but agree with those who have said Restaurant Impossible is a complete rip off. I mean, I don't think there has ever been such a blatant rip off ever in TV. Maybe in a reality dating series. I guess the masses like it though. I enjoy the web stuff that Ramsay puts out, I need to watch the 1998 stuff.


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## slowtyper

ThEoRy said:


> Ready to hate him even more?.... Go look at his wife..



arrrghghhh!!!!


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## Lucretia

We've been OTA tv for the past few years, so didn't even know who Irvine is. When I pulled up a picture of him and his wife, it was an article about his wedding. All she knew about it was the place, time and date. "I didn't know the colors of my wedding or what my bouquet would look like! But I trusted his taste." Bet he tells her what to wear, what to eat, how to dress, and not to think (he'll do that for the both of them.) Scary start to a marriage, IMO.


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## Crothcipt

One show I do like on FN is Chef Wanted. The chef's get a gob from making a menu, and executing it in the kitchen. Staff and all.


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## shaneg

Crothcipt said:


> One show I do like on FN is Chef Wanted. The chef's get a gob from making a menu, and executing it in the kitchen. Staff and all.


Wow that lady's hair is crazy! That's least 2 cans of hairspray..
I shudder at some stuff, throwing salmon on a board, and why do they have those horrible printers? The noise! Thermal printers ftw.


As far as Ramsay goes, if you watch boiling point then hells kitchen, you'll realise he is the same in both temper wise, before he moved to the U.S. he stated somewhere he had a huge dislike for Americans, so you get a Chef with a short fuse, put him with a group of people he doesn't like, and 95% happen to be crap chefs and a few cameras and you got a hit show.

Most of us know the stresses of the kitchen service and I'm sure id be angry in that situation, especially people bringing up stuff to the pass that's [email protected] well not the same anger, but close.
Only time I lose it is at the expo or waiters, when they screw the orders up, never at my kitchen team.


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## Justin0505

shaneg said:


> Watch boiling point, ramsay trying to get his third star http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lVIodG7lYY
> Also the UK kitchen nightmares is a lot better, no hype or dramatization
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gmzT1JezJ4



You, Anthony Bourdain, and I have the same opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDstQWR1Rbs


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## Stumblinman

Yeah Bourdain has the opinion I like. I never met Ramsey though. UK version is definitely the best. If you are fast enough, or have it recorded you have to read the fine print that comes up at the end of a US kitchen nightmares. It states that the coverage is taken over a time period and edited so it may be out of sequence. Plus google the restaurants and most if not all are out of business. They all get websites but I usually see on yelp when they shut down. That always gave me the feeling that maybe in the contract they weren't allowed to sell for a certain time period. To make matters worse, if you're in a bad kitchen you'll watch the shows and see the sames things, run. I did. The sad thing about some restaurants like on the shows is the bar will keep them going way beyond their expiration date.


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## ajhuff

I've never seen Boiling Point. Skimmed though the above posted video. What an eye opener! I've only seen Hell's Kitchen/Nightmares. I can respect the guy in Boiling Point. Seems like two different people. And that's sad.

-AJ


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## shaneg

http://m.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/what_you_don_see_19rgV35X8wfLp4jDbEup0I

Tbh, we all know our profession is a short and sharp one, I know for a fact I don't want to be pulling 50 hours on the line at 50, so if he has to be on a show such as hells kitchen to make bank I don't blame him, there's no doubt he has done everything good and bad to get where he is now, I'd have done the same in his shoes.

It's just a shame the producers make the show come across the way it does, anyone seen the UK hells kitchen with Marco Pierre white?


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## Zwiefel

I think both shows are available on Hulu...I've wondered on more than one occasion about the difference in tone between the two. Seems like the culture he's operating in plays a role...not sure how much of that is on which side of the camera though.


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## knyfeknerd

Ramsey also has a show on BBC called The F Word. It's a great show and I've seen 5 seasons of it. He has a restaurant in London just for the show. Check it out. He may be a toolbox, but there's some good food and such on the show. If anybody can't find it, I'd be happy to send you some DVDs. Just PM me.


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## franzb69

the f word was, i think, his first show. i liked him there. most, if not all the ramsay bbc stuff were good. when it got all "hollywood" it went to crap.


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## Bill13

I love the BBC version, not so much the US.

Can't stand RI Irvine!


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## Crothcipt

The bbc Kitchen Nightmares is considered the first season on the discs, netflix ect.


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## Johnny.B.Good

Bill13 said:


> I love the BBC version, not so much the US.



+1

No comparison.



Crothcipt said:


> The bbc Kitchen Nightmares is considered the first season on the discs, netflix ect.



I found all of the BBC episodes in their entirety on YouTube after learning of the show's existence here.


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## scotchef38

Boiling point was his first show then beyond boiling point.I cant stand the US version of kitchen nightmares but the uk version was inspiring at times.There is also a show on you tube called Marco which is filmed in the 80's at Harveys restaurant and features Ramsey as a young man.Worth a watch if not just for the 80'S fashions.


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## Zwiefel

scotchef38 said:


> There is also a show on you tube called Marco which is filmed in the 80's at Harveys restaurant and features Ramsey as a young man.Worth a watch if not just for the 80'S fashions.



That was interesting...thanks for the pointer.

Here's the link for the first of the three eps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvCT-LvKxvY


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## jamaster14

the shows are staged. Not that the problems arent realistic, or hadnt happened in the past at those places. But turning around a restaraunt just isnt conducive to television. you certainly arent doing it in 3 to 5 days. the shows are filmed for several weeks, the employees are told to wear the same clothes so it appears less time has passed. and most of the blow ups are staged or recreated.


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