The dirtiness of one restaurant’s fridge sent Ramsay spiraling
Ramsay spent a lot of time in Massachusetts during Season 6 of “Kitchen Nightmares,” with Barefoot Bob’s one of multiple restaurants visited in the Bay State. Owned by husband and wife duo Marc and Lisa, one of the many challenges faced by the restaurant was the number of dishes returned by customers during the dinner service. Determined to get to the bottom of the kitchen’s issues, Ramsay took himself on a tour of the refrigerator, which he soon realized was far too warm.
It doesn’t take a professional to know that a warm fridge equals trouble in a restaurant. Ramsay unboxed horror after horror, including a box of warm chicken wings festering in an alarming amount of condensation next to raw pork. As the kitchen staff looked on in horror, Ramsay continued to expose more unsightly examples, eventually exploding, “Look at the mess of this place, it’s f***ing ridiculous! Someone f***ing man up!” He also added that they were going to “kill everybody” if they kept storing food this way (via YouTube). Fortunately, the death toll remained at a firm zero by the end of the episode, but Barefoot Bob’s did eventually say a permanent farewell when it permanently closed in 2017, five years after its episode aired.
The infamous panini head incident
Sometimes you have to wonder whether Gordon Ramsay spends his spare time drafting creative insults, ready for the day he gets to go for the jugular in a dirty kitchen. During the show’s 2nd season, Ramsay produced one of his most iconic lines after growing frustrated with the situation at New Jersey restaurant Hannah & Mason’s.
The cause of Ramsay’s anger? Why, the refrigerator, of course. As is normally the case in “Kitchen Nightmares,” the hotheaded chef lost control after witnessing the way Hannah & Mason’s stored raw meat. In this case, it was mixed in the same box as cooked chicken (yes, really). As the restaurant’s staff struggled for an explanation, Ramsay exploded (via YouTube), “Hey, panini head! Are you listening to me? You’re going to kill someone!” With this section of the episode filmed on Valentine’s Day, Ramsay decided to temporarily close the restaurant, insisting that it would be more of “a Valentine’s Day massacre” than a “romantic eat-out.”
Less than two years after its episode aired, Hannah & Mason’s closed for good. However, co-owner Chris Posner maintains that he doesn’t know where the raw chicken that infuriated Ramsay came from and that he thinks the “Valentine’s Day massacre” section was pre-written. When the New Jersey Monthly asked executive producer Kent Weed if it was planted, he responded, “We don’t have to go looking for [poor conditions]. It always amazes me that these people know we’re coming and still have dirty kitchens.”
He told a restaurant owner in denial to get therapy
In Providence, Rhode Island, Gordon Ramsay encountered one of the most stubborn restaurant owners ever featured on “Kitchen Nightmares.” Abby — who co-owned Down City with her friend Rico — was dubbed a “psycho” by her own staff in the episode’s opening (via YouTube), which is rarely conducive to things running smoothly once Ramsay pulls up to the restaurant.
Once again, the most explosive confrontation came after Ramsay inspected the walk-in refrigerator. Having pointed out health and safety issues such as a random bag of chicken carcasses and a tub of cheese coated with a mysterious substance, Ramsay was gobsmacked when Abby told him he was being a “f***ing a**hole” and that the refrigerator wasn’t dirty before he arrived. After declaring that Abby was a “stuck-up, precious little b**ch,” he told the furious restaurateur she needed therapy as she stormed away from the situation and screamed, “Get the f**k out of my restaurant.”
Ramsay ultimately did return to the restaurant, and even revisited to check up on its progress a year later to discover that the kitchen was organized and business was up by 30% (even if Abby now took wielded that some temper she threw at Ramsay against Rico, not the staff). But once again, Down City proved to be doomed even with Ramsay’s interventions and closed for good that same year.
Gordon Ramsay lost it after finding cooked duck in raw juices
Mixing raw and cooked meat is a recipe for disaster, both in terms of health code violations and Gordon Ramsay’s temper. Sadly, Fleming didn’t get the memo, as Ramsay stumbled upon a whole cooked duck sitting in raw meat juices while investigating the Miami restaurant’s refrigerator — duck that the restaurant had been selling to customers all night.
As you can imagine, the reaction was borderline volcanic. Storming out of the walk-in, Ramsay closed down the kitchen and demanded that the staff recall every single plate containing duck. He even personally entered the dining room to apologize and confiscate one customer’s dish. “Stop!” he screamed once back in the kitchen, voice breaking with fury (via YouTube). “We’re not serving another f***ing duck out of there. We just contaminated the whole f***ing place!”
This episode remains controversial in “Kitchen Nightmares” lore, with a Miami Herald journalist later revealing that they dined at Fleming during one of its filming days and witnessed customers being encouraged to complain about their food as loudly as possible. Owner Andy Hall — who closed the restaurant five months after the episode aired — also told the publication that “‘reality’ is a very loose word to use” when describing the show. Exaggerated or not, Ramsay’s shouts felt very, very real to us.
He once grew so frustrated that he actually quit
The only thing worse than a screaming Gordon Ramsay is a Gordon Ramsay who’s so furious that he stays silent. For the first (and only) time in the show’s history, Ramsay actually got so angry that he gave up trying to help the owners of Amy’s Baking Company in an episode that’s arguably the magnum opus of “Kitchen Nightmares.”
For once, the issue wasn’t the kitchen, which impressed even Ramsay with its cleanliness. Instead, Ramsay criticized its owners — married couple Amy and Salomon ‘Samy’ Bouzaglo — for their micro-management, quick tempers (standout moments include Amy trying to call the cops on a customer who complains about the long wait for his pizza, and Samy trying to then physically stop said customer from leaving), and resistance to negative feedback (via YouTube). Sitting down with the pair, Ramsay was met with pure stubbornness, that for once doesn’t result in shouting but deadly calm.
“I can’t help people that can’t help themselves,” Ramsay said (via YouTube). Denouncing the amount of animosity behind the scenes of Amy’s Baking Company, he added that he had “the right to do the right thing, and the right thing is for me to get out of here. Good luck.” He soon did just that, walking out of the restaurant for good. Despite experiencing brief fame significant enough to warrant its own merchandise, Amy’s Baking Company closed for good in 2015.
