Nowadays, fans reference The Bear when thinking about Hollywood’s association with the restaurant business. Even execs from Kitchen Nightmares praised The Bear and its impact.
However, long before The Bear, it was Gordon Ramsay and his many reality TV projects that gave fans interest in what truly goes on behind the scenes. Ramsay has enjoyed success for years with various concepts, and don’t expect the host to be leaving any time soon. He still has a lot to give.
Fans are always wondering what takes place behind the scenes. Over on Reddit, various extras shared their experiences from Kitchen Nightmares. Is the show real? The reviews were positive for the most part, but there were a couple of things that really stood out.
Let’s take a closer look.
A Diner Detailed Their “Surreal” Kitchen Nightmares Experience, But Was Confused By A Producer Constantly Asking Them If They Wanted To Leave
It has been a talking point for years. Is the content from Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares real, or scripted? Surely, there are certain points of the show that are detailed prior for production purposes. However, from a general sense, most of what fans see is in fact real.
Over on Reddit, a discussion thread was kickstarted, asking fans to detail their unique experiences on the show. One Redditor went in depth, calling the experience “surreal.”
“I’ve been to a few tapings as a customer. It’s not staged, but it’s ‘massaged’, like I imagine most reality TV shows are. You make a reservation through the production company and show up at your allotted time, sign a release, and sit down and eat a meal like at any other restaurant. The lights are turned way up and there’s no music playing so it’s a bit of a surreal dining experience.”
The user added that the experience was a positive one for the most part. However, there was one odd moment. It saw the producer constantly ask if he wanted to leave the service given how long the delays were. It seems like perhaps the show needed a controversial show of restaurant goers walking out…
The extra explains, “At a third taping our dinner was running very late. A producer kept asking us if we wanted to leave, saying that they would totally understand if we walked out right now, and that if we did they would comp our meal the following night if we came back. I guess they needed shots of angry customers walking out because service was slow?”
“We stayed anyway and the owner came over and bought us shots.”
The user concluded that the restaurants he went to during the series all shutdown later after the Kitchen Nightmares episode took place.
Other Reddit Users Revealed Gordon Ramsay Is Very Different Off-Camera
Other stories were shared on the Reddit thread. One obvious factor from the show is how intense Gordon Ramsay typically is when trying to save the struggling restaurants. Although he’s very stressed out on-camera, a user noted that the head chef is quite different behind the scenes.
“I worked in the post-production stage of some early Kitchen Nightmares in the UK. Off camera Gordon is a lot nicer. When he visits the kitchen he walks around and inspects it. You can see him getting more and more worked up whenever he sees something wrong. What you see on TV is a cut down version at the climax of his anger.”
Another Reddit user added, “My wife and I were in a “before” dinner service for a restaurant in South Philly. we signed paper work and had our pictures taken. The place was packed with camera men walking around and Gordon was pretty much hanging out talking with people when we were there.”
Gordon Ramsay is currently worth $220 million, and made $63 million in 2019 alone.
The consensus among those that took part in the show was that the production was actual fun to be around, while Ramsay was a delight. Sadly, most of the restos featured on the show didn’t last much longer once their time in the spotlight came to an end.
Gordon Ramsay Admitted He Got Fed Up Of Filming Kitchen Nightmares
On the flip side of it, Gordon Ramsay walked away from Kitchen Nightmares briefly a few years ago in 2018. Why did he cancel his own reality show? Well, it seems like Ramsay was tired of the constant negativity that came from visiting struggling restaurants.
“I got a phone call [from Fox] and the call went like this: ‘You know Gordon, before you take your own show down, don’t you think we should talk about that together, as your partners? We don’t mind you resting it, but we’d like to come back with something stronger,’” he said.
“I rested it for three years and came back with 24 Hours to Hell and Back. So I’m my own tough taskmaster and I put myself through the mill equally as I do with any particular restaurant, or challenge or competition.”
When was Gordon Ramsay’s breaking point?
“I woke up in the middle of the south of France after filming a week with a British guy I wouldn’t trust to run my bath, let alone my restaurant,” he told the magazine. “Because he was running a ski resort, he felt like he could take advantage of all those customers because there was nowhere else to eat. He was giving me s— for telling him the truth and I thought, ‘I’m done.’”
Despite his exit, Ramsay expressed regret in later interviews over his decision to end the show.
