In our review of Kitchen Nightmares‘ 2023 revival, we mentioned that we still found the show entertaining despite “knowing how the sausage was made,” so to speak. So we watched Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service with a bit of a jaundiced eye, because we were wondering if anything was really going to be different about this show, given all the spy schtick Fox has been showing during the show’s promos. Was there really that much different about the show than the long-running Nightmares?
GORDON RAMSAY’S SECRET SERVICE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “Washington, DC. 1:07 AM.” We see Gordon Ramsay “driving” down a highway in DC.
The Gist: In Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service the chef brings a camera crew to a restaurant in the middle of the night, supposedly tipped off by an insider at the restaurant who desperately wants Ramsay’s help to turn things around.
After he goes through the kitchen and dining area, likely finding some disgusting things, he then gets in the back of a surveillance van the next day and observes hidden camera footage of the restaurant during a lunch or dinner service. He also sends in two trusted chefs — often contestants from Hell’s Kitchen or one of his other competition shows — to order food.
After that, Ramsay shows his face. It’s then that the show goes into Kitchen Nightmares mode, where he tries to get to the bottom of why the restaurant is in decline, and help resolve the personal issues that crop up that get in the way of good food and service. He and his producers then remake the menu do some light renovations to help turn the restaurant around.
first episode, he goes to Parthenon, a Greek restaurant in Washington, DC that has been open since 1989. It’s been in severe decline lately, and it seems that the owner, 72-year-old Peter won’t scale back his time at the restaurant and let his 45-year-old son Mikey run the place. During his overnight visit, Ramsay and crew find encrusted food in the kitchen, an oven that’s still on, and in the basement, bloody and slimy chicken sitting in a bin. And, yes, he puts a camera on the floor and ends up seeing rats.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Kitchen Nightmares with the surveillance element of Bar Rescue grafted onto it.Our Take: To be honest, Secret Service might as well be called a new season of Kitchen Nightmares because of how clumsily Ramsay’s “surveillance” is edited into the show. Ramsay’s claim is that when restaurants know he’s coming, they hide the worst of their transgressions. That’s a surprise, given what we’ve seen on Nightmares, and it seems like a thin excuse to make the show even sillier than Nightmares is.
Do we need Ramsay and three cameras “sneaking” through the kitchen while he holds a blacklight to the fixtures? Do we need him dramatically almost vomiting at rotting meat in the dark instead of in the light? Do we need him looking at a multi-view monitor to notice that the restaurant is dysfunctional?
The answers to all of that are “No.” What we’re figuring is that the revival of Nightmares garnered shrugs from the audience and Ramsay and the show’s producers pitched this spy conceit to shake things up. But aside from the fake spying and the identification of the “insider” who’s been cluing Ramsay in on what’s going on, the show is basically the same as Nightmares.
Sex and Skin: None, thankfully.
Parting Shot: As usual, Ramsay does a wrap-up after leaving the reformed restaurant. But this time, he’s behind the wheel of a car at night. Whether he’s actually driving is up for debate.
Sleeper Star: Rock Harper and Sammi Tarantino, both former Hell’s Kitchen contestants, were Ramsay’s designated guinea pigs in this episode. We were especially grossed out when Tarantino reported that she felt the sour tzatziki sauce was fizzing in her mouth, and the owner told her that’s how it’s supposed to taste.
Most Pilot-y Line: The footage of the panning “secret” camera looks fake as hell. The staff are told they’re going to be on a fake restaurant renovation show so they can do interviews and other things. Here’s the thing: They are on a restaurant renovation show. Why make up a fake one?
Our Call: SKIP IT. If you want to watch Kitchen Nightmares, go to Hulu and watch the old episodes. Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service feels like a remodel of Nightmares that makes what was a pretty silly show even sillier.
