The money was the son's trust fund set up by his grandfather Abe Saffron. Here is an old blog that goes into it https://themillieblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/burger-kitchen-on-kitchen-nightmares-exposed/
What's amazing is how poor his record of actually fixing these places are, compared to someone like Jon Taffer and Bar Rescue.
Well, they literally go to the craziest, dumbest, most out of their league restaurant owners for entertainment value, or the owners are just completely burnt out. So there is selection bias there. Saving a bar is probably easier than saving a restaurant to be fair.
Eh the places Taffer select are also pretty damn hard up, it's not like he's going to places that are slightly below breaking even, he's going to places with huge debt.
While I love these shows and all their schlock value, I’ve become increasingly concerned with GR’s health over the years. While he seems to have tacked towards a healthier cooking style and fitness regimen, the stress from shit like this is going to land him in an early grave.
I think he meant mostly the people too, not just the debt part. You must also take into account when Kitchen Nightmares started in the US, it was literally right at the start of the major financial crisis, and the economic downturn that lasted for years. Taffer's show started after the economy started to bounce back a bit. Just different situations that's more like comparing apples and oranges.
lol even with a week or whatever he had on kitchen nightmares, most of the restaurants ended up closing.
You’re right to a point but it’s amazing how many delusional half-cocked “foodies” will go bankrupt trying to create nouvelle cuisine and farm to table elegance when they could be making bank selling sandwiches. Restaurants are a shitty business and the plainest proof of that is that celebrity chefs rarely invest their own money and often act as licensors rather than chefs. Literally much safer to put your money in an interest bearing account.
I like Ramsey's shows but make no mistake these places and owners are chosen because they're probably so far gone due to their own neglect and incompetence that nobody can save them and it makes for good TV. At best the show can help them a little bit with finances, a good plan and more exposure but these places are failing for a reason that probably can't be fixed permanently. I'll check it out, I'm sure it's classic over-the-top Ramsey. I'm curious how much he'll eat at these places because the reason he stopped doing Kitchen Nightmares was because he couldn't stand eating awful food for months on end shooting the show all over the US.
Agreed. The ignorance and general trash ones of the USA restaurant owners/chefs is hilariously depressing. But deep down you can tell Ramsay truly does care.
UK Kitchen Nightmares is definitely superior, but Gordon's US shows are still fun as junk food TV. I'll check this out if it goes on Hulu.
I wish Ramsay could have a "trashy" show and a more educational show. Like there's always Hell's Kitchen if I want to watch him humiliate lazy, incompetent people. He's pretty calm on MasterChef US, although I haven't seen the last few seasons, so he might have gone off the rails on that show by now, too..
Masterchef is fantastic, and in between cutting criticisms of certain dishes he frequently shows off his own skills to prove why he's one of the greats: I don't watch Masterchef Junior, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't scream bloody murder at the kids :P That said, Furious Gordon is a guilty pleasure of mine, and I'll for sure be watching this tonight. And it's an Italian family restaurant, so you know it's gonna be lit.
He doesn't, and it's probably why Junior is superior. He is very good with kids. Speaks to them like adults. Doesn't talk down to them (Joe does that sometimes and it's annoying) and supports them every step of the way. I like Masterchef Junior Ramsey over other Ramseys. He can still be biting at times with them but he seems far cooler and calmer.
oh come on, so they finally bring back kitchen nightmares and it has all the fake drama amped up even more?
UK Gordon Ramsay shows are like fine French cuisine. American Gordon Ramsay shows are like trashy chain restaurant fast food.
LMAO this restaurant owner is too much. EDIT: On a sidenote, I will never tire of Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef. Usually don't watch the Gordon's other shows.
My favorite episode is when the editing implied that the ghost of the owners dad wouldn't rest until the restaurant was fixed, and played dark music over his photo when things went bad.
Yeah, they're not as fabricated as these phony reality shows. At least they make them seem like a legit cooking competitions. Gordon Ramsay can do no wrong. Him tearing a strip off of some schmuck never gets old.
I really couldn't take all the screaming. I think they plant all the mold and 5 year old food in the pantry before inspecting it.
I wish the US F Word was in the exact same format as the UK version. That show was so entertaining. The US version feels almost like a variety show in comparison. It's weird. Anyway I love Ramsay's shows so I'll take whatever I can get. This outta be fun.
You'd be surprised how many restaurants actually have mold, and food that haven't been rotated out as they should be. I grew up around restaurant people, and I remember as a child going over to family friend's restaurants how gross the back was. Even when I was older, I knew friends in the restaurant business, and many practices, even the basics weren't even taken care of. It's a tough business, and if you go in not knowing what you're doing, it's most likely going to stay that way until you close.
The US version is the only Ramsay show that I couldn't even get through one episode. Did not like the format at all, especially with how they were cross-promoting another Fox show.
Whelp the show had some good ratings last night. We'll see if it sustains. I found it just Kitchen Nightmares with a few wrinkles, I just don't know if I like the wrinkles that much. Gordon dressing up as a customer is a little eye-roll inducing, but not horrible, but I don't like the fake "surveillance" cameras the show tries to pass off. Some are real, obviously, but the fake filter on some to try and sell itself as "secret" is just a stylistic choice I really don't like. Just a little too forced and fake for my takes. I also think it's a big ask on the cooks and chef to not have any sleep. That's why the service and cooking was shit, I would be half-awake and testy too and then you have the owner and Gordon going in on them. It didn't kill them here but I worry about future episodes and especially if older people are involved. I like the follow up video at the end. Can't say I loved it but I'll give a few more episodes. First episode of anything is always rough. Side note: I recognized the restaurant in Episode 2, looked up when I saw it and it was a place I went to when in NO a few weeks back. ...so I hope whatever Gordon did stuck. Food was alright, BTW. Not the best Po Boy I had in town but not a bad one.
this seemed way too fake for me, even more than his other shows. The security camera stuff was too much with that awful filter. It all semed extremely scripted. I wish they just brought back kitchen nightmares with same format and all.
I think they do this on Bar Rescue too? Main guy from that said the hidden cameras were legit. A producer who worked on Kitchen Nighmares actually said most of the show was legitn no scripting. The only thing they were guilty of was editing things, sometimes out of order and stuff.
I hated it, too gimmicky. The stupid huge truck, the "hidden cameras" that aren't hidden, the stupid disguise when he's speaking with a British accent anyways, Gordon telling people not to eat the dressing because it's expired but then goes on to say it tasted like it was 10 years old, I'm out. Show is garbage and it's disappointing because drop the sensationalist stuff and it could be a great show, but I guess I just want Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares back. This irks me. They'll have the shots from the security camera but then they'll cut to a shot from floor level in wonderful HD and moving around, it's obviously a person with a camera, it isn't like they don't know they are being filmed. There's a camera crew in the damn dining area filming Gordon from multiple angles!
Kitchen Nightmares was better than this, even the US one. This feels way too contrived and rushed on comparison.
Was on my way out and only caught the very beginning of this, but it was not promising and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this continues in the same vein of that signature Fox/Mike Darnell-style brand of overproduced, insulting fraudulent bullshit like Kitchen Nightmares, Hells Kitchen, MasterChef, When Animals Attack, fucking Alien Autopsy and all that junk. Yuck. It's too bad, because Ramsay can carry an actual, fully realized show but this stuff is not even close. Top Chef 16 can't come soon enough!
That owner in the first episode seemed completely mentally unstable. If he wasn't screaming he was balling his eyes out over some tiny thing. He needs therapy, not Ramsey.
As a huge fan of Kitchen Nightmares, and Gordon Ramsay's previous shows (aside from Hell's Kitchen), I quite liked seeing him do another show along those lines. This first episode was really fun. I really dont like the contrived 24 hour time limit, but I totally get why he would want to limit the time spent on these episodes lol. It does feel like they shortened the time spent in the kitchen and teaching the new menu or finding out what was wrong to begin with. I really miss the old format, but ill take what i can get tbh.
I enjoyed it okay, not as much as Hotel Hell but felt like KN just sped up. Disguise is completely unnecessary considering restaurants already didn't give a shit when he was himself.
