I used to think that Gordon Ramsey was a jerk

I never watched any of his shows nor eaten at his restaurants. I just know the memes.

While eating a sammich this weekend, they had one of his shows on TV–no volume, though, but with subtitles.

It was obvious that this steakhouse was having trouble, and the owners didn’t seem phased that people often waited two hours for dinner. I caught some of the comments from the diners: This chicken isn’t even good. (My tuna sandwich, though, was tasty and rather cold, the way I like it.)

Finally, the cameras show him heading to the basement to check out the fridge.

Rotten food! He was uncovering boxes of spoiled, moldy lemons and tomatoes. And black, decomposing lettuce.

He brought the owners down there and they were like, We had no idea. 

“IT’S YOUR BLOODY RESTAURANT!” he yelled. 

By contrast, if you watch him with the kids cooking shows, he is one of the nicest, most encouraging people you'll ever see.

My gf was a baker in a past life, and a restaurant manager in another, and he is her favorite celebrity chef.

He's got... an emotional range, obviously.  I really do think he wants to get people's heads into the game, and most times they very much are not connected to their failing business or he wouldn't be there / they wouldn't have a show.  Agreed with the above comment about how he is with kids.  A lot of his guidance seems to hinge on getting folks to not lie to themselves about the situation and their abilities or how customers and employees are really feeling about the operation in question.  I really liked his show from years ago from the UK; I didn't like it so much when he went to America and the show would provide all kinds of equipment and other free support.

I could care less about anything related to food and Gordon Ramsay, all I care about is the fact that he can afford some amazing cars and he drives them. A true car guy that shares his good fortune by driving priceless Ferraris in London traffic. 

He's an excellent student to have on track. Great listener, incredible levels of observation and checks any perceived ego at the door. 

It always seemed to me that he is a jerk as a boss, intense as a consultant, patient as an educator, and beyond that a generally decent person and petrol head.

Well, he got famous by yelling at people on TV. Competition show Hell's Kitchen is where I first heard of him.

I liked the British show The F-Word, where he'll have a cooking contest with another celebrity. James May's fish pie bested his.

hey, the full episode is on yt!

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

He held a private track day for friends and brought out an auto journalist (I think Chris Harris during his Ferrari ban) and let all his friends drive his cars.

Ive always respected him, I get Hell's kitchen was for entertainment, but I do enjoy master chef and he's a damn good chef.

In reply to j_tso :

Which is how he affords all of the cars and track time. Even if it were a persona, the fact that he chose such an abusive one turned me off forever from him. To make money being that mean to people is not good in my book. 

I think that he's grown to the point that the screaming is a tool, not an uncontrolled response.

He's been open about his behavior on different shows- Hell's Kitchen he screams because contestants act like #1 so he wants them to prove it, Kitchen Nightmares for similar reasons but tinged with spoiled food and health and safety violations. There's a few Kitchen Nightmares episodes where he doesn't scream at all because the real limitation is like captial or staffing that are out of the owners reach.

My take on him has always been then that he holds people to their claimed level... And he has no tolerance for people that radically fail at that level.  Yes, it's partly an act for TV, but it comes though in interviews as well...

A restaurant owner who has rotten food? A professional chef that serves undercooked chicken? Etc.

alfadriver said:

In reply to j_tso :

Which is how he affords all of the cars and track time. Even if it were a persona, the fact that he chose such an abusive one turned me off forever from him. To make money being that mean to people is not good in my book. 

About half the chefs I know are like that in the kitchen.  It's the stress of the job I think

GIRTHQUAKE said:

He's been open about his behavior on different shows- Hell's Kitchen he screams because contestants act like #1 so he wants them to prove it, Kitchen Nightmares for similar reasons but tinged with spoiled food and health and safety violations. There's a few Kitchen Nightmares episodes where he doesn't scream at all because the real limitation is like captial or staffing that are out of the owners reach.

Yeah. On Kitchen Nightmares (BBC version on BBC America) he wasn't always screaming and swearing. Not unless the situation called for it.  I enjoyed that show more than any of his other shows mostly for that reason.  Each show was part detective show - What is the problem? How do we fix it? Is that fix sustainable?  I'm sure parts (most?) of it was scripted, but it felt the most "real" for being "reality TV."

David S. Wallens said:

He was uncovering boxes of spoiled, moldy lemons and tomatoes. And black, decomposing lettuce.

As I travel for work I fear when I go out for dinner I might see this guy or Robert Irvine walking around......

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

Robert Irvine did a show on a local restaurant where they sold, among other things, muskrat.  He tried to get them to drop the muskrat, but the owners said it was the only thing keeping the lights on.  I think he gave up trying to convince them about it, but I do know that after he was done, the place only lasted another year or two anyway.

I initially didn't like Gordon Ramsay either, but once I realized there was actually some nuance to the shouting, I learned to appreciate him more.  And he is definitely great with kids, as others have mentioned.

Paul Hollywood is somewhat of a car guy, too.

This guy will ruin hotel rooms for you - once you see what he finds you won't want to stay at a hotel.......(show only in reruns) 

Hotel Hell also. You can tell when it gets real when the owner or whoever just digs in and will not admit failure. Stick or carrot, Gordon wants to help people better themselves (and is not unrealistic about it.)

Datsun240ZGuy said:

David S. Wallens said:

He was uncovering boxes of spoiled, moldy lemons and tomatoes. And black, decomposing lettuce.

As I travel for work I fear when I go out for dinner I might see this guy or Robert Irvine walking around......

I used to do engineering work remodeling supermarkets. Part of that involved survey work into the bowels of the back-room areas. I'll just say not all supermarket chains have the same standards for cleanliness...   

Ignorance can be bliss and sometimes it needs a helping hand.

Mr_Asa said:

alfadriver said:

In reply to j_tso :

Which is how he affords all of the cars and track time. Even if it were a persona, the fact that he chose such an abusive one turned me off forever from him. To make money being that mean to people is not good in my book. 

About half the chefs I know are like that in the kitchen.  It's the stress of the job I think

Not an excuse to be abusive to people.  If you get that way, perhaps you have the wrong job.  Or you have the right job because you are that kind of person in the first place. 

Fast way to have super high turnover.  I've worked for and known some super nice chefs.  

WonkoTheSane said:

My take on him has always been then that he holds people to their claimed level... And he has no tolerance for people that radically fail at that level.  Yes, it's partly an act for TV, but it comes though in interviews as well...

A restaurant owner who has rotten food? A professional chef that serves undercooked chicken? Etc.

You can do that without being so mentally abusive.  It's a "I'm better than you, even when you are perfect, but you can't live up to me" response.  

To hell with him.  Never, ever, want to eat in anything he has anything to do with.

In reply to alfadriver :

They are TV "shows".  

You will note, in many shows, drama is a key aspect, many times artificially introduced.

Do you really think if they don't get the car completely restored in 4 weeks, they will lose the shop?

In reply to aircooled :

So he chose to be a jerk on TV.  Chose it.  Must had a reason to do that.

I know it's reality TV, I know most of the crap is made up.  But whenever anyone chooses to be a jerk on TV, then they decide they want to project themselves on the reality TV as jerks.  Some even ramp it up to be abusive jerks.  

Given a choice was involved for him to take up a persona on TV, no, he's still a jerk and should not be looked up to what so ever.  Why should we look the other way because he wants to be seen as an abusive jerk on fake reality TV?

Maybe it's just me, but I very much don't find it very entertaining to see someone mentally abuse people like he and many other abusive jerks do in reality TV.  Drama like that takes away from whatever creativity that is involved in the show.  I think it's sad that he agreed to be like that on the shows.  

It's a freaking restaurant.  Or a motorcycle shop,  Or a hot rod shop.  No need to pretend that it's a war and you need to be in drill camp to tear people down for them to follow you.

If you think Gordon Ramsey is a twit, just wait until you meet Guy Fieri. Ugh, that guy. No thanks.