Gordon Ramsay, the world renowned chef from Scotland, has garnered accolades from all quarters for his versatility. This multi faceted chef has started many restaurants across the world and most of them have more than two Michelin stars at the moment. The list of protégés of his is endless, and he has been able to identify talent very easily. To help budding chefs grow up, Gordon Ramsay began to appear in a television show called Hell’s Kitchen. He started with the United Kingdom version of show, but moved on to the United States version after a year.

Hell’s Kitchen is basically a reality show based on cooking. It first started as a tutorial show, with Gordon Ramsay providing useful tips to celebrity cooks. It ran for over a fortnight, and chose a winner on the basis of public elimination and nationwide voting, similar to many other popular reality shows in the UK. In the first season, Angus Deayton was the narrator and Ramsay the host, but from the second season, Ramsay switched over to the US version of the show because of contractual obligations. Since then, he has been the host for the US version.

The US version of the show doesn’t feature too many celebrities. Its objective is to spot and groom talent. The general format of the show features twelve people split into two teams (red and blue) pitted against each other in a series of cooking contests. As the show goes on, people are eliminated and the remaining cooks form a single team and each person becomes a new contestant. Anybody with an iota of experience in cooking can participate. There is no distinction between a waiter and an executive chef. Every person is judged by his/her ability to cook.

Unlike other reality television show, Hell’s Kitchen doesn’t have a jury or a panel of judges. Even though there are rules governing promotion and elimination of candidates, Ramsay, the sole judge is empowered to change the format as he wills. He can chuck people out midway or change the composition of the teams. Another interesting feature of this show is that if more than three people still remain, the best contestant gets the chance to nominate two of his teammates for elimination. After hearing the two contestants, Ramsay makes his decision. Ramsay, known for his sudden outbursts, will sometimes reject the dish outright even if there is a small mistake in the preparation. His barrage of obscenities and his punch lines “Switch it off!”, “Shut It Down”, are legendary.

This show is not only about cooking, but also deals with how a person handles any situation. The show initially was set in a Los Angeles studio in Hollywood, but the area has been remodeled now with a separate dining hall and living quarters. This show is so popular, that gaming giant Ubisoft released a game in 2008 called Hell’s Kitchen. It likens the actual dining room to a “pressure cooker area” and the players have to manage rooms, prepare dishes according to the menus given, and take good care of the customers.

Hell’s Kitchen, now into its eighth season has constantly topped the television ratings, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmys.

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