Well here it is, the first Gordon Ramsay News Weekly wrap – all things that are Gordon Ramsay for the week of February 2-8 2009.
Gordon Ramsay Television News
• Hell’s Kitchen Season 5
Arguably the biggest news was all of the reports surrounding the premiere of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5. There were articles and blogs aplenty giving us predictions and summaries of the first intense episode. No spoilers here, check the web if you want the dirt! Some of the best sites include – Buddytv out of Seattle,WA and TVGrapevine.com – Goose Creek,SC.
• Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Nightmare
Great British Nightmares was Gordon Ramsay’s contribution to he Great British Food Fight on Channel 4 in the UK and was basically two Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares episodes mixed in together, the only twist being a follow-up with advice for the two restaurants on how to survive the credit crisis. It was a fantastic show, and very welcome after putting up with the far inferior US version for too long!
As great as the show was it became world famous for breaking records in the swearing department. Some of the figures included – 312 swear words in just over 100 minutes of television, 240-odd of which was the F-word. This ‘outrage’ lasted for the entire week (and will no doubt continue) with lots of Gordon Ramsay bashing in the news and on the web!
Gordon Ramsay swears a lot, editors and producers filled the show up with expletives and Gordon cops it – move on! (An interesting side-story talked about Channel 4 putting the swear words back into Kitchen Nightmares USA season 2 which is airing in the UK and Australia concurrently).
I was relieved to see that their was a little support for Gordon Ramsay, coming from the Sharon Ownes at the Belfast Telegraph. Her article entitled ‘First, take one Gordon Ramsay, add useless chefs, then simmer’ – started by stating ‘You know, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t blame Gordon Ramsay one bit for using the F-word more than 240 times during a 100-minute episode’. I agree, I dropped at least 100 myself watching the show!
A follow-up story to the actual show (did I tell you it was great) featured an unusually positive report about Gordon Ramsay – telling us of the success of one the restaurants from the Great British Nightmare. It was a local story by the Okehampton Times and said that Martin’s Bistro(which was the Dovecote) had enjoyed a flow of customers since celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay came to town.
• Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares Follow-ups
J Willys of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA finally succumbs after months of speculation. I thought my headline of “Gordon Ramsay’s Willy Can’t Survive in This Climate” was much better than most I saw.
In a related story , this week there was another reporter from the Mirror in the UK who shares my opinion that Kitchen Nightmares sucks compared to the UK version. It asked are the Americans really getting a taste of who Gordon Ramsay really is? The story began with ‘I pity the Americans if this is how they have to watch Gordon Ramsay. I know the US is the home of fast food, but it’s also the home of Fast TV’. Here is a great quote – This returning series looks as though all the video tape was chopped into quarter-inch squares, then tossed into the air to land in a god-awful jigsaw puzzle where no shot lasts longer than half a second. (Yes, yes, I know it’s all shot digitally now, but you know what I mean).
Speaking of the superior UK Show, it seems that the ‘Curry Lounge’ is looking to UK and global expansion. You remember the owner of the funky Indian Restaurant – Raz turned around the fortunes of his restaurants following the advice of Gordon Ramsay also took his advice in employing a PR agency as well as overhauling his management, training process and supplier contracts. It is a great stroy featured in The Drum (.co.uk)
• Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA a ratings Nightmare Down Under
Have Aussies gone off Gordon Ramsay?? – no I reckon the show is crap! Kitchen Nightmares USA season 2 premiered in Australia to mediocre numbers, no mention of the ordinary publicity and the fact that it went up against some big name shows. But at the end of the days, Australian audiences, I think, are more like those from the UK – get us the good stuff!
• Gordon Ramsay Censored in Australia?
Australia’s Channel Nine said that they were allegedly cracking down on swearing (a week before their two big shows air – smells like self promotion to me!). There was a number of stories again helping Channel 9 promote their upcoming shows by again highlighting that Gordon Ramsay swears in his television shows and is hence destroying the moral fabric of society! This story about a censorship report broke the day before Kitchen Nightmares USA was supposed to air (and one of their top rating shows a few days later). Yes, we get it, Australia’s Channel Nine is ‘responding’ to the outrage of Gordon Ramsay saying naughty words and damning us all to hell – thank you Channel Nine Australia – you’re our only hope!
• Gordon Ramsay Cookalong
In other Gordon Ramsay Television related news, the Washington Times finally reported the news that was weeks old (and rumour for months). They reported the ‘cutting edge’ story about Gordon Ramsay doing a Live Cookalong show in the USA this week – no more details than we had weeks ago!
Gordon Ramsay Restaurant News
• More Crap about Gordon Ramsay’s Empire Falling (who isn’t suffering at the moment??)
This week brought another swag of stories about how badly the credit crisis is hitting resaurants and the way that newspapers are getting readers to view their take on it, is to claim Gordon Ramsay is going broke. The story is usually lumped in with rehashing the infidelity claims, talking about minor fines for Gordon Ramsay Holdings not submitting papers, but based around reports that some Gordon Ramsay Restaurants have restricted their trading hours.
Headlines include ‘Ramsay’s Empire Cooked?’ but when talking about Anthony Worral-Thompson closing two of his eight restaurants – the story is a much milder ‘Chef his hard times’!
• Get cheap food in LA, including Gordon Ramsay at The London West Hollywood
The DineLA Restaurant Week extended its promotion at many restaurants, which included Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood. Great deals included – $28 Lunch, $44 dinner per person plus a wine pairing at $22 per mouth
Gordon Ramsay Live
• Gordon Ramsay selling His Healthy Appetite
Gordon Ramsay is touring North America as part of his Healthy Appetite Book Promotion tour. Plently of talk in Canada – a more complete list of where Gordon Ramsay can be seen and heard is at Gordon Ramsay Interviews in North America
• Gordon Ramsay Heading Down Under for Cooking Demonstrations
Chef Gordon Ramsay jetting in for food and wine events in Sydney and Melbourne and tickets went on sale this week. Tickets to the event get your into everything except Gordon Ramsay – that will cost you an extra $20 or $80 for a VIP package
Trashy Gordon Ramsay Gossip
• More Gordon Ramsay bashing amidst freakish snow storm in the UK
The amazing snow storms which stopped many residents going to work and it seems in this case leaving work! Here the real story which comes at the end, isn’t anywhere near as good as the headline “Gordon Ramsay snowed-in staff forced to sleep in restaurant after”. The Mirror amongst other papers reported that ‘Snowed-in staff at one of Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurants had to sleep in the kitchen after the management refused to pay for rooms’. The article does state at the bottom, it was an error by a junior manager and was fixed the following night!
• Gordon Ramsay and Posh Spice – Not Friends, Are Friends (more tabloid crap)
For days reports surfaced that Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham had dumped Gordon Ramsay as a friend, allegedly due to claims that he had an affair with author Sarah Symonds. Even after Sindh Today and the Daily Star were amongst the first to reporting dismissing the rumour Posh Spice by telling the world that she took him out clubbing, this story continued to circulate amongst trash mags worldwide!
• Paris Hilton now trying to say we didn’t get her Gordon Ramsay Joke
Stupid is as Stupid does? Paris Hilton : Paris Hilton thinks Gordon Ramsay is UK’s PM – Paris Hilton later claimed that she was really just playing a joke on all of us – good one !
David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com
