The Plonker Club

Here’s your daily summary of all of the Gordon Ramsay News from across the globe, this time it is for February 6.

Let’s start with more reporter’s opinions on the new bunch of victims – I mean contestants on Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 and who survived the wrath of Chef Gordon Ramsay

What Gordon Ramsay Says We Need – Well Fed Network – USA
Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen premiered last week, and as usual, he’s kicked off the newest season with a round of harsh beatings and criticisms on the …

Another reporter who shares the opinion that Kitchen Nightmares sucks compared to the UK version – are the Americans really getting a taste of who Gordon Ramsay really is?
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).

Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA – Mirror.co.uk – London,UK
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. …

Yes, we get it, 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!

Watchdog flags crackdown on Underbelly, Ramsay – LIVENEWS.com.au – Sydney,NSW,Australia
Foul-mouthed TV chef Gordon Ramsay and the original series of Underbelly have resulted in the broadcasting watchdog enforcing stringent new classification …

More locals waiving the flag for their own representative trying to score a job with Chef Gordon Ramsay in what must be the toughest and most public job interview there is.

Local chef on duty in ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ – Schenectady Gazette – Schenectady,NY,USA
… chef to recount before the producers of “Hell’s Kitchen,” a nationally syndicated reality television show featuring world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay. …

Have Aussies gone off Gordon Ramsay – no I reckon the show is crap! Kitchen Nightmares USA season 2 premieres in Australia to mediocre numbers

Ramsay’s ratings drop – ABC Online – Australia
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is no longer the flavour of the month with Australian TV audiences. Kitchen Nightmares USA returned to the Nine Network last …

India is part of South Asia – I always hated geography! Yes we know that Paris Hilton isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer
Paris Hilton thinks the British Prime Minister is Gordon Ramsay – South Asian Women’s Forum – New Delhi,India
January 27, 2009, (Sawf News) – Paris Hilton thinks the British Prime Minister is Gordon Ramsay, and you are probably wondering why we think that is news? …

On off beat story about the success of a Gordon Ramsay protégé
Jungs defies credit crunch – Buckinghamshire Advertiser – South Buckinghamshire,UK
While Bakers Oven on Station Road closed last month, Jungs on Penn Road has recruited one of Gordon Ramsey’s former pastry chefs and is creating an on-show …

There’s your daily fix of Gordon Ramsay News until tomorrow. Remember if you can’t be bothered reading this daily report, look out for the Gordon Ramsay News weekly wrap-up and the soon to be broadcast podcast of the weekly wrap up. Why read when you can just listen and do something else (like cookalong with Gordon Ramsay!)

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

I thought I’d try some trashy headline writing – I think I did okay. The news is that one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants – J Willy’s, that he tried to save in Kitchen Nightmares USA has closed.

We have been covering the story ever since it became known that the owners were looking for a partner after withdrawing the sale offer. Now as a result of the credit crisis, it seems the owners and there some 40 employees have ridden off into the sunset.

This really was one of the more strange Kitchen Nightmares Episodes – from a long and distinguished list! An episode that played to every southern hillibilly stereotype and had owners who apparently ran other successful restaurants, but couldn’t get this one to work because of a manager.

The only credit that I give to the owner is that he did try hard on the marketing side with his own brand of BBQ – after Gordon Ramsay recommended it – just like the Fenwick Arms had their go at gravy, in the vastly superior UK version of Kitchen Nightmares.

The full story can be found here, as only the locals can report it J. Willy’s restaurant closes its doors

And his name is Gordon Ramsay, not Gordon Ramsey – yee haw!

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

With the casting call for the next season of Kitchen Nightmares well underway (see ‘Does Your Restaurant want to be Ramsied’), I was reviewing the application forms (exciting afternoon here!), the one tendered for business owners, and the one for employees.

There certainly are some strange questions that they ask!

Not quite sure why they need to know the applicants height, weight, eye and hair colour as well as ethnic origin? Show me a cynical person who says, it is so they only pick the glamorous people and I’ll show you a person who hasn’t seen the first two seasons!!!

I also wonder what chance a person would have by ‘messing up’ these questions – especially by answering Ready, Steady Twat (nee Cook) or Marcus Wearing?

Q. Do you own cookbooks? If so, do you use them?
Q. Do you have a favorite Chef? If so, list whom and why?
Q. Describe your feelings about Chef Gordon Ramsay

I’m sure that some of the people that we have already seen on Kitchen Nightmares, answered ‘Yes’ to the second part of this question, and if I ever meet the producers, I will ask ‘Is it actually a pre-requisite?’

Q. Have you ever been treated for any serious physical or mental illness within the last 5 years?

The most entertaining read of all though, is reading the form one would submit to dob in their employer.
The employee form (all eleven pages) has some great questions, including those that would surely end their career if it warranted Gordon visiting the restaurant;

Q. Describe your employer and what would you do differently if you ran the restaurant?
Q. Describe what pressure means to you?
Q. Describe your style of work and how you perform on a deadline?
Q. When was the last time you received a promotion? Why or why not?
Q. When was the last time you received a raise?
Q. How do you react to criticism?

And best of all

Q. Are you a “yes” man/woman?

In the section I’ve dubbed ‘Legal bits’, it is a little surprising to learn exactly what the commitment is for an employee if their restaurant is selected, and I quote;

“If I am selected to participate in the program, I will need to be exclusively available to Producers for approximately 6 weeks for taping of the Program and if necessary any follow-up at Producers’ discretion”

Six weeks, for a alleged five day show, compressed into about 30 minutes of footage when you remove the spoilers at the start and before each ad break not to mention the recaps after returning from the ‘words from sponsors’! Wow, those editors must really work overtime. Much more than I first thought, considering the stuff I was already aware of; like those contrived endings and piecing together fights where Gordon is constantly changing clothes throughout!

Either way, I reluctantly wait for Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (UK) bastard little brother (US version) to hit the air, still hoping another season gets done in the UK or the American producers wake up to themselves!

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

It seems the call has gone out in the US for a new batch of culinary catastrophes to put there hand up and be put through the mill by the great Gordon Ramsay.

According to the Fox website – the casting call has gone out in the following areas – Los Angeles, Miami / FT. Lauderdale, Boston, Philadelphia, AND the New York Tri-State Area. Restaurant owners and even employees can nominate their establishments (on different submission forms!).

This is directly from their site;

Does your restaurant need HELP?
Are you trying to make some green, but still running red?
Do you and your chef have different ideas about the menu?
Or maybe you have a great location, but it doesn’t seem to entice many customers?

Email or Call for Information:
KitchenNightmares@theconlincompany.com
Go to www.theconlincompany.com to submit your video

If you want to apply to have Chef Gordon Ramsay come into your establishment for one week to troubleshoot your problems and try to get you back on the road to success… Contact us NOW!!!

KitchenNightmares@theconlincompany.com

**NOTE** Make sure to include:
Your name and contact info (including a phone number), name of your restaurant and your specialty, how many seats you have, and most importantly, why you need our help.

*Restaurants must be open at least 1 year and have at least 35 seats.

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com