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
