From the ads for this season’s “Hell’s Kitchen” it appears that two of the contestants have Down Syndrome. That old charmer, Gordon Ramsey, demonstrates that he doesn’t believe in treating the handicapped any different than anybody else by yelling at them as much as he yells at the able-bodied and -minded on the show.
Please, tell me I’m wrong and that those fellows are as normal as anybody else who signs up for several weeks of verbal abuse at the hands of a master. I don’t want to think that Fox has reached a new low by turning an already nasty, horrid show into “Kick the Retard.”
A few years ago I went to a lunch with Anthony Bourdain. This was about the time of the first Gordon Ramsey series, about him trying to get a Michelin award. Someone asked Bourdain whether Ramsey is as big an asshole as he appears to be on camera and the answer was yes and no.
Apparently he behaves that badly most of the time but most big name chefs do. Ramsey’s staff love him dearly and at the end of every shift they cook up a meal for themselves, sit down and eat, laugh off all the invective and get ready for tomorrow.
It would seem that top end kitchens aren’t for the faint of heart.
Sorry I have to ask, as a former psych nurse, who have you diagnosed as having Down’s. I have seen several episodes and I missed the Down’s chefs.
Re-edit ----maybe I am watching an earlier Down’s Syndrome free series.
It is a nasty, horrid show…and I’ve looked forward to its return. My husband told me it was starting again tonight, but I haven’t seen any previews for it yet.
I’ve never seen the show, but I know that people with Down’s syndrome dislike special treatment. They wouldn’t want to be treated any different from anyone else on the show. If they’re competent enough to work in a high stress kitchen, they’re competent enough to understand what being on a nasty kitchen-based reality show is all about.
Of course if they’re so severely retarded that they don’t understand what’s going on, that’s another story. But I don’t think even Fox would be that reprehensible.
How do you make exceptions for a contest, that is based on live training for being a owner operator of a business? It’s not fair to the other contestants if you made special rules either.
OK, I’m looking at the website for Hell’s Kitchen, and I don’t see any contestants that appear to have Down Syndrome. Could you please point out who you mean?
From the commercials I thought the guy with glasses, Eddie, was coming off as goofy and dorky especially when he was messing up the spaghetti and spilling it out of the pan and over the counter but I didn’t get a challanged vibe from him.
Also the plump guy, Aaron, will be one of the first to get kicked off. It seems like he cries at the drop of a hat and I don’t see Ramsey putting up with that. I wouldn’t. You can’t have a guy contaminating half the meals by crying into them.
On the one hand there are those ads for chef school that make the job look like fun. (“Do you love to cook? Wouldn’t you love to spend the rest of your life in a kitchen?”) On the other hand, there’s this show which I know is somewhat accurate except, as my wife said, “There haven’t been any knife fights yet.” I don’t see the appeal of the show OR the job.
Given a quick glance on the ads the guy who messes up the spaghetti and the crying guy both appear to manifest the morphology associated with the syndrome. I could be wrong, since I’m basing this on the commercials. The crying guy, Aaron, who I’ve seen more of, could be of mixed Caucasian and East Asian ancestry and just happens to have some of the characteristics. I’ve only seen Eddie for a moment, but I’m happy to jump to a conclusion if it supports my thesis.
What argues against my suspicions is that, as most people with Down Syndrome are at least mildly retarded, they would be unlikely to qualify for the show.
I don’t see any common Down morphology there. Eddie is odd-looking, true, but he’s got rather long fingers and actually a large head for his height, the exact opposite of the common Down person with a small head and short fingers. His ears are not low set, his eyes don’t slant up, and there’s no epicanthal folds. He has a voice I generally associate with some types of Dwarfism (a high “metallic” voice), but he speaks very clearly, suggesting no tongue or palate deformities. What common Down features do you think he has?
Aaron is simply of Asian descent, it appears. The only reason his crying makes him look funny is that we’re not used to seeing men cry, I think. But, again, I don’t see any common Down features. He may bathe in the blood of virgins to look so young at 48, or that may be a typo in his age field, however.
But taking your question as a hypothetical, I just don’t see anyone of medically measurable mental impairment making the audition process for the show in an ethical manner. But if they were as qualified as anyone else, then they should get the same experience as everyone else. I assume no one is held in slavery - and a person who can function well enough to work in such an environment without being kicked off on day one can function well enough to walk away if things are unbearable.
I worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Scotland for a couple of months back in '96. I was only a lowly kitchen porter, but from my brief experience I could say that these sorts of kitchens are almost militaristicly regimented. If Gordon Ramsey is hamming it up for the camera, I can’t say he’s exaggerating much, if at all.
Chefs are crazy. They are also, with physicians, the hardest working and most exacting people I have ever encountered. They work 60-72 hour weeks (6 days x 10-12 hours) for relatively shit pay, yet still take pride in everything they do. At least the ones I worked with did. The environment and culture I encountered was very much like what you see on the show. If you fuck up, you will know it. There are no excuses, just don’t do it again. But I learned so much in those few months, and it’s an environment I actually quite liked.
From watching the previous shows, and glancing at the contestants for the show starting tonight, I get the impression that they select several people for their comic potential. It wouldn’t surprise me if they selected the Asian just because he was fat. Aaron, Eddie, and Vinnie have comic relief painted all over them, IMHO.
Repeating, all I know about him is from some fractions of a second on the commercial. From the website’s pictures he and Aaron now appear well within spec. My impressions were apparently completely offbase and those two, as well as the others, are qualified to judge for themselves if they should spend a few weeks being hounded, berated, and abused by a petty dictator. It even might be a pleasant respite from their regular jobs, there being no knife fights.
Dangitall, I forgot to check what time it was on and I only caught the last few minutes.
Why is it there is always a scene where the person who gets to decide who is up for elimination tells someone they won’t be eliminated and then puts that person up for elimination? Oh yeah, because people suck. I know it’s a competition and all but don’t be a lying backstabbing bitch, just stab them right in the face and be done with it. So now I hate the backstabber with the annoying accent.
The first fellow, Eddie, said something about Bartlett’s (?), which gives him the unusual appearance.
The other one, Aaron, is simply a chubby Asian cowboy.
Frick! Tiffany was from Phoenix! And since we’ve got the momentum here with Jordin I was hoping we could keep that going. She and Brad had a big write up in the paper on Monday. Ooopsie.