Unoriginal Douchebag that is Gordon Ramsey.

[puddleglum]

@Slash1972

Come on! GR put two pieces of bread on a Hell’s Kitchen contestant and made her say she was an “idiot sandwich”. How can you NOT like that?

That was a part of a skit on the late late show, not Hells Kitchen.

Gordon Ramsey is a much better chef than Bourdain was, and will probably be a better travel show host.

[Banquet_Bear]

@QuickSilver

Me, I think he’s a jackass and doing this show on the heels of the tragic death of a guy who is roundly loved and who made this show format iconic and uniquely his own only proves to me the kind of douchebag that GR really is.

…I’ve been enjoying watching Gordon Ramsey travel to exotic places around the world to explore local food and cultures for years. He was doing that while Tony Bourdain was alive. What Ramsey does and what Bourdain did were really two different things. They always have been, and I don’t imagine that Ramsey will start doing things any differently. This whole thread is just bizzare.

[Helmut_Doork]

@Banquet_Bear

…I’ve been enjoying watching Gordon Ramsey travel to exotic places around the world to explore local food and cultures for years. He was doing that while Tony Bourdain was alive. What Ramsey does and what Bourdain did were really two different things. They always have been, and I don’t imagine that Ramsey will start doing things any differently. This whole thread is just bizzare.

Plus the concept is nowhere near original to Bourdain- Andrew Zimmern did it seven years before Bourdain, and there were many others before him.

[Dewey_Finn]

Generically, you could call these shows “food travelogues” and they’ve been around a long time. Probably there were print versions before the age of television.

[asterion]

@Banquet_Bear

…I’ve been enjoying watching Gordon Ramsey travel to exotic places around the world to explore local food and cultures for years. He was doing that while Tony Bourdain was alive. What Ramsey does and what Bourdain did were really two different things. They always have been, and I don’t imagine that Ramsey will start doing things any differently. This whole thread is just bizzare.

That’s what I was thinking. Fox has done a disservice to Ramsey, in my opinion, by insisting on aggressive and over-the-top behavior from Ramsey on their TV shows. While Ramsey can always be harsh, he’s always seemed much more real on any BBC programming as opposed to Fox. His food travelogues were always interesting and I hope that this show is like his previous ones and not like the other Fox shows.

[pulykamell]

@Beckdawrek

I don’t like Gordon either. The first thing I thought of when I saw the ad for this new show, someone’s gonna knife him on one of those episodes. He ain’t no Tony.

Gordon is actually quite subdued on the shows where the directors don’t have him really amp up the screaming asshole personality. Nobody is going to knife him; he will be respectful.

[gotpasswords]

Ramsay, Ramsay, Ramsay…

Who’s Gordon Ramsey?

[Defensive_Indifference]

It seems like for a while in the early 2000s, there was this trend of TV shows about British assholes coming to the US and being assholes to Americans. Wasn’t there some show where a woman from the UK got paid to tell people they were terrible parents or something? And maybe some others? I always associate Ramsay with that trend. I’ve been living under a rock for the past decade or so, so I have no idea if his public persona has shifted since then.

Anyway, that trend always confused me. I’m sure there are assholes in the UK, but British people in general seem more polite and unassuming than most Americans. I did a year of study there, and almost everyone I ran into was very pleasant. I don’t know why American entertainment companies suddenly decided we wanted to see British douchebags.

[Lucas_Jackson]

@QuickSilver

Shall I go down the list of names of very watchable TV chefs who don’t come across as douchebags?

Starting with Graham Kerr.

[Banquet_Bear]

…a scene from the new series:

Typical Gordon Ramsey (albeit with lower production standards than normal IMHO) doing a typical Gordon Ramsey segment. Nothing like a Bourdain segment at all.

[SanVito]

I thought Gordon Ramsey had dropped out of favour/retired from doing awful TV shows. Turns out he just moved to the US.

Could you take back Piers Morgan too? And Boris. We don’t need Boris.

[MrDibble]

@Beckdawrek

I don’t like Gordon either. The first thing I thought of when I saw the ad for this new show, someone’s gonna knife him on one of those episodes. He ain’t no Tony.

If he didn’t get shivved in Gordon Behind Bars, he’s not getting knifed travelling around the world. He was great working with some pretty tough hardcases.

I don’t think people have seen the normal side of Ramsay. His home cooking show (with his family) was utterly fucking delightful.

[Filbert]

@Defensive_Indifference

Anyway, that trend always confused me. I’m sure there are assholes in the UK, but British people in general seem more polite and unassuming than most Americans. I did a year of study there, and almost everyone I ran into was very pleasant. I don’t know why American entertainment companies suddenly decided we wanted to see British douchebags.

It’s probably connected with the Hollywood habit of casting English guys as the bad guys.

That, or it’s a sneaky effort by the UK to export its assholes. We have plenty more, if you’d like?

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

I don’t mind Ramsay because I believe his assholery is just an act.

If you want to hate on a genuine asshole, direct your ire toward Andrew Zimmern (from what I’ve read).
mmm

[PatrickLondon]

Do you not have any other TV chefs/cookshow presenters who’ve done that sort of programme? I can think of several in the UK, going back 20 years or so

Mind you, I can’t stand Gordon Ramsay or his shtick, either. It’s just that this particular programme concept is hardly anyone’s private property.

[QuickSilver]

It sounds like some love him, some hate him. Fair enough. I’ll seethe in silence and change the channel whenever I see him on TV going forward.

[Dewey_Finn]

It’s slightly interesting that this show is going to be on the National Geographic Channel. I think all of his US shows have been on the Fox broadcast network. I assumed they had an exclusive arrangement but perhaps not?

[Defensive_Indifference]

@Dewey_Finn

It’s slightly interesting that this show is going to be on the National Geographic Channel. I think all of his US shows have been on the Fox broadcast network. I assumed they had an exclusive arrangement but perhaps not?

Murdoch/Fox owns NatGeo now. How Fox ate National Geographic | Fox | The Guardian

[Alessan]

@Filbert

It’s probably connected with the Hollywood habit of casting English guys as the bad guys.

That, or it’s a sneaky effort by the UK to export its assholes. We have plenty more, if you’d like?

Personally, I blame Simon Cowell. He was the OG English Arsehole in America.

[jz78817]

@QuickSilver

It’s not where he’s going, it’s who he is.

Hey, you like the guy? Enjoy the show.

Me, I think he’s a jackass and doing this show on the heels of the tragic death of a guy who is roundly loved and who made this show format iconic and uniquely his own only proves to me the kind of douchebag that GR really is.

And don’t ask me if anybody is ever permitted to do a show with the same format. I don’t know. I just hoped it wouldn’t be that guy.

IIRC Bourdain could be quite the pompous ass too. as for Ramsay, as has been said his persona is “tailored” for the specific show. apparently the US loves these kinds of shows to amp up the conflict to over 9000, so he played up the shouty stuff.