Gordon Ramsay is not a faker. Or so he tells TelevisionWeek, regarding charges that he planted rotten meat and set up a wobbly chair to make Dillons restaurant look bad for an episode of his Kitchen Nightmares series. The real problem isn’t reality TV’s iffy relationship with reality, he says; the real problem is the United States’ outrageously litigious bent:
I would never-ever-ever dream of setting anything up. I want to sleep at night. We were issued a writ because, God bless America, if the toilet paper is not thick enough and you come out with a rash on your ass [you’ll get sued].
He continued:
Trying to say I set up a wobbly chair. This is supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world, not the most pathetic.
The Dillons lawsuit was dismissed earlier this month and ordered into arbitration. Ramsay beat similar charges in 2006, when he won a libel suit against a British newspaper that reported on a restaurant manager’s charges that he’d planted fake evidence. Back then he also avowed, “We’ve never done anything in a cynical, fake way.”
Personally, while I’m not sure where I stand on U.S. litigiousness, and I don’t find Ramsay exactly credible, it’s hard for me to have much sympathy for the people filing suit in these cases. Whether or not Ramsay does plant false evidence, by signing up for the show, the restaurant owners are publicly admitting their businesses are failures, right? What did these general managers think was going to happen? Hugs all around?
Fox says it plans to air the Dillons episode. The new season of Kitchen Nightmares starts September 19.
In his autobiography, Marco Pierre White tells a story about Gordon being trailed by a camera crew on a fishing trip with Marco. When they arrived, a desperate Gordon begged Marco to teach him to fish. It seems Gordon had been bragging about his trips out to fish. I immediately thought about this lawsuit.
The guy was out to be a superstar celebrity chef from day one, he knows how to play the game. I’m not sure if he faked some stuff, but I’m not sure he’d called foul if he know it was being faked for his own good.
That last sentence made no sense at all. What I meant to say was: I’m not sure if he faked anything, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have bothered to call shenanigans if he knew someone else, like a producer, was up to no good.
Just watching the old Kitchen Nightmares series, he’s a ham. In the first episode when he claims to have received a rotten scallop he immediately runs outside and pretends to vomit. It’s classic over acting, but it makes for good TV, no?
Just for FYI, I worked on the State’s Kitchen Nightmares. It wasn’t a setup, these places didn’t need any help looking bad, especially Dillon’s! There were flies and bugs all over the kitchen, really really gross.
So, he has a television show where he claims that they are in a real restaurant, that the people at the tables are real customers and that the contestants are real cooks and will actually be given the restaurant if they are the one to win… and it turn out that every single person involved (even the “customers”) are professional actors, and that the entire “reality show” is scripted, rehearsed, and shot over until it’s just right… and Gordon cries that he’s not a faker?
Sure, Gordon. Sure. Whatever you say.
You can’t fake the NYC Health Dept….as of 10/16/2007, Purima/Dillons had a score of 55. 28 is a passing score and this place needs a “compliance” inspection. And if you think all restaurants have trouble passing, well you’d be surprised how many have very low scores (a 2 or 3) and many have no violations at all.
Here’s the link: http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/detail.do?method=detail&restaurantId=40660751&inspectionDate=20071016
Scripted? Maybe. Truthful? Possible Changed? Not one bit.
Vermin, roaches, flies…all still apparently an issue. And there’s even a violation for inadequate “hand-washing” for kitchen staff. ECK!!! I’m going to keep the link to NYC Health Dept in my iPhone. After checking ZAGAT’s, check the sanitation #. :)
Eh, Mr. Ramsay is not Mr. Perfect himself. Restaurant, with the same name, located in the Manhattan, scored 21 points on the NYC violation scale on the 10/10/2007. Not keeping a highest standards in food safety or worthy an Golden Apple, eh?
http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/detail.do?method=detail&restaurantId=41213069&inspectionDate=20071010
http://www.gordonramsay.com/usrestaurants/
foood,
That’s being very unfair.
Looks like Jean Georges and Daniel boulud’s DB bistro also score 25 and 23.