''Kitchen Nightmares'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series formerly broadcast on the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

network, in which chef

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a tot ...

is invited by the owners to spend a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to revive the business. Produced by

ITV Studios America ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broad ...

, it is based on the British show ''

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares ''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares'' is a television programme featuring British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay first broadcast on Channel 4 in 2004. In each episode, Ramsay visits a failing restaurant and acts as a troubleshooter to help improv ...

''. The show premiered September 19, 2007, on Fox. On June 23, 2014, Ramsay announced that he was ending the series; the final episode aired on September 12 that year. In June 2018, ''

Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back ''Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back'' is an American reality television series that aired on Fox from June 13, 2018 to May 12, 2020. Starring chef Gordon Ramsay, the show features his travels across the United States, visiting failing ...

'', a new series with a premise much like ''Kitchen Nightmares'' but a shorter timeline, premiered on Fox. The show still hosts an active

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channel with over 6.3 million subscribers. The channel presents highlights from the show, and has also shown selected full episodes of the show.

Production

The show was produced by ITV Studios America and

Optomen Optomen is an independent television production company, with Optomen Television Ltd. for the United Kingdom and Optomen Productions Inc. (launched in 2002) for the United States. Broadcasting United Kingdom and the United States Optomen produ ...

, in association with A. Smith & Co. Productions, with Arthur Smith, Kent Weed, and

Patricia Llewellyn Patricia Llewellyn (7 February 1962 – 22 October 2017) was a British television producer and managing director of the television production company, Optomen, which in 2010 became part of the All3Media group. Llewellyn was born in Carmarthen, W ...

serving as executive producers. In the UK, the series is broadcast under the name ''Kitchen Nightmares USA'' and ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, which also produced the original UK version. It's broadcast under this name to avoid confusion with the original UK version. UK airings of the US show feature an alternate soundtrack and mix, with less prominent musical stings, a lower level of vocal compression, and a different narrator to the US broadcast. It also airs uncensored, when shown after the watershed. Reruns, along with the British series, are frequently shown on

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary seri ...

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2007)

Season 2 (2008–09)

Season 3 (2010)

The third season was originally scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, but it was postponed to Friday, January 29, 2010, due to the

State of the Union address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...

Season 4 (2011)

In May 2010, the Fox network announced the return of ''Kitchen Nightmares'' for a fourth season, which aired from January 21, 2011, to May 20, 2011.

Season 5 (2011–12)

In March 2011, the producers of the show announced a casting call for a fifth season. The fifth season premiered on Friday, September 23, 2011, and ended on March 30, 2012.

Season 6 (2012–13)

In February 2012, Fox announced it had renewed ''Kitchen Nightmares'' for a sixth season, which premiered on Friday, October 26, 2012.

Season 7 (2014)

Season 7 was originally set to premiere on February 28, 2014, but was delayed until April 11, 2014.

Lawsuits

In September 2007, a case was filed by Martin Hyde, a former manager of Dillon's, against Ramsay for ten separate offenses, including allegedly staging disasters and hiring actors to trick the viewing audience. The case was dismissed because the contract signed by Hyde stipulated

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

in the event of a legal dispute. The case went into arbitration in 2008. In 2018, Oceana Grill sued Ramsay and the show's production company alleging fabrication. Specifically, they claimed that Ramsay staged a scene where he vomited during his kitchen inspection and planted a mouse in a rodent trap "to manufacture drama for their show." The restaurant also argued that a prior settlement from 2011 (before the episode aired) placed limits on the production company's ability to re-use clips from their episode. The 2018 suit was filed after the production company posted clips of the Oceana Grill episode on Facebook.

Reception

Ginia Bellafante of the ''

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'' found Ramsay's teaching methods and high standards "undeniably hypnotic" and commented, "the thrill of watching Mr. Ramsay is in witnessing someone so at peace with his own arrogance." Doug Elfman of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' said the show is "a very entertaining public service" that "will make you laugh, make you sick, and make you think". Randy Cordova of the ''

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'' found Ramsay "just as blustery and foul-mouthed here as he is on ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...

.'' But he is also oddly endearing, mainly because he genuinely seems invested in the fate of each restaurant". Critics have commented that Fox's adaptation of ''Kitchen Nightmares'' strayed from the strengths of the original Channel 4 series. Maureen Ryan of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' said, "Leave it to Fox to take something the Brits did pretty well and muck it up". She added, "Never mind the cooking; this edition of the show appears to be more interested in playing up the family dramas at the restaurants Ramsay visits". Robert Lloyd of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' commented, "Whereas the British ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares'' is fundamentally a food show—it has interesting things to show you about how a restaurant runs and a kitchen works, the wonders of local markets and what you can make from them if you're Gordon Ramsay or willing to follow his instructions—the Fox edition emphasizes mishap, argument, and emotional breakdown almost to the exclusion of cuisine".

Notes

References

;General references * * * *

External links

* * {{Food Network (Canada) series 2007 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings 2000s American reality television series 2010s American reality television series American television series based on British television series English-language television shows Food reality television series Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series by Optomen Television series by All3Media Television series by ITV Studios 2000s American workplace television series 2010s American workplace television series