''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares'' is a television programme featuring British celebrity 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 ...

first broadcast on

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

in 2004. In each episode, Ramsay visits a failing restaurant and acts as a troubleshooter to help improve the establishment in just one week. Ramsay revisits the restaurant a few months later to see how business has fared in his absence. Episodes from series one and two have been re-edited with additional new material as ''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares Revisited''; they featured Ramsay checking up on restaurants a year or more after he attended to them. An American adaptation of this show, titled ''

Kitchen Nightmares ''Kitchen Nightmares'' is an American reality television series formerly broadcast on the Fox network, in which chef Gordon Ramsay is invited by the owners to spend a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to revive the business. Produced ...

'', debuted 19 September 2007 on Fox. It is broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 as ''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA'' to avoid confusion with the original title. Its run ended on 12 September 2014. In October 2009, Ramsay announced that after his four-year

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

expired in 2011 he would not continue with ''Kitchen Nightmares'' and would instead work on his other shows. Despite this, the show returned for one last series in 2014 (retitled as ''Ramsay's Costa del Nightmares'') where Ramsay visited and helped failing restaurants owned by Britons abroad. The final series also coincided with the ending of the US version. The show has won BAFTA and

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

awards.

Series overview

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

''Ramsay’s Great British Nightmare''

A one-off, two-hour special entitled ''Ramsay’s Great British Nightmare'' was broadcast on 30 January 2009 as part of The Great British Food Fight, a two-week series of food-related programming on Channel 4. In the programme, Ramsay campaigned for viewers to start supporting local restaurants, especially in a bad economy.

''Ramsay’s Costa del Nightmares''

Libel

In June 2006, Ramsay won a High Court case against the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', which had alleged that scenes and the general condition of the restaurant had been faked for the first episode of ''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares''. These allegations followed reports from the previous owner of Bonapartes, Sue Ray. Ramsay was awarded £75,000 plus costs. Ramsay said at the time: "I won't let people write anything they want to about me. We have never done anything in a cynical, fake way."

Reception

The programme received favourable reviews for its in-depth look into the restaurant industry. Jane Redfem of ''Off the Telly'' commented that the show "could have been cynically designed to exploit Ramsay’s foul-mouthed reputation... But watch, listen and think about what he is saying, and his genuine commitment to his profession in general, and the task at hand become abundantly evident." Lorna Martin of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' said "''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares'' is compulsive viewing – packed with excitement, emotion and entertainment." '' Slate's'' Sara Dickerman was impressed by the show's "economic realism" in the tired food television genre. She wrote, "There is something refreshing about a show that doesn't promise a ticket to ride (a surgical makeover, a million dollars,

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

's job) but instead offers restaurant owners the hope—if they seriously reform their establishments—that they might, just might, break even for the next few months." ''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares'' was named Best Feature at the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

BAFTA awards. It also earned the 2006

International Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

for best non-scripted entertainment.

DVD releases

United States

On 3 March 2009,

Acorn Media RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn DVD, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media U. ...

released series 1 of ''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares'' on DVD in the US. Series 2 was released on 1 September 2009
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares DVD news: Box Art for Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - The Complete Series 2 , TVShowsOnDVD.com

Canada

For the Canadian market, Visual Entertainment has released the first three series of ''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares'' on DVD in two volume sets.

International versions

: Currently airing franchise : An upcoming season : Franchise no longer in production

References

External links

''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares''
at Channel4.com
''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares''
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares''
at

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 ...

''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares''
at

Food Network Canada Food Network, formerly called Food Network Canada, is a Canadian English language specialty channel based on the U.S. cable network of the same name. It airs programming related to food, cooking, cuisine, and the food industry. The Canadian versi ...

{{Gordon Ramsay 2004 British television series debuts 2014 British television series endings 2000s British reality television series 2010s British reality television series Business-related television series in the United Kingdom Channel 4 reality television shows English-language television shows Food reality television series International Emmy Award for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment winners Television series by All3Media Workplace television series 2000s British cooking television series 2010s British cooking television series