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

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, List of restaurants owned or operated by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has ...

first broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

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.

Background

An American adaptation of this show, titled ''

Kitchen Nightmares ''Kitchen Nightmares'', known in the UK as ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA'', is an American reality television series originally broadcast on Fox, in which chef Gordon Ramsay is invited by the owners to spend a week with a failing restaurant ...

'', debuted 19 September 2007 on

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 ("brush"). Twelve species ...

. 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 an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

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 American version after seven seasons (which was later revived for an eighth season in 2023). The show has won

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

and

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

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 ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'', 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. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' 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 an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...

'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 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and 2008 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 Sc ...

for best non-scripted entertainment.

DVD releases

United States

On 3 March 2009, Acorn Media released series 1 of ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares'' on DVD in the US. Series 2 was released on 1 September 2009.

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 : New season coming : No longer in production

References

External links

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

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares''
at

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is owned by 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 series). Unlike the BBC's ...

''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares''
at Food Network Canada {{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 British English-language television shows Food reality television series International Emmy Award for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment winners Television series by All3Media Television series by Optomen Workplace television series 2000s British cooking television series 2010s British cooking television series Television series about chefs