| Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares | |
|---|---|
| Format | Reality television |
| Starring | Gordon Ramsay |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 32 (24 original and 8 revisits) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 44 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) (Season 1 & 2) 1080i (HDTV) (Season 3 - Season 5) |
| Audio format | Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Original run | 27 April 2004 – 30 January 2009 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Kitchen Nightmares |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is a television programme featuring British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. The BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning programme debuted on Channel 4 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. In October 2009 Ramsay announced that after his current four-year contract expires in 2011 he will not continue with Kitchen Nightmares and will instead work on his other shows.[1]
A one-off special entitled Ramsay's Great British Nightmare aired on Channel 4 on 30 January 2009 as part of The Great British Food Fight, a two week series of food-related programming. In the program, Ramsay campaigned for viewers to start supporting local restaurants, especially in a bad economy.
An American adaptation of this show, titled Kitchen Nightmares, debuted 19 September 2007, on Fox. The format has also been exported to Poland, where local version entitled Kuchenne Rewolucje, which debuted in 2010, is presented by restauratrice Magda Gessler.
Contents |
The following restaurants have been featured on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Name changes reflect information presented on the original or Revisited episodes.
| # | Restaurant | Location | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Bonapartes Restaurant | Silsden, England | 27 April 2004 |
| 2. | The Glass House | Ambleside, England | 4 May 2004 |
| 3. | The Walnut Tree Inn | Llanddewi Skirrid, Wales | 11 May 2004 |
| 4. | Moore Place | Esher, England | 18 May 2004 |
| # | Restaurant | Location | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | La Lanterna | Letchworth, England | 24 May 2005 |
| 2. | D-Place[1] | Chelmsford, England | 31 May 2005 |
| 3. | Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack | Brighton, England | 7 June 2005 |
| 4. | La Riviera[2] | Inverness, Scotland | 14 June 2005 |
| 5. | The Glass House[3] | Ambleside, England | 21 May 2005 |
| 6. | The Walnut Tree Inn[3] | Llandewi Skirrid, Wales | 28 May 2005 |
| 7. | Moore Place[3] | Esher, England | 5 July 2005 |
| 8. | Bonapartes Restaurant[3] | Silsden, England | 12 July 2005 |
^Note 1 : Renamed Saracen's Cafe Bar during production
^Note 2 : Now called Abstract
^Note 3 : Revisited Episode
| # | Restaurant | Location | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Oscar's | Nantwich, England | 21 February 2006 |
| 2. | The Sandgate Hotel | Sandgate, England | 28 February 2006 |
| 3. | Clubway 41[1] | Blackpool, England | 7 March 2006 |
| 4. | La Gondola | Derby, England | 14 March 2006 |
^Note 1 : Renamed Jacksons during production
| # | Restaurant | Location | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | La Parra de Burriana | Nerja, Spain | 14 November 2006 |
| 2. | The Fenwick Arms | Claughton, England | 21 November 2006 |
| 3. | Rococo[1] | King's Lynn, England | 28 November 2006 |
| 4. | Morgans | Liverpool, England | 5 December 2006 |
| 5. | La Riviera[2][4] | Inverness, Scotland | 12 December 2006 |
| 6. | Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack[3][4] | Brighton, England | 19 December 2006 |
^Note 1 : Renamed Maggie's during production
^Note 2 : Renamed Abstract after production
^Note 3 : Later moved to larger premises and renamed Momma Cherri's Big House
^Note 4 : Revisited Episode
| # | Restaurant | Location | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ruby Tate's[1] | Brighton, England | 30 October 2007 |
| 2. | Piccolo Teatro | Paris, France | 6 November 2007 |
| 3. | The Fenwick Arms[2] | Claughton, England | 13 November 2007 |
| 4. | La Parra de Burriana[2] | Nerja, Spain | 20 November 2007 |
| 5. | The Priory | Haywards Heath, England | 27 November 2007 |
| 6. | The Fish and Anchor | Lampeter, Wales | 4 December 2007 |
| 7. | Curry Lounge | Nottingham, England | 11 December 2007 |
| 8. | The Granary | Titchfield, England | 18 December 2007 |
^Note 1 : Renamed Love's Fish Restaurant during production
^Note 2 : Revisited Episodes
| # | Restaurant | Location | Original Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | The Dovecote Bistro[1] | Devon, England | 30 January 2009 |
| 2. | The Runaway Girl[2] | Sheffield, England | 30 January 2009 |
^Note 1 : Renamed Martins' Bistro
^Note 2 : Renamed Silversmiths
In June 2006, Ramsay won a High Court case against the Evening Standard, 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 previous owner of Bonapartes, Sue Ray. Ramsay was awarded £75,000 plus costs.[2] 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."
The programme has 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."[3] Lorna Martin of The Observer said "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is compulsive viewing - packed with excitement, emotion and entertainment."[4] 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'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."[5]
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was named Best Feature at the 2005[6] and 2008 BAFTA awards.[7] It also earned the 2006 International Emmy for best non-scripted entertainment.[6]
On March 3, 2009, Acorn Media released season 1 of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on DVD in the US. Season 2 was released on September 1, 2009. [1]
| Name | Ep# | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Season One | 8 | March 3, 2009 |
| Season Two | 10 | September 1, 2009 |
For the Canadian market, Visual Entertainment has released the first 3 seasons of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on DVD in two volume sets.
| Name | Ep# | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Volume 1 | 8 | October 16, 2007 [8] |
| Volume 2 | 10 | October 7, 2008 [9] |
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