Kitchen Nightmares as a reality show was not so much staged, as it was planned and coordinated beforehand by Ramsay and the producers of the series.
Kitchen Nightmares is the 2007 Gordon Ramsay fronted and produced reality show. The popular reality show ran for seven seasons until it came to an end in 2014. However, the series has continued to be popular amongst cooking reality show lovers.
One of the biggest criticisms the series received was that it did not actually help the restaurateurs that appeared on the show. As a result, viewers have questioned the authenticity of the restaurants profiled during its run.
However, the restaurants were real, despite the fact that the conflict shown might have been exaggerated.
What was Kitchen Nightmares?
Kitchen Nightmares was the brainchild of culinary expert and television personality Gordon Ramsay.
Following the success of starting Hell’s Kitchen, which focussed on aspiring chefs, Ramsay looked to create a reality show that would attempt to help failing restaurateurs by developing the format for Kitchen Nightmares.
According to IMDb, the show follows Gordon Ramsay as he “visits struggling restaurants across America and spends one week trying to help them become successful.”
However, the show would end after seven seasons, as most of the profiled restaurateurs’ business would begin to fold again months after Ramsay’s intervention.
How much of Kitchen Nightmares is staged?
To better answer the question, a fan of the show concisely explained the thin line between staging and working with a reality-format by writing:
“Like most reality TV shows, it’s not so much ‘staged’ as plotted, planned, and exaggerated. They don’t have a script that they go over every word on and rehearse. And they take a lot more film than they show.”
Therefore, the restaurants that were profiled did exist. However, for viewers that have since watched the episodes subsequent from its natural run, might not find the establishments in question as most have closed down.
A matter which plagued Ramsay during its natural run, as the backlash suggested that Ramsay did not help the people he profiled but used them for ratings.
This is arguably true to a certain extent, as the restaurateurs that were profiled, together with their plot, were often exaggerated. This element of the show is what might have contributed to the “staged” factor of the series that is discussed below.
Producers always research the restaurants
When each episode of Kitchen Nightmares starts, the restaurateurs are always surprised by Ramsay’s surprise pop-up visit, as he investigates first-hand the experience of being served by the restaurant.
While this might be true, it does not mean that the restaurateurs were not aware of the possibility. This is as the producers of the series need to first visit the restaurant and see if there is a story to profile.
During this time, the producers not only seek to know details about the restaurant, but they also seek to know the details about the staff and owners of the restaurant in order to gauge whether there will be possibilities of conflict.
Gordon Ramsay takes control of the narrative during shooting
Sometimes, while the producers might have recognised the potential of conflict and drama within a particular restaurant, when the team finally pays the restaurant a visit with Gordon Ramsay present, the planned conflict for the episode might not be what is actually the problem.
Therefore, Ramsay will need to adapt in order to plot a different narrative than the one initially planned. Again, this is as the people in the series are real, therefore, the reactions are unscripted.
That being said, they can be fuelled, poked at and highlighted in order to get enough footage to allow for the editors to work their magic.
Editing is where a show is made
Kitchen Nightmares is no different from any other reality show, in the sense that every episode is made in the editing room.
After the planning by the producers, the plotting during the shooting which involves shooting more content than will be shown to the viewers. The actual episode, filled with a standardised beginning, middle and end, is coordinated in the editing room.
This is where what might have been miniscule during the shoot is exaggerated and turned into the primary conflict, in order to make for “gripping television.”
Final thoughts
Kitchen Nightmares ended abruptly in 2014 after Gordon Ramsay, who stood as executive producer, decided to end the show.
Ramsay at the time was frustrated at the continued backlash that the series was unhelpful and only used the restaurateurs profiled for ratings. A stance which fuelled conspiracies that the series was staged.
More so as the restaurants closed in the months or years after being featured on the series.
However, the series was not staged, as much as it coordinated the already existing conflict present in the already failing restaurant, and later in the editing room taking the “best moments” to make for compelling viewing.
