Ramsay being nice ... it’s more unnerving than his swearing
There can’t be many people who’d want Gordon ramsay as their marriage counsellor but in Ramsay’s Hotel Hell (c4) that’s what one unlucky couple got.
In the UK versions of his shows all Gordon has to do is attempt to fix a failing business. But this series was made for america and they like their reality Tv served with a side portion of schmaltz.
angler’s Lodge is set in a beautiful region of Idaho that attracts fly fishers as well as visitors to nearby Yellowstone Park. When Dave and Dede eby opened the business 17 years ago it thrived, but family tragedy had caused them to lose their enthusiasm.
When Gordon visited, the restaurant was attracting few bookings and the hotel was only filled to 25 per cent capacity. Given that the rooms looked like ones you’d have found at Butlin’s 40 years ago it wasn’t hard to see why.
after declaring the rooms to be dirty and smelly, Gordon then ventured to the kitchen where he sampled chef Gina’s signature dish and told her: ‘that’s the worst trout I’ve ever had in my career.’
‘You’re ******* nuts,’ Gordon told poor Gina, who went to pieces whenever he was yelling obscenities in her kitchen.
Someone else who didn’t appreciate Gordon’s approach was restaurant manager Zach. ‘the language you are using is not that of a gentleman,’ he protested. clearly he’d never watched any of Gordon’s other programmes. not to worry, Gordon had some constructive advice for him as well: ‘Why don’t you get the **** out of here?’
after redesigning the menu Gordon set to work on fixing Dave and Dede’s rocky relationship. he made them watch home movies, gave them the night off and encouraged them to hold hands and rekindle their passion. all this set against a stirring musical soundtrack.
and that’s where I had a problem. the potty mouth and bad temper is what people tune in for. Watching Gordon ramsay being nice to people on his show was oddly unsettling.
clearly american audiences need their bad guys to have redeeming qualities no matter how unrealistic.
It came across as scripted and unnatural, but the most frustrating part was that the actual makeover element was all crammed into the last ten minutes. that really was something to swear about.
an example of just how engaging reality TV can be, when done properly, came with Inside Birmingham Children’s Hospital (c4).
Last night’s episode focused on teenagers and their injuries and illnesses. Whether they were receiving a blood transfusion or awaiting X-rays, all those featured were glued to their mobile phones. One young girl was even there because she’d scalded herself with boiling water while trying to make tea and text her boyfriend at the same time.
the main teenager featured was grammar school boy Jack who had decided to undergo risky brain surgery in order to cure his epilepsy. at 16 years old he had full medical responsibility and was unfazed by the one in 300 chance of suffering a stroke.
he wanted to be a normal teenager free from the fits that were impacting on his lifestyle.
‘there’s no point looking at odds because I’m definitely doing it,’ he told his surgeon with typical teen bravado.
he revelled in the gory detail of having his skull cut open and a section of his brain removed while his poor mother, allyson, was a nervous wreck. Before going in for his seven-hour surgery she gave him the code words ‘mixed grill’ to say when he recovered, so that she would know he was OK and had not lost his memory.
Within minutes of regaining consciousness Jack repeated the code words. he hadn’t lost his sense of humour either, as he launched into French and joked that it was all he was able to speak.
With just two more episodes to go, it’s been a fantastically uplifting series. and last night it achieved an even more impressive feat: by making the viewer think that teenagers aren’t so bad after all. Christopher stevens is away.