On Tuesday’s episode of VICE’s Dark Side of Reality TV docuseries, former Hell’s Kitchen contestants opened up about their time on the cooking competition show and specifically, their on-set experience with the show’s host, Chef Gordon Ramsay.
For nearly two dozen seasons, fans of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ have watched Gordon put contestants through the wringer, while also subjecting them to his fiery temper and intense behavior. Though viewers have come to expect this comportment from Gordon, a number of the show’s former contestants claim the on-set environment was much worse than what was shown on TV.
On the latest episode of ‘Dark Side of Reality TV’– which focused solely on the ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ competition series– Season 1 contestant Elsie Ramos claimed that the chefs competing on the show’s debut season were afraid of Gordon, whom she referred to as a “bully.”
“Let’s just put it that way. Everybody was afraid,” she said, according to People. “I did not expect to see that fiery bully.”
Tek Moore, who competed on Season 12 of ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ echoed Elsie’s sentiments, adding that “chefs know how to verbally disembowel people.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Wray, who competed alongside Elsie in Season 1 and ultimately took home the first-place title and $250,000 prize, revealed on Tuesday’s episode the shocking advice he was given by the famed chef during his time in the competition.
“Gordon, he told me, ‘You never tell your employees that they’re doing a good job. The instant you tell them that is when they stop trying,’” he recalled.
Another controversial story involving ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and Gordon came from Season 15 champ Ariel Malone, who alleged on the docuseries that her win on the show was supposed to include a position as the executive chef of BLT Steak in Las Vegas, Nevada, though she was later informed that her role at the restaurant was technically “paid talent.”
“My understanding was that I would be the executive chef of BLT Steak in Las Vegas,” she recalled. “When I got there, it was mostly [that] they wanted me to kind of like, be on the floor. They didn’t want me in the kitchen, they wanted me just to like, take pictures and kiss babies and that kind of thing. And I’m like, ‘No, I’m a chef.’ And they’re like, ‘No, you’re paid talent. Go take a f**king picture.’
“And then when it was like … ‘I did all this work, I prepped the kitchen, I’m ready to go for service,’ they’d be like, ‘Just kidding. [Gordon’s] gonna run service,’” she continued.
When asked about his polarizing on-screen reputation last year, Gordon– who has not commented on the ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ episode of the ‘Dark Side of Reality TV’ docuseries– told People that who he is on TV is vastly different than who he is in real life.
“I think everyone’s got a good and bad side in them,” he claimed. “I’m just very good at highlighting the bad that turned into something incredible.”
New episodes of the ‘Dark Side of Reality TV’ docuseries are currently airing Tuesdays on VICE TV. Watch a trailer for the docuseries below.
RELATED STORY: Former Food Network Host Valerie Bertinelli Says “It’s Sad” the Network Isn’t “About Cooking & Learning Any Longer”
(Photos: FOX; Instagram; YouTube)
3 Responses
If he was a bad and mean person all the time, it would show on all of his shows, and he is the sweetest most kind, encouraging and funny person on shows that he does with kids.
Isn’t that the point of the show?
Who did these people think they were going to be working for. They Must live under a rock. You can’t turn around and cry about it. The dude is aggressive and a bit abrasive.