Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is a television programme featuring British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay first broadcast 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 2009, it was reported that fourteen of the 22 restaurants featured on the show to that point had closed, with some owners directly blaming Ramsay and the show for their demise."Restaurant owners claim Gordon Ramsay left them broke" – The Courier-Mail, 30 March 2009

Background

An American adaptation of this show, titled Kitchen Nightmares, debuted 19 September 2007 on Fox. 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 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 and Emmy Awards.

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, 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 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'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 and 2008 BAFTA awards. It also earned the 2006 International Emmy 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.

Name Ep# Release date Season One8 3 March 2009 Season Two10 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.

Name Ep# Release date Volume 18 16 October 2007 Volume 210 7 October 2008

International versions

Currently airing New season coming No longer in production

Country Title Broadcaster Chef Original run Source(s)Start dateEnd date Argentina Pesadilla en la cocina (Nightmare in the kitchen) Telefe Christophe Krywonis Q3 2016 Australia Kitchen Nightmares Seven Network Colin Fassnidge 12 October 2022 Brazil Pesadelo na Cozinha (Nightmare in the kitchen) Band Érick Jacquin 26 January 2017Present Bulgaria Кошмари в кухнята (Nightmares in the kitchen) Nova TV Ivan Manchev 8 October 2014 17 January 2022 Chile Pesadilla en la cocina (Nightmare in the kitchen) Chilevisión Gustavo Maurelli 28 February 201627 April 2016 Croatia Jezikova juha RTL Stephan Macchi 15 May 200924 September 2014 Czech Republic Ano, šéfe! (Yes, Chef!) Prima Zdeněk Pohlreich 5 March 20091 October 2018 Ano, šéfová! (Yes, Chef!) Jitka and Santo Pagana 12 November 201817 December 2018 Denmark Med kniven for struben (The knife against the throat) TV3 Bo Bech (seasons 1–4) Thomas Castberg (seasons 5–present) 2007 2012 Viaplay20172018Viafree2020Present Estonia Köögikubjas (Kitchen Hood) Kanal 2 Juha Matti Rantanen 20112012 Finland Kuppilat kuntoon, Jyrki Sukula! (Restoring Restaurants, Jyrki Sukula!) Nelonen Jyrki Sukula 20122018 Kuppilat kuntoon, Hans Välimäki! (Restoring Restaurants, Hans Välimäki!) Hans Välimäki 2020Present France Cauchemar en cuisine (Nightmare in the kitchen) M6 Philippe Etchebest 2011Present Germany Rach, der Restauranttester (Rach, the Restaurant Tester) RTL Christian Rach 11 September 20054 March 2013 13 March 201710 April 2017 Der Restauranttester (The Restaurant Tester) Steffen Henssler 24 February 20146 July 2015 Germany Rosins Restaurants Kabel Eins Frank Rosin 24. November 2009Present Greece Εφιάλτης στην Κουζίνα (Nightmare in the Kitchen) Alpha TV Ektoras Botrini 20092013 2020Present Israel מהפכה במטבח (A kitchen revolution) Reshet Asaf Granit2015 Present Italy Cucine da incubo (Nightmarish kitchens) Fox Life Antonino Cannavacciuolo 15 May 2013Present TV8NOVESky Uno Netherlands Herrie in de keuken! (Noise in the kitchen!) RTL 5RTL 4 Herman den Blijker 20052013 Norway Hellstrøm Rydder Opp (Hellstrøm Cleans Up) TV3Viasat Eyvind Hellstrøm 25 September 2008Present Poland Kuchenne rewolucje (Kitchen revolutions) TVN Magda Gessler 6 March 2010Present Portugal Pesadelo na Cozinha (Nightmare in the kitchen) TVI Ljubomir Stanisic 12 March 2017Present Russia На ножах (On the Knives)Na nozhakh Friday! Konstantin Ivlev June 15, 2016Present Serbia Paklena kuhinja (Hell's Kitchen) Prva Srpska Televizija Saša Mišić 20102013 Slovakia Áno, šéfe! (Yes, Chef!) TV JOJ Jaroslav Žídek 7 March 201120 October 2011 Na nože (On the Knives)TV MarkízaMartin Novák8 February 2023Present Spain Pesadilla en la cocina (Nightmare in the kitchen) laSexta Alberto Chicote 25 October 2012Present Sweden Kniven mot strupen (The knife against the throat) TV3 Alexander Nilson 19 November 2009Present Switzerland Bumann, der Restauranttester (Bumann, the Restaurant Tester) 3+ Daniel Bumann 15 October 20092021 Ukraine На ножах (On the Knives)Na nozhakh 1+1 Aram Mnatsakanov (season 1) Olga Freimut and Dmitry Borisov (seasons 2-3) 15 August 201231 October 2012 5 April 20162 April 2017Novyi KanalAlexander Yakutov15 October 2022 United States Kitchen Nightmares Fox Gordon Ramsay 19 September 2007 12 September 201425 September 2023Present

References

External links Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares at Channel4.com Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares at IMDb Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares at BBC America Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares at Food Network Canada