The whole thing last night could have even worked if all six restaurants were shown as successes, but Gordon showed that there were ways that they could still improve, that there were bits and pieces here and there that could still be made better. To have shown the process of improvement as an ongoing one would also have shown us that Ramsay is good, but not a miracle worker, and it's the miracle worker message that ruined the episode.
The British version of the show (also starring Gordon Ramsay) revisits the restaurants for the last 10 or 15 minutes of each episode, and there the audience get to see that things don't always pan out. Sure, everything is still tilted somewhat in Gordon's favor (at least in every episode I've seen), but it's a far more realistic picture. And that makes me feel insulted. Does someone out there really believe that we, as Americans, can't handle the truth, that we need things sugarcoated? I don't buy that.
As Gordon Ramsay himself would say, "Grow up, big boy."
Article comments
1 - Brent
Of the ten (not eleven) restaurants that Ramsay took on last season we actually know the fates of nine. One of the restaurants (The Seascape) was sold five months after production on the episode wrapped, but enough time that its fate was included as an epilogue to the episode. A second restaurant (Lela's) closed after the show was produced because of debts from before Ramsay worked with them. The third restaurant - Sebastian's - was the show's biggest failure. There are conflicting stories as to why the place closed down. What is known is that the owner went back to his confusing menu almost as soon as Ramsay left. While he and his surrogates have been quite vocal about saying that Ramsay was an idiot and the restaurant closing had more to do with the owner wanting to move somewhere else, the fact is that the restaurant went back to its original style and it is closed. The one remaining restaurant that wasn't visited in the episode was The Secret Garden. Apparently it is still in operation but the chef has reportedly gone back to his old menu, and old working habits. So what we really have is six out of ten successes, with two restaurants where we don't know how things would have gone either because the restaurant was sold or went broke because of debts owed from before Ramsay arrived. That leaves two restaurants that went back to the way things were, one of which isn't in operation anymore. Draw what conclusions you wish from that.
2 - Tyrone Pollan
Ramsay is a successful businessman, and just happens to be a good enough chef to earn 9 Michelin stars. When he gives advice, it's usually because he sees an opportunity for improvement. One thing that's true, he steps in and declares "we're in the shlt" and sort of places himself in charge. It's his personality and his style. Many have had bosses like this. When people take his advice and throw it out the window and fail, they blame him? They insist they are on the verge of failing without his help. So if he never showed up, they'd still blame him for not showing up to help them? Geez Louise.