It’s interesting to note that The Weakest Link and American Idol are both British imports, and both shows star acid-tongued Brits (Simon Cowell on American Idol) who deliver insulting put-downs to contestants, which would seem to indicate that a British audience enjoys the put-downs and insults.
Another British import that aired on Fox was Hell’s Kitchen, starring Gordon Ramsay, a popular “celebrity chef” in England. Hell’s Kitchen was all about humiliation. The contestants were your standard-issue reality show bunch, and the show followed the basic reality show template, involving various competitions and the elimination of a contestant in each episode.
The prize on Hell’s Kitchen was a restaurant. When the show started, Ramsay claimed his methods could make anyone a top-notch chef, and what progressed was a sort of boot-camp format, with Ramsay acting as drill instructor (he’s accompanied by two other chefs in this task). Contestants were awakened at 5:00 a.m. by Ramsay’s chefs banging metal lids and quickly forcing the contestants to meet with Ramsay for that day’s festivities.
The last part of each episode played out with the opening of the Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant to “diners” while the contestants worked in the kitchen to prepare the dishes. In the first few weeks of the show, Ramsay screamed at contestants, hurled obscenities, and would even take a prepared dish of food and slam it into a contestant’s chest. Ramsay called an overweight contestant “Fatboy” - some of the contestants were driven to tears by Ramsay’s bullying. It’s hard to imagine that winning a restaurant would be worth the national humiliation of appearing on the show.
Curiously, the final two remaining contestants were chefs in “real” life. So much for Ramsay’s claim of turning anyone into a chef, as many of the contestants were not chefs but rather folks with an interest in cooking.
Tomorrow: PBS enters the kitchen.
Ed/Pub:LM
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Article comments
1 - Sister Ray
Just when I thought I'd erased Weakest Link from my memory, you had to go and remind me of it again.
Uncanny how dead-on Warhol was with the "15 minutes" remark. People who never heard of him know that saying.
2 - Scott C. Smith
It is uncanny how Warhol's prediction is playing out. Reality television is all about 15 minutes of fame, and with each new show we get a new semi-celebrity. I think now it's more like 10 minutes of fame. And then straight on to appear as a cast member of "The Surreal Life."
3 - Eric Berlin
Brilliant job, Scott!
Yes, the 15 minutes is getting whittled down now to a meaningless jellied mess, isn't it?
I love that you put "diners" in quotes for Hell's Kitchen -- harkens to what I recently wrote about Minding the Store and manipulated/scripted "unscripted" shows.
Looking forward to Part II...
4 - John Bill
Everything is funny when its not happening to you.
5 - Temple Stark
Eric B, thinks you're swell.
This is an editor's pick of the week. Click HERE to find out why.
Thank you for the writing.
6 - Charlie
I love reality TV. Reality TV rules. You don't like it, author, don't watch it. GO sit in your room and look out the window at our the boring world all day long.