TV’s original bad boy chef, 53-year-old Gordon Ramsay is said to be in talks with ITV to revive Hell’s Kitchen UK. The firebrand of a show first saw Michelin star chef Ramsay launch his TV career in May 2004 by playing host. The popular British cooking reality show, which aired on ITV, featured prospective celebrities donning the chef’s hat with head chef Gordon acting as a mentor.
Hell’s Kitchen, which was within a year adapted into an American reality competition television series format for Fox in 2005, became an instant favorite amongst audiences. Since then, it has had four British editions, and seventeen international adaptations with multiple seasons. Initially, the show had different formats and different head chefs for the first three seasons, with Gordon Ramsay being accompanied by Gary Rhodes, Jean-Christophe Novelli, and Marco Pierre White. During its run from 23 May – June 6, 2004, the show’s format had Ramsay attempt to train 10 British celebrities to be chefs, as they ran a restaurant on Brick Lane in the East End of London, which was open to the public. However, in spite of being the creator of Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay quit after wrapping up the first season and subsequently signed up a deal with ITV’s rival British channel, Channel 4 to become the lead of The F Word and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. But in May 2005, when Fox created an adaptation for this popular cooking series for the US, Ramsay was roped in to host it. Hell’s Kitchen US famously introduced Gordon to the American audience and acquainted it to his notorious temper, which in turn gave the series some of its most popular moments. From its run starting May 2005 till date, the show that has two teams of chefs compete for a job as head chef at a restaurant has had eighteen seasons, with Fox renewing it for a nineteenth and twentieth season in February 2019.
As reported by The Sun earlier today, Ramsay is now planning to revive the UK version of Hell’s Kitchen after 16 long years. According to a source of the outlet, “He’s always wanted to bring Hell’s Kitchen back to British TV and he wouldn’t want anyone else to be fronting its revival.” Speaking about the show that has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards in the US, the source commented, “Despite Gordon making life a misery for many of the celebrities, famous faces are likely to be clamoring to sign up!” Further details and confirmation, however, are awaited. Gordon’s fan-favoured first season run of Hell’s Kitchen in the UK saw celebrities such as winner and former Brookside actress Jennifer Lesley Ellison, Mount Pleasant comic James Dreyfus, pop legend Belinda Carlisle, and track sprinter Dwain Chambers amongst others.
The reports about Ramsay supposedly bringing back Hell’s Kitchen UK has both Ramsay’s and the show’s fans feeling overjoyed. Tweets such as, “Gordon bringing back Hell’s Kitchen is the news I needed today” have been doing the rounds, along with the usual fan tweeting and asking Ramsay to rate a dish they’ve cooked during quarantine. Speaking of which, the production of the reboot might not get underway until the start of 2021 owing to the ongoing pandemic. But, as the wait continues, fans can keep streaming reruns of Hell’s Kitchen on Amazon Prime Video to savor Ramsay’s spiciest of insults.
