Hell's Kitchen

Last night we caught Hell's Kitchen, the American version of Chef Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare, which we saw on TV in Wales during our walk along Offa's Dike. It is really a great show, The Apprentice meets Survivor meets Big Brother meets The French Chef. The torrent of profanities, bleeped out here in America, were fully audible in the UK. Ramsay is an entertaining character--I seem to remember hearing that his actual restaurant went out of business in Britain, so maybe he's a better as an actor than restaurant proprietor. He sort of plays a very loud version of a British public-school character, instructing his charges in making a Mango Flambe instead of conjugating Latin verbs. Despite the hype, reassuringly old school. And the irony of a British show about cooking, with celebrity chefs. Who would have imagined?