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food & drink

Spain's kitchen nightmares

Rescue-chef TV makes for irresistible viewing, albeit with sadist overtones

ANDREW J. LINN

Friday, 29 January 2021, 15:15

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The popularity of reality shows on TV about cooking has never been adequately explained, but it is undeniable that they are crowd pullers. Better still if they involve conflict that gets viewers on the edge of their seats.

The original British TV's Kitchen Nightmares starred Gordon Ramsay, allegedly the world's richest chef, and also showed him to be the rudest. A US version ran for several seasons.

Spain's TV take-off involves a smug little ageing chef, Pedro Chicote, taking the role of restaurant saviour at whatever cost. The format is unchanged: a failing restaurant allows itself to be taken over by the wonder chef (Ramsay or Chicote), who predictably transforms everything, from the cooks and the waiters, to the kitchen appliances and dining room decor, turning a loss-maker into a potential Michelin-star destination.

The more fights and disagreements there are on the road to makeover, the better, and no-one holds back. Tears, tantrums, and even suicide: they're all there.

While these shows make for good television, they do nothing for the human subject matter. Ramsay has been sued several times by the participants in the show, one case involving a half-million-pound pay-out, but even worse is the track record post-TV show.

Many of the allegedly successful 'reformed' restaurants soon closed, one even before the show was aired. The bottom line is that 60 per cent of the restaurants failed in spite of the Ramsay effect.

The Chicote effect in Spain is allegedly the same: six out of 10 establishments closed after the TV show. Irresistible viewing with sadist overtones?

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