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Returning: Hell’s Kitchen. Gone: Kitchen Nightmares USA

When Gordon Ramsay isn't working anymore we're in serious trouble.

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When Gordon Ramsay is no longer working, we’re in serious programming trouble. But 712,000 viewers was all he attracted last night at 9:30pm, well down on his highs of 1.3 – 1.4m. Nine now gets that for repeats of Two and a Half Men.

Nine started the latest series of Kitchen Nightmares USA just days after its US screening. Airing on a Monday the first episode was virtually a recap, with Gordo going back to restaurants he had spruced up before. Last week the first “new restaurant” didn’t air til 10pm, following the 90min premiere of Fringe.

After another new episode next week the series will then be pulled from schedule to be replaced by Hell’s Kitchen series two. This aired in the US in June 2006, and has already aired on subscription TV. The Lifestyle Channel is already airing series four.

It does seem peculiar to replace one under-performing Gordon Ramsay with more Gordon Ramsay. Maybe the problem lays in over-exposure, shifting timeslots, lead-in programmes or even the “muppets” at Channel Nine?

Updated: Hell’s Kitchen & Kitchen Nightmares USA now replaced by CSI: NY from Oct 15.

24 Responses

  4. I am not surprised that Ramsay’s show now suddenly receive poor ratings. They rated well early in the year, and when we get in the middle of the year, viewers say “meh” and decide not to watch anymore. This was what happened when Seven decided to air The Weakest Link, except that TWL was rested sometime in 2002, never to return.

  6. For your info “Big Stu’ Ramsay has started to attract a bit of bad press overseas as quite a few folk NOT happy with food,service at Ramsay’s own eateries.

    Seems like he is becoming a TV star aka another US/UK celebrity that gets more famous or infamous for just hanging aroundor doing naff all.

    No doubt most of so called patronsat the restaurants he ‘fixes’ are actors/wannabees.

    If he pulled stunt on me, I would throw spaghetti over his head.

    And let’s face it in amercia, they would just sue.

  7. People don’t watch it because it is the same old thing over and over.

    I would suggest that Gordon Ramsay lost a heap of viewers (predominantly Females) when he dropped the “C-Bomb” on air and it was left in.

    Actually I know a heap of guys who wouldn’t watch it following that either. Let’s be honest apart from needing someone to give him a good solid smack in the mouth (which for some unknown reason everyone is afraid to do) this Bullyboys tactics have gotten boring.

    He aint going to get the smack in the chops he deserves for speaking to staff under him like that so why bother watching? Now if he did get a slapping one week that would put the ratings through the roof…

  8. I still can’t believe it’s taken 9 this long to show the second season of Hell’s Kitchen! After watching it earlier this year for the first time, I looked it up and was surprised to find out it was actually from 2005!

    I hope 9 get through this season without interrupting this though. It’s not the type of show that you can just pull (although I know they’ll try).

  9. I think it is defiantly a case of over exposure that has had an affect on Ramsey and if nine aren’t to careful the same thing will happen to 2.5 men personally I like the UK version of kitchen nightmares a lot more than the US one I could be wrong but didn’t the UK version rate a bit better than the US one

  10. Thats just annoying! I mean I know Ramsay’s shows were rammed down our throats, but of all of them kitchen nightmares was the best. Hells Kitchen doesn’t seem to go well here (mostly because its not that good and Ramsay just seems fake and over the top). The reason its ratings were so bad was that a) that first episode was just silly – a giant recap!! and 2) the played around with the time slot too much meaning people just didn’t know when to tune in.

    I suggest nine just keep kitchen nightmares and the ratings will increase if the timeslot stays the same

  12. Fringe wasnt too bad in the pilot episode (can we really call a US $10mil ep a ‘pilot’?), but yes, i thought it got better this week after watching it off the recorder today
    Nine still does somewhat decent with it’s wide range of well performing series…60 Minutes, 2.5 Men, News, ACA…and um, well you know, all those other, err, great series……
    If H&A was beating 2.5 Men by a better margin, and 7’s Thursdays did better, then Seven would be smashing Nine back down to join Ten at the low 20% mark

  13. Overexposure of Ramsay definitely a problem PLUS one small problem that most thinking folk picked up ages ago and stopped watching..

    EVERY single restaurant has serious health issues and seems to be first obvious hing picked up by Ramsay DOH!!!

    Now if there was “different issues” like management,food choices,menus,, marketing and these were highlighted, maybe it would have interest.

    Ramsay just trots out same lines.

    Swears.
    This place is filthy
    Swears
    This place is dirty
    Swears
    Old food in freezer.

    Even the “socially challenged can spot the obvious.

  16. The problem is obviously Nine’s programming muppets, who appear to have had brain cells surgically removed at birth.

    And seven hundred and twelve THOUSAND viewers will doubtless agree.

    Ah well, another one for the torrent list. Pity the US one is bleeped, but I guess whenever a bleep happens I can throw in my own expletive and think of Nine.

    Fringe also goes on my torrent list after Nine censored last night’s episode and both heavily edited AND censored the pilot last week.

  17. Why not show us Series 4 of Hell’s Kitchen – lets have some fresh content Nine – none of this re-heated crap!

    Nine, give us some recent reality tv, save the hassle of torrents, and perhaps people will switch back to TV. Surely especially with Reality TV, timeliness is crucial or people will just see internet spoilers and not watch the content.

    What’s the bet that Survivor gets bumped quickly when Nine finally start showing the last series?

  19. Yeah I usually love GR but as Bernadette said, the US KN is very repetitive. I also enjoy Hells Kitchen more, for reasons unknown. So I am kinda glad to see it back! Although I would rather see the newer seasons…

  20. Overexposure was definitely an issue for me – too much Gordo earlier in the year made me a bit bored with the whole Gordo thing

    Plus I like the English version more – they don’t repeat everything 7 times per episode (in the US version there’s only about 15 minutes of new content per episode because they keep telling us what’s coming up after the break then telling us what happened before the break) (apparently Americans have the attention span of fish)

    Plus Gordo doesn’t go with Fringe (then again I can’t think what does – I was ready to gouge my own eyes out with a blunt knife rather than watch more Fringe)

  24. lol muppets, you must have secret intel that everyone in aus doesn’t know about…Not that i watch his shows, but the first ep was a recap so people probably didn’t bother, it was then yanked out of its timeslot and placed at a time of 10pm on a wednesday, then back to 9.30pm that people who didn’t read the tv guide wouldn’t have noticed the changes. 3 different timeslots. How consistent.

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