I Thought So

Gordon Ramsay is a very talented chef, a successful restauranteur, and the star of several interesting television programs. He has also caused me to wonder from time to time whether he might be "one of us".

Ramsay - an ex-footballer - is infamous for his salty language, especially the use of the F word. In fact, that's the name of his latest show, although in that case, the F stands for "food".

In Hell's Kitchen Gordon takes a group of sixteen aspiring chefs and systematically reduces them to mincemeat as, one by one, he eliminates them from the show. The last standing contender will be given a restaurant of his or her own to run, and Gordon is merciless in his demands for perfection.

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is a somewhat milder but equally entertaining show in which Gordon visits a struggling restaurant and, in the course of a week, rights all wrongs and gets it back on its feet. It's often difficult to understand what's being said, because the network insists on bleeping any naughty words, so the dialogue is often mutilated to the point of being incoherent.

My suspicions about his disciplinary nature were laid to rest when, in a recent episode, he told a young chef who was bent over a counter adjusting the garnish on a plate that "I'll cane your ass!" and the young man grinned in embarrassment.

I thought so.