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CHICAGO – In anticipation of the scariest week of the year, HollywoodChicago.com launches its 2024 Movie Gifts series, which will suggest DVDs and collections for holiday giving.
TV Review: Gordon Ramsay Returns to Spruce Up ‘Hotel Hell’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 13, 2012 - 8:57am
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Hotel Hell
Photo credit: FOX
“Hotel Hell” stars Gordon Ramsay and premieres on FOX on Monday, August 13, 2012 at 7pm CST.
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CHICAGO – Gordon Ramsay is back! Wait, Gordon Ramsay never really went away! Seriously, FOX must have an entire wing devoted to building programs around the divisive loudmouth who has made an absolute fortune off the failed culinary tactics of wannabe chefs on “Hell’s Kitchen” & “Masterchef” and failed restaurateurs on “Kitchen Nightmares.” Ramsay gets a fourth FOX series starting tonight in “Hotel Hell,” an unscripted series in which the clever businessman heads to bed & breakfasts, inns, and other lodgings and shows them what they’re doing wrong whether they like it or not.
 Television Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
To be fair, I vastly prefer the Ramsay of “Nightmares” and this program to the one who berates people for under-cooking scallops on “Hell’s Kitchen.” There’s no denying the man is adept at discerning problems and finding solutions on “Nightmares” and he brings that personality to “Hell,” a show with refreshingly less screaming and swearing than his competition programs. Although it wouldn’t be a Ramsay show if there weren’t a few disagreements and not all of Ramsay’s suggestions for hotel improvements are going to be met with a smile and a nod.
Hotel Hell
Photo credit: FOX
Take for example the series premiere in which Ramsay travels to a pretentious inn that seems to be more of a trophy piece for its owner than an actual place of lodging. Even the locals don’t feel welcome there. Filled with ridiculous antiques, housing a restaurant with ludicrous prices, and populated by an increasingly hostile staff, the Juniper Hill Inn is going down in flames. And, to be honest, it probably should given the prickly, aggravating attitude of the man who runs it. But Ramsay likes a challenge. He’ll do what he can to save the Juniper or die trying over a two-night premiere — August 13 & 14 on FOX.
As I mentioned, I like this Gordon Ramsay and when the show doesn’t feel overly scripted or edited for maximum reality TV value, it works. I honestly do believe that there’s a big part of Ramsay that wants to help others whether they be aspiring chefs, failed ones, or even a guy who has turned his dream of owning a hotel into a nightmare. It’s when that intelligent and helpful half of Ramsay gets beaten down by the reality TV star that I have issues with his larger-than-life personality. There’s enough realism in this reality TV to keep it engaging for its short six-week run leading up to the actual start of the FOX fall season. Think of it as a quickie final summer vacation. To “Hell.”
 | By BRIAN TALLERICO |
Hell
I was really curious about Hotel Hell. It met my expectations and since I’m a Gordon Ramsay fan that really isn’t a surprise. His new show is actually doing something important: It’s bringing to the forefront what is wrong with today’s business owners and what is wrong with people’s standard of performance in the Hotel business. I work at Dish so I get to hear a lot about different TV shows and that’s how I usually end up watching them. I keep up with what’s on by using the remote access app for my iPad. It allows me to stream live TV or what’s been recorded on my Hopper. It’s great because I don’t have to wait to get home and watch, I can do it on my break! I’ll be tuning in to next week’s episode of this new one for sure.