I'm a week behind with the return of this reality cooking series, which was fantastic with Gordon Ramsey in its first year, then nigh unwatchable when Jean Christophe Novelli and Gary Rhodes took over for series 2. Is third time the charm, under the guidance of Ramsey's one-time mentor Marco Pierre White?
Well... perhaps not, as I expected more from White. I'd imagined him as a ballbreaking Frenchman(!) -- a culinary crackpot who infamously made Gordon Ramsey cry once. So where's The Devil in Hell's Kitchen? Instead, I've got a slightly posh English giant with a bulbous face that alternates between handsome and horrific depending on angle and lighting. What's more, he puts dollops of HP sauce and ketchup on everything!
I'm a bit disappointed. Maybe it's a calculated move away from aping Ramsey's inflammatory style (which Novelli and Rhodes copied to their disgrace last time). I'd like to believe that, but even the ITV adverts have White stalking through a kitchen like a slow-motion rottweiler about to rip the hind legs off some poor, unsuspecting celeb. I think even ITV must be bemused he doesn't have his knives out...
Still, atleast I recognize 90% of the celebrities involved. That makes a change on shows like this! Jim Davidson looks to be as unlikeable as you'd always expected (you don't get married THAT many times without having a pretty big character flaw), while Adele Silva seems to be telly tottie the average bloke could approach and have a laugh with.
Barry McGuigan is niceness personified as "mash supremo", Brian Dowling minces around good-naturedly like he did on Big Brother 2, Anneka Rice seems posher than I remembered from her treasure hunting days (she was the prototype Lara Croft, surely), and who inflated Kelly LeBrock? Those 20 years haven't been kind. The other celebs haven't made much of an impression on me, sorry to say.
Angus Deayton again hosts, delivering deadpan gags that mock the show in a manner that isn't always called for. He has good delivery and some amusing putdowns up his sleeve, but his air of superiority doesn't really work, because viewers are too busy chuckling that he's been "reduced" to fronting reality TV... effectively becoming the naff celebrity he used to lambast on Have I Got News For You.
It's certainly better than series 2, but it's clear that Hell's Kitchen desperately needs that injection of melodramatic fervour Gordon Ramsey brought to series 1. The celebs are a bit too competent this year, while Marco Pierre White's fearsome reputation isn't coming through on-screen.
Oh well, I'm sure ITV2 will be airing Hell's Kitchen USA later this year; which may be edited to within an inch of its life and full of shouting Yanks, but atleast it gets the blood boiling.
Well... perhaps not, as I expected more from White. I'd imagined him as a ballbreaking Frenchman(!) -- a culinary crackpot who infamously made Gordon Ramsey cry once. So where's The Devil in Hell's Kitchen? Instead, I've got a slightly posh English giant with a bulbous face that alternates between handsome and horrific depending on angle and lighting. What's more, he puts dollops of HP sauce and ketchup on everything!
I'm a bit disappointed. Maybe it's a calculated move away from aping Ramsey's inflammatory style (which Novelli and Rhodes copied to their disgrace last time). I'd like to believe that, but even the ITV adverts have White stalking through a kitchen like a slow-motion rottweiler about to rip the hind legs off some poor, unsuspecting celeb. I think even ITV must be bemused he doesn't have his knives out...
Still, atleast I recognize 90% of the celebrities involved. That makes a change on shows like this! Jim Davidson looks to be as unlikeable as you'd always expected (you don't get married THAT many times without having a pretty big character flaw), while Adele Silva seems to be telly tottie the average bloke could approach and have a laugh with.
Barry McGuigan is niceness personified as "mash supremo", Brian Dowling minces around good-naturedly like he did on Big Brother 2, Anneka Rice seems posher than I remembered from her treasure hunting days (she was the prototype Lara Croft, surely), and who inflated Kelly LeBrock? Those 20 years haven't been kind. The other celebs haven't made much of an impression on me, sorry to say.
Angus Deayton again hosts, delivering deadpan gags that mock the show in a manner that isn't always called for. He has good delivery and some amusing putdowns up his sleeve, but his air of superiority doesn't really work, because viewers are too busy chuckling that he's been "reduced" to fronting reality TV... effectively becoming the naff celebrity he used to lambast on Have I Got News For You.
It's certainly better than series 2, but it's clear that Hell's Kitchen desperately needs that injection of melodramatic fervour Gordon Ramsey brought to series 1. The celebs are a bit too competent this year, while Marco Pierre White's fearsome reputation isn't coming through on-screen.
Oh well, I'm sure ITV2 will be airing Hell's Kitchen USA later this year; which may be edited to within an inch of its life and full of shouting Yanks, but atleast it gets the blood boiling.
