Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service, season 1 (8 episodes)
release year: 2025
genre: restaurant documentary/drama
viewing setting: home streaming 5/26/25 - 7/22/25
synopsis: In this new series, famed chef/restaurateur Gordon Ramsay visits and spies on places that are in trouble, and then gives his blunt thoughts and advice.
impressions: All of these episoes are similar: each involves a restaurant that's faded from its better days, plus has serious sanitation and/or leadership issues. These are tough to watch, given the presence of rats and roaches at night, meat saws that haven't been cleaned in years, similarly-nasty ovens, perishable meat left at room temperature or worse, key ingredients that come from a can instead of the claimed fresh sources, and so on...and owners who are oblivious or don't care. Seriously, parts of this show might make you not want to ever again eat food that you didn't prepare yourself! At some point, this started feeling like Queer Eye for restaurant-owning families. Anyway, in each case, Ramsay eventually gets to the bottom of the issues (which are familial as well as logistical) and brings in a crew to do a complete makeover of the kitchen and dining room. And they all live happily ever after. It's likely that a lot of this was just done for dramatic effect, but one has to wonder how many of these places/people will actually make _permanent_ change, and how many will slip back into their old ways over time.
acting: n/a but two things for sure: Ramsay doesn't hold back, and some of these people really needed a kick in the ass. I do want to make a special mention of the one lady from episodes 7-8, who couldn't handle pressure and whose voice got really high and nasal anytime she was stressed out.
final word: Interesting look at the issues and solutions for troubled restaurants, with a human-drama twist.
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