By Sevanah Sandoval
Gordon Ramsay has undoubtedly been a figure of wide popularity for years. Even if you haven’t sat down to watch any of his shows, you have likely seen clips of Ramsay yelling at a confused chef in Hell’s Kitchen, yelling at a bad food business owner in Kitchen Nightmares or in 24 Hours to Hell and Back, yelling at more confused chefs in Masterchef, and so on. Though Ramsay has other shows that are focused on learning more about cooking or exploring the cuisines of the world, his most widely known television appearances have to do with his tendency to yell, swear, and take a brutal approach to teaching other chefs.
If you don’t know much about Gordon Ramsay, you might not have known that he hosted a show titled Hotel Hell from 2012 to 2019 that followed a structure very similar to Kitchen Nightmares. He would go to a different struggling hotel every episode and identify the problems with the management, service, and cleanliness of the establishment. Then, he would help the owners renovate their hotel and try to help them do a better job of managing their ownership. Much like Kitchen Nightmares, this show also featured stubborn business owners, disgusting conditions, and a lot of Ramsay yelling.
Recently, I began watching full episodes of Hotel Hell on YouTube when I wanted some background noise. What I found, however, was that the people on this show were much crazier than I anticipated.
Sure, an episode with mostly normal hotel owners that just needed help getting out of debt seems a little boring. The producers must have realized this, leading them to feature the most eccentric cast of unreasonable people to avoid viewer boredom. From trying to flip a hotel to be ready for a wedding in a day, to dealing with owners that refused to pay their staff, the show managed to capture my attention.
Take season one episodes one and two for example: Ramsay visits the Juniper Hill Inn in Windsor, Vermont, and is met with an antique-filled, unwelcoming hotel with stuck-up owners Robert and Ari. Why are the owners so terrible? Well, Robert boasts expensive antiques yet doesn’t pay his employees on time, making some wait upwards of five weeks for checks of less than one hundred dollars, he takes tips from the wait staff, and he lets his friends eat and sleep for free. Ari, his partner, is impatient and according to Ramsay, not cut out for hospitality. On top of this, Robert has three storage units outside of the inn filled with more junk, potbelly pigs living in the basement, and an RV that he escapes to when he does not want to deal with his managerial responsibilities.
Throughout the episodes, the staff detail Robert and Ari’s shortcomings, and Ramsay is appalled. He constantly claims that the two are in a fantasy world and think of themselves as above all of their staff. The head chef agrees, and in an argument with Robert about not getting paid on time, he says that the staff are all “surrounded by wealth” in the hotel yet “reminded of poverty” when they are met with their dire circumstances.
Like every Hotel Hell episode, the tone shifts from the business being a sinking ship to a salvageable issue. Impossibly fast, Robert and Ari seem to realize the error of the ways they have been stuck in for years and apologize to their staff, promising to do better. After one successful dinner service and some minor remodels, Ramsay leaves the Juniper Hill Inn, hoping his work there would lead to success for Robert and Ari.
Surprise surprise, it didn’t. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that in order to stick to the show’s tried and true format, there needs to be some sort of redemption or proof that the owners are too crazy to help. Because Robert and Ari weren’t as unreasonable and stubborn as the owners of any of the few businesses Ramsay had to give up on in the past, the show had to prove to viewers that Ramsay helped the hotel. However, with a little bit of reasoning it’s clear that years worth of poor business practices and overwhelming debt can’t be cured with a promise to do better.
As expected, the Juniper Hill Inn failed. Most of the staff featured in the episode that were “heart warmed” by Robert’s promises to be better left the inn. In April of 2014, the hotel was foreclosed with debts of $1.1 million. In addition, Ari was arrested for assaulting a police officer in July of 2015.
So, what’s the takeaway? Yes, not every hotel Ramsay visits will succeed after he leaves. Simply put, poor management practices and stubbornness are hard to chip away at effectively, especially as many owners that dislike seeing the flaws with their work start to see Ramsay as an antagonist. Despite this, I think that the show is still entertaining if you don’t get too caught up in the unrealistic aspects of the show. After all, there’s a reason that these business rescue shows with Gordon Ramsay have been so popular: they can be entertaining.
So, if you’re looking for a reality show to binge, Hotel Hell is a decent option. Are Ramsay’s missions realistic? No. But is it entertaining to watch stubborn owners get yelled at and staff finally receive appreciation? Yes. Plus, Hotel Hell is free to watch on YouTube, so anyone can view it.
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