Kitchen Nightmares is a British-American cooking-themed Reality Show in which chef Gordon Ramsay visits struggling restaurants and attempts to turn them around. It began in 2004 as Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on Channel 4 in the UK before FOX adapted the series for American audiences in 2007.
The show shot up to near-viral levels of popularity after it featured the infamous Arizona-based Amy's Baking Company in two episodes. Tropes specific to those episodes should go here (the first episode) and here (the "return" episode).
At the end of the seventh US season in mid-to-late 2014, Ramsay announced that he decided to end the show so that he could focus on other projects, although he didn't rule out the possibility of returning to it at some point in the future. Since then, he has filmed one new season for the UK version of the show (titled Ramsay's Costa del Nightmares) in late 2014, and a sequel series titled Hotel Hell (which premiered in 2012 but didn't air further until the 2014-2016 period), focusing on hotels instead of restaurants.
In 2018, Ramsay launched a new show, Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back. The format is basically the same idea as Kitchen Nightmares, but with Ramsay first eating at the restaurant in disguise and with a countdown clock of just 24 hours to renovate the restaurant, as well as a few other new touches added in.
In May 2023, a new season of Kitchen Nightmares was announced, with filming starting the next month. Studio Ramsay produces the new season, as the original series was produced by ITV Studios America (now known as ITV America) in association with Optomen and A Smith & Co. The new season premiered in September 2023.
The show's official YouTube channel
posts various clips and some episodes from the US and UK versions in their full, uncensored glory, and has since branched out to air episodes of Hotel Hell and 24 Hours to Hell and Back as well.
