History YMMV / KitchenNightmares

** Kingston Cafe served [[AwesomeButImpractical saladsin martini glasses]], which Gordon Ramsay saw as bizarre. Two years later, [[Recap/BarRescueS3E6JonTHeDontLikeIt an episode]] of ''Series/BarRescue'' served their appetizers in a stemless martini glass to make it look more classy.

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Judging from her various internet meltdowns, high turn-over rates and countless other delusional transgressions, some believe that Amy from "Amy's Baking Company" has Schizophrenia, or at the very least untreated Bipolar Disorder. Her lack of empathy also points towards [[TheNarcissist Narcissistic personality disorder]] or [[TheSociopath Antisocial personality disorder.]]

* {{Narm}}: It's impossible to take Ruby Tate's updated name "Love's Fish Restaurant" seriously after ''Series/WheelOfFortune''. (A quick-puzzle's solution was "Wish list", but the only letters revealed were _ish l___, a contestant guessed Fish Love.)

* CommonKnowledge: The legendary proclamation, "Hello, my name's '''NINO!!!!!!!'''" was not actually said by Nino himself, but rather by his brother Michael doing an unflattering impression of him.

** Fernandes from "Diwan" for being 100% honest with Ramsay and being the most vocal supporter for changes in the retaurant.

*** YMMV on this for some viewers. While his points about the restaurant itself are often sound, his personal attacks towards the parents and Daniel, particularly the unfounded allegations of substance abuse and threatening to attack Daniel, and subsequently returning to the restaurant after being justifiably fired for it purely to cause more problems by demanding money he wasn't owed, paint him as an extremely unprofessional bully at best and certainly contributed to Daniel's difficulties and breakdowns throughout the two-parter.

* MemeticMutation: "This is all ROTTEN!" and "it's fucking RAW!!" Typically with as thick a Scottish accent as possible.

** The American version includes the usual reality TV tropes (excessive use of {{flashback}}s, cheesy and continuous background music, and replacing Gordon with the narrator from ''The Dog Whisperer'', though Gordon does return to narrating the 2023 reboot). Most importantly, Gordon no longer has exclusivity on deploying {{Cluster F Bomb}}s.

** The American version includes the usual reality TV tropes (excessive use of {{flashback}}s, cheesy and continuous background music, and replacing Gordon with the narrator from ''The Dog Whisperer''). Most importantly, Gordon no longer has exclusivity on deploying {{Cluster F Bomb}}s.

* NightmareFuel: Some of the kitchens are filled with rotten food (Dillon's and Fiesta Sunrise in particular, both of which also had insects crawling around everywhere), which is not only disgusting but very dangerous given that poorly prepared food can ''kill'' you, or at least make you very sick. (This happened in one episode when a customer had a rotten lobster, and in the UK pilot where Gordon threw up after eating a rotten scallop and flat out told the owners it could've killed him.)

** Somewhat {{Downplayed}}, but '''''NINO''''' is often referred to by [=YouTube=] commenters on clips from other restaurants, usually with facetious jokes like "Nino would never do this!" (e.g. "Nino would always make sure the food was out on time!" or "Nino would never lie to Gordon!")

*** The "[[EvilDebtCollector debt collectors]]" themselves could also count, because considering how casually they're dressed and that the restaurant is in Babylon, New York, it's very easy to them for who they [[TheMafia really are]]. [[FromBadToWorse And then]] it was found out years later that Peter had actually been an associate of the Bonanno crime family before appearing on ''Kitchen Nightmares''.

** The American version includes the usual reality TV tropes (excessive use of [[FlashBack flashbacks]], cheesy and continuous background music, and replacing Gordon with the narrator from ''The Dog Whisperer''). Most importantly, Gordon no longer has exclusivity on deploying {{Cluster F Bomb}}s.

* AccidentalInnuendo: After Gordon gives Joe Nagy a verbal beatdown and the latter has a therapy session with his staff:

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Judging from her various internet meltdowns, high turn-over rates and countless other delusional transgressions, some believe that Amy from Amy's Baking Company has Schizophrenia, or at the very least untreated Bipolar Disorder. Her lack of empathy also points towards [[TheNarcissist Narcissistic personality disorder]] or [[TheSociopath Antisocial personality disorder.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[SubvertedTrope Although it's far more likely that he's just a narcissist who can't accept his own ideas being shot down]], one could see Sebastian's obsession with uniqueness as a surprisingly industry-aware paranoia; even if food is very good, having a similar menu to other restaurants in the area makes it harder to compete with them, [[JerkassHasAPoint so being unique, even if slightly lesser than your contemporaries, helps you to stand out, and generates business.]][[note]]This is generally a point that Ramsay himself, as well as his Series/BarRescue contemporary Jon Taffer, frequently bring up in their revamps, attempting to give banal locations a sense of identity through decor or a specialized menu[[/note]] But on the other hand, your food actually has to be palatable for said plan to work, and especially if one intends to franchise, meaning that even if this slightly more sound line of reasoning was the one Sebastian was following, [[ShaggyDogStory he's still wrong.]]

* JerkassWoobie:
** David Blaine, the (initial) head chef of the Burger Kitchen. While he engaged in some major Jerkass behavior, such as repeatedly accusing one of the owners of being bipolar and then semi-seriously threatening to hit one of the others (resulting in him being fired midway through the two-parter), it was clear that he was a pretty talented chef who had been hamstrung by the owners' obsession with using frozen Wagyu burgers, and had been working for several months without pay. He was also ''[[GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity the tenth chef]]'' that had left Burger Kitchen. Despite his nastiness, [[JerkassHasAPoint many of the points he made about the family's inability to run a restaurant were correct.]]
*** From the same episode there's Daniel: his own bad attitude makes it hard to feel sorry for him when David threatens him; but when one remembers he was forced into a job he didn't want after his father stole $250,000 from him, it's hard to blame him for being so bitter.
** The owner's husband in the ''Fiesta Sunrise'' episode comes off as aggressive and confrontational with the manager (to the point of almost starting a fistfight on camera), but it is revealed that not only is he paying his own bills, but he is putting money into the restaurant to keep it from failing and even paying the manager's bills because of the manager's incompetence.
** The family in the Mediterranean Kabob Room - the children don't have any money, and are working at the restaurant ''for free'', seven days a week, and the stress and suppressed resentment really shows in how they treat each other.
** The UK series has Alan Love and Nick Anderson, owners of Ruby Tate's and Rococo respectively. Both were [[GloryDays reliving past glories]] that left them stuck in the past and unable to move on. Both proved to be rather egotistical (Alan in particular was flat-out manic), uncooperative, and resistant to any changes to their restaurant. They also were both looking at foreclosure and homelessness. Both men [[ManlyTears broke down in tears]] on camera talking about the failures of their restaurant.
** Trevor, the former head chef from the Mangia Mangia episode. He starts out being shown as a cocky, indifferent, incompetent (and often violent) prat with a bad attitude, but he eventually caves in and tearfully admits his chronic depression and [[spoiler:addiction to crystal meth that is heavily implied to be a result of it]] after a particularly bad service -- during which Janelle screamed at him [[KickTheDog that his life didn't matter and that he would be better off dead]] -- culminating him in him [[spoiler:being sent to Drug Rehab]], [[PetTheDog paid for by Ramsay on the condition that the owner at least considers rehiring him after he cleans up]].
** Fay from ''Zayna's Flaming Grill''. She obviously ''needs'' help, but is so afraid of failure she lashes out at everyone (including her own niece). When one realizes that the main reason she lashes out so much is because she's afraid of losing the restaurant (which has been her dream for decades), she becomes more sympathetic.
* MemeticBadass: