Hell's Kitchen makes Heavenly Television! (Hell's Kitchen)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Hell's Kitchen
Date:	28/04/09 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Marco is a fantastic chef to watch, addictive viewing

Disadvantages: Some of the celebrities aren't really celebrities, not much in the way of watching actual cooking

Before I begin this review may I tell you that it is going to be solely about the series which finished last night, culminating in the ever tearful Linda Evans being crowned the winner. It's not the irritating Gordon Ramsay hosting the show now but mad as a hatter Marco Pierre White, a strapping oversized Yorkshireman who specialises in reminding me of Jason from Halloween!

As the shows host and mentor he is fabulous, obviously he affects this persona for television but he is apparently not much different when the cameras are switched off. He has the honour of being the youngest chef to obtain three Michelin stars and it's apparent from his work and attitude that he loves his chosen profession and this really rubbed off on his celebrity trainees this year.

There is one thing that sets Marco apart from Ramsay, sometimes I get the impression that Gordon moans and screams purely to let us know he's there and it's rare to hear him actually praise someone. It was for this reason that I gave up watching Hell's Kitchen when Ramsay was in charge, but in contrast although he's a hard task master Marco doesn't shy from complimenting and bolstering the enthusiasm of his trainees.

When the series started we were introduced to the celebrities, to be honest with you there are a couple I couldn't understand being in there such as Grant Bovey (famous for being an adulterer) and Danielle (no idea of her second name, famous for being Gary Linekars mid-life crisis trophy girlfriend). The most famous people I'd say from Hell's Kitchen were Ade Edmonson, Anthea Turner and Bruce Grobbelar although obviously different age groups would be more likely to recognise Miss Dynamite than I was - for the first few shows I actually thought the striking looking girl was the woman off Dr Who until my granddaughter set me straight!

The idea of Hell's Kitchen is that Marco will bring together these celebrities and teach them not only how to cook, but how to run a busy restaurant kitchen. You don't see much of the training on the show as this is obviously done during the day, then the TV cameras are switched on at 9pm and we viewers get to see clips of how they have coped during the day and then watch them struggling to serve all the famous diners who pop into the restaurant for a meal.

For the first few days it was down to Marco to sack the weakest link in the team and clearly this was a job that he didn't enjoy despite being such a hard and unemotional man. Once there were just four celebrities left it was down to a public phone-in as to who stayed and who went, I didn't bother voting for 35p a time as frankly I wasn't bothered who won I just enjoyed watching how the celebrities fared over the nights.

This is one of those shows that you begin to watch and can take it or leave it, but after just a couple of episodes I was making sure I set the reminder as it really does become addictive viewing. For me it was Marco himself who made the show as interesting as it was, although I did develop a soft spot for Ade as time went on as well as developing a pensioners crush on Bruce who I was sad to see leave when he decided he missed his family too much to remain on the show.

Watching the celebrities learn and develop was very interesting and I shall miss the show now it's finished its current run. Anthea Turner was as irritating as I thought she would be, although very competent in the kitchen and I was quite surprised when Marco sacked her but she really is a little know it all and I think that annoyed him as much as it did me.

The eventual finalists were Ade and Linda, with Linda winning by public vote last night. Personally I felt Ade was the stronger chef of the two and was shocked that Linda won, although Ade did come across as a bit of a bighead and rather two faced and I think this lost him votes whereas Linda was the epitome of grace and had nothing but good to say about her fellow contestants.

I really enjoyed Hell's Kitchen and will certainly look out for it next year, when hopefully it's hosted by a less tooth-grindingly annoying personality than Claudia Winkleman who finds herself much funnier than the viewing public do! I would have liked to have seen more of the cooking aspect of the competition as although you get to see the celebrities doing a small amount, most of the show revolves around the opinions and relationshops between the contestants.

Summary: An interesting and different reality show, beats Big Brother hands down!