Season 2 Discussion Thread

[seacliffsal]

I actually think the point of this show is for Gordon to have a show, knowing there are people who will watch almost anything with which is he associated (ah, yes, that would include me...), in which he doesn't really do anything except film a few minutes here and there.  The 'contestants' fill the vast majority of the episode so Gordon and Lisa really don't have to do much but it still counts as a Gordon Ramsey show.

[mlp]

5 hours ago, TVbitch said:

I am not sure why I am still watching. I guess to see just how dumb it will get. 

I keep asking myself the same question and getting pretty much the same answer.  I think my main reason is that I can't come here and complain about it if I don't watch it.  :)  I agree with everybody above about everything.

The best part of this show is the shots of London.

[mertensia]

So... It never occurred to Ramsey's team to add the bun and bacon to the ingredients list!?

 

[fishcakes]

This season is worse than last season but funnier. The contestants all seem to have some sort of closed-head injury, and I like the scenes of Gordon and Lisa talking to each and trying not to laugh as they talk about their teams' ideas.

What was with that woman crying over having to write the bacon burger recipe and saying the others didn't understand what she was going through? She was acting like someone just died.

At the same time, I think the viewer comments were fake with so many people going, "whaaat? Bacon? There's no bacon on the list!!!!" and the same with the buns. No one was cooking along with the webcast and just looking at the recipe for the first time. But when everyone was hissing at Eyeglasses to say something and she just stood there with an insane smile on her face, I did enjoy all the "is there something wrong with her?" comments.

[PupCal]

What was LVP gonna do if nobody had heard of Jess' instagram (an incredibly common idea that absolutely could have been thought up independently)? Whiny Baby wines is a name that's right on the money.

[tinkerbell]

Maybe it's just me, but interactive wine has no appeal to me.

 I have no desire to put my lip print on a wine label, or to peel off the label and frame it. And was the idea to have the people who drank the wine with you sign the label? Like you have one bottle of wine among 5 or 6 friends?

I agree with Gordon about the connotation of "rebrand." Giving a failing company a new name and relaunching is what comes to mind. It seemed like several of the team didn't like the name but were afraid to speak up.

[Tango64]

So one team developed a wine bottle that would be bought only by women (or men wearing lipstick) and only for romantic moments. The other developed a bottle to sell only for New Years Eve. So limited, in addition to all the other flaws.

And it might be just me, but the lipstick prints were gross. I don’t want to look at that on my wine. 

[seacliffsal]

This must be the least creative, competent, and cohesive contestants ever put together on a competition show.  And yet, they all think that they are the brightest and bestest business person ever to exist.  Rebrand?  As soon as Andrew said that I kind of audibly gasped as it was just so bad.  Kissing the bottle?  Oh no.  And what is it about creating keepsake labels?  That may work once or twice, but does Jess (and the others) really think people are going to frame each and every label from each and every bottle of wine they drink? 

Gordon must be interested in Liz' business as there is no other reason to keep her.  She froze during the presentation last week (after stating how awesome she was at livestreaming), and really fell flat as director this week.  However, Chuan also stated how wonderful she was at presenting and creating a story through her words until she wasn't.

Hopefully the attendees at the wine presentations were able to drink as much wine as they wanted and all got selfies with Gordon because otherwise, that event was just full of cringe. 

[Madding crowd]

I didn’t understand the idea of branding a wine for only one day of the year. I know they were limited edition but it could have been geared towards a season rather than a day. The Valentine one might appeal for a romantic dinner but I can’t imagine kissing a bottle and giving it or serving it for another occasion.

Re-Brand wasn’t a good name unless you are rebranding a company. The idea of writing out “this year I will” wasn’t bad but they didn’t really emphasize that and instead emphasized people signing and framing the label.

[KeithJ]

I was very happy to see Gordon's team get called out for stealing Jess' brand. 

Andrew was confusing though.  He said he knew about Jess' brand but, earlier in the episode, he said to his team that he had never seen something like that on a wine bottle.  Was he lying to his team and hoping Gordon and Lisa wouldn't catch it?

Gordon said he picked Andrew and was counting on him for his branding expertise but then he went and blatantly ripped off someone else's brand.  I thought for that reason, Gordon would have kicked him.

[tinkerbell]

5 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

didn’t understand the idea of branding a wine for only one day of the year. I know they were limited edition but it could have been geared towards a season rather than a day. The Valentine one might appeal for a romantic dinner but I can’t imagine kissing a bottle and giving it or serving it for another occasion.

Yes, the instructions were to advertise the wine for a "season" not a holiday. And, the typical wine for new years is champagne or sparkling wine, which was not one of the three bottles.

My thought was to use a theme like "summer entertaining " and do an ad showcasing outdoor barbecues, picnics at the beach, late night sitting around a fire. Groups of people, not just romantic dates, showing the wine to be suited for casual, fun gatherings. (But not saving the labels to frame, because that's just stupid) 

The only way I could see saving a wine label for framing is if it were an extremely expensive bottle saved for a specific occasion.

[fishcakes]

I don't understand how any of these people even manage to dress themselves, much less hold jobs or run companies. To be fair, the tasks are ridiculous. Direct a commercial? I felt so bad for the camera and sound people who are there being competent and have to be bossed around by these people who know nothing.

[TVbitch]

The Life Long Love Affair wine (or whatever it was called) better come with a bottle of sanitizer, cuz no freaking way am I putting my mouth anywhere near a label that has been handled by God knows how many producers, packers, store employees, and customers! Eeeewwww!!!!

[mlp]

I had second--hand embarrassment just watching these wannabes.  It's hard to believe that their businesses are actually as successful as they claimed.  It's true that they are being given ridiculously little time to do rather complex things but still.................  

[Lurk]

My parents used to soak wine labels off of bottles to keep. They would write the date and maybe the occasion and names of others there and their thoughts on the wine itself. They saved the labels of wines they thought were really good and might look to purchase again. Not just as a keepsake from a "date".

 

A wine label to me, isn't like buying a souvenir to remind you of a trip or place or experience (like a concert or something).

[eel2178]

7 hours ago, Lurk said:

My parents used to soak wine labels off of bottles to keep.

My cousins would shoot champaign corks into their dining room ceiling and leave them embedded in the drywall.

[Yeah No]

This show makes zero sense. What about anything so far has anything to do with being a "food star"?  Nothing. Half of these people don't even know how to cook. They push one product and that's it. Some aren't even really food. The challenges are ridiculous and the idea of kissing the wine bottle was gimmicky and aimed at insecure young people who need to feel sooo important and special because their wine bottle lets them kiss it and keep it.  Lame-o. 🙄

I didn't understand the lackluster wine labels either. If these were wines for festive occasions couldn't they at least have more than just plain colors and print? And the name "Rebrand" was another head scratcher for me. WTF is that supposed to mean? A rebrand of what? Gordon's wine? Why? It doesn't tell you. It's ambiguous at best and not even catchy or engaging. And it came off as insulting the wine, LOL.

I also don't understand why Lisa and Gordon are team leaders/mentors when they're not really leading or helping these people at all. If this is a team competition they should be able to coach and advise their teams in some ways. It's not just individuals trying to impress one judge or mentor, but teams competing against each other. Lisa snuck in some advice at one point but acted like she would get in trouble if anyone found out. It's yet another ambiguous/ridiculous aspect to this show that makes zero sense.

It's like the show itself is as ill conceived as any of the contestants' ideas. Both are lazy and not well thought out. I don't know why Gordon has to sink to this level but now he's even pushing Welch's fruit snacks and although he says he used to eat them a lot I'm not buying it. They're not even healthy and why he's pushing them is yet another head scratcher. He doesn't need the money and I'm sure there are better/more relevant-to-him things to push.

[KeithJ]

You can’t market chocolate to children under age 13 in many countries?  Maybe they should have told the teams that minor fact at the beginning of the challenge?

[DanaK]

I’m kind of loving the rivalry and competitiveness between Gordon and Lisa

[mlp]

30 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

You can’t market chocolate to children under age 13 in many countries?  Maybe they should have told the teams that minor fact at the beginning of the challenge?

I was going to say the same thing.  That's not the kind of thing a bunch of Americans would intuit and Lisa acting like they were at fault for not knowing that was ridiculous.  

Those Mars executives weren't impressive.  They all seemed flat and the blonde had hair I wouldn't want to be seen in public with.

This show is so bad that I probably wouldn't watch it if it didn't come on right after Master Chef.

 

Edited June 27 by mlp
Correct typo

[tinkerbell]

So, a group of people who have never done this have 24 hours to invent a candy, design the label, and write a jingle? Something that would normally be done by 3 different departments over several months.

And the chocolate guy told the tattle tale team twice that marshmallows with milk chocolate was a bad combination - too sweet. 

Why can't Jess go home,??

 

[mertensia]

I kept thinking they should have gotten a chance to tweak their candy.

Tattle tale as a name does not make me want to buy it. Joopz is,stupid enough that I might.

 

[seacliffsal]

10 hours ago, tinkerbell said:

 

Why can't Jess go home,??

 

I have been wondering this for a while.  I just cringe whenever she self-promotes.  None of them seem especially talented.  The winner will probably be the one with the most viable product in which to invest.  The blonde on Ramsay's team has fallen apart a few times now.

I would try the Joopz, but not the Tattletale.  I agreed with whoever on Lisa's team said the branding was bad, but Gordon shot that down (which probably saved Jess, grrrrrrr).

[KeithJ]

This show has gotten so bad with such stupid contestants and, again, I don't understand the elimination. 

Right away Roman says he's taken on the role of chocolate maker and says they're going to do chocolate filled with marshmallows.  But, in elimination, all the blame goes to Maria and Roman isn't even mentioned?  Not only that, at least what we saw, Roman and NIcholas did totally ignore Maria in the kitchen.

I think Maria and Gordon do see Nicholas for what he is.  He's just waiting for his teammates to make any little mistake (and letting them) so he can throw them under the bus.

Also, if you're doing a Neapolitan candy bar, your packing colors should be brown, white, and pink.  Not bright green!

Both names for the candies were stupid but naming your candy after Jupiter because the company is Mars is just asinine.  Do you see Mars making any Saturn, Neptune, or Venus candies?

Edited June 27 by KeithJ

[Tango64]

I heard next week's challenge is to build a bridge across the Thames in 24 hours. And write a jingle for it. 

[Madding crowd]

Once again the teams are given tasks they aren’t qualified for, have no proper information on and whoever talks the most in the grilling seems to go. At least last year Gordon asked a lot of questions to try to figure out who was responsible. I really can’t stand Jess. There is always some loudmouth that thinks they know more than everyone else. I agreed with Nicholas that the package should have matched their idea of Neapolitan flavors.

I’m a former reporter and I interviewed a food scientist once who worked on creating flavors for snacks. The nutrition people had degrees which allowed them to understand percentages of sugar, salt etc and they had all the information available regarding usual percentages, market testing on taste preferences etc. They also had nothing to do with actual marketing or label design. These tasks are just designed to fail, not to show skills.

[seacliffsal]

Maybe Maria Lara was really sent home because she exposed the fact that the teams weren't given the information they needed in order to be (more) successful?  She pointed out that they didn't know that they couldn't market chocolate/candy to children under 13.  Although she didn't say it, they also weren't given the nutrition breakdowns of all of the ingredients they had available (or if they were, it wasn't shown).  How would someone know that 80% of the ingredients in their candy was sugar if they weren't given breakdowns?  

Why not give them a longer timeframe?  As a previous poster noted, why have a test group, etc., if they don't have time to make adjustments?

Oh, and while I thought that the chocolate bust of Gordon kind of looked like him, I didn't think the bust of Lisa looked anything like her.

[fishcakes]

"Did we just write a hit song?" "This jingle should win a Grammy!" There's nothing quite like the confidence of a truly incompetent and untalented person. (See also, Masterchef's Murt)

Nicholas is low-rent evil, so I'm glad Lisa and Gordon are on to him. This could mean a fun grilling is in store for him. Well, not for him, but for us.

[eel2178]

On 6/27/2024 at 11:13 AM, Tango64 said:

I heard next week's challenge is to build a bridge across the Thames in 24 hours. And write a jingle for it. 

Is it supposed to be built with raw spaghetti like in Physics class?

[Yeah No]

On 6/27/2024 at 12:41 AM, tinkerbell said:

And the chocolate guy told the tattle tale team twice that marshmallows with milk chocolate was a bad combination - too sweet. 

What got me is how the other team did dark chocolate and was told that was a miss and they should have gone with milk chocolate!  Make up your damned minds! I think they change the rules just to make thing harder on them.

On 6/27/2024 at 11:11 AM, KeithJ said:

Both names for the candies were stupid but naming your candy after Jupiter because the company is Mars is just asinine.  Do you see Mars making any Saturn, Neptune, or Venus candies?

No but there's Milky Way....

On 6/27/2024 at 8:15 PM, seacliffsal said:

Oh, and while I thought that the chocolate bust of Gordon kind of looked like him, I didn't think the bust of Lisa looked anything like her.

No it didn't. The whole thing was cringe and then she wrecked Gordon's. WTF?

[mlp]

On 6/27/2024 at 7:15 PM, seacliffsal said:

Oh, and while I thought that the chocolate bust of Gordon kind of looked like him, I didn't think the bust of Lisa looked anything like her.

I thought Gordon's bust was Ronald Reagan when I first looked at it.  

[fishcakes]

On 6/26/2024 at 9:41 PM, tinkerbell said:

And the chocolate guy told the tattle tale team twice that marshmallows with milk chocolate was a bad combination - too sweet. 

That was strange to me because the chocolatier was acting like milk chocolate with marshmallows is unheard of. There are Rocky Road bars, Mallomars, Pinwheels, and homemade s'mores. It's a pretty common combo.

Whatever they made though, it's true that they were told repeatedly that it was too sweet and they just dismissed it with, "well, it's candy." Roman and Nicholas did ignore Maria Laura and then throw her under the bus, but she didn't help herself by dismissing the concerns of the focus group and the Mars execs and then during the grilling after being told that the problem was the sweetness of the candy, by hilariously responding, "I really think the packaging was the problem." On the other hand, it seems like they only got one shot at creating the candy, and if it got bad reviews even at the focus group stage, it was too late to change it, so I'm not sure what else they could have done but stand by their choices.

I also dislike Jess, but I dislike Erica more because she's Jess's little sidekick who treats everything Jess says as if it's brilliant. In addition, she doesn't know what "literal" means, yet she uses the word in almost every sentence.

[KittyQ]

On 6/26/2024 at 7:15 PM, KeithJ said:

You can’t market chocolate to children under age 13 in many countries?  Maybe they should have told the teams that minor fact at the beginning of the challenge?

Indeed! Was there anything in the original assignment that indicated it shouldn't be targeted for children, but for adults? If not, that sounds like a fail for the production team rather than the contestants. The contestants manage to fail enough on their own without interference from production.

Also, Why does the young guy (Roman?) keep volunteering for things that he's got no experience of? I get that he wants to be seen as someone who is willing to be involved, but he tends to mess up because he doesn't know what he's doing. I keep expecting him to get released, but he's kept on for some reason.

[DanaK]

The Futon Critic says the season finale is on July 24, with 2 episodes starting at 8pm ET

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/gordon-ramsays-food-stars/listings/

[Madding crowd]

Both teams did terrible at the presentations, I could do better myself and I’ve never done anything like that. On top of that the products did not look like anything innovative so I’m not sure why the industry professionals would be interested in another grater or butter knife. It seemed like blender somehow connected with technology but I don’t know how that would work since you still had to work the buttons manually.

[mlp]

I thought Lisa's team was the clear winner.  Not even close.  I didn't blame Gordon for sending two people home.  I liked Dyson (?) but he's just not ready for prime time.  I also like the big guy whose name I can't remember.  He's doing his part and keeping his head down and, so far, it's working.  

Most of the products they were given to demonstrate were lame.  I've had a multi-function grater/slicer thingy in my cabinet for years.  I eat an avocado almost every day and somehow manage to cope with just a paring knife.  It's no wonder the audience looked underwhelmed almost to the point of smirking.

[fishcakes]

I thought the butter knife with the holes in it was something I'd want, and  everything else was either ordinary or useless. But I looked at reviews of those knives and most people say you need to wait for the butter to soften a bit before using the knife, so there doesn't seem to be a huge advantage. I felt bad for Kyson though when he just popped that big block of butter on the bread and took a bite. He seemed like a sweetheart and the only person there I liked, so I'm sorry he's gone.

Except for Andrew, everyone else seems either incompetent or intensely annoying, but maybe he just hasn't had enough screen time yet. If there are only a couple more weeks to the finale, I'll probably stick it out, but I don't care what happens. The only fun part of this show is when Gordon and Lisa look at each and then look away immediately so they won't burst out laughing at what their idiot teams are doing.

[mertensia]

Yay! Rose is gone.

 

[TVbitch]

Wow, Vekic gave all, running on fumes. Tough loss after hanging in there till the end. The final could be a good match up. 

Opps, this is not the Wimbledon thread. 😂

I gave up on this show but enjoy reading y'all's comments! 

Edited July 11 by TVbitch

[eel2178]

3 hours ago, mertensia said:

Yay! Rose is gone.

I would rather have seen the bleached blonds on either team go ahead of her (I still don't know most of their names).

[Yeah No]

I just can't get over how lame and incompetent most of these people are. The one that cut her hand, oy, you just can't make this crap up! Calling them "Food Stars" is the irony of the century as none of them have ever seen any of these devices much less can they use them or sell them to someone else. I knew what most of them were just from looking at them.

I understand why Ramsay would want to send two of them home but the teams are pretty lopsided now.  I felt sorry for Kyson and if it were just his delivery he might not have been sent home, but not demonstrating what is unique about that knife was absolutely ridiculous.

[Tango64]

That was delicious seeing the cutlery designer -- who is competing to be a "food star" -- fail to demonstrate the unique quality of the butter knife. I laughed when he said, "Look, it can slice butter!", just lopped off a huge slab of butter onto his toast, and then sat down.

Edited July 12 by Tango64

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

Except for the blender, it came off like a demonstration of some snazzy new Ronco kitchen utensils. Ron Popeil would have made a great judge if he were still alive.

[tinkerbell]

If this had been the first season, it never would have been renewed.  

Put people into situations having nothing to do with their talents and interests, demand they perform as well as professionals, then berate them for not doing well. 

All for entertainment? It's not entertaining,  it's not even slightly interesting.

[eel2178]

On 7/12/2024 at 5:20 PM, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

Except for the blender, it came off like a demonstration of some snazzy new Ronco kitchen utensils. 

Most of them weren't even new. I know that robo-stirrer and the box grater have been around for decades.

[Tango64]

Next season should be Gordon Ramsay’s Neurosurgery Stars, with contestants who cut hair and have aspirations for designing hats. Then hold them accountable for brain surgery and ridicule them for failing. Entertainment!

[DanaK]

I find it hard to believe that Ramsey would risk his upscale restaurant’s reputation by throwing these food stars into the fray to screw things up

[KeithJ]

1 hour ago, DanaK said:

I find it hard to believe that Ramsey would risk his upscale restaurant’s reputation by throwing these food stars into the fray to screw things up

I’m sure every customer knew beforehand what was going on and what to expect. They probably weren’t even real customers, probably actors.

Glad to see Nick the dick gone.  Couldn’t throw anyone under the bus this week with everyone watching. And, unless they cut it, when he brought up that no meat, no dairy ticket, he didn’t even say no dairy, just no meat.

[DanaK]

25 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

I’m sure every customer knew beforehand what was going on and what to expect. They probably weren’t even real customers, probably actors.

Glad to see Nick the dick gone.  Couldn’t throw anyone under the bus this week with everyone watching. And, unless they cut it, when he brought up that no meat, no dairy ticket, he didn’t even say no dairy, just no meat.

Yeah, it seems likely everyone was at least told beforehand

Pretty bad teamwork this week, but Nick was one of the two worst

[mlp]

44 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

I’m sure every customer knew beforehand what was going on and what to expect. They probably weren’t even real customers, probably actors.

Agreed.  There's no way GR would actually risk the reputation of the Savoy by using a bunch of people who had had two or three hours of "training."  I was glad to see the dark-haired woman go.  I've already forgotten her name but she was awful and she looks like she draws her eyebrows on with a Sharpie.  I cringed when she called the diners "guys."  Nick wasn't much better.  I'm glad he and his ego are gone.

The woman with the long blonde hair seems OK but she named her wine Whiny Baby which has to be one of the worst product names I've ever heard so I'm questioning her judgment.

Edited July 18 by mlp
Correct typo