Season 2 Discussion Thread

[mertensia]

Lisa, honey, even in a burger joint no one wants a dropped napkin to get used.

Not gonna miss Nick or Eyebrows.

[eel2178]

14 hours 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

What restaurant tells customers "our meal service is only 2 hours long with no exceptions; we simply won't serve you if the kitchen can't get your meal out in that arbitrary allotted time?"

After Masterchef, I thought I watched the same episode twice.

 

[eel2178]

13 hours ago, KeithJ said:

unless they cut it, when he brought up that no meat, no dairy ticket, he didn’t even say no dairy, just no meat.

However, I'm still unclear as to how "no meat, no dairy" included no eggs. Why didn't the "diner" specify vegan if he didn't want the eggs, too? To set up the age old argument that eggs are a dairy product because they come from a farm?

Then there was the horror of the black pudding touching the mushroom! How old was that guy? Four?

Unless the restaurant proclaims itself to be kosher or halal, there is no reason to believe that everything in your meal won't have touched a pork product somewhere during its production. I doubt that they had a designated spatula used only for serving the vegan items, so there was no cross pollination in the kitchen.

[QQQQ]

I'm 54, not 4. I haven't intentionally/knowingly eaten meat since 1984. While I don't doubt that there is cross contamination in restaurants, having it confirmed after consuming a food item would be unsettling to me (especially black pudding 😳). YMMV.

[Madding crowd]

I’m vegetarian since childhood but not vegan and I would send something back if I knew it was cooked in the same pan as meat because the taste transfers. I’m not enjoying these episodes because I don’t particularly like these contestants but they are given either no training at all or 20 minutes for a task that usually takes weeks to learn. I’m sure it was hard for the front of house people to have several people laser focused on you while you are doing the task.

[tinkerbell]

8 hours ago, QQQQ said:

I'm 54, not 4. I haven't intentionally/knowingly eaten meat since 1984. While I don't doubt that there is cross contamination in restaurants, having it confirmed after consuming a food item would be unsettling to me (especially black pudding 😳). YMMV.

I'm pretty sure a vegetarian wouldn't order a full English breakfast though. A full English has both black pudding AND bacon. 

And the other guy said. "No meat or dairy" NOT that he was vegan. Was there a vegan dish on the menu? I assume not. My brother is vegan. We've had breakfast together, he orders has brown potatoes

All in all, the task was ridiculous. As others have said, working in a high end restaurant  takes more training than just coming in a few hours before it opens.

Edited July 19 by tinkerbell

[PupCal]

24 minutes ago, tinkerbell said:

I'm pretty sure a vegetarian wouldn't order a full English breakfast though. A full English has both black pudding AND bacon. 

And the other guy said. "No meat or dairy" NOT that he was vegan. Was there a vegan dish on the menu? I assume not. My brother is vegan. We've had breakfast together, he orders has brown potatoes

All in all, the task was ridiculous. As others have said, working in a high end restaurant  takes more training than just coming in a few hours before it opens.

According to their website, they do have a vegan breakfast but not for this stunt. (Their actual breakfast service ends at 11 AM!)

This show is honestly getting extremely hard to watch. I don't remember the first season having so many awful challenges. 
Like, of course their breakfast service went bad; most of them don't have food service experience let alone a high-end restaurant like the Savoy Grill. And the chocolate one from previous episodes, the teams really should have been told that they were marketing the candy to adults.

Edited July 19 by PupCal

[Yeah No]

39 minutes ago, tinkerbell said:

I'm pretty sure a vegetarian wouldn't order a full English breakfast though. A full English has both black pudding AND bacon. 

And the other guy said. "No meat or dairy" NOT that he was vegan. Was there a vegan dish on the menu? I assume not. My brother is vegan. We've had breakfast together, he orders has brown potatoes

All in all, the task was ridiculous. As others have said, working in a high end restaurant  takes more training than just coming in a few hours before it opens.

I think the request was a deliberate curveball. When I heard the guy order it I immediately wondered whether he would be OK with eggs. Some vegetarians are OK with eggs while some aren't even if they're not technically vegans. I know that so I would have asked. 

But the whole challenge was ridiculous anyway.

21 minutes ago, PupCal said:

This show is honestly getting extremely hard to watch. I don't remember the first season having so many awful challenges. 
Like, of course their breakfast service went bad; most of them don't have food service experience let alone a high-end restaurant like the Savoy Grill. And the chocolate one from previous episodes, the teams really should have been told that they were marketing the candy to adults.

I actually came here to say pretty much exactly this. The show is not much like the first season and that was bad enough. This is even more ridiculous. The challenges bear no resemblance to any of these people's experience nor would they need to be good at most of this stuff to be worthy of winning either.

And Lisa Vanderpump is hard to watch too. It's like she has a brace on her neck and can't move her head much. She is supposedly 2 years younger than me. My husband was shocked, he thought she was at least 3 years older. Not trying to be unkind but WTF, is that the result of too much plastic surgery or some kind of medical condition? It's hard to tell. She didn't used to look or act like that from the photos I've seen online. Here she keeps herself very buttoned up to the nines like she's hiding scars or something. The whole look is very aging in my opinion. I think she could look so much better. In her past photos she never dressed like that so I am a little confused.

[fishcakes]

I agree with everyone who says those customers were actors. No way Gordon is going to let these seven fools run his entire restaurant and bring in actual paying customers.

I'm pretty sure the customer did say he was vegan because I knew the eggs were going to be a problem as soon as Nicholas wrote it down as "no meat, no dairy." I deleted the show, so I can't check (I mean, I could check it on streaming, but I already watched this episode so I've suffered enough.) but I'm almost positive he started by saying, "I'm vegan so no black pudding and no eggs." Then Nick somehow translated that on his order pad to "no meat, no dairy." Anyway, great job, Nick. Really showing off those front-of-house skills. The only positive thing I can say about him is that he wasn't as bad as Liz, who was thisclose to stirring someone's coffee with her finger.

Also agree that a vegan probably wouldn't order a full English breakfast to begin with, but one time I was in a Burger King and overheard a woman order a "Whopper, hold the meat," so you never know. I was more confused by the English breakfast the players got in the diner beforehand that had french fries on the plate. Has someone who's been there confirm whether that's normal in a more casual restaurant? I would have expected cottage fries or hash browns.

[fishcakes]

Okay, the customer did say he was vegan then said "no meat, no dairy, and no eggs." I did miss the gem where Nicholas bragged to the customers that he's worked in bigger restaurants than the Savoy 🤨

 

[tinkerbell]

A vegan English breakfast would be tomatoes, mushrooms and toast. To me it's like ordering an omelet with no eggs. If there's an egg substitute on the menu, order that. Otherwise, order what you DO want, not what you don't want.

Example, you could order eggs Benedict with "no meat, no cheese, no  eggs, no sauce." Or you can order a plain English muffin

 

Edited July 19 by tinkerbell

[jabRI]

You can't do master chef type competitions here, these people are in the 'food industry' meaning they like distribute coffee beans or packaged foods. they aren't innovators.  LIke last season he's just going to invest in the one who is most investable.  Just treat this like a Shark Tank show and have them pitch for the money.

[eel2178]

On 7/17/2024 at 11:49 PM, mertensia said:

Lisa, honey, even in a burger joint no one wants a dropped napkin to get used.

I saw someone drop something on the sidewalk then pick it up and put it in his mouth. When I proclaimed that was gross, the person I was with claimed that since I eat with my shoes on, it is no different than eating off the sidewalk. According to her, "the same germs that are on the sidewalk are in the air in front of your mouth when you're eating; therefore, if you eat with your shoes on, you're ingesting all the same germs that are on the sidewalk, too, even indoors."

If anyone can make sense out of that, please explain it to me. I've been pondering how anyone could believe that for almost 20 years now.

[Anduril]

I feel like Nick was the one originally picked to leave but when that woman used the napkin from the floor they had to cut her too. 

[DanaK]

It looks like tonight’s finale was delayed 15 minutes in starting due to the president’s address those with DVRs need to update your recording 

[PupCal]

Booooo! Booooo! Absolutely awful season. If there's a next season, no Lisa Vanderpump please.

[KeithJ]

I really don’t know how Roman didn’t win this.  His was, by far, the best product in the semis and his product and presentation looked great in the finals.

If all the other products in the semi finals weren’t terrible, Jess would have never even made it to the finals.  Those Sip Strips were horrible.  They looked like freezer pops.  Who is going to want to carry those around with them?  One semi-sharp object and you’re gonna have a big mess on your hands (or in your purse).

[tinkerbell]

Gordon's got "something about Mary" hair.

My first thought seeing Jess's product was that it looks too much like those freeze pops for kids. Alcohol should never be packaged to look like kid's  treat. And adults don't want to drink  a cocktail out of a plastic tube.

I'm not sure I understood the Woofskey thing. Is it a special occasion treat for dogs ? Or a nutritional additive? Either way. I'm a dog owner and I wouldn't buy it.

Gordon thinks "happy risers" has some sexual connotation? Ok so what? Sexual innuendo is often used to sell products.

Mocktails- I don't care.

Roman's breakfast stuffed pancakes is the only product I would buy.

Edited July 25 by tinkerbell

[Pepper the Cat]

Oops.

Edited July 25 by Pepper the Cat

[BusyOctober]

Oh my God, these people are all just so punchable.

I like Gordon and Lisa.  Like their businesses, the shows they’ve done, etc. Even the totally fake, over-produced Hell’s Kitchen and Vanderpump Rules are more tolerable than this horrible excuse for a tv show.

Other than Roman, every single one of the contestants is so annoying. His was the only marketable product in the semifinals. The other four don’t have a drop of charisma, or self-awareness, or any real knowledge of the business world. 

The semi-final products were horrible. For all their claims of marketing skills, all the videos for “social” advertising were amateurish .  Is that guy Nick in some kind of ambulatory coma?  No affect at all. Ally and Jess just make me stabby.  Jess reminds me of a woman I work with. Same  “I’m an influencer” faux peppy personality, same unfounded self pride in their unremarkable achievements. Ally just seems lost and clueless. Why was her main talking point, “Hey, I know you love your dog, but he won’t be around much longer!”

I feel guilty for wasting the energy it took to power my tv so I could watch such a bunch of lackluster losers.

[Madding crowd]

I also wanted Roman to win-his pretzels and his pancakes were the best ideas of the group. The freezer pop looking drinks were ridiculous. I’m not carrying around a warm drink in my purse and you can’t bring your own alcohol to bars. My son goes to a lot of music festivals and said a lot of people bring frozen ice pop drinks.

Jess has an annoying personality and I wouldn’t buy something called Whiny Baby. The one with the sauces had nothing innovative. Roman had a good presentation and product and I hope he does well. This is my first exposure to Lisa and I don’t care for her stiff personality at all. I hope it comes back with just Gordon.

[DanaK]

So it looks like both Gordon and Lisa will mentor the winner, or is it just from Lisa?

I kind of enjoyed Gordon and Lisa having a rivalry. Better than it just being Gordon. I don’t even remember how last season went in regards to that

[tinkerbell]

I didn't watch all the way through. So Jess wins? The one who annoyed me from the start and has a product called Whiny Baby Wine?

Good lord!

[mlp]

Based upon what we saw, Roman should have won that hands down.  Ali shouldn't have even been a finalist and both women had cringy presentations.  There's no way I'd ever buy a "cocktail" packaged like a freezer pop.  In fact, I'd never buy anything whatsoever called Whiny Baby.  Worst product name ever.  

I've wondered why this show was filmed in London.  Gordon has a home in California and I would guess that Lisa does too.  All the contestants were from the States.  Why spend the money to move the whole production to another continent? Anyway, I've enjoyed all the shots of London.

 

[fishcakes]

I ended up FFing most of the last hour because, my god, be more boring why don't you.

None of their new products were special or innovative -- energy drinks, mocktails, microwaveable breakfast sandwich -- except for Jess's and hers was just dumb and bad. The only moment I enjoyed in the whole two hours was when Andrew was pitching his drink and was going on about how, "it's not just an energy drink, it's not just a mocktail, it's a lifestyle," and Gordon turns and deadpans to Lisa, "it's a lifestyle." I won't watch another season of this, but if they did a show that was just Gordon and Lisa talking about what they really think of these imbeciles, I would watch that.

[Tango64]

Loved how the dog products woman's whole pitch was "Your dog's gonna die. Here's some useless flavored water that won't help with that."

Reminds me of a radio commercial that used to run on an AM station here. "Hi, I'm Steve, the director of sales here at 750 AM. I don't have a dog, and I won't get a dog until all my cats die, but if I had a dog, I'd take him to Debbie's Doggy Daycare..."

 

 

[eel2178]

7 hours ago, fishcakes said:

None of their new products were special or innovative -- energy drinks, mocktails, microwaveable breakfast sandwich -- 

It did, however, inspire me to go to the food court and get an Auntie Anne's pretzel today for the first time in my life.

He did get in some good advertising for his real business if you live in his area.

[Tango64]

For all the judges’ giggles over “early riser,” do they not even understand the name “hot box” pretzels?

[jabRI]

This was a  horrible season.  Could have been one episode of Shark Tank.

[Yeah No]

Maybe it's me but this entire season sucked even more than the first one and was ridiculous/unbelievable from start to finish. Lisa is annoying and I just can't take one more minute of her and her grimace/pout mask/face. I realize now why she's usually so buttoned up - she is trying to hide a neck/wrinkle issue. Even in this episode when she wore an open collar she had a scarf on to hide it.

I just couldn't believe they chose Jess and Roman for the finale. I thought both of them were artificial, over confident and insufferable in their own ways. Jess in particular was an embarrassing train wreck in the semi-final and her product sucked. The "real" Jess? I kind of doubt there is one. On other Ramsay shows she would be the one he would mock and send home. I couldn't believe he would take either of them that seriously. But if I were forced to choose between them I'd choose Roman just because he can present himself well and is less insufferable.

None of these people's products are that innovative or serve any kind of real niche or need at all. They're the kind of things that are only mildly popular for a couple of years at best and then just fizzle out. It just floored me that both he and Lisa criticized the two of them that much and then picked them for the finale! Suddenly they were complimenting them like they were fantastic and it just made no sense. 

Jess's product - "Whiny Baby" - Who wants to buy something with a name that in effect insults them, LOL? Any humor in it is canceled out. And my husband rightly pointed out that the name would probably not attract many men if at all. So how small is the market for that? This is not the "next big thing" by far.

The dog sauce woman was at least not ingenuine/insufferable and stuck on herself, but her product was weak and ridiculous too. So meh.

In the first hour, I thought the best idea for a mocktail would be ice pops made from mocktails. There wouldn't be the difficulty freezing them due to the alcohol and I don't think I've ever heard of anything on the market like it. Given the recent popularity of mocktails I think some people would be interested in that. I know I would be! Virgin 'rita pops, virgin pina colada pops, virgin strawberry daquiri pops, virgin mojito pops, the list goes on.

I doubt I'll be watching this if there is a next season.

Edited July 28 by Yeah No

[seacliffsal]

I wasn't impressed with Jess the whole season, so of course she wins.  Sigh.  Almost every challenge she proclaimed she had no experience and for the semi-final when both Gordon and Lisa told them to expand beyond their original product, Jess chose...not to do so...and was rewarded by being placed in the finale.  There has to be some other reason she won.  She proclaimed she was going to revolutionize the beverage and food industries, but all she really did was repackage/rebrand items.  Her idea to enhance her brand was through sorbet.  What?  How in the world do Gordon and Lisa consider Jess to be a 'food star'?  I guess having a sad story is more important than having a product that people would buy.

Oh, and I was in the Savoy on Friday as I ate at Gordon's restaurant.  The hotel was beautiful!  And the restaurant amazing (service was outstanding).  So, I finally achieved my goal of eating in a Gordon Ramsay restaurant.  However, if he keeps crowning winners like Jess, I will have to re-evaluate my Gordon love.

[Yeah No]

5 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

What?  How in the world do Gordon and Lisa consider Jess to be a 'food star'?  I guess having a sad story is more important than having a product that people would buy.

Or maybe being tall, attractive and blonde. 😏

[seacliffsal]

9 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Or maybe being tall, attractive and blonde. 😏

Nevermind.  I was going to say something critical and have decided it's best no to do so.

[Yeah No]

1 minute ago, seacliffsal said:

Nevermind.  I was going to say something critical and have decided it's best no to do so.

Critical of her or me?

[seacliffsal]

8 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Critical of her or me?

Oh, of her-never of another poster!  She's the one who put herself on t.v.!  Sorry for any confusion!

[Yeah No]

1 minute ago, seacliffsal said:

Oh, of her-never of another poster!  She's the one who put herself on t.v.!  Sorry for any confusion!

Thank you for indulging me in clarifying that, I admit I always think those things. My issues, not yours!

[seacliffsal]

5 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Thank you for indulging me in clarifying that, I admit I always think those things. My issues, not yours!

I should have been clearer in my post-I will try to be clearer in the future.  I always feel that people who go on these shows have willingly put themselves in a position for us to judge, cheer, or ignore and so I do.

[eel2178]

On 7/28/2024 at 1:33 AM, Yeah No said:

Jess's product - "Whiny Baby" - Who wants to buy something with a name that in effect insults them, LOL? Any humor in it is canceled out. And my husband rightly pointed out that the name would probably not attract many men if at all. So how small is the market for that? This is not the "next big thing" by far.

Maybe this will turn out to be like Snark Tank (sarcasm, not a typo) and now that the pseudo-celebrities have invested in the business, they'll insist on a name change thinking they have a controlling interest when they really don't.

[eclectcmoi]

I know that alcohol freezer pop has been done.  I may have bought them from Costco several years ago (don't judge! 😄) and a quick search shows there are a lot of them out there.  You can get these at Wal-mart. And they look way better than whichever girl it was who promoted them as a new product.

Now though... I REALLY want a soft baked pretzel!