>>>>>So does he also find an equal number of good restaurants that he praises on air?
>>>>
>>>>I think an even better question - do any of the restaurants where he gives "tough love" ever get better? :)
>>>
>>>I don't believe, as does Mike, that this is not about him. Why does he need a TV show in order to go and ream out bad restaurants? This is about being a bully on air. It's about showing his prowess to the world.
>>
>>If he's supposedly espousing "best practices" then there's no reason not to go for as wide an audience as possible i.e. get the "good word" out.
>>
>>Compare him to someone like "Holmes on Homes" who is arguably doing a similar thing. Admittedly what Holmes is doing is more objective - there are building codes to follow, and if you do it right the roof doesn't leak and the drains don't back up. A lot of what Ramsay does is not easily measurable, and is subjective or touchy-feely - but those things are often what make or break a restaurant.
>
>I'm still waiting for some indication that all his shows aren't about yelling at somebody. Does he also find really well run restaurants and tout their 'best practices' to the world? Is there any chance at all that I could tune in and see him being a really nice guy praising a restaurant? A show with no yelling at or belittling of anyone?

If this show is just about best practices, negative reinforcement is effective and a valid strategy.

But it misses the bigger point that this, like other "reality" shows is anything but. Restaurants that agree to the "makeover" know exactly what's going to happen. There's no bullying involved, it's really a form of consensual BDSM.

Look at the "stakeholders":

- Restaurants get a lot of free advertising and the "cachet" of being made over by Ramsay - and let's face it, they probably come out of it better than they were before

- Viewers who like to see train wrecks, pseudo-raw, pseudo-unfiltered or pseudo-abusive interactions (rare in our increasingly nice/PC world) know where to get their fix. Those who don't like it, don't have to watch

- Advertisers can peddle products tailored to that demographic

- If Ramsay actually enjoys "abusing" others, he gets to have fun as well as get paid

Everyone wins!

It's a delicate balancing act, making something like this work. Finding the exact mix of nasty & nice to maximize viewing audience. People get paid big bucks to make those determinations.

Along similar lines, there's a very interesting social experiment coming up soon. The book "50 Shades of Grey" and its sequels are amongst the fastest-selling books of all time. The inevitable movie will be released soon. However, in the meantime condemnation of abuse of women has greatly increased, spearheaded by the Cosby allegations, Ghomeshi criminal charges etc. For what was originally a hotly-anticipated movie, the advance advertising has been incredibly thin. In the current climate I suspect the producers are desperately afraid of a backlash. It's easy to envision campaigns on social media, even extending to protests outside of cinemas.

#wearenotanastasia

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