well, as the show is filmed about 50m from where I work, here is the latest update:

ASecurity personell and other support staff were filling up at Cafe 1001 in Brick Lane this morning, mainly strong coffee. If you want to get a glimpse of the show etc, Brick Lane's Vibe Bar is right opposite....

Apparently the first show attracted an audience of 7m, which isn't bad. But i wonder what it's audience was at the start, and what it finished up with....? I should imagine a lot of people switched off.

We'll know the answer by midday

7m watched because "Kitchen Nightmares" was such good entertainment but I suspect a lot of last night's viewers will have been disappointed by ITV1's "Hell's Kitchen" since gordon Ramsay was hardly in it - Angus Deayton dominated it, the celebs barely did anything and 2 of GR's employees took over for some of the training .....

It's up against James Nesbitt, a D-Day doc and Mel Gibson tonight so I reckon it will lose nearly 2m tonight .....

I think there are far too many personalities jostling for screen time. It would actually have been better without celebs, but with members of the public nominated by friends/family because they are such terrible cooks. We'd still have had Angus and Gordon filling our celeb quotient.

The show will do OK again tonight, as it's sandwiched between THREE eps of Corrie - but Tues and Weds will be the big test. I should imagine the ratings will plunge on those nights.

I actually thought Angus done a good job. He seemed pretty relaxed, and some of his jokes were quite funny.

As for Mark-Durden Smith, he made a BIG mistake in his career when joining to present Ri:se. He was doing well as a Rugby presenter on Sky Sports before that. Now he is forced to present crappy, cheap reality shows, and he doesn't even get the main parts.

As for the show itself, ITV seem to be hyping it up, and making it into a reality show. It doesn't need to be a reality show. It could just follow a group of celebrities to see how they cope with the pressure of being employed in a flashy London restaurant. But ITV don't know any better do they? They're just copying every other show by having an eviction system, and having an overall winner. It would of been better if it was made into a documentry.

and the celebs are not a particularly appealing lot are they?

I think that's why KN worked - it was filmed using real chefs in real situations (tho allegedly heavily edited) .....

Jamie Oliver's project was similarly successful because it was really real .....

Is it me or is this programme just like Big Brother and I'm a Celeberity Get Me Out of Here.

A load of people living togeather and the public vote by phone.

Whatever next.

Well I was very dissapointed. Nothing like I expected. Was good to see Angus Deyton instead of Davina, Ant & Dec or Cat Deeley as hosts but I just felt the show was lacking any real entertainment value. I'll give it another try tonight but I dont think im going to be hooked.

What were you expecting, out of interest? More action from the kitchen? The problem is, the show is always 24 hrs behind - like Big Brother. Events that happened during the day won't be covered on the primetime show until the following day.

I just found it all v false. Everything was being tried - killing live animals (I'm a Celeb), attempting souffles (Faking It), Kitchen-based strops (Jamie's Kitchen). We've seen it all before, but done much better in other shows - and with more at stake.

I was just thinking ......

The format of the program will change tonight .....

We will probably see the celebs cooking live in the restaurant kitchen and get the verdicts from celebrity diners .....

That will definitely be more interesting (as long as AD takes a lower profile) ......

I guess I'm in the minority here then but I actually enjoyed it, wish there was more live coverage though than just the two hours between 11-1

MediaGuardian agrees with you - extract :

The format throws everything but the kitchen sink into the reality mix, with viewers able to vote off their least favourite celebrity cook and watch them living together Big Brother-style in between programmes for the duration of its two-week run.

Link :

http://media.guardian.co.uk/overnigh...223558,00.html

I found Hell's Kitchen very irritating. How on earth do they expect celebrities, who probably have less culinary skills than the rest of us mere mortals, to cook food to be served as in a first class restaurant after four days training?? I will not be watching again, and am glad I will not be torn between this and BB on Friday and the rest of it's run. I think ITV have a huge turkey on their hands (with not enough celebs with cooking skills to cook it!!!) BTW Jennifer Ellison eating those blackcurrants or whatever, then using the same spoon to put them onto plates made me feel quite ill

I cant say this program did a lot for me, and i was quite looking forward to it.

Angus Deayton was very monotone, and he looked uncomfortable which made me feel uncomfortable.

I like i might slap Amanda Barrie in the chops. I cant stand that simpering woman.

I think things might get better when you see bit of them living together with them slagging people off, and plotting against others. Then it might be more fun.

Also - will someone please give them hats to wear Richard Dreyfuss kept pushing back his sweaty droopy hair, and then touching the food

I bet she puts all sorts in her mouth. Dirty little minx.

Rudi

Why would they plot against each other? That's not part of the game. They're not voting for each other, are they?

Besides, I think they'll all be too busy or knackered to notice one another!

I don't think Ramsay's rep is going to be helped by this show. He's pretending to be narked off by the culinary skills of a bunch of beginners. errrr, what does he expect? These aren't professionals. None of them deserve to be shouted at, and yet that's what he is being forced to do, simply because it makes for 'great tv'.

Rudi by name, rudi by nature!!

I noticed the amount of times people touched their hair and faces last night, even Gordon touched his nose a few times. It was quite off putting watching them then put the food on the plates with their hands, without so much as a hint of washing their hands.

Then Jennifer eating from a pan and the spoon going back in. I didn't notice if she served from it again, but I hope she didn't.

Poor James, he looks like he won't have the stamina to last the week. He looked fit to drop by the end of the evening, when he eventually got to go upstairs for the night. They all thought he had gone to bed, but he was still washing the floor.

I found Angus to be smug and annoying in his usual way but whereas on HIGNFY it is part of the charm on this it was just smug and annoying.
As for the **** on Extra potions, who the hell is he.

I would have liked to have seen GR do more "training" instead of the this is how bad they are shouting. The reason Fame Academy failed is that is came in too late and noone gives a stuff about whats going on.

Angus saying GR is puting his reputation on the line is dead right except its coz he is getting involved in tosh like this that afterawhile he he will be on TV more than Ainsley.
How ironic seeing how much he moans about him o much for doing so.

The bloke can cook no doubts but either get a cooking show or get off.

I meant like the sharp end of a butter knife, or food that's been on the floor, or indeed Licorice Allsorts (y'know Bertie Bassett) of course.

I hope you didn't think I meant Gordon Ramsay's itsy bitsy beef olive!

Goodness me, you've got a mind like a Welsh mountain railway. One track and filthy.

Rudi

Im just saying what Angus said, he told us all there would be plenty of back biting and plotting.

Whether there will or not remains to be seen, but the only time they will have on their hands to do any of this bitching will be in their private quarters.

oops double post - the site is really slow this afternoon

Still finding it hard to believe Gordon Ramsey has done this show.

Hells Kitchen is a good idea but without the Reality TV spin. Far too much time wasted by poor presenting and adverts. The "Something bad happened but we won't show you till we've reminded you 500 times it happened" routine is getting tiresome.

Yeah .....

That was really annoying and a waste of time .....

i liked the show never saw the itv2 show