Gorden Ramsey Stealing Ideas From A Dead Man

Gordon Ramsay didn’t even wait until Anthony Bourdain’s body went cold before stealing the blueprint from his successful Part’s Unknown show. I do understand the show must go on after someone kicks the bucket, but this just feels wrong. Partially because no one did the travel/food combo show better than Anthony, and partially because Gordon is more hostile than hospitable. Being respectful and openminded is not exactly his strength. You can’t kick in the yurt door of a Mongolian nomad on camera and assert that your version of Musk Deer consommé is better because you’ve plated it with an array of color coordinated parsnips on the side. Being angry and efficient is more his speed. Which is what makes him so entertaining. I doubt many people watch Ramsay because he’s an awesome chef. We watch Kitchen Nightmares and his other shows just to see who he will be calling an “idiot sandwich” or something similar.

Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay were acquaintances, but fans of the late Kitchen Confidential author are up in arms over the British chef’s new TV show.

On Wednesday, July 25, National Geographic announced Ramsay’s new series, Uncharted, will feature the foul-mouthed chef embarking “on anthropology-through-cuisine expeditions” to foster relationships with people, places and flavors around the world.

Each episode will also see the MasterChef Junior host, 51, face off against the locals, “pitting his own interpretations of regional dishes against the tried-and-true classics,” before ending with a “friendly competition with local chefs and foodies.”

As many people on social media have noted, Uncharted sounds very similar to Parts Unknown, the CNN show that featured Bourdain traveling around the world learning about other cultures through food. After Bourdain’s death by suicide in June, his friend and fellow chef Andrew Zimmern told Us Weekly that he was worried about similar shows popping up, explaining, “My fear is that having realized how valuable he was now that he’s gone, that there’s some network out there ready to launch 30 Bourdain copycat shows with real idiots hosting them. That’s probably my biggest fear, which would be, I think, a setback to all the work that not only Tony did, but that I’m doing and that others are trying to do.”

Now that almost everyone is a self-proclaimed “influencer” on social media and can’t resist the urge to take grainy photos of their food and vacations, we should be just fine when it comes to getting enough of that kind of content. Another travel and eat show is just overkill at this point. It’s pretty infuriating when you’re a local who can no longer patronize your favorite food spot without waiting in a one hour wait-time line just because Guy Fieri stuffed his chipmunk face on Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives. His culinary transgressions, Hot Topic hairstyle, and bizarre desire to never leave the house without a flame button up shirt on his body easily put him up there with Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Gwyneth Paltrow when it comes to the world’s hated individuals.

Photo Credit:Anthony Bourdain’s sorta ex-girlfriend Asia Argento from Getty Images