Original: Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (Channel 4, 2004-09)
This BAFTA-winning British reality program stars a celebrity chef (the potty-mouthed Gordon Ramsay), who is sent into the kitchens of failing restaurants in order to save them from going under. Drama ensues whenever Ramsay runs into obstacles such as inattentive owners, terrible menu items and unsanitary surroundings. The show was a huge hit across multiple countries during its run, so much so that it spawned an American adaptation, simply called Kitchen Nightmares. That adaptation, for FOX, also stars Ramsay and proved so popular that it continues to this day.
Rip-Off: Restaurant – Impossible (Food Network, 2011-present)
This American reality series stars a celebrity chef (slightly less foul-mouthed Robert Irvine) who is sent into the kitchens of failing restaurants in order to save them from going under. Drama ensues whenever Irvine runs into obstacles such as inattentive owners, terrible menu items and unsanitary surroundings. Though much lower-rated than either version of Kitchen Nightmares, Restaurant: Impossible has been successful enough for Food Network to continue it for six seasons so far, with more to come.
Just How Bad Is It? 10/10
This seems like a pretty obvious case of a less successful channel lifting a successful show idea from a higher-rated network. It happens often, but in Restaurant: Impossible‘s case, there are hardly any differences between the rip-off and the original, though Restaurant: Impossible shows a little bit more of the work Irvine does to actually effect change in the restaurants he visits, as opposed to the more Ramsay-centric Kitchen Nightmares.
Honestly, the only major difference between the two shows is that Restaurant: Impossible opted for a Brit in place of Kitchen Nightmares‘ baudy Scot. After Restaurant: Impossible‘s modest success, Spike TV commissioned their own Kitchen Nightmares rip-off: Bar Rescue, in which long-time bar owner and consultant Jon Taffer attempts to repair failing nightclubs and bars. That show started in 2011 and, like Restaurant: Impossible, is inexplicably still going.
