It’s The Apprentice, but with food, and a reined-in Ramsay – the absolute worst kind of Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay’s new show starts with him jumping out of a penis. It looks like a helicopter, but it’s a penis. This, apparently, is to show the participants in BBC One’s Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars (hashtagged #FFS for social media, in case the smell of desperation hasn’t hit you yet) what he expects of them. They are on a beach, looking bemused, and they have to start the contest that will decide which of the up-and-coming food and drink entrepreneurs gets £150,000 of Ramsay investment by jumping off a Cornish cliff into the deep. Why? Because, barks Ramsay, “an idea is only as good as the person who has it and I want to discover your true DNA”.
They do it. They can all swim, so it’s very boring. He doesn’t even push those who hesitate off. This is medium-well-done Ramsay; palatable, no raw emotion, as unobjectionable as possible. That’s the first 20 minutes gone.