Brandon at Random Reviews

So I’m really branching out here by dabbling into the world of TV. Try not to let it be too much of a shock to your system.

You know, I honestly do love Gordon Ramsay’s other shows like “Hell’s Kitchen” or “Kitchen Nightmares”, one is a chef competition, the other, a formulaic restaurant fixer-upper style show. I find this “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted” quite a bit more compelling than the other two. It is certainly a lot more adventurous.

On this show, the world-renowned chef starts out by wasting no time arriving in his random location somewhere in the world. Many or even most of the places have indigenous cuisines you’re probably not familiar with. He meets and greets with his competing chef liaison who typically is born and raised in the area and obviously prepares that type of food for a living. The two of them will each prepare a meal that suits the typical food styles and customs of the country, to be judged by locals. This is actually not the bread and butter of the show for me, I mean it’s nice and all, but the real adventure is in meeting the cool people and learning a bunch about how they live.

So Gordon goes on a number of adventures with local hunters, gatherers, fishermen, farmers, or anyone else who can help him find the ingredients he needs to make his dishes to compete in the final showdown. They may go somewhere very remote, swampy, densely forested, or whatever to find berries that grow wild or pigs or fish or vegetation or whatever other kind of shit I can’t remember the name of. But I’m sure it all tastes good, unless this is all one big practical joke and I’m the only one not in on it.

There are often many “characters” that Ramsay encounters. Most people give him a hard time for being such a fucking amateur at the thing they literally do for a living that he’s doing for the first time with them. But Gordon holds his own and at least tries, which is more than I could fucking do in some of these situations, like catching and killing a fucking rattlesnake and shit? No fucking thanks. Many of the things he does are pretty dangerous, and he is definitely afraid, but hair guys like Gordon Ramsay have fucking brass balls because that’s what drives their success.

The final showdown isn’t like Gordon always wins or the other chef always wins. Which I like. Gordon sometimes tries to bring too much creative flair or doesn’t go to great enough lengths to make sure he’s infusing enough of the culture he’s learned about into the dishes. And like I said, the locals judging don’t give 2 shits about fancy pants Ramsay coming in and trying to do their food better than them so they keep pretty honest.

The show is fascinating. There are 3 seasons currently available on Disney+ and it is an hourlong timeslot show so the episodes work out to around 40 minutes each. It’s very educational and digestible for casual viewing, and you can pick up or leave off wherever and it’s a pure joy. I love it.

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