Banishing Hell's Kitchen

Gordon Ramsay without the Swearing?

Oh, it just wouldn't be the same would it? He would just be some other chef losing his temper. If you've ever worked in a kitchen, you know all about chefs' tempers and if you've ever watched Hell's Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares you know Chef Ramsay's temper is probably among the worst. Well, it seems his foul-mouthed filled tirades against aspiring executive chefs on Hell's Kitchen and existing chefs and restaurant owners on Kitchen Nightmares has got the Australian parliament and the Catholic church lobbying to get his shows pulled from the air.

Australian versus American Television

Here's the crux of the issue: Ramsay's shows air in Australia after 8:30 p.m., a time determined to keep small children's ears safe from Ramsay's language. Since the shows are aired that "late," it isn't censored. Meaning, Ramsay's tirades are heard in their entirety. Unlike in the U.S. where all we hear are things like "Come on you bleeping doughnut, get it together!" or "What's wrong with you, you bleeping banana?" And how can anyone forget his "donkey" period on Hell's Kitchen?

What the Aussie Government is Saying

The Aussie government wants to "protect" its viewers' ears from being subjected to Ramsay's favorite expletives by introducing new rules regarding bad language on Australian television. Apparently they based this on counting how many F-bombs Ramsay used in one Kitchen Nightmares show, which was 80 times in 40 minutes.

The Catholic Church is calling for the show's cancellations or at the very least, that the it be aired in a much later time slot.

What the Networks are Saying

The networks that air these shows have stated that his swearing is so much of an issue that they receive an average of "…one complaint for every 117,000 viewers."

What Gordon Ramsay is Saying

"I want to run a proper kitchen with a pair of bollocks, not stand there and wish everybody a merry Christmas and pat them on the back every time they do a good job."