Reddit Is Calling Out The Hilarious Vocal Dubs Of Hell's Kitchen
Sometimes bad things are truly bad. War, famine, pestilence, and anything else that got a horse rider named after it in the book of Revelations tends to be bad all the way around. Conversely, sometimes bad things are excellent. True, it can be uncomfortable when Gordon Ramsay dresses someone down for giving him cold beef wellington, but that negativity is overshadowed by the entertainment of it. Plus, contestant Ileana D'Silva says Ramsay's cruelty makes people improve. "He's there to push you," she explains. Proving bad can be very useful.
Though there's a load of bad films that become cult classics, it's often difficult to find a television show that can be bad enough to be good. Instead, what often works in television is having bad elements that get incorporated into a show that is laughably terrible. Consider the failed contestants who try out for "American Idol." Videos of those who sing especially badly receive millions of views on YouTube, and some people, like this Redditor, bemoan the times when they can't see the bad singers.
Though "Hell's Kitchen" tends to rely on Gordon Ramsay's horrifying insults to fulfill its quota of delicious badness, there's one eagle-eared – or would that be "dog-eared"? – social media poster who noticed that there's also some bad audio that can bring on a chuckle.
The Emmy for the unintentionally funniest sound editing goes to...
There's been a massive controversy brewing behind the scenes of reality TV. In July 2021, the New York Post reported that some reality stars have been complaining about the extreme editing that takes place in their shows. They claim that audio on their shows is being edited to make them seem worse than they are.
A Reddit thread shows that "Hell's Kitchen" might also be the victim of extreme editing. Since much of the show revolves around Ramsay's patented belittling, it looks like he's having some dialog put in where it shouldn't be. Interestingly, many edits don't actually involve anything inflammatory, making it a case of either intentional wackiness or simple mistakes made in the production process.
The poster of the thread included several examples of unusual audio edits. According to the Redditor, the most egregious offender came in Season 8, Episode 1. In this episode, producers appeared to insert a voice clip of Ramsay yelling, "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH," while a contestant yawned. The poster explained that was actually said during a later dinner service. Other commenters concurred with this examination, with one user also adding, "Seasons 7 and 8 editing was odd." Many examples came from those seasons, with several peppered in from Seasons 5, 9, and 10. Should you wish to explore further, those are the best places to start.
Of course, we'll leave the exact weight of this scandal for fans to measure. Earlier this year, "Hell's Kitchen" fans couldn't get over the famed "Chickengate" controversy.