Why Hell's Kitchen Is Less Scripted Than You Think
We're all fairly familiar with the concept that reality shows are often more scripted than real. Producers manipulate the stakes and the contestants to get primo drama and sometimes even push the contestants in their behavior. One such example is how Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were told by producers to play an airhead and a troublemaker, respectively, in their infamous early 2000s reality hit, "The Simple Life" (per Access Hollywood). However, according to both Gordon Ramsay and showrunner Kenny Rosen, Hell's Kitchen may be less scripted than you think, explains Distractify.
Although Rosen admits that in earlier seasons, they did use a lot of bells and whistles to facilitate drama, the show has taken a step back to give more of a "straight raw vérité" feel to the finished product (per Reality Blurred). They've done this in part by stripping away much of the music to "put the viewer in the moment as if they're a fly on the wall without the music trying to tell them what they should be feeling at the moment" says Rosen.
It all comes down to casting
However, it's not all is done in the name of vérité. While they've edged away from manipulating drama or manufacturing the experience, according to Reality Blurred, the team behind Hell's Kitchen isn't above stacking the deck. In 2013, Gordon Ramsay told Emmy Magazine that the cast is picked "50 percent cast for character, and 50 percent cast for talent" (via Reality Blurred). Some of the drama comes unintended from the contestants themselves. Rosen says, "some of [the contestants] have misrepresented their culinary skills a little bit, and that's quickly found out." Those, he says, are generally the first to be eliminated.
The remaining drama unfolds naturally. Rosen says, "[The contestants] take it very seriously. The cast knows what they're signing up for — we're not trying to put one over on the cast either. This is a real cooking competition with a real, legitimate prize and real, legitimate money, and for the winner, it's truly life-changing. So we don't want to mess with what we've got working." The show's drama comes primarily comes from the high stakes and personalities.
One former crew member told Cinemaholic that the show is not only not staged, but that it would be virtually impossible to do with a live cooking show. Although the crew member did admit that producers sometimes probe contestants for a better sound bite — but that's all above board in the reality TV world.