Gordon Ramsay's 2023 Super Bowl Appearance Was Just One Big Ad
As the Super Bowl isn't just a football game but an Event with a capital "E," it brings out the celebs in droves. Super Bowl LVII was no exception. One famous face, though, seemed to appear on camera every time they panned the crowd – why did we see so much of Gordon Ramsay? Was he the biggest star in attendance? No, not really. Other big names at the big game included Jay-Z, Adele, Cara Delevingne, and even Paul McCartney, and we'd say a former Beatle trumps a celebrity chef any day.
Still, as it turns out, there was a good reason Ramsay's mug was on the TV monitor every few minutes. As the title indicates, it was all done for advertising purposes. What, you may ask, was Fox advertising? Well, if you stayed tuned to the channel after the game ended, then you've already seen it for yourself.
Ramsay's Next-Level Chef was on right after the Super Bowl
One of the hottest tickets on television is the lead-out show, meaning the one that airs right after the Super Bowl. Even if only half of the people who just watched the game don't immediately change the channel or switch off the set and go to bed, that's still a heck of an audience, one that may amount to 20 million or more viewers.
Going back over the past 25 years' worth of Super Bowls, it looks like the most common follow-ups have been drama series, with comedies a close second. There have also been a few reality shows, a talk show, and even, on one occasion, a second dose of sports in the form of the Winter Olympics. This year, however, Fox went in a different direction by airing a cooking show, this being Gordon Ramsay's own "Next-Level Chef." Aha, mystery solved! Ramsay's numerous Super Bowl LVII cameos were themselves meant to lead up to this lead-out and, in turn, to build an even bigger audience for the show. Considering that Ramsay's shows tend to rake in a lot of money, the focus makes sense.
Chef Drama was in the post-Super Bowl spotlight
A lucky chef besides Gordon Ramsay benefited from the post-Super Bowl audience, too. Who, you ask? That would be "Next Level Chef" contestant Darryl Taylor, an Atlanta-based caterer who's been running a business called Epicurean Drama Caterers for the past dozen years. His dramatics – it seems – extend to tossing around utensils, as opposed to Ramsay's penchant for tossing around insults. Taylor, however, seems to be pretty fearless when it comes to dealing with the Scottish chef's tantrums. Per Delish, Taylor explained that when Ramsay asked him to name a favorite sandwich, he replied that he had a favorite recipe for curried chicken salad with dried cranberries. Ramsay, characteristically, said that it sounded like "sh** on bread," but Taylor shot back that it would make Ramsay "slap [his] mama."
Still, even though Taylor was well-equipped to deal with Ramsay, he confessed to YouTuber Quente Jackson that he found the show "very challenging" and "very nerve-wracking," what with the speed required of him as well as the stress of performing in front of several judges. Not to mention millions of post-Super Bowl viewers ... Still, he acquitted himself very well, and certainly has the kind of charisma that can help him stand out in the cutthroat world of cooking competition shows.
Fox's clever marketing strategy may not have cost it a thing
As those 30-second Super Bowl commercials cost the advertisers $7 million or more apiece, the total amount of advertising revenue Fox raked in was around $600 million, thus proving the old adage that time is, indeed, money. The network was faced with somewhat of a dilemma, though, as it wanted to use some of that oh-so-valuable airtime to promote its own offerings. The strategy it settled on was to narrow down the focus to just four shows, these being a new dating show called "The Farmer Wants a Wife," the new sitcom "Animal Control," and the old standby "The Masked Singer" as well as Ramsay's "Next Level Chef." As marketing president Darren Schillace told Adweek, "a rising tide lifts all boats," meaning that all shows on the network will likely benefit from the increased attention to the top offerings.
The best advertising strategy of all, however, may have been something that didn't cost Fox a dime. As we've already mentioned, the numerous on-camera scenes of Ramsay during the game didn't take away from any of that precious advertising airtime. As long as the chef remains one of Fox's hot properties, it would do well to have him appearing at any and every major event the station is televising. Maybe he'll even get a guest commentator spot one of these days, letting him take his trash-talking skills to the "next level."