the chefs on Top Chef are 10x more talented than the ones on Hell's Kitchen. In fact, some of the people in Hell's Kitchen shouldn't be cooking at all.

Second, the guest judges on Top Chef are impressive in the culinary world (e.g. Daniel Boulud, Jose Andreas, Eric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain, etc etc).

I do like Gordon Ramsey, but he's portrayed in a negative manner by Fox. You should really watch the U.K/British version of Kitchen Nightmares, he's actually quite different compared to the American version of Kitchen Nightmares/Hell's Kitchen

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shayna i totally agree with you, hells kitchen is alot better than top chef. i love it when he shoves plates of food into peoples shirts, tis very entertaining. on the other hand hes a great chef he has really good leadership qualities, i think hes great at pushing people to their limits, ramsay brings the gets the best out of his chefs.

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I was never a fan of the shows or Gordon, but my boyfriend is, and so by association I ended up watching both of the shows (Hell's Kitchen & Kitchen Nightmares) since they were both always on in our house . . .

I do think his reactions are a little extreme, and like any reality show, I think the content and characters are edited to make more enjoyable TV. However, I agree with your comment on banging your head on the counter - he does express how he's feeling, which is admirable! I have become a fan since he is entertaining, but the next step is try one of his restaurants to see if he really is as good a chef as he comes across.

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I love Hell's Kitchen...I appreciate the over-the-top dramatic reality show editing that they use. The artificial tension is so overdone that you know they are in on the joke and doing it tongue-in-cheek. If they actually used higher caliber chefs, like Top Chef, I think the show would be even better. However, it is definitely very entertaining. I wish Kitchen Nightmares would come back!

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Hell's Kitchen is more of 'who can be an adequate line cook'

Top Chef is 'who can actually be a chef'

Top Chef is more about actual cooking, you actually get to see the food they make up close

Hell's Kitchen seems to focus more on drama

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I think I have more respect for Hell's Kitchen than Top Chef... Just seems more real.

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I think I respect Hell's Kitchen more than Top Chef. It seems more real...

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My wife watches Hell's Kitchen so I've seen it, but it has nothing to do with resturant cooking.

My drill sargent in boot camp didn't use that kind of language or attitude. But I do have to admire Ramsey's courage at using language like that to people with chef's knives.

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He's fine, and portrayed in a way that doesn't seem consistent with any other things he's been involved in. My problem is the show. They take incompetents with little to no experience(a stay-at-home dad?), throw them on a line,have them do some very pedestrian cooking while under pressure,and then we get to see who cracks. The winner of this gets a job as a "Chef" at one of his restaurants with a 250K$ paycheck? What kind of bull is that? It is so disconnected from the realities of the professional food industry that anyone who has so much as waitressed for 6 months at a diner knows that it's utter crap.

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To Trish:

It is not real,it has no connection to the real restaurant world and nothing to do with fine dining or cooking. Your respect must have more to do with the drama than the food or cooking.

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After having been introduced to Ramsay through his British shows (The F Word and the British Kitchen Nightmares), I find Hell's Kitchen exasperating. Perhaps he was this much of a caricature of himself on the original British Hell's Kitchen, but I simply can't imagine it. Even in the American Kitchen Nightmares he wasn't edited to show half the empathy, heart and real deep caring about food that you see in his British programming. And I have to believe it's about Fox's editing, having seen his UK shows.

And as someone else said, Top Chef is about the food, Hell's Kitchen is about the drama. I would rather see truly talented chefs being inspired by food and trying to do better in competing with equally talented peers, than a group of perfectly adequate line cooks being berated and only producing the same menu week after week after week.

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good reality tv is like watching a toilet overflow...fascinating, yet horrifying.

hells kithen is mostly just horrifying.

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I totally agree with Ellen. Ramsay's best show is the F Word (F being for... Food ! Of course !), you can see his passion and it really comes through to the audience.

I also think what makes Top Chef better than Hell's Kitchen is also the creativity involved (or at least shown). You get to the creative process with the candidates when they have to create a dish... and that is personnaly what fascinates me the most.

I watch both shows though :P

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I've been watching both Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen, but am increasingly tempted to stop watching Hell's Kitchen. When it comes to reality TV, I don't have patience for the pure voyeuristic, entertainment type shows. Hell's Kitchen can be entertaining at times, but I just don't care enough about the contestants to feel the drama that the show tries to create. In fact, I sometimes feel a little cynical about the world after watching the incessant fighting. I'm the same way with shows like Survivor and such. With Top Chef, I at least feel like I'm learning something about cooking or food.

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First it is tv so it is going to be hyped up. I mean come on look at all the competition they have. So if he is not a bit over the top the show would be boring. And besides maybe there is something to he's yelling and what not. There are a lot worse people to work for out there. Maybe by treating them this way they will be more prepared for what is out there. A resturaunt kitchen from what I have read and heard is not a pretty place to work. And Chef's can be bear's to work for.

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I like both shows. They are totally different in character and really can't be compared as they shoot for different audiences.

I have found this latest Hell's Kitchen a bit more drab because I never got into these people, but that's how it goes with these shows.

I agree about F Word, too. It's another world entirely.

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I watch and enjoy both, but for very different reasons.

To me, Top Chef is championship boxing -- the participants are at the top of their game and take their profession seriously. Hell's Kitchen is pro wrestling, nothing is real and drama is king.

I'd happily eat the food of any of this season's Top Chef contestants; Hell's Kitchen, not so much. C'mon, Hell's Kitchen opened up service with overcooked fish and a rare filet when the order was medium-well. Seriously, how could *anyone* who knows which end of a knife is the pointy one screw up fish or steak as the first orders of the night?

Of course, Hell's Kitchen is looking for a cog to fit into an existing restaurant while Top Chef is looking for culinary entrepreneurs so even if all other things were equal the shows would still be miles apart... which is why I watch both of them I guess...

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Hell's Kitchen is OK, but Kitchen Nightmares is more to my liking. I know Ramsay's personality is an acquired taste, but know this: Ramsay is a better chef, and runs a better restaurant than ANYONE on TV, period. Tom Colicchio's, Emeril's, and Bobby Flay's (etc) restaurants are all excellent experiences, but none hold a candle to Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

It is funny to see the lengths Top Chef takes to minimize the stress seen in Hell's Kitchen - a level of perfectionism seen at top restaurants, made for good TV by placing not very talented contestants in a hostile situation. Ramsay cares about the product, not your feelings, and it shows in the results. It amazes friends of mine that most of Ramsay's employees have been with him for years, as he cultivates a loyalty not seen in the various shows.

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my wife and i watch both!

nobody can cook on HellsKitchen. "where's the effin risotto?" Ramsay is pure comedy!

Top Chef is full of REAL chefs and caters to my wife's expensive taste for fine dining.

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Hells Kitchen is more about line chefs and has much more reality show in it. I mean its going to be about who can mass produce these dishes they create and is based more in the realities of back house...

Top Chef focuses much more on the dishes and culinary talents. There is drama and such, but its less.... dramatic.

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