Gordon Ramsay’s back, and this time, he’s got a Super Bowl-sized problem on his hands. Fox is serving up a special season of Kitchen Nightmares: Road to Super Bowl LIX, premiering Wednesday, January .
The first half of the season focuses on struggling restaurants in New Orleans, the host city for Super Bowl LIX. With the influx of football fans expected, these eateries are facing a make-or-break moment. Can Ramsay whip them into shape before the big game, or will they crumble under the pressure?
The format is familiar: Ramsay enters a failing restaurant, identifies the issues (usually a combination of inept management, questionable hygiene, and disastrous menus), and attempts to turn things around. Expect the usual fiery confrontations, tearful confessions, and last-minute scrambles to avoid total disaster.
But this season adds a ticking clock: the Super Bowl. Each episode will feature countdowns to the game, along with appearances by current and former NFL stars.
The New Orleans setting adds an interesting wrinkle. The city is known for its vibrant culinary scene, so the stakes are high. Ramsay’s task isn’t just to save these individual restaurants, but to uphold the city’s reputation as a food lover’s paradise. The second half of the season will shift to Austin and Houston, but the Super Bowl tie-in makes the New Orleans episodes feel particularly crucial.
Whether this gimmick actually adds anything to the Kitchen Nightmares formula is another matter. The show’s appeal has always been the combination of Ramsay’s explosive personality and the train-wreck fascination of watching businesses on the brink of collapse. Still, if you’re a fan of Ramsay’s brand of tough love (and who isn’t), or just enjoy watching people squirm under pressure, this season will be worth a look.
Kitchen Nightmares is produced by Studio Ramsay Global in association with FOX Alternative Entertainment. Gordon Ramsay and Katy Dierks serve as executive producers. Dierks is also the showrunner.
