Anthony Bourdain Fans Angry Over ‘Copycat’ Gordon Ramsay Show
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is coming under fire by fans of Anthony Bourdain who claim that Ramsay’s latest venture is eerily similar to the late CNN star’s Parts Unknown groundbreaking series.
Us Weekly reported that on Wednesday, July 25, National Geographic announced that Ramsay’s new series, Uncharted, would feature the chef embarking “on anthropology-through-cuisine expeditions” to foster relationships with people, places, and flavors around the world.
National Geographic also noted that Ramsay will also face off against locals in a loosely orchestrated cooking battle in a “friendly competition.”
Fans noted on Twitter that the premise of the series sounds very familiar, as Parts Unknown also had Bourdain traveling the world and talking to locals about their experiences with food, how it relates to their cultures, and how the simple act of sharing a meal can turn strangers into friends.
One Twitter user noted, “Anthony Bourdain didn’t live his life educating us on food and culture for Gordon Ramsay to divebomb cooking traditions.”
nah, anthony bourdain didn’t live his life educating us on food and culture for gordon ramsay to divebomb cooking traditions
— justin block (@JBlock49) July 27, 2018
Another Twitter user stated, “Gordon Ramsay is no Anthony Bourdain. I will not be watching his new travel/cooking show where he will try and prove he can cook local traditional foods better than the locals. Hard pass.”
A friend of Bourdain’s and fellow food explorer Andrew Zimmern noted in an interview with Us Weekly that he was worried about shows similar to Bourdain’s having a negative impact on his late friend’s work.
“My fear is that having realized how valuable he was now that he’s gone, that there’s some network out there ready to launch 30 Bourdain copycat shows with real idiots hosting them. That’s probably my biggest fear, which would be, I think, a setback to all the work that not only Tony did, but that I’m doing and that others are trying to do.”
Gordon Ramsay has hosted Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, and MasterChef.
Bourdain traveled the world as host of No Reservations, A Cook’s Tour, and The Layover.
“The more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that’s enlightenment enough — to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go,” he said during an episode of the series, as reported by CNN.
Anthony Bourdain died on June 8, 2018. He committed suicide while he was in France filming the latest season of Parts Unknown for CNN.
