“Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted” Is Already Getting Major Backlash

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, best known for his expletive-laden appearances on various cooking shows, has another television show lined up. Although it’s not set to premiere until 2019, it’s already getting major backlash.

Last week, National Geographic announced their newest series, created with Ramsay, called Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted. The press release describes it as a show that “draws connections between exploration, adventure, and food — with a dash of friendly competition — starring Ramsay.” The show will be produced by Ramsey’s studio, Studio Ramsay, and is going to begin filming in the fall.

In each episode, Ramsay will be traveling to a new country, where he will speak with locals to get a glimpse of the culture’s culinary secrets, to explore traditions and customs, and to create a competition between Ramsay and locals, “pitting his own interpretations of regional dishes against their tried-and-true classics.” The press release says, “The series moves beyond conversation to truly immerse Ramsay in all aspects of the local culture to better prepare him for the final friendly cooking competition with local chefs and foodies.”

Does this sound kind of familiar to you? Maybe sort of similar to another wildly popular celebrity chef show out there? If you can’t help but think of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, you aren’t alone.

Many Twitter users have pointed out the similarities, with nothing positive to say about the connections.

Sounds like a bit of an Anthony Bourdain reboot. Please do it with the same class and reverence as AB did it. Love GR.

— The Mike 🇨🇦 (@H3RServices) July 25, 2018

There's no way this is a good idea. #RamsayisnotBourdain

— solange (@myntasolange) July 27, 2018

So he's basically stealing Bourdain's show while the body is still warm...

— Nelo (@LabradorLove4) July 25, 2018

This isn’t the only reason for the backlash. As Eater pointed out, it kind of seems like this show is encouraging Ramsay to go into other cultures he’s not a part of to try to show the locals that he can cook their food better than they can. And knowing Ramsay’s history, it’s sure to be at least a little combative.

The negative feedback was so overwhelming that National Geographic addressed it in a statement to Eater, in which they said, “We are disappointed that the announcement of our upcoming series with Gordon Ramsay was taken out of context. With National Geographic’s storied history of exploration, our plan with this series is to celebrate and learn about local cultures around the world. In partnering with Ramsay — a well-known adventure enthusiast — we are going to fully immerse viewers and give them a glimpse into surprising and unexpected cultures and local flavors. We have not gone into production on the series yet, so this perspective is premature. We’re looking forward to working with Ramsay, who’s been making food and travel documentaries for well over a decade, to share the series when it premieres sometime next year.”

The show won’t be airing until 2019, so we have a bit of a wait before we can find out what we can really expect here. Hopefully it’s not as upsetting as it seems.