Emotions heat up on ‘Hell’s Kitchen’

Gordon Ramsay is ready to be TV’s newest reality star.

“Hell’s Kitchen” – part reality, part cooking competition – premieres at 9 p.m. Monday on Fox (KAYU-28 in Spokane).

It centers on Ramsay, 38, who doesn’t fit the image of an upscale chef. He’s too rough, too ragged, too angry.

Besides, he’s British.

“I remember living in France with all the French arrogance,” Ramsay says. “They thought the only thing we could make was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.”

By now, he may have soothed some doubters.

One of the British restaurants bearing his name has won three stars in the Michelin Guide. A Restaurant magazine poll named it one of the world’s five best.

“Ramsay is a true perfectionist who minces no words and spares no feelings,” Gail Berman said before exiting her job as Fox president.

In short, he’s like Simon Cowell, the “American Idol” judge.

As a result, he’s had two British series bearing the same name and now an American one.

“It is a real-life drama, with no format, no cards,” Ramsay says. “It’s just something that is incredibly natural.”

Viewers will see him run a Los Angeles restaurant with aspiring chefs. He gives them challenges and ousts them until he has a champion.

Ramsay’s mother was a cook.

“I always had a passion for eating,” he says.

He studied hotel management in college, worked with London chefs and spent three years in France. After returning to London, he became a chef in 1993, a cookbook author in ‘96 and a restaurant owner in ‘98.

With all his excess energy, Ramsay rushes between projects. He has opened or taken over at least eight British restaurants, some of them simply bearing his name.

He has published five cookbooks and is on his third TV show.

“Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares” had him working with four failing restaurants. “One didn’t work,” he says, “but three out of four definitely did work.”

The British “Hell’s Kitchen” gave him two days to turn celebrities into chefs. Now Fox uses the same name but a different format.

His intensity has scared people, Ramsay acknowledges.

“I get a seat on the bus now,” he jokes. “I go into the station, and everyone jumps out.”