for a time i was into some of those reality cooking shows, they ended up all being cut from the same cloth. i watched chef ramsey because i liked his no nonsense approach and he insulted the fuck out of his crappy contestants. the staged drama was just eye gougingly bad, i think i noped out of Hell's Kitchen by season 3 and Kitchen Nightmares was not done very well in the US, in the UK version he works with the owners to be better business people and helped refresh their eateries to be more modern and accomodating. in the US he just came in shit on everything and yelled at them to stop being shitheads with a lot of staged bullshit in between. some owners got pissed off and sued him/Fox. almost all the US places he visited were out of business by the time their episodes aired. the worst part was he didnt help them refresh their business, he just had the network revamp the restaurant for them with out any input or interaction from the owners. it was just, "we renovated your business, gave it a new name and now you will be a success." meanwhile these idiots will still make the same mistakes. the UK places just needed a few tweaks and some harsh reality advice.
i dunno who would watch cooking reality shows anymore. Cake Boss was overrated, my local bakeries were making cakes that looked about as good. i mean you're supposed to eat the fucking thing, not stare at it. who cares if it has crazy details. eh as long as it says happy whatevr and they spell the names right, shut the fuck up and eat your cake. Youtube has better cooking videos with more niche subjects you would enjoy. if i want to make something new on the grill i dont need to wait a week for something on TV to come on. i'll just slap on a BBQ Pit Boys video and see what they made right now