This was left in comments and I wanted to highlight it. It’s from Sabrina Mashburn, the ‘food critic’ on the Finn McCool’s episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Some people seem to have had a problem with her appearence on the show and she’s taken a lot of heat for it. However, like Brian Mazzio’s supposed ‘walk out’ it seems like there’s a lot of unreality going on and I think people are mad at what is, essentially, a fictional character.
Dear Critics in Arms,
I was so sorry to read all of the negative responses to my performance as the “food critic” on the TV series “Kitchen Nightmares.”
As many of you have pointed out, no real food critic would go on national television to review a restaurant.
As a new editor at Dan’s Papers, I was sent, along with the rest of the Editorial staff, to have fun, put on a show and get a humorous story for the paper that week.
Once the cameras were rolling, my job as an actress was to deliver my performance exactly as the producers and director instructed.
The resulting “review” and the story by my colleague about our experience on “Kitchen Nightmares” was meant to give our readers a taste of what it is like to be on reality TV.
My review of the food, however, was written in the spirit of my character on the show, as the producers of “Kitchen Nightmares” had requested it for use on the program.
I apologize if I have become the unlikely poster girl for food criticism; that certainly was not my intent when I agreed to join the cast of the show. Although I am an aspiring environmental and scientific journalist, I am not a food critic and have never written a serious, blind review of any restaurant and do not plan to do so in the future.
As anyone in the entertainment business will tell you, “reality” TV is simply an exercise in improvisational acting. The “reality” aspect is imparted by using unknown actors and laymen and by creatively editing many hours of footage to look like a seamless whole.
No wonder Samantha is having to comment - this is from the blog of paper she worked for…
We’ve been getting a lot of e-mails because of the Gordon Ramsey’s show Kitchen Nightmares that was shot last year at Finn McCools in West Hampton and aired last night on Fox. Our food critic waited over two hours before she could sit down and then was asked to complain on camera by the producers that were there to add drama to the show
People like the entire West Hampton fire department also left because the producers deliberately made them wait all night before they decided to leave once they figured that out to add further drama. Regardless, we hope that Finn McCools gets some good business because of it. They did seem like some legitimately nice people and we now understand that they were deliberatly screwing up that night to make a good television show.
And here’s the introduction to Samantha’s review…
Last Thursday, my colleagues and I were asked to review Finn McCool’s in Westhampton Beach, during the taping of a reality TV show. We arrived at 7 p.m., as per the producer’s instructions and although she told us that we would be seated immediately, when we finally found the restaurant manager, he told us that it would be a two-hour wait. Then the cameras appeared and the producer asked us to “act upset” and “talk about how the long wait will affect your review.” Like good reality TV actors, we did as we were told, playing the part of irate food critics. Because this is a restaurant review, not a critique of inept producers, the most difficult part of reviewing Finn McCool’s is separating the successes and failures of the staff from those of the production company.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Well, she’s right with her closing paragraph, and it provides evidence for the other comments regarding the Fox show. Take it for entertainment value, I suppose.
November 16th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Samantha wrote: “Although I am an aspiring environmental and scientific journalist, I am not a food critic and have never written a serious, blind review of any restaurant and do not plan to do so in the future.”
This is a wise decision on her part, considering she doesn’t appear to know the difference between a crock pot and a casserole dish.
If Samantha aspires to be a scientific journalist, she might want to try checking her facts, as opposed to yellow reporting “in the spirit of her character”.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Many thanks for posting this on my blog.
As I noted there, the disconnect for me is that the British series seemed so very above-the-table. I’m not sure how much actual control Ramsay has with the Fox series, nor, now, am I certain just how legit the British series is.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Who cares whether this is real reality or plain fiction, i love drama and i get it that is fine with me. If it really such a big deal, why not just sue the producer and Gordon, that is far more profitable than posting bitchy reviews online.