I've heard that on some of the cooking competition shows they more or less pre-select the winner before the ovens are even warmed up.
Gordon Ramsay isn't about to pick some random fry cook from Tuscaloosa to run his brand new steakhouse concept at Caesar's Palace and pay him or her $250K a year to do it.
There are two, maybe three real contestants and everyone else is there for the entertainment value.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZg-N9rzQpU
Gordon Ramsay isn't about to pick some random fry cook from Tuscaloosa to run his brand new steakhouse concept at Caesar's Palace and pay him or her $250K a year to do it.
There are two, maybe three real contestants and everyone else is there for the entertainment value.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZg-N9rzQpU
...until you find out that a vast majority of the winners (6 of 7) are never allowed to cook in or run his restaurants. http://foodiegossip.blogspot.com/2010/12/hells-kitchen-hell-of-embarrassment.html Some get lesser roles, most don't actually get the job.