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Hell’s Kitchen Season 23 has been on hiatus for much of the month of December. Waiting for the next episode, I couldn’t help but think about how underwhelming this season of the competition has been. It’s still the same general idea behind the show, but what’s changed to make Season 23 so lackluster?
All Head Chefs in the Kitchen Hasn’t Been Exciting
Considering that Season 23 is all head chefs competing against each other, viewers were expecting to be blown out of the water by their performance. However, the competition hasn’t been great. You might think that it would be thrilling to see all of these experienced chefs go head to head, but it seems like some of them really don’t know what they’re doing. They’ve been making rookie mistakes, and none of them seem motivated to win.
On top of that, there are almost too many voices in the kitchen. Every single person there has been in charge of their own restaurant. So, everyone is chiming in, and no one is really standing out as a frontrunner in the competition.
Other Reasons Hell’s Kitchen Season 23 Isn’t Great
There are several other reasons that I and many other viewers think that Hell’s Kitchen Season 23 has been boring. First, Gordon Ramsay has become a lot nicer in the latest seasons of HK. Many people loved seeing him lose his mind in the earlier seasons (cue the “idiot sandwich” memes). It’s possible that his new demeanor toward the chefs could be what has this season feeling a little blah.
Beyond Ramsay’s behavior, there is another thing that has been eating at viewers. There have been so many ties. It’s getting kind of ridiculous. One viewer took to Reddit to lament about the number of ties we’ve seen in the season so far.
They wrote, “Ok y’all hot take now in the new season not everting gotta be a tie it ain’t as tense as before tho not bad so far.” Another person agreed, stating they’d rather see the challenges be absolute blowouts than see all of these ties. When the two teams tie in a challenge, Gordon Ramsay typically chooses the best dish. In the end, the tie is manufactured for the show to make it more exciting, but it’s done the opposite. It’s made the show predictable and monotonous.
How They Can Revive Hell’s Kitchen
Is there any way for Hell’s Kitchen Season 23 to pull viewers back in? There are some things that could be changed that would improve the viewer experience. For one, having an entire season where all head chefs compete likely contributed to the dullness of Season 23 so far. It has always been interesting to see home cooks, junior chefs, or line cooks compete for prestigious positions in the industry.
The change in the type of people competing started shifting in Season 20 with the Young Guns. Each of those chefs was already working in the industry and potentially already had professional training. We’ve seen more and more of that in the latest installations of the reality show.
One thing people in the r/HellsKitchen subreddit thought would be nice is to see some of the aspects from the earlier seasons return. Specifically, people would be interested in seeing Hell’s Kitchen competitors be able to create their own restaurants again. “Rewatching the first few seasons and I really miss the designing the restaurant aspect of the final, it shows such an interesting side of the finalists,” one person wrote.
Several other people agreed, sharing that they missed this part of the show as well. It gave people a chance to not only see their cooking talent but a look at how they might design and run their own restaurants.
While it’s unlikely that this will be brought back, many viewers are just bored with Hell’s Kitchen Season 23. Hopefully, things will pick up in the latter half of the season, and maybe we’ll see things shake up in Season 24.
What do you think about this season of Hell’s Kitchen? Are you underwhelmed by what’s been going on?
