I don't think I agree. Who watches Hells Kitchen and thinks, "man, doing extremely complex and fast paced cooking in a stressful environment with a chef who's verbally assaulting me at every moment seems very appealing, I should change my occupation!" Aside from people with a superiority complex and a 'Can't lose' mentality.

I honestly think it's more likely to drive people away from jobs in the food industry, especially if they're not already interested in cooking. That being said the dramatization factor is definitely there, and I would hope that most people at this stage would recognize that "reality" tv and competitions like this don't actually represent reality at all, at least in most circumstances.

I'm gonna have to disagree. Hell's kitchen has been on for nearly 20 years now, Master Chef for over ten, etc. They're on multiple networks and are popular in multiple countries and continents. To say they're "designed" as a recruitment tool is just ridiculous. They're "designed" as entertainment, and they are entertaining. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by networks producing these kinds of shows in the past 20 years, they're not going to spend money like that to advance some agenda of "getting people to work as cooks," they're gonna spend that money to advance the agenda of "I and my fellow entertainment executives want more money in our pockets."

Interesting way to look at it. I saw it as more reality TV bloat content.

Ish. But it also shows the the tip of the severe amount of work you have to put in to be not just good but great at what you do. There's something special about cooking for people. If anything those shows are more like watching professional sports for those that are in to sports. They can appreciate the amount of work somebody had to do to get there. Sure, anybody can make a meal, just like anybody can make a shot in basketball, but to be able to take the shot and get nothing but net many times over... That's hard work and practice. There are those that will end up in that field due to misplaced notions and there are those that will end up there because it was the only way to earn a paycheck. But to get to that level it takes a lot of drive, passion, and willingness to learn from your failures. But, you're right, there will always be that group of high school football players or kids that got A's in home ec that watch that and think "That could easily be me"

Yep, and it sucks, even if you're passionate about cooking.

Sincerely,
Somebody who flushed that career down the toilet 9 years ago and literally got a pay raise to clean toilets and now makes about 5x what I was making as a chef. And I work less.

My wife loves that show, I was never able to fathom why it is so interesting to watch people being frustrated in you free time. Cooking should be so about fun and love, don't shout with my food, please.

What's that make The Bear?