Chefs vie for 'Hell'ish haute cuisine spot

CHICAGO, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The devil's in the details, or for reality TV show hopefuls in Chicago, the chef's hat as they vie for a spot cooking in Gordon Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen."

Ramsay, a three-star restaurateur with eateries scattered across the globe, berates, belittles and bedevils the chef-contestants throughout the series until the final one standing wins a six-figure salary and a job running his or her own upscale restaurant.

More than 350 cooks were at the Illinois Institute of Culinary Arts Wednesday, trying to win a spot on Ramsay's televised boot camp. Several said the Scot's in-your-face behavior and profane language isn't unusual in the restaurant world, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

"You see that in every kitchen,'' Scott Van Dyke, 42, who cooks at a Grand Rapids, Mich., restaurant, told the Sun-Times. He said his boss swears at him regularly "and he's my cousin."

"Hell's Kitchen" casting producer Deborah Tarica said Ramsay is an "an old-school chef (who) loves to yell.''

The fourth cycle of "Hell's Kitchen," taped in Los Angeles, is scheduled for summer 2008.

 Related Images
 Related Polls
 Related Trivia
 Celebrity Gossip

TV, Chicago, Gordon, Ramsay, US,
HELLSKITCHEN, living tv, living top, Living,