NIGELLA Lawson says telly cooking shows like Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen and the BBC’s MasterChef are a “theatre of cruelty and humiliation”.
The celebrity chef, 62, who is known for cheeky innuendos on her own cooking shows, said there is “never a need to be mean” and contestants should always be treated with respect.
Speaking about the bad tempered cooking show genre, Nigella said: “I don’t like that at all. I think it’s counterproductive.
“It makes people at home feel inhibited about cooking too, because they have this persecutory voice in their heads. I couldn’t be part of a programme like that.
“It doesn’t mean to say you’re not honest, but there’s never a need to be mean.”
Gordon, 55, is renowned for his explosive outbursts on Hell’s Kitchen, which has been renewed for two more seasons on US network Fox.
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The tense show sees aspiring chefs put through their paces in the kitchen — while enduring the wrath of Gordon — to win more than £200,000 and a coveted role as a head chef at a restaurant of Ramsay’s choosing.
Gordon is known for shouting the f-word at Hell’s Kitchen contestants, branding the aspiring chefs as “donkeys” and throwing badly-cooked meat on the floor.
Other famously cutting chefs include MasterChef: The Professionals judge Marcus Wareing, 52, and his fellow Englishman Marco Pierre White, 60, France’s Jean-Christophe Novelli, 61, and New Zealand chef Monica Galetti, 46.
Nigella, who made her comments to Australian Women’s Weekly, was revealed as a new judge on Aussie show My Kitchen Rules in April, replacing former Australian judge Pete Evans, 49.
Speaking about her new role, Nigella told the magazine: “Going to restaurants can be a treat, but for me, the true story of food is told through the cooking we do at home.
“So, to have the chance to champion home cooks and be given the intimate privilege of being invited into people’s homes to eat their food fills me with gratitude and excitement in equal measure.”
Nigella has recently returned to London after filming the latest season of the show Down Under — and she has not ruled out returning to Australia.
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She said: “I’m not one of life’s planners. In a way, life happens as it does. You can make plans, but it doesn’t mean they are going to come to pass.”
The Cook, Eat, Repeat author, who is the daughter of former Chancellor Nigel Lawson, 90, lives in a £5million London property.
