Gordon behind bars

oli356 · 27 Jun 2012 at 20:43

Found it a good watch, looking forward to the rest of the episodes

Surprised the knives aren't attached to the working surfaces with something. When I've watched American toughest prison shows and they've earned the privilege to do something, they have had the tools attached to whatever.

timbob · 27 Jun 2012 at 20:55

Scary just how similar the inmates are to the immature, overreacting behaviour of year 9 kids in a dodgy secondary school. Both from a "these are adults behaving like kids" point of view, and a "if some of the kids I teach don't sort themselves out, I can quite easily see some of them in a place like that" point of view.

Illusion · 27 Jun 2012 at 21:42

realBabelfish said:
yeah i gathered that. what i mean is 'kitchen' is one of the best prison jobs so they usually go to long term prisoners who are deemed now trustworthy.

btw - inmate kitchen staff cook several meals a day. why do you think they wouldnt do something? its what they will have been doing for years. prison jobs arent like normal jobs. if you dont work they boot you off and give the job to someone else. no warning letters etc

in prison a better job (or any job) is better than nothing as you have to earn money over some basic amount (a couple of quid)

He wasn't using the normal kitchen staff. He picked 12 guys out of 24 who applied I think. None of them could even cook scrambled egg well. He then had them cook for the other inmates as a challenge. Nothing to do with the usual kitchen staff from what I saw.

Infam0us · 27 Jun 2012 at 21:52

Is this worth a watch then?

SPARC · 27 Jun 2012 at 22:22

Infam0us said:
Is this worth a watch then?

I'd say so. It's really interesting to see how Ramsay interacts with the inmates. On the subject of inmates, I got the feeling their brains developed to 12 years old then stopped. Was quite surprised they got anything done at all, I guess the trick to this will be to keep them focused on work rather than each other as that seems to be when problems arise.

Also, they get a choice of 5 meals every day :confused:

money wasted me thinks. And look at all that bread some of them were taking, it was half a loaf at times, thank goodness I'm not in charge

I'm pretty happy I have 2 Ramsay programs to watch now, Hells Kitchen USA and now this

Nexus · 28 Jun 2012 at 01:26

Not just 5 meal choices per mealtime, but also a halal version for each, so that's even more dishes to prepare. Gordon was very critical of that before the show even aired, also all the tv watching and how easy they had it. I hope some members of parliament were watching it. Also did anyone catch the Lifers documentary afterwards? That was a good watch too.

I think it's good to see Gordon back being more himself and doing something real. I watch Kitchen Nightmares USA but its obvious how much is played up for the cameras and manipulated. I get the impression with this that he is really interested in starting a new prison scheme and even helping inmates with something they can use when they get out.

qqg3 · 28 Jun 2012 at 02:04

Nexus said:
Not just 5 meal choices per mealtime, but also a halal version for each, so that's even more dishes to prepare. Gordon was very critical of that before the show even aired, also all the tv watching and how easy they had it. I hope some members of parliament were watching it. Also did anyone catch the Lifers documentary afterwards? That was a good watch too.

I too raised an eyebrow at that, although I'd like to point out you're a little misguided, I think.. You say 5 meal choices plus halal. But based on we what we saw it looked like several versions of just one meal, chilli con carne, so one dish catered to multiple ethnic backgrounds.

I'm pretty sure the choice (in this episode) was:

1) standard chilli
2) veggie chilli
3) vegan chilli
4) halal chilli
5) chicken pie (For the fussy eaters I presume?)

Which actually makes sense when there are 800 people from all kinds of cultures.

Nexus · 28 Jun 2012 at 02:27

I don't think I'm misguided.

The example you are stating just refers to the food the inmates were tasked with making for that task. Like I said before, Gordon heavily criticised the 5 meal choices and as a Chef that would have been silly for it to be about those dishes when people have dietery requirements like veggie and halal.

I'm pretty sure you also see the Catering Officers computer meal planner at one stage too.

I might ask my Uncle as he is a prison officer.

realBabelfish · 28 Jun 2012 at 09:55

oli356 said:
Found it a good watch, looking forward to the rest of the episodes

Surprised the knives aren't attached to the working surfaces with something. When I've watched American toughest prison shows and they've earned the privilege to do something, they have had the tools attached to whatever.

they will be counted in and out between shifts.

you dont need knives anyway. razor blade in a melted toothbrush just as deadly and easily accessible.

realBabelfish · 28 Jun 2012 at 09:56

Illusion said:
He wasn't using the normal kitchen staff. He picked 12 guys out of 24 who applied I think. None of them could even cook scrambled egg well. He then had them cook for the other inmates as a challenge. Nothing to do with the usual kitchen staff from what I saw.

ah, i see. thanks for clearing that up.

Efour · 28 Jun 2012 at 10:02

Could you please tell em what channel this was on and do they have a on demand service ?Thanks !!

Demoniser · 28 Jun 2012 at 10:28

Marky said:
I watched it and found it very interesting! Most of them act like kids though it's ridiculous

It's like watching a couple of hormone driven kids in a secondary school.

I found it funny that Ramsey was lecturing them on how to talk to people, considering the unnecessary and profanity filled language that often comes out of his mouth. Hypocrite? Yup.

oli356 · 28 Jun 2012 at 10:55

Efour2 said:
Could you please tell em what channel this was on and do they have a on demand service ?Thanks !!

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/gordon-behind-bars/4od

Marky · 28 Jun 2012 at 11:04

Demoniser said:
It's like watching a couple of hormone driven kids in a secondary school.

I found it funny that Ramsey was lecturing them on how to talk to people, considering the unnecessary and profanity filled language that often comes out of his mouth. Hypocrite? Yup.

I can kind of understand why he has to say that though - if the prisoners just swear at each other all day there is bound to be a fight

Really surprised when I saw him lay out knives for them all on the cutting boards - I wouldn't want to be in there unless they were tied down to something :eek:

realBabelfish · 28 Jun 2012 at 12:46

Marky said:
I can kind of understand why he has to say that though - if the prisoners just swear at each other all day there is bound to be a fight

Really surprised when I saw him lay out knives for them all on the cutting boards - I wouldn't want to be in there unless they were tied down to something

they will have only chosen well behaved inmates with no record of violence

Andelusion · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:16

timbob said:
Scary just how similar the inmates are to the immature, overreacting behaviour of year 9 kids in a dodgy secondary school. Both from a "these are adults behaving like kids" point of view, and a "if some of the kids I teach don't sort themselves out, I can quite easily see some of them in a place like that" point of view.

My partner and I both said exactly the same thing at the same time, I've done a PGCE and she's a primary teacher.

LiE · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:24

realBabelfish said:
they will have only chosen well behaved inmates with no record of violence

The Lawrence chap had some history of violence.

It was interesting to see inmates pretty much admit they have it good in there, and some see it as a break away or however it was put. It needs to be changed, no wonder criminals aren't worried about doing time.

realBabelfish · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:39

LiE said:
The Lawrence chap had some history of violence.

It was interesting to see inmates pretty much admit they have it good in there, and some see it as a break away or however it was put. It needs to be changed, no wonder criminals aren't worried about doing time.

which prison? they differ very wildly. some will be relatively easy (usually private ones) and some are 23 hour a day lock down (usually state run ones with no electricity apart from a light)

its like saying 'car' and expecting them all to be the exact same. some will be mercs and some will be 30 year old reliant robins.

the reason prison is easy for some is that their lives are so **** it seems easier than trying to put a roof over your head and afford food etc. some of them are also massively institutionalised and have been in kids homes all their lives or sleeping rough.

if you have an ok life now prison will be a massive shock to you.

jsmoke · 28 Jun 2012 at 14:14

realBabelfish said:
which prison? they differ very wildly. some will be relatively easy (usually private ones) and some are 23 hour a day lock down (usually state run ones with no electricity apart from a light)

its like saying 'car' and expecting them all to be the exact same. some will be mercs and some will be 30 year old reliant robins.

the reason prison is easy for some is that their lives are so **** it seems easier than trying to put a roof over your head and afford food etc. some of them are also massively institutionalised and have been in kids homes all their lives or sleeping rough.

if you have an ok life now prison will be a massive shock to you.

Well put, they may say it's easy but their expectation could differ greatly, and even if they say it's easy that may just be a cover story anyway.

Just because you have an xbox or whatever materialistic goods it doesn't mean you have it easy imo, i bet most of the inmates will still be suffering greatly, could be wrong of course. Who knows.

LiE · 28 Jun 2012 at 14:39

The reason I brought it up was because one of the inmates was saying these things on the show.