Setting Yourself on Fire in Hell’s Kitchen

The Author at the Gates of Hell

Hell’s Kitchen is a guilty pleasure of mine. The drama of competition is engaging, and watching the chef’s try to function while Chef Ramsay rips into them with barbs and insults, always brings to me a smug sense of schadenfreude.  It is fascinating to me the dynamics of the show.  There is something about watching people compete and lose which makes us feel superior to the players involved. Maybe we feel our decision not to compete is the better one, maybe our fear of losing overwhelms our fear of trying. As much as I am a fan of taking risks, and putting yourself out there, there might be something to this concept of not competing.

Years ago I made my living as a magician. I remember a conversation I had with a magician I worked with about sleight of hand competitions.  He told me he never entered competitions, so I asked him why, his answer surprised me. ” I am a professional, this is how I make my living. If I win the competition what does that mean? I am still a professional, I still make my living by it, and what if I lose? If I lose I am still a professional. What if I lose to an amateur, does that make him better than me? It doesn’t but he will get to go around and legitimately say he is better then me.  I have nothing to gain by winning, but I do lose something by losing.”  I never thought of it that way before. For the hobbyist who loses there is little risk, for the professional it could be different.

Back into the heat of Hell’s Kitchen. Colleen Cleek was the 5th contestant eliminated, she runs a cooking school in Nebraska The classy gourmet, She cooks live on TV everyday on “Omaha Live”. She took a big risk by being on Hell’s Kitchen. On the show she was portrayed as inept, just couldn’t get it together, but is she? In her market of Omaha she is a Professional Chef. She was one of the town’s experts. Her national exposure did not serve her well. You have to wonder what the effect of such a public loss will be on her business. What will the loss be like for all but one of the contestants, what is the reality of all of this?

When Producers put together a show like this, how do they cast it? Do they pick the top 10 chefs they can find? NO of course not, they pick some good chefs, and then they pick some people who are there for entertainment value, ones who have no hope to win the show, but will provide drama. Anyone remember Puck from “The Real World” ? It was obvious that he was going to clash with everyone, remember how boring the show was when they kicked him out?  So out of the top 10 who knows how many are really good chefs, but I bet all of them are a million times more the chef than I am, or most of you. Let’s assume Colleen is one of the best Chef’s in Omaha,  what could she possibly gain from going on Hell’s Kitchen? The prize is getting to be the head chef at a restaurant in the Borgata hotel and casino. I have stayed at the Borgata, it is a nice hotel, it is the only nice hotel in Atlantic City (IMHO). As a native son of New Jersey, I can tell you Atlantic City is not that great of a town.  I would much rather run a cooking school and be on the TV in Omaha than a head chef in an Atlantic City casino. They only thing Colleen could gain from going on the show was notoriety, and she got it.  We will have to see if it pays off for her in the long run.

In 1986 Journalist Alfie Kohn wrote a book called “No Contest : The Case against Competition” In which he makes the argument that competition is not all that its cracked up to be. “We seem to have reached a point where doing our jobs, educating our children, and even relaxing on the weekends have to take place in the context of a struggle where some must lose” It is a fascinating read, and the definitive book on this topic and may just change your mind on how you think about competing.

So should professional photographers compete? Should you enter that print competition or juried show? I can’t answer for you, It’s up to you to balance the rewards of winning against the risks of losing. Contests can be fun, they can be a way for the beginning Photographer to get their work out.  But ask yourself this question, who do you consider to be the top photographers? And when was the last time you saw their name as the winner of a competition? Why is that?