He's an actor and like many people with his exposure, excellent at marketing.

I have no doubt that he's an excellent Chef. I'm also a fan of his television shows.

However, I strongly believe that most of his public appearance is contrived and suited to fit the particular situation he's in.

An example of this is the contrast between his attitues on Hell's Kitchen in North America and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares in GB, the differences are notable. There are horrible cooks in his GB show and while there are some equally challenged North American cooks that appear on Hell's Kitchen, they are treated very differently by Ramsy let alone his demenor changes significantly.

It could be argued that his changing demeanor is a result of training his "apprentice" on Hells Kitchen. However I think that viewers simply react to his attitude on Hells Kitchen in North America more than they would simple but forthright methods in other venues.
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If you ever watch Ramsay's British shows (upon which all the current US shows are based on), you'd see a very different side of him. The US hypes up the drama and stuff, and Ramsay IS intense and VERY serious about food quality (that's how you get three Michelin stars), but he's not a jerk. He's actually quite a nice guy, as you can clearly see in the older programs, where things are a lot more casual. In one memorable scene of the British version of Kitchen Nightmares, Ramsay tries to get a chef to be more assertive to his line, screaming at him in the way that you often see on Hell's Kitchen or the US Kitchen Nightmares (the British version is called "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares"), but only as an example of how he should do it.

He isn't mean. He just has very high standards, and a very low tolerance for slacking off. Just think about how many employees at his dozen-plus restaurants he's gone through in order to get the ones that win him those coveted Michelin stars. That's what makes him push people so hard. He wants to see their best, and is good at telling when they're holding back even a little.

Again, you see the "fiery" part of him on camera about 95% of the time in the US because Fox wants to make Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares more dramatic. Also, the US versions of both shows in general focus a lot less on the actual cooking than the original British versions, which is only going to make it easier to focus on the screaming.
Source(s):
Personal experience

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Try watching the US Kitchen Nightmares unplugged, Lifestyle channel had it on a while ago in Australia and it was just the evening cooking for an hour. Much less sensational, much less yelling, it showed Gordon Ramsay helping and supporting the chefs as well as losing it! It is mostly all in the editing as far as I am concerned!
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