Gordon Ramsay fans have labelled the celebrity chef’s new show Next Level Chef a ‘rip off’ of another programme, just days after Lord Sugar made a similar accusation.
The new ITV cooking competition saw Gordon Ramsay joined by Paul Ainsworth and Nyesha Arrington to front the show on Wednesday evening.
The show invited a mixture of home cooks and professional chefs to compete in a culinary challenge across a three-storey kitchen.
The set-up ranged from the gloomy basement, which provided only basic ingredients, to the start-of-the-art top level.
Next Level Chef promises that the ultimate winner will walk away with £100,000 as well as an unrivalled one-year mentorship from Gordon, Nyesha and Paul to help make their culinary dreams a reality.
Yet as ITV viewers tuned in for the first episode of the programme, many were left drawing comparisons to Netflix's The Platform, a Spanish science fiction horror film.
Taking to Twitter as the show aired, one viewer wrote: “NextLevelChef so Gordon Ramsey or some TV producers watched El Hoyo / The Platform, missed the point of the film and thought let’s change the concept and turn it into a cooking contest…”
Another said: “NextLevelChef brings back memories of the film ‘The Platform’ but with chefs!”
A third added: “They’ve 100% robbed this concept from The Platform but I’m here for it.”
And a fourth commented: “So someone saw The Platform and turned it into a cooking competition?”
This comes after Lord Alan Sugar sensationally accused the TV chef of 'ripping off' The Apprentice with his TV show Future Food Stars.
The 75-year-old tycoon said that Gordon should ‘stick to his day job’ after he launched the new series last year, which saw 12 entrepreneurs compete for a £150,000 investment of the restaurateur's own money to start a food business.
Lord Sugar insisted that the format of Gordon's show was a ‘virtual rip-off’ of The Apprentice, ahead of the launch of its 17th series.
Lord Sugar said: “I think broadcasters, Channel 4, Channel 5, and ITV have tried for many years at least for 17 years to try and replicate the elimination process of The Apprentice. I say this with great respect to them but they've failed.
“Last year, Gordon Ramsay had some cockamamie idea… I like Gordon and I think he's very good and should stick to what he should do, cooking and all that stuff.
“He had some thing, which was like, I don't know how the lawyers allowed it because it was a virtual rip-off of The Apprentice. No disrespect to Gordon but stick to your day job mate that's all I would say.”
