From the start of the series it has been mentioned in every episode that the winner of Hell’s Kitchen would walk away with his or her own restaurant. I always thought it was a very generous prize, and now it seems maybe too generous.

As Michael was crowned winner of the competition tonight and Ralph stood jealously by, Chef Gordon Ramsay offered Ralph an alternative. Instead of owning and running his own restaurant Gordon offered Ralph the chance to join him in one of his world renowned London Restaurants where he would undertake training to become a world-class chef.

It seems like a great prize and Michael quickly chose to go with Gordon, but the whole thing just looked a bit fake. Michael agreed much too quickly, no one even explained to him what exactly the alternative would be, for example where his new restaurant would be situated or how much he would be allowed to spend on it.

It seems like a much easier (and cheaper) option for the production company to pack Michael off with Gordon for a few months rather than buy him his own restaurant. I suspect this was the plan all along and the prize of a dream restaurant was never on the cards for the winner of this show!