Gordon Ramsay has worked with rude restaurateurs and know- it-all head chef wannabes — and now he’s being sicced on the public.
In Ramsay’s new show, “MasterChef,” premiering Tuesday on Fox, the foul-mouthed “Hell’s Kitchen” host — along with New York restaurateur Joe Bastianich and four-star chef Graham Elliott — hosts a competition to find America’s best home cook.
Based on the hit UK and Australian series, “MasterChef” contestants will be judged each week through challenges and eliminations. The last person standing will be crowned America’s first “MasterChef.”
Bastianich, the son of PBS star Lidia Bastianich, co-founded (with Mario Batali) Babbo, Becco and Casa Mano, among many other New York eateries; Elliott is the country’s youngest four-star chef.
“Both Joe and Graham have an amazing eye for food and are incredible at what they do,” Ramsay says. “They’ve both accomplished so much. I have the utmost respect for both of them.”
Elliot believes the show will have mass appeal, because everyone can relate to home cooking.
“As you know, being a chef is not simply putting something cold in a pan and heating it up,” he says. “It’s creativity. It’s integrity. It’s cleanliness and organization and thinking on your feet.”
Elliot, who’s relatively unknown to TV audiences, says he’s already been compared to former “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul for his easygoing nature — the direct opposite of Ramsay’s fiery persona.
“The way I saw it was, I’m the gray-area person who sees good in everybody,” Elliott says. “Gordon’s more of the black and white, this is how it should be done . . . and Joe is the bad of the bad, almost like a critic, where it’s just like, ‘You suck and you know it, get off my show.’ ”
Bastianich embraces his role as the show’s bad guy.
“The reason they brought me [on the show] was to bring my skill set, evaluating talent and dishes and culinary pride,” he says.
“It’s what I do every day, so I kind of looked at it as my job. And I approached it no differently than I would approach the running of 15 restaurants in New York.”
Ramsay says viewers used to his profanity-laced tirades won’t see much of that on “MasterChef.”
“These are amateur home cooks, so I certainly won’t be chopping their heads off every step of the way,” he says.
“But I still have high standards — and will be putting them under immense pressure to get the best results.”