Until about a month or so ago, much of my TV watching revolved around Gordon Ramsay and his three programs. If Hell’s Kitchen, The F Word, or (Ramsay’s) Kitchen Nightmares were on, I was most certainly watching. I loved the brutality of Hell’s Kitchen, the lightheartedness of The F Word and the almost pathetic atmosphere portrayed in the restaurants of Kitchen Nightmares. Despite the glimmer of a pleasant Ramsay in The F Word, it was quite clear that his trademark behaviour was quite the opposite.

Much of the reason I was so fascinated by his programs was because he could get away with being such an ogre and treating people so harshly. How could someone be so awful, yet so respected? There is no question that Ramsay is a legend in the restaurant world, holding three coveted Michelin stars and numerous other prestigious culinary awards. In the eyes of the general public, however, he’s not so much noted for the decadent recipes that he’s shared on air so much as his wicked behavior.

Ramsay takes tough love to a whole different level, and it sells. Correction – it used to sell. In recent weeks, I have become annoyed with the constant on air repetition of the same episodes of Kitchen Nightmares, and the corniness and lack of culinary savvy in Hell’s Kitchen. It’s probably been about four months since I seriously started watching the various Ramsay programs, and I am already turned off. So… what went wrong? How can a renowned entertainer have lost my attention in such a short amount of time, and what lessons can I – as a marketer – take from this?

To begin, Gordon Ramsay has spread his dough too thin. Having three programs running simultaneously in one country is perhaps excessive – but he’s not on merely three times a week, but half a dozen times each week, and often multiple times every day spread across different networks. The dastardly chef is impossible to avoid! Same can be said in product design – when a brand extends its product line either too deeply or too broadly, core attributes can be lost or forgotten. Lesson: focus.

Secondly, a major attribute of an exceptional program is anticipation. Viewers of such programs are waiting with bated breath for next week’s episode the minute the current week’s credits roll. A new episode is watched not because it simply happens to be on, but because it is a highly anticipated event. Between Gordon Ramsay’s stable of efforts, viewers can’t keep things straight. There’s confusion about what’s new, what’s old, or what date or time anything is supposed to be aired. The viewing is a matter of chance. And so it goes for product marketing. Assuming the quality is there, anticipation around a new product’s introduction can be a key driver of market perception. Lesson: focus.

There is no telling when and if television fame will end for Gordon Ramsay. Perhaps his only salvation would be to cancel off his current shows and create a single program that actually showcases his culinary skills, of which I currently feel severely underinformed despite his extensive presence.

In the mean time, I’ll be focusing on the focus – and watching Top Chef.