The Ice Is Thawing in Hell's Kitchen

This afternoon, the chef once dubiously featured on the TV show Britain's Unbearable Bosses isn't quite living up to his title. Gordon Ramsay — who's notorious for demoralizing his kitchen staff and was even arrested in 1999 for allegedly beating up his pastry chef (the charges were dropped) — briskly strides onto the L.A. set of his Fox series Hell's Kitchen (Mondays at 9 p.m.) as if he were a cheery Londoner on holiday. While servers and assistants scurry about the soundstage, anxiously prepping for tonight's taping of the reality cooking show, Ramsay calmly sips a mug of hot, milky tea and enthusiastically holds forth on such topics as restaurants in L.A., Napa Valley wines, and California sunshine. ''Malibu is like Aix-en-Provence,'' the well-tanned, 40-year-old Scot gushes. ''Next year I'm going to bring the kids over and get a tutor. I love it.''

The read more on Ramsay's change, click here!