The Sandbox partners with ITV Studios to spice up the metaverse with Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen

The Sandbox partners with ITV Studios to spice up the metaverse with Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen

Leading metaverse adds award-winning reality show IP as its first-ever virtual restaurant and chef-themed game experience

The Sandbox, a leading decentralized gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, announced today that it has partnered with ITV Studios to bring Gordon Ramsay’s award-winning reality show Hell’s Kitchen to The Sandbox metaverse. Hell’s Kitchen has travelled to 24 territories globally and the show will air its 21st season in the US starring multi-Michelin Star chef Gordon Ramsay on FOX starting on 29 September.

Through the partnership, Hell’s Kitchen restaurant experiences designed with input from Ramsay will be hosted on ITV’s LAND in The Sandbox. Additionally, Hell’s Kitchen-themed assets, including limited edition Gordon Ramsay avatars, will be available down the line for players and creators to include in their own original experiences.

Hell’s Kitchen is a five-time Emmy-nominated reality show in which aspiring chefs compete for the opportunity to run one of Ramsay’s eateries. The Hell’s Kitchen restaurant setting, seen in a new teaser video released today, will represent the first experiences based on cooking themes to appear in The Sandbox:

“We’re shaping the metaverse to become an expansion of all real world activities through the creative possibilities offered by technology – and who better than Gordon Ramsay and Hell’s Kitchen to bring our first restaurant culinary and social experiences to The Sandbox,” said Sebastien Borget, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox. “In this immersive setting, the show’s fans and community can bring their avatars into Gordon Ramsay’s world and be challenged to bring their creativity to new levels.”

“There’s nothing more exciting to me than chartering new territory, whether that’s creating a signature dish, a new restaurant concept, a new show, or now a virtual experience in The Sandbox,” said Gordon Ramsay. “I’ve been fascinated by The Sandbox and its offering in the metaverse. I couldn’t think of a better platform to bring the high energy of my Hell’s Kitchen restaurant and brand.”

“We’re right at the beginning of exploring the potential of entertainment brands in the metaverse so we’re very excited to bring Hell’s Kitchen to The Sandbox. Both are innovators in their respective spaces, which is why they make a great match,” said Neil Bowler, Controller of Games at ITV. “We think the show’s fans all over the world will enjoy interacting with experiences set in a virtual Hell’s Kitchen in The Sandbox metaverse.”

Part virtual real estate, part amusement park, The Sandbox fully embraces the idea of the metaverse as a continuous shared digital space where worlds and heroes collide to make magic. Hell’s Kitchen joins over 300 existing partnerships including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, and CryptoKitties, all following The Sandbox team’s vision of empowering players to create their own experiences using both original and well-known characters and worlds.

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About The Sandbox

The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is one of the decentralized virtual worlds that has been fueling the recent growth of virtual real estate demand, having partnered with major IPs and brands including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, CryptoKitties, and more. Building on existing The Sandbox IP that has more than 40 million global installs on mobile, The Sandbox metaverse offers players and creators a decentralized and intuitive platform to create immersive 3D worlds and game experiences and to safely store, trade, and monetize their creations. For more information, please visit www.sandbox.game and follow the regular updates on Twitter, Medium, and Discord.

About Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands, a Deloitte Tech Fast winner and ranked in the Financial Times list of High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2021, is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification that is working to advance digital property rights and contribute to the establishment of the open metaverse. The company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Formula E. It has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment, Notre Game, and TinyTap. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 340 investments, including Colossal, Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or follow on Twitter or Facebook.

About Hell’s Kitchen

Hell’s Kitchen originated in the UK and the US aired its 20th series. The format travelled to 24 territories around the world and sees one renowned head chef welcome a group of hopeful chefs into Hell's Kitchen, where they will compete for the chance of a life-changing job in a top restaurant. Real-life drama, high emotion and culinary passion combine as the participants live, cook and compete in Hell's Kitchen. Which chef can handle the heat?

About ITV Studios

ITV Studios is a creator, producer and distributor of world-leading programmes and formats that people can’t get enough of. Connecting millions of people every day and shaping and reflecting the world they live in, ITV Studios is More Than TV. Its Brand & Licensing department is responsible for all global commercial activities including sponsorship, brand licensing, consumer products, gaming, and live events. It represents a diverse portfolio including scripted and non-scripted content, game shows and kids titles, which offers a wide range of commercial opportunities. Brands include The Voice, Hell's Kitchen, Love Island, I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, The Chase, Coronation Street, Schitt’s Creek, The Last Unicorn, Thunderbirds, Space: 1999, The Prisoner, and more.

About Gordon Ramsay

Acclaimed chef, restaurateur, TV personality and author Gordon Ramsay inked a deal in 2019 with private equity firm Lion Capital to expand his restaurant concepts across the U.S., where the company currently has 13 restaurants across Boston, Chicago, Orlando, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Baltimore, Lake Tahoe and Kansas City, several of which are in partnership with Caesars Entertainment. Gordon Ramsay North America is scaling dining concepts including outdoor and take-out, as the company taps into several of Gordon Ramsay’s successful U.S. and international key brands including Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips, Gordon Ramsay Burger, Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza, Gordon Ramsay Steak and Hell’s Kitchen. In addition to the Gordon Ramsay North America restaurants, there are 43 international restaurants in the Gordon Ramsay Restaurants portfolio worldwide, where Gordon Ramsay holds a total of 7 Michelin stars.   

Renowned for highly successful and award-winning original programming, Emmy-nominated and BAFTA-winning Ramsay produces TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic, seen by audiences worldwide in more than 200 territories, and he is the only talent on air in the U.S. with six prime-time national network shows. He hosts and executive produces “Next Level Chef,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” “MasterChef,” “MasterChef Junior”, “Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back,” and the upcoming “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars” all on Fox, in addition to specials including “Gordon Ramsay’s American Road Trip.”

Ramsay and Fox Entertainment recently announced their leading new worldwide production venture Studio Ramsay Global to develop, produce and distribute culinary and lifestyle programming for FOX, Tubi and global markets.  His earlier multimedia production company Studio Ramsay was launched in the U.K. in 2016 to create and develop unscripted, digital and scripted programming, focusing on new formats and innovative programming, as well as fostering new talent. Its shows include “Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back,” which was the highest-rated food show of 2019; “The F-Word Live With Gordon Ramsay”; “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted,” on National Geographic Channel, which airs in 172 countries and 43 languages worldwide; the ratings hit and BAFTA-nominated “Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Road Trip,” for ITV; “Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance,” on BBC1;  the daytime cooking series “Culinary Genius,” which premiered on ITV in the U.K., and was syndicated on FOX stations in the U.S.; the ITV series “The Savoy” and “Gordon on Cocaine”; and the highly popular children’s series “Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch,” starring Tilly Ramsay for U.K. children’s channel CBBC.

Studio Ramsay Global Digital Division is behind all of Ramsay’s original content on his highly successful YouTube Channel, which has made Ramsay the most subscribed chef on the platform. The 18-34 dominated channel launched the trending interview series “Scrambled,” and is also behind the highly successful “Ramsay in 10,” which went live during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Studio Ramsay Global Digital oversees and creates content for all behind-the-scenes moments from Studio Ramsay linear programming, has produced content for National Geographic and Masterclass, and produces recipe content across Gordon’s 90 million plus Social Media reach, including his breakout TikTok account.