I don't think I agree. Who watches Hells Kitchen and thinks, "man, doing extremely complex and fast paced cooking in a stressful environment with a chef who's verbally assaulting me at every moment seems very appealing, I should change my occupation!" Aside from people with a superiority complex and a 'Can't lose' mentality.
I honestly think it's more likely to drive people away from jobs in the food industry, especially if they're not already interested in cooking. That being said the dramatization factor is definitely there, and I would hope that most people at this stage would recognize that "reality" tv and competitions like this don't actually represent reality at all, at least in most circumstances.
The same type of people who watched Jarhead and joined The Marines.
Then again if you watched Jarhead and that motivated you to join The Marines, you probably were a perfect fit for The Marines because you already had a favorite flavor crayon.