Everyone’s favourite chef Gordon Ramsay will be back on Thursday evening (March 30) with his new TV show, Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars. The show will see 12 contestants compete for a £150,000 investment from the main man himself over the course of eight episodes.
The show, which will air for the first time on BBC One at 9pm, will take Gordon to the Cornish town of Newquay, where the food-and-drink entrepreneurs will begin their first set of challenges that will be a true test of their character and business know-how. More important than the money, the winner will also win the approval of one of the most famous chefs in the world, but if our experience of Gordon from previous shows is anything to go by, they can expect to be given a really hard time.
But once upon a time, when Gordon wasn’t as well known as he is today, he had to cook up a few things more than a good dinner to help himself get started. Back in 1994, when he was launching his first restaurant – Aubergine – he had to serve a white lie or two to boost his celebrity profile.
READ MORE: Cornwall residents demand London-based Gordon Ramsay apologise after saying he ‘can’t stand Cornish people’
(Image: Channel 4)
In a few interviews with press at the time, Gordon claimed to have played for Scottish Premier League side Glasgow Rangers. He said that he had spent three years with the club but had to give up football at the age of 18 because of a knee injury.
In fact, he kept up the fib up till 2002, when he told Desert Island Discs host Sue Lawley that he had signed for Rangers after being spotted while playing for Oxford United’s youth team. He said: “That’s how it started. Going up, back to Glasgow and summer holidays, and then eventually signing”.
He added: “I got my first team games. I was with the first team squad. I played three first team games”. He then alleged that he was given the bad news that he wouldn’t make it as a player in a meeting with former Rangers manager Jock Wallace and former first team coach Archie Knox.
But in 2009, a Rangers spokesman told the News of the World that Gordon was merely a trialist at Rangers who had trained with them ‘for a few months but then got injured’. He never actually signed for Rangers. Archie Knox had also denied meeting Gordon before 1996, while John Hagart, who was Jock Wallace’s assistant, said he didn’t remember Gordon being at Rangers at all.
Questioned about the tall tale, a spokesman for Gordon more or less confirmed that he never signed for Rangers and that he was only a trialist. He also said: “Any inaccuracies . . . can be explained by the fact that all this occurred nearly 25 years ago.”
Even after Gordon made it to fame, it wasn’t always plain sailing for him. In 2014, the celebrity chef opened up about being reduced to tears after his restaurant in New York was stripped of both its Michelin stars.
Michelin withdrew its stars for the posh Manhattan eatery The London after describing the food there as ‘erratic’. Gordon told a Norwegian TV show: “I started crying when I lost my stars. It’s a very emotional thing for any chef. It’s like losing a girlfriend. You want her back”.
But it certainly wasn’t the end of the world for the chef, who has a total of 16 Michelin stars between all his restaurants combined, including the Savoy, as well as restaurants in Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Chelsea.
His restaurant in Chelsea, Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill, has had three Michelin stars since 2001. According to the Michelin Guide, one star signifies ‘a very good restaurant’, two stars are ‘excellent cooking that is worth a detour’, and three stars mean ‘exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey’.
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