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Raw emotion: In FOX’s Hell’s Kitchen—sold to 200-plus markets by ITV Studios Global Entertainment—Ramsay trains a group of amateur chefs in how to run a restaurant.
I would have maxed out 12 years ago. Every time I took a new job, I went straight to the bottom of the pile again to work my way back up. I didn’t want to come in with airs and graces. Every time, I stepped back into the realm of the basic kitchen commis [an apprentice or junior chef] and climbed up.You put your life into that mentor’s hands and you want his reputation going through your fingertips every day on service.Trust me, when it’s going brilliantly well and you have a shiny résumé and a reference from him—that looks fantastic. But let’s not forget, there are two sides to every coin and when you make a mistake and the shit hits the fan, you have to take it.That’s part and parcel, isn’t it? WS: How are you managing this huge TV slate along-
side your restaurant business? RAMSAY: Stu Gillies is our managing director [of Gordon Ramsay Holdings].We have just under 1,000 staff in the U.K. with 12 restaurants—23 in total when you look at what’s happening [in the U.S.]. We have three executive chefs that travel and work on our research-anddevelopment team. And then, of course, we set up the production office One Potato Two Potato [in Los Angeles] two years ago. No matter what happens, I always need direction. Even if I am exec producing, I don’t step out of my zone and think I’m that good that I can start telling talented directors [what to do]. Robin Ashbrook, who exec produced MasterChef this year, gave birth to MasterChef ten years ago. Do I know more about food than him? Yes, of course. Does he know more about TV than me? Yes, of course he does. Can I take direction? Of course I can. Do I make mistakes? Of course. But I always look at it like it’s live. The teleprompter—that’s not difficult, to be totally honest. But I step in to that kitchen in MasterChef and I go into those challenges and I absolutely take it as if I’m running it as a service in my own restaurants, and I’ve got three Michelin stars in jeopardy at the end of it. WS: Do you ever look back at Boiling Point to see how much you’ve changed on camera? RAMSAY: Every time I look at Boiling Point, I shit myself. There I was, 30 years of age, I didn’t have a pot to piss in. I was getting sued by the owners [of the restaurant Aubergine] because I had decided to leave. Unfortunately 120
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my father died of a heart attack at 53. We were going through some pretty horrific times. All I wanted was to get to the top of the tree. My ambition was to get three Michelin stars. And whoever was in the way was going to get trampled. I was not going to take the foot off the gas. In 1998, I sold my house and I put every penny I’d ever earned into my getting my dream restaurant. I had to put the family on the back burner and I had to become selfish. At the same time this little guy Jamie Oliver was launching—the darling of the nation at 21 years of age. All of a sudden Boiling Point was running side by side with The Naked Chef. Boiling Point was a documentary that saw me traveling with that hunger and determination. It was like competing for a gold medal in cooking. My big mouth got me into trouble when I exposed that [judges from] Michelin were having dinner [at my restaurant]. I tell the nation, hey, guess what, the French are expected for dinner and they’re going to love my food and we’re going to get three stars! Well, I didn’t get them [at the time]. I came out of that one with egg on my face, but, you learn, don’t you? I still have that sensation down the back of my spine when someone says hey, Boiling Point, loved it! Jesus, really? You did! That taught me how not to behave on television. WS: Did you have any inkling at the time that you would become one of the most recognizable chefs in the world? RAMSAY: It’s scary. I see it on Facebook and Twitter.“Hey Gordon, shout out to your fans in Brazil!” “Hey, we’re on the Gaza Strip and we love Kitchen Nightmares.” And I’m thinking, the Gaza Strip is watching Kitchen Nightmares? And then you’ll get one from Zimbabwe. You don’t start off thinking that’s what’s going to happen. I’m not very good at looking back. I don’t sit back.Yesterday I did a tasting for Hell’s Kitchen and wasn’t happy with the food.We do know how to make capellini; we can make risotto. Even with my team yesterday the tastings went wrong and it was a bad rehearsal. So you cancel everything else on the day and you batten down the hatches and you kick all the cameras out and we have our chef time.We came out of it seven hours later with an immaculate menu. So that’s how hungry I am, really, to get it right. WS: What’s next for you? RAMSAY: We’ve just come off Behind Bars in the U.K. One
can get carried away with amazing sets and huge production values and amazing casts. I always need to scratch beneath the surface and disappear into the realms of the hard-core part of TV. Going into prisons and doing that documentary—I was filming it last year at the same time as Hotel Hell, so it was two weeks in my restaurants, two weeks in Hotel Hell and two weeks in prison, and then a rest in between. I could level with prisoners. For the next few months we’ll be talking to several [U.S.] networks that are excited about [Behind Bars]. We’ll start looking at all the challenges for MasterChef. And then we’re taping Hell’s Kitchen.
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