Like Gordon Ramsay? So do we! So here's a visual representation of his Wikipedia page.
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Legal Proceedings In June 2006, Ramsay won a High Court case
against the London Evening Standard newspaper, in which Victor Lewis Smith had alleged, after
reports from previous owner Sue Ray, that scenes and the general condition of Bonaparte's
had been faked for Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Ramsay was awarded £75,000 plus costs.[66]
Ramsay said at the time: "I won't let people write anything they want to about me. We have
never done anything in a cynical fake way."
In June 2007, Ramsay's show was sued by the terminated general manager (Martin Hyde) of
the New York restaurant Purnima (Dillon's), who also alleged fakery. Hyde had quit his
position at the restaurant during the show, when Ramsay suggested that the owner hire
top Indian Chef Vikas Khanna as the Consultant Chef for Purnima. The lawsuit alleged that
"unknown to the viewing audience, some or all of Kitchen Nightmares are fake and the
so-called 'problems uncovered and solved' by Ramsay are, for the most part, created
by Ramsay and his staff for the purpose of making it appear that Ramsay is improving
the restaurant."[67] In August 2007, the case was dismissed voluntarily and ordered into
arbitration as stipulated in their contract.
On 21 March 2012, Ramsay filed a $2.7 million lawsuit against his former partners of his
restaurant in Montreal, Quebec, the Laurier Gordon Ramsay (since renamed The Laurier 1936),
over lost licensing fees and defamatory statements made against him. On 16 April 2013, just over
a year later, Laurier 1936 closed.
Personality Ramsay's reputation is built upon his goal
of culinary perfection, which, for many chefs like Clare Smyth, who worked at Restaurant
Gordon Ramsay, is to become a Three-Michelin-Star Chef and have Three-Michelin-Star Restaurants,
where his mentor, Marco Pierre White noted that he is highly competitive. Since the airing
of Boiling Point which followed Ramsay's quest of earning three Michelin stars, the chef
has also become infamous for his fiery temper and use of expletives. Ramsay once famously
ejected food critic A. A. Gill along with his dining companion, Joan Collins, from his
restaurant, leading Gill to state that "Ramsay is a wonderful chef, just a really second-rate
human being." Ramsay admitted in his autobiography that he did not mind if Gill insulted his
food, but a personal insult he was not going to stand for. Ramsay has also had confrontations
with his kitchen staff, including one incident that resulted in the pastry chef calling the
police. A 2005 interview reported Ramsay had retained 85% of his staff since 1993. Ramsay
attributes his management style to the influence of previous mentors, notably chefs Marco Pierre
White and Guy Savoy, father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, and Jock Wallace, his manager while
a footballer at Rangers.
Ramsay's ferocious temper has contributed to his media appeal in both the United Kingdom
and the United States, where his programmes are produced. MSN Careers featured an article
about television's worst bosses, which listed Ramsay as the only non-fictional boss. They
cited his frequent loss of his temper and his harsh critiques, notably when he picks
on something other than one's cooking abilities, such as calling someone a "chunky monkey."
Although Ramsay often mocks the French, one of his most trusted maîtres d, Jean-Baptiste
Requien (Royal Hospital Road) is French and he also speaks fluent French from his time
in Paris.
In November 2007, Ramsay installed 29-year-old Clare Smyth as head chef at his three-Michelin-starred
flagship restaurant on London's Royal Hospital Road. Smyth is the second high-profile appointment
of a female chef by Ramsay, after Angela Hartnett. Smyth also went on to become the first female
Three-Michelin-Starred chef before she moved on to start her own restaurant in 2017.
Ramsay has been criticised for his frequent use of strong language on his programmes,
first by British celebrity cook Delia Smith, then, in relation to Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares,
by a member of the Federal Parliament of Australia.[86] In his autobiography, Ramsay himself said
he was unaware of the extent of his swearing until he watched an episode of Boiling Point.
While he stated he did not have a problem with it, "Mum was appalled."
On 5 June 2009, Ramsay started trading national TV insults with Australia's Nine Network,
A Current Affair journalist Tracy Grimshaw. The day after his interview, he was a guest
feature at the Melbourne Food and Wine festival. While doing his display, he allegedly insulted
Grimshaw and made insinuations about her sexuality. Grimshaw responded the next day, calling Ramsay
an "arrogant, narcissist bully." Ramsay eventually apologised, stating that his behaviour "was
a joke."
TV Guide included him in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time. Despite
being known for his ferocious temper, Ramsay has been well-received as the host of Masterchef
Junior; in contrast to his interaction with adults, Ramsay was shown to be more considerate
and sensitive to the children featured on the show. Despite his competitiveness and
fiery temper, he shows far more restraint and empathy towards children, amateur and
special needs chefs (notably Christine Ha on MasterChef), because they are trying to
start their culinary journeys and needed the encouragement to cultivate the interest, yet
maintaining his opinions and criticisms honest and constructive. His goal as a restaurateur
and TV personality is to expose, find, inspire and nurture new talents to become his partners,[99]
much like the singers and songwriters from The Voice find and mentor talented singers.
Food Views On the second series of The F Word, Ramsay
showed a softened stance on vegetarianism after learning about intensive pig farming
practices including castration and tail docking letting two young family piglets live in an
intensive farm. On the programme, Ramsay commented, "It's enough to make anyone turn fucking vegetarian,
for God's sake. And I've always sort of knocked vegetarians and vegans for missing out on
the most amazing flavour you can get from meat. But you can see why so many people change
instantly."
Other Chefs Ramsay has been highly critical of Food Network
and Iron Chef America star Mario Batali. The New York Post reported in 2009 that Batali
has banned Ramsay from his restaurants. This alleged feud goes back to when Batali was
highly critical of Ramsay's cooking style for being "dull and outdated." Batali has
since stated that the alleged feud "was created by a couple of journalists." Batali went on
to state, "I'd love to hang out with Ramsay."
Eating and Exercising Habits Ramsay revealed that he exercises semi-competitively
as well as for general well-being as he has seen overweight and unfit chefs collapse or
unable to move quickly around the kitchen. He often competes in iron man, marathons,
triathlons. He also eats very little per 'meal', and prefers to graze throughout the day, partly
due to the habit he built up as a judge, expeditor and chef and also his busy schedule. By making
him incompletely full, meant he keeps having the appetite to taste his own food while he
experiments new recipes. Also, it meant he keeps his metabolism high enough to never
resort to any kind of dieting.
Ramsay married Cayetana Elizabeth Hutcheson, a Montessori-trained schoolteacher, in 1996.
They live in Wandsworth Common, London. They have four children, Megan, Holly, Jack and
Matilda. Megan ran the London Marathon in 2017 in memory of her baby brother, Rocky,
after her mother suffered a miscarriage five months into her pregnancy in June 2016. Until
2010, Ramsay's father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, was responsible for the business operations
of Ramsay's restaurant empire. On 7 June 2017 Hutcheson was jailed for six months for conspiring
to hack a computer system relating to the Ramsay's business interests. He was accused
with his sons of accessing company systems almost 2,000 times between 23 October 2010
and 31 March 2011.
Charity work Ramsay has been involved in a series of charitable
events and organisations. He fulfilled his aim of finishing 10 marathons in ten years
by running his 10th consecutive London Marathon on 26 April 2009, sponsoring the Scottish
Spina Bifida Association.
Ramsay has been Honorary Patron of the Scottish Spina Bifida Association since 2004, and in
2005 he launched The Gordon Ramsay "Buy a Brick" appeal to help the organisation raise
funds to build a new Family Support Centre and Head Office in Glasgow. In 2006 he launched
a new appeal to help the charity raise the funds required to continue to run the support
centre: "What's your favourite 'F' Word? Gordon's is Fundraising." In November 2007 Ramsay hosted
a St Andrew's Day Gala Dinner at Stirling Castle in aid of the Association and has now
made this fundraising Gala Dinner an annual event.
During March 2005, Ramsay teamed up with Indian chef Madhur Jaffrey to help the VSO, an international
development charity group, to support its Spice Up Your Life event. The charity hoped
to raise £100,000 for VSO's work in HIV and AIDS in India. The Ramsays were the first
couple to become ambassadors for the women's charity Women's Aid in 2005. The couple ran
the Flora Families marathon to support Women's Aid.
In 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014, Ramsay took part in the biennial charity event Soccer
Aid to raise money for UNICEF. On 6 June 2010 he played for the Rest of the World team alongside
former professional footballers Zinedine Zidane and Luís Figo as well as Hollywood actors
Woody Harrelson, Mike Myers and Michael Sheen. The match took place at Old Trafford in Manchester
and was won by the Rest of the World for the first time, the winning penalty scored by
Harrelson in the shoot-out.
Life-threatening experiences In 2008, Ramsay was in Iceland's Westman Islands
filming a puffin hunting segment when he lost his footing and fell during a descent off
an 85 feet (26 m) cliff, landing in the icy water below. He said, "I thought I was a goner."
He reached the surface of the water by removing his heavy boots and waterproof clothing. His
film crew, who rescued Ramsay by throwing him a rope, reported that he was submerged
for at least 45 seconds. During the ordeal, he remembers how he felt: "I was panicking
and my lungs were filling with water. When I got to the top after getting my boots off,
I was dazed and my head was totally massive."
Pre-prepared meal controversy On 17 April 2009, it was revealed that one
of Ramsay's restaurants, Foxtrot Oscar in Chelsea, West London, used pre-prepared food
that was heated up and sold with mark-ups of up to 586%. It was also revealed that three
of his gastropubs in London did the same thing. A spokeswoman for Gordon Ramsay explained,
"Gordon Ramsay chefs prepare components of dishes devised and produced to the highest
Gordon Ramsay standards. These are supplied to those kitchens with limited cooking space
such as Foxtrot Oscar and Gordon Ramsay's highly acclaimed pubs, including the Narrow.
These are sealed and transported daily in refrigerated vans and all menu dishes are
then cooked in the individual kitchens. This is only for the supply of Foxtrot Oscar and
the three pubs and allows each establishment to control the consistency and the quality
of the food served." Reflecting on the controversy in 2010, Ramsay
was unapologetic, stating:
When I was working at the Gavroche all those years ago, the duck terrine wasn't made there.
It was made outside, then brought to the restaurant wrapped in plastic. This is standard practice.
What on earth was the fuss about?
Other interests Ramsay is an avid soccer fan despite not being
able to play. He is a fan of Manchester United. As a baseball fan, he follows teams from Los
Angeles, both the LA Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels. However, he feels that the game of
baseball is often too long, joking that this leads to fans spending most of the time eating
or sleeping, which could lead to them being unhealthy.
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