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Would the real Gordon Ramsay please
stand up. June '04
We live in a media age driven by TV, Radio,
Newpapers and Internet, where the definition
of entertainment has changed: We are
interested in personalities and no longer
satisfied with persona – being in the media
as part of a job is no longer possible, we
want everything – be it Jordan getting her tits
out in public, Chris Evans being pissed in a
pub, Richard Branson going for another
failed balloon ride or David Beckham texting
his latest indiscretion. We want to know
these people, we want a piece of them.
Tuning into their radio show or watching
them kick a ball about is simply not enough.
The proliferation of gossip magazines and
reality television were natural extensions to
the trend in late ‘90s personality lead tabloid
journalism. A byproduct is a group a savvy
individuals who have accrued fortunes far
beyond their wildest dreams and, arguably,
far beyond their talent.
And the participants can only manipulate this
trend to their advantage for so long - there is
a down side - the public fascination is as
greedy for the bad news as the good news.
The media is not stupid, what goes up must
come down and the coming down sells at
least as well as the going up.
So who is Gordon Ramsay? That shy, quiet,
upper class lad in the Rangers dressing
room? The man who has amassed a
reputed £20 million fortune? Is he a case of
what you see is what you get?
Gordon’s flagship restaurant on Royal
Hospital Road is the undisputed king of
restaurants in Great Britain – number one in
The 1% Club – holder of 3 Michelin Stars,
10/10 in the Good Food Guide and 5 AA
Rosettes. Those in the know, know it is
perfection. Gordon has undoubtedly great
talent, drive and professionalism and in
every respect has earned the right.
So what is his new, enhanced, media profile
all about? The Boiling Point fly-on-the-wall
had the ingredient of a ‘cool angle for a TV
programme’ as it focused on the personality;
an aggressive, bullying NCO. Was that real
or briefed? Who knows? The public bought it
and loved it. Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s
Kitchen fed us some more of this
personality, only offering occasional
glimpses of the expertise that has made
Ramsay the master of his craft.
From Parkinson – where he talked movingly
about his relationship with his father (doesn’t
everyone on Parkinson) – to Desert Island
Disks, Gordon has embraced the media
age.
stand up. June '04
We live in a media age driven by TV, Radio,
Newpapers and Internet, where the definition
of entertainment has changed: We are
interested in personalities and no longer
satisfied with persona – being in the media
as part of a job is no longer possible, we
want everything – be it Jordan getting her tits
out in public, Chris Evans being pissed in a
pub, Richard Branson going for another
failed balloon ride or David Beckham texting
his latest indiscretion. We want to know
these people, we want a piece of them.
Tuning into their radio show or watching
them kick a ball about is simply not enough.
The proliferation of gossip magazines and
reality television were natural extensions to
the trend in late ‘90s personality lead tabloid
journalism. A byproduct is a group a savvy
individuals who have accrued fortunes far
beyond their wildest dreams and, arguably,
far beyond their talent.
And the participants can only manipulate this
trend to their advantage for so long - there is
a down side - the public fascination is as
greedy for the bad news as the good news.
The media is not stupid, what goes up must
come down and the coming down sells at
least as well as the going up.
So who is Gordon Ramsay? That shy, quiet,
upper class lad in the Rangers dressing
room? The man who has amassed a
reputed £20 million fortune? Is he a case of
what you see is what you get?
Gordon’s flagship restaurant on Royal
Hospital Road is the undisputed king of
restaurants in Great Britain – number one in
The 1% Club – holder of 3 Michelin Stars,
10/10 in the Good Food Guide and 5 AA
Rosettes. Those in the know, know it is
perfection. Gordon has undoubtedly great
talent, drive and professionalism and in
every respect has earned the right.
So what is his new, enhanced, media profile
all about? The Boiling Point fly-on-the-wall
had the ingredient of a ‘cool angle for a TV
programme’ as it focused on the personality;
an aggressive, bullying NCO. Was that real
or briefed? Who knows? The public bought it
and loved it. Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s
Kitchen fed us some more of this
personality, only offering occasional
glimpses of the expertise that has made
Ramsay the master of his craft.
From Parkinson – where he talked movingly
about his relationship with his father (doesn’t
everyone on Parkinson) – to Desert Island
Disks, Gordon has embraced the media
age.
I can only imagine that he (or his advisors)
believe there's a need to ‘broaden the brand.’
While the majority of the millions who now
know him will never eat at his flagship
restaurant, this may not stop them from
buying his books or paying a visit to his mid-
market eateries.
Since Delia made her millions, the revenue
opportunity from books is not to be
underestimated - WH Smiths has an ever
expanding section dedicated to writings of
chefs. Not just recipe books, personality
books – biographies and such.
But is it worth the risk to Gordon of putting his
personal life under potential scrutiny?
We saw during the second week of Hell’s
Kitchen, the tabloid press dig up an old 1993
charge of gross indecency in a Green Park
tube station toilet. While Gordon laughed this
off as ‘drunken high jinx between friends’ he
was notably seen in the same tabloid press a
week later being photographed with is wife
leaving The Ivy. Welcome to the circus!
It is also a pity that the media generates an
emphasis on style over substance. Had you
never experienced Gordon Ramsay as food
on a plate, you’d be forgiven for differentiating
him from Ainsley Harriot as the ‘potty mouthed
rude one.’ Of course, this is another price of
mass appeal, your entertainment value is
packaged and labeled by your profile and not
your genuine talent.
I’ve seen it written that he’s The Johnny Rotten
of the chef world (in The Observer no less).
And this indeed plays to the profile, one which
Gordon is happy to play back. He was asked
in a one minute internet interview when he
last lied. His reply was ‘yesterday to a
vegetarian in my restaurant, I told them the
sauce was made from vegetable stock when
it was made from Chicken stock.’
(Subsequently retracted)
This is where things start to get a little
dangerous. It’s a question of priorities.
Gordon is not Anthony Bourdain; he is a great
chef and recognized as such by his peers and
industry watchers - surely that must be
paramount to him. The sex appeal of being
considered a rebellious rock star or a Kitchen
Confidential character might be exciting but
the excitement is hollow. These are
characters of relatively limited talent.
I genuinely hope that Gordon Ramsay is a
man we don’t know at all; a man with genius
who understands his Slim Shady and where
to draw the line, and above all, that the
‘success can be skin deep’ philosophy of the
media age does not leak into his kitchen.
believe there's a need to ‘broaden the brand.’
While the majority of the millions who now
know him will never eat at his flagship
restaurant, this may not stop them from
buying his books or paying a visit to his mid-
market eateries.
Since Delia made her millions, the revenue
opportunity from books is not to be
underestimated - WH Smiths has an ever
expanding section dedicated to writings of
chefs. Not just recipe books, personality
books – biographies and such.
But is it worth the risk to Gordon of putting his
personal life under potential scrutiny?
We saw during the second week of Hell’s
Kitchen, the tabloid press dig up an old 1993
charge of gross indecency in a Green Park
tube station toilet. While Gordon laughed this
off as ‘drunken high jinx between friends’ he
was notably seen in the same tabloid press a
week later being photographed with is wife
leaving The Ivy. Welcome to the circus!
It is also a pity that the media generates an
emphasis on style over substance. Had you
never experienced Gordon Ramsay as food
on a plate, you’d be forgiven for differentiating
him from Ainsley Harriot as the ‘potty mouthed
rude one.’ Of course, this is another price of
mass appeal, your entertainment value is
packaged and labeled by your profile and not
your genuine talent.
I’ve seen it written that he’s The Johnny Rotten
of the chef world (in The Observer no less).
And this indeed plays to the profile, one which
Gordon is happy to play back. He was asked
in a one minute internet interview when he
last lied. His reply was ‘yesterday to a
vegetarian in my restaurant, I told them the
sauce was made from vegetable stock when
it was made from Chicken stock.’
(Subsequently retracted)
This is where things start to get a little
dangerous. It’s a question of priorities.
Gordon is not Anthony Bourdain; he is a great
chef and recognized as such by his peers and
industry watchers - surely that must be
paramount to him. The sex appeal of being
considered a rebellious rock star or a Kitchen
Confidential character might be exciting but
the excitement is hollow. These are
characters of relatively limited talent.
I genuinely hope that Gordon Ramsay is a
man we don’t know at all; a man with genius
who understands his Slim Shady and where
to draw the line, and above all, that the
‘success can be skin deep’ philosophy of the
media age does not leak into his kitchen.
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