Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay traded insults during a well-documented rivalry, but Jamie says they are now ‘all friends’ after a ‘colourful 10 years’
The pair have finally buried the hatchet(Image: Getty Images)
Notoriously abrasive TV chef Gordon Ramsay has upset his fair share of people. For example, he left the entire Cornish village of Rock up in arms after he bought a picturesque 1920s five-bedroom property called Lanarth for £4.4 million and promptly demolished it, used the site for a modern villa with white walls and a zinc facade, comprising a gym, pool, cellar and a guest annexe.
Locals have likened Gordon’s luxury home to “a bunch of shipping containers.”
But perhaps the person Gordon has annoyed most is rival TV chef Jamie Oliver. The two rivals had a feud that rumbled on for years, with the notoriously foul-mouthed Ramsay taking swipes not just at the Essex lad’s culinary techniques, but his physique too.
The hostilities haven’t been entirely one-sided, though, with Jamie hitting back at Gordon’s conduct after he displayed a doctored image of a naked woman with a pig’s face to an audience, claiming it depicted Australian journalist Tracy Grimshaw.
Jamie made clear his distaste for Gordon’s antics at the time, insisting it would never be right to lambast a woman so publicly. When quizzed about whether his well-documented spat with the Hell’s Kitchen star was genuine or merely theatre, he remarked: “It’s not really a feud. He’s just a psychopath.”
Gordon’s Hell’s Kitchen fame has helped him launch a huge restaurant empire(Image: Getty Images for Vegas Uncorkd by Bon Appetit)
However, the passage of time appears to have softened relations between the duo, with Jamie, 51, revealing to Romesh Ranganathan this week: “We’re all friends now. We’re back together. But it was a colourful 10 years back in the day.”
Drawing comparisons between their respective careers, Jamie noted: “The shape of Gordon’s business looks most similar to mine, although he’s much more successful – he’s smashed America.”
Gordon boasts more than 30 establishments across the US, including Gordon Ramsay Fish and Chips, Gordon Ramsay Burger, and an upmarket dining venue in Las Vegas modelled on his popular television programme, Hell’s Kitchen.
He’s reportedly set to leverage his American fanbase with a series of franchised eateries, with Andy Wenlock, CEO of Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, explaining: “We have been operating owned and licensed restaurants in North America for many years, where we currently have 35 restaurants. Franchising is the next natural step in a market where Gordon has a clear fan base, and both Gordon and I have ambitions to expand the business.”
Gordon slated Jamie’s healthy eating campaign
In stark contrast, while his brand boasts numerous international venues spanning Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, Jamie has yet to establish a permanent restaurant stateside.
“I think I had 700 chefs to be responsible for at one stage, so it’s been a mad 25 years,” he told Romesh.
During those hectic 25 years, Jamie has managed to exchange jibes with his chief competitor. Gordon reckons the ongoing spat between them has, in certain respects, proved beneficial.
He’s been scathing about Jamie’s culinary approach, labelling him a “‘one pot wonder’.” He elaborated: “Everything kind of gets mixed in – hands in. It’s a very different style to me. He sticks it in the oven, comes back three hours later and it’s done. We cook differently. I use basic ingredients taken up with a lot more excitement.
“But competition is healthy. It’s good to have that kind of rivalry.”
Their feud made headlines for years(Image: Getty Images)
At one stage, following Jamie’s criticism of a recipe book penned by Gordon’s wife Tana, Gordon crafted a deliberately disingenuous “apology” to Jamie, saying: “I just want to say that I’m sorry. I have been hard on you this week, Jamie.
“I’ve called you fat, I’ve criticised your restaurants, called you fat, said you enjoyed prison sex, and called you fat. What I said was hurtful, Jamie. I don’t want to make you cry. The last thing I want to do is look at your cute face and think: blubber, blubber, blubber.”
Yet Jamie’s reply seemed to signal a shift in their protracted feud. An enraged Gordon vowed to cease all contact unless Jamie apologised to Tana, who felt “mortified” by the remarks.
Jamie had told The Sun: “I was doing TV years before him, so maybe five years ago it would have bothered me and I may have responded.”
He went on to say: “But he’s got four kids and I’ve got five kids, and I don’t want to be slagging off some kids’ dad on telly. It’s not nice.”
Dining and Cooking