Gordon Ramsay

October 22, 2012 World Screen

 This interview appeared in the MIPCOM 2012 issue of World Screen.

MasterChef in the U.S. is just one cog in Gordon Ramsay’s ever-growing trans-Atlantic television-production machine. Indeed, there are several other shows—notably Boiling Point, Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen—that can be credited with establishing the colorful chef and restaurateur as a firm fixture on television screens across the globe. But it was in fact the 1990s iteration of Junior MasterChef that gave Ramsay his television break. The chef, then still trying to leave a mark on the competitive British restaurant landscape, served as a guest judge on the kids’ cooking competition.
 
Channel 4’s Boiling Point came a few years later and demonstrated this his fiery temper and witty one-liners made for great television. That was followed up with Beyond Boiling Point and then, in 2004, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen. The success of both shows in the U.K. caught the eye of FOX in the U.S., which in 2005 introduced its own version of Hell’s Kitchen and in 2007 Kitchen Nightmares. Three years ago, Ramsay was enlisted by Elisabeth Murdoch, the chairman of the Shine Group, to serve as the face of the American version of MasterChef. In its recently wrapped third season, the show, which Ramsay executive produces, received its highest-ever ratings and routinely won its time slot, particularly among the key 18 to 49 segment. His newest series for FOX—his fourth—is Hotel Hell, in which he does for hotel owners what he’s been doing for restaurateurs for years, using a mix of tough love, pointed barbs and even some kind encouragement to turn around struggling establishments.
 
While firmly committed to his television empire—he set up a production company, One Potato Two Potato, with Optomen Tele­vision, which is owned by ALL3MEDIA-—the Michelin-starred chef has maintained his significant restaurant business. He runs establishments in London, New York, Paris, Doha, Los Angeles and Tokyo, among other cities, as well as a culinary academy and a hotel. He has written some 20 books and is behind a line of branded kitchen appliances. He also appears in CGI form in the Hell’s Kitchen video game and, in the ultimate sign of having made it on the U.S. pop-culture scene, voiced himself on an episode of The Simpsons.
 
Amid his hectic schedule launching Hotel Hell on FOX, gearing up for new seasons of MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen and pitching his Channel 4 series Gordon Behind Bars to the U.S. networks, Ramsay took time to chat with World Screen about his passion for food, making compelling television and what it’s like being the most recognizable chef in the world.
 
WS: Why did you want to do Hotel Hell? Working on improving hotels is a bit of a departure for you.
RAMSAY: It’s another string in my bow. Have you any idea how many hotels I’ve stayed in? Having spent hundreds and hundreds of nights, [even] thousands, at hotels over the last decade, and having my own boutique hotel in London, the York & Albany, I just started getting really frustrated with the level of complacency. I was in New York staying at a hotel. It was $450 a night. We were filming Kitchen Nightmares and I got back late that night and heard the room hadn’t been [cleaned]. They said there were problems with the staff, the chambermaid had fallen sick. When you’ve been doing a 14-, 15-hour day and you come back and the room’s not made, the fridge has defrosted all over the carpet, the air conditioner has broken down…it was a disaster. I thought, this is crazy, this hotel is like living in hell. And that’s how it started.
 
WS: And you’ll also be doing it with hotels in the U.K.?
RAMSAY: Channel 4 is really excited about doing it, as a next step up from Kitchen Nightmares. It’s like Nightmares, but on a much bigger scale. Two months before I arrive there are secret sleepers—people who go in and have a look at the scenario. Every time I come up against a stubborn owner that is in complete denial [about the condition of the hotel], I can say, this isn’t happening because you think I’m forcing it to happen because I’m here, this was also taking place two months ago and here’s the evidence. We’ve got all the backup footage. We really do our research on these restaurants and hotels.
 
WS: It must be so much harder to overhaul a hotel than a restaurant.
RAMSAY: It’s much harder. And also the jeopardy is so much greater. I worked on Hotel Hell in the U.S. along the same lines as I did on Kitchen Nightmares in the U.K.—I had a much longer period [at each establishment]. It’s much more [like an] observational documentary. And it’s packed with integrity. These are big hotels—from country lodges in upstate New York to 75-room hotels in San Diego. The place in San Diego was designed by [the Italian car design firm] Pininfarina, because the owner was obsessed with Ferraris. The first question I asked him was, Why would you get them to design your hotel with furniture that doesn’t work? If you buy a Ferrari, you don’t buy it to sleep in it! He couldn’t answer me.
 
WS: The third season of MasterChef was its highest rated so far. Why do you think audiences are responding so strongly?
RAMSAY: The obesity issue is an epidemic. It’s a problem globally. I’m always frustrated when the targets are the children. The issue is the parents. And a lot of them are in the position to eat healthily. There’s a really strong passion [for home cooking]. The passion and the determination are extraordinary. I was in Washington last December, minus four degrees at 5:30 in the morning and there’s a queue 400 meters long to get in for the auditions. I’d been on the road since 3 o’clock in the morning, and I turned up expecting not to see anyone before 9 o’clock. I couldn’t believe it. Who’d have thought five years ago that amateur cooking competitions would be mainstream prime-time television? Food Network has a lot to answer for that. I think it’s also to do with the amount of cooking people are doing at home, and the availability [of information from] the Internet and food programs. And we’ve made it sexy. It’s not the rock-and-roll, let’s-go-crazy attitude, but I think it’s a really cool thing to learn how to cook. I look at the Latin that [my son] Jack is studying at the moment and how he’s sweating and fretting over it. He’s 12 years of age. I said, mate, don’t get stressed out over Latin! Do your best, but find your passion. So you graduate with an A-level [a standardized test used as qualification for entrance to universities in the U.K.] in Latin, what is that going to do for you if you want to become a sportsman? As long as you give me your best, that’s what’s important. Then I see him cooking. He made lasagna last night. He was in the fridge and he said, Dad, can I use this chorizo? I want to make the lasagna spicy. I said, That’s a great idea! He minced the onions, caramelized the onions, set down the chorizo. I’m thinking, two hours ago this young man was looking at me, eyes full of water, face all red, absolutely horrified about his Latin homework. All of a sudden, the transformation—how happy he was because he was cooking. That’s a 12-year-old! MasterChef is part of that phenomenon because it’s made [cooking] less intimidating, it’s made it more enjoyable. And people are watching it, thinking, Hey, I can compete with that. There’s no service, there’s no restaurant to run.
 
There were some contestants this year that were embarrassed to tell their parents that they were keen to cook rather than go study law. It’s so wrong! How snobby do we have to be to think that it’s a second-class citizenship to become a chef? Just learning how to cook for yourself can erase 50 percent of this obesity issue. How many times do we get told how important [going to the] gym is and how we’ve got to keep fit, keep active? Cooking is exactly the same.
 
WS: Why did you want to be involved with the American version of the format?
RAMSAY: Lis Murdoch [the chairman of the Shine Group] said to me three years ago, MasterChef is a phenomenon in the U.K., what do you think about doing it in America? I said, as long as we can continue running the competitions and FOX runs the show. It’s like with Hell’s Kitchen—FOX lets me run a restaurant, they run the show. So we understand our parameters and where not to overstep the mark.
 
We’ve also got a bigger chance on MasterChef, more than any other program anywhere in the world, to actually mentor these individuals. Yes, you see a 42-minute sequence edited. We’ll film 12 or 14 hours for that. But we have our sessions in the prep kitchen where we [demonstrate dishes]. Each and every one of us who is giving reprimands and compliments can step down off our high horse and absolutely perfect what we’re talking about in front of them. They’re gaining that knowledge on a daily basis, not just a weekly basis. But we really do push them to the extent that they get so much better and I think it’s starting to show, especially this season.
 
My first-ever television break was judging Junior MasterChef in England with Loyd Grossman 20 years ago. I couldn’t believe it. I was so excited I got asked to be a guest judge on this program. If you’d said to me 20 years ago I’d be presenting it and co-producing it across one of the biggest countries in the world, I’d never have believed you!
 
WS: Are there major differences working in the U.S. as compared with the U.K.?
RAMSAY: I think the pressure is far more [in the U.S.]. If it doesn’t work then you’re gone, you’re history. When a show gets canned [in the U.S.], you get panned. I absolutely work hard at everything I do and I never take it for granted. And I still insist on a daily basis, whether [I’m working with] an amateur participant in MasterChef or a finalist in Hell’s Kitchen, it’s still a lot easier than standing in front of a stove for 16, 17 hours a day, like I did for 20 years before I went anywhere near TV. I don’t see it as TV. I know that’s really weird to say. But you know what I’m like—I get into my zone and I’m brutally honest. That comes with a lot of flack and I get a lot of shit for that. At the end of the day, it is what it is. It’s food and it means a lot to me and I push myself constantly.
 
WS: The tough attitude you have with contestants—did you deal with the same thing from your mentors in your early days as a chef?
RAMSAY: Yeah, times 20! Marco White, a phenomenon, he put food on a plate like an absolute genius. Albert Roux was a flavor profiles man—so focused on flavor, proper French classic cuisine. Guy Savoy, who had that amazing lightness. Pierre Koffman, phenomenal flavors. Alain Ducasse, incredible Mediterranean lightness. Joël Robuchon, the hardest, toughest, most demanding chef I have ever worked for in my entire life. If I was going to flip burgers and dress Caesar salad, 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 alongside 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-and-development 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 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.