"Gordon Ramsay"

22:28You know, it's so funny because oftentimes when you see, especially when they cut the commercials together for your various shows, they sort of cast you as the guy who's coming, you're being really hard on the people who run the restaurant and they're quite slow and they're dumb and you're smart and you're the villain or you're the star, but you're the villain or you're the good guy, you're saving them, but you're, boy, love. And I think that there's like this, certainly before I ever watched the show, when I saw those things, the misconception I had was that it was all ego. And in fact, it's the opposite.

22:56you understand that you've actually got very, there's very little ego in it. You understand that the restaurant or the business is the star and that everybody has to be on board pulling towards making that thing succeed. Exactly. Otherwise, you've spent decades as a busy idiot. And I'll be honest, seriously, because you just spent, you know, listen, the hours are unsociable, you know, the money shit on the journey up, like in any career. And so you've got to value that process. And so when I started realizing all these issues, it was about the lack of empowerment. You've got to get them on the same page.

23:34And so, yes, it's brutal. Yes, I'm honest. Yes, I am absolutely in their face because it's bloody frustrating when they're not listening, right? And Kitchen Nightmares, let's not forget, I don't rock up unannounced. They do ask me in there by the way. And they promised me they have cleaned up before I got there. And I'm thinking, holy shit. So you cleaned up and it's still a shithole. What was it like two weeks ago? Yeah, but the psychological journey that you take them on is so funny. One of the greatest one-liners you had was, you walk in there to somebody and you said, you're like a one-hit wonder except your one hit is fucking burnt.

24:16Jesus. I got accused once of bringing a mouse in my pocket. No way. Yeah, I think it was outside Philly in a restaurant. And there was a mouse running across the floor. And I said, look, we're about to open the doors. There's a fucking mouse on table seven. I said, stop it. You brought that in. I said, sorry, beg your pardon? He said, yeah, roll the cameras back. I said, what do you mean roll the cameras back? Yeah, play the tape. I said, what do you mean play the tape? I don't do that shit. Are you saying that I put this mouse in my, yeah. I saw you shake your leg as you came through the door.

24:50You shook the mouse out of your ankles. That's ratatouille, isn't it? Honestly, I swear to God. What's the grossest, without naming it, what's the grossest situation you ever walked into in a restaurant? It's every episode. I know, but there must be one that stuck with you that's like... Oh, God. I think recently I was in one restaurant, and, you know, sort of the hot plate, the past, that's where everything comes to, right? And they had all these parfait jars up there with, like, rice and lentils and grains, and I thought one of those jars had smashed. because it's full of all these little grains.

25:25And until I got up close, personal, I didn't realize it was actually full of rat shit. Yeah. And so I said to the chef, hey, have you seen what's on top of the pass? You know, this stuff could be dripping into the fridge. Well, it's not. I said, yeah, but it's rat shit. He said, yeah, I'm going to clean it. I said, but when are you going to clean it? He said, what do you expect me to do? Fucking shoot the rats? I said, no, clean your shithole. And so he was cooking food. It's amazing. Under the hot plate with all these little tiny turds that had dehydrated become like little bullets on top of the pass.

25:57Gross. Jason, Jason. God, this hurts you so much. I can't. Yeah. Yeah. Another one-liner. Sorry, this is the last one. You said, it might have been recently, you said, you're so fucking useless you make a bloody brick wall look intelligent.

26:15Sometimes, I don't even know I've been coming out with them. You know that. Sometimes it's just in the heat of the moment. Of course, of course. They push your buttons, man. Yeah. Well, what really does, and if it changes, let us know, but I would imagine that your button gets pushed when you see people really not kind of rowing in the same direction, like not really being a good team member, or is it lack of work ethic or concentration? What is it that really gets you? Laziness. Yeah. Laziness. That's the worst thing anyone can bring into any direction. Especially when you're working hard and people around you aren't where you are.

26:50Exactly that. And there are so many tiny details. And I always consider 10 little problems become one big problem at the end of the day. But when chefs start cutting corners in our business, you're screwed. It's the beginning of the end. And also hygiene. No, but seriously, you know, there is nothing worse than a sweaty fat fuck that comes out of that kitchen and goes to the table and he's got dehydrated skin, he's got a beard that's untrimmed, he's sweating from the armpits, his fingernails are black and he asks you, how is your fucking lunch? I mean, the worst question. The worst question. First of all, you should never have sent that food if it wasn't good anyway, so don't ask that question.

27:32Secondly, it's a bad advert for the restaurant. And it's gross. And today's chefs need to be a lot more prolific, not just as a marketing tool, but just common sense. and so I hate laziness. I hate slobs. I'm not good at that. Yeah, yeah. I'm being around. What do you guys, I know what my pet peeves are when I walk into a restaurant. They're really pretty trivial. Does it start with welcome in? Well, first of all, welcome in. Welcome in. If I own a restaurant, if anybody at the Queen of Beaver says welcome in, you're gone. I fucking hate that sort of faux folksy bullshit. And it's new, right? Have a day.

28:14It's like when you play golf, they go, have a day. Fuck. off. Exactly. Please fuck right off. That took over for touch base and circle back. Welcome in is gone. But also, when a waiter says, so tonight chef is preparing, I'm like, I don't know chef. So stop referring to... And chef is doing a braised beef again. Or it's going to be. It's going to be. Yes. Yes. It's going to be put on a plate. Oh, is it? I hope so. Or soup of the day. What was it? Well, it's a roasted carrot and cumin. And what was the soup of the day yesterday? Roasted carrot and cumin. What was the soup last week? Roasted carrot and cumin.

28:49So it's soup of the fucking month. Yeah. Okay. And isn't soup really just sauce? Can we dispel the whole... Wow. It really is sauce, right? It's salty, it's creamy. Like you can put it over a chicken breast. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, soups are magical. I remember going to Paris at the age of 22. I said to you earlier, without a pot to piss in. And I had to become French. And not only was I running away from the hurt in soccer, but I just wanted to memorize myself in France and become French. And my first job on the galmanger, the sort of starter section, was making this broccoli soup with goat cheese ravioli.

29:29So they gave me these heads of broccoli and a pan of water. And I thought we'd need garlic, shallots, vegetable stuff. But all it was was rolling, boiling, beautiful water, nicely seasoned. The florets, the little flowers of broccoli, cooked for two minutes. so we didn't lose the color. Then you drain those broccoli florets. And then from there, you use the water the broccoli was cooked in and you puree the broccoli and add the water back to it. And it's the most natural, delicious, flavored broccoli soup. Starving. Two ingredients, broccoli and water. And then, of course, it gets sent into the Premier League with those little tiny goat's cheese raviolis.

30:07And it was so beautifully done. So no, soup is not a fucking sauce. No, it's not. And Sean, just for Sean, broccoli is a vegetable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hang on. It looks like a tree. It's not a Pop-Tart flavor. All right. Now, Gordon, my mother is British, and she was always sort of just like, well, you know, Britain was never really known for its great food, she would always say. Why is that? And I hear that it has changed now. Can you walk us through that? Yeah, I mean, I got the piss. and the Mickey taken out of me. Yeah, when I was in Paris in the 90s because we had such a bad reputation. You know, it was like roast beef, fish and chips, mushy peas, and it was dreadful.

30:51It was gray, it was dark, it was fucking horrendous. Because it was heavily influenced from? I think it was the mining, the mining towns in a way that it was like meat and two veg and, you know, it was that sort of uninspired way of cooking with just absolute crap. And so I couldn't wait to get out of the UK to go and sort of get on that journey and start searching. And so France was, it was this bedrock. It gave birth to haute cuisine. And then from France, I went to Italy. From Italy, I went to Spain. And then from Spain, you know, I came across and spent a year on this incredible yacht traveling around the world, picking up multiple cultures.

31:29So now the UK is this stunning melting pot. We're central Europe. We're 26 miles away from France. and it's got some of the best, best food in Europe now. We can rub shoulders with the French. We can rub shoulders in the US. And yeah, it's a nation to be proud of now. Not to get political, but do you think Brexit kind of is dulling the cuisine influence? I think it's putting a bit of a sort of wedge between those incredible countries. The crossover was beautiful. I love a wedge. With blue cheese and bacon, sorry. Oh, shit. So, yeah, I never get into politics. I stay out of that shit because customers come to be neutral and to break bread without some chef spouting out.

32:12But the influence of all of those countries that are so close to England, I'm sure, helped to influence the cuisine there. Massively. But no longer. Massively. What would you say? Lay the rest or explain if you can for our listener. When an Englishman describes having his dinner, his supper, his tea, and where they all fit and what time of day they fit and how they can be distinguished one from the other? Yeah, that's a great question. First of all, I went to school with porridge, which is your oatmeal, right? We didn't use milk. We used it with salt. I remember my father saying to me once that you're going to be making your oatmeal with salt.

32:53And I said, dad, why it puts hairs on your bollocks? I'm like, okay. Okay. So we start off with porridge. oatmeal and then um lunch is just a basic sandwich and then you come home for your tea and tea is a dinner but it's called tea because you never ask for dinner dinner was a posh word you went home for tea and sometimes that would be a jam sandwich sometimes that could be fish and chips staying kidney pie but you had your tea and back in those days um you just you just you got what your mom served you right you never questioned that is that not traditionally at four o 'clock? No, I think you're thinking of the sort of high tea, the afternoon tea.

33:32That's different. Oh, that's what I thought it was. Yeah. So, yeah, tea's dinner. So you hear like a guy coming back, especially, you know, 50, 60 years ago, a guy had come back from, you know, when they used to have the coal mines and that's all gone now, but they'd come back and he'd say, you know, he'd come back, go home to have his tea, right, Gordon? That's right. That's exactly that, going home for tea. Does the United States, in your opinion, have elevated cuisine at all? I mean, like... Oh, my God. Definitely. Yeah. Absolutely. definitely without doubt. Yeah, okay. I mean, you always have to go to the cities, like the big cities, to get it, right?

34:04Yeah, I think the biggest shock when I first came over here years ago was just the size of the breakfast. Yeah. And then on the side of the breakfast, you've got a fucking fruit salad on your breakfast as well, so it turns into like a mini dessert. That's not the way you want to start the day, right? Oh, my God. They say it's the most important meal of the day, but it should be your lightest meal of the day, and then you build up to that. But chefs are notorious for sort of eating because we graze. So everyone says, you're not eating? You're not hungry? No, we've just grown up grazing because if you don't taste everything before it goes out, then how do you perfect that level of utter, beautiful, stunning food?

34:42So we have small spoons. And so I can't go out and eat. I think, Will, last time you saw me, like, you're just picking? You're not eating properly? Do you have an eating disorder? I'm like, no, no. We just can't eat Starter App's main dessert. Yeah, you did it. That's exactly right. You didn't. You didn't go through the whole thing. You just had sort of little bits and pieces. Gordon, I work a bit in Atlanta, and I'm always really surprised. Oh, here we go. Plugging Atlanta again. And excited about how great the restaurants are there. What's the last city that surprised you in the States with its cuisine?

35:17I'd say Austin. Austin, Texas. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Powerful. Oh, my goodness me. I mean, I'm just talking about barbecue. There's some incredible ethnic restaurants there. And from Filipino to great Greek restaurants and Japanese, Asian-inspired, yeah. Austin, Texas. What other than naturally French cuisine, which is sort of almost like the granddaddy of them all in a way, and other than going out for that, what is your sort of guilty pleasure meal to go out for that you're like, just go and have a Chinese or whatever? You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, I spent three years training in France.

35:57That's two years in Paris and a year down the south of France. And I absolutely adore France. It's just the French I can't fucking stand. Don't worry, they're not listening. Do you speak French? I do, yes, I do. Do you speak Italian too and Spanish? Yeah, but not fluent. French is where it's at. And we've still got restaurants. Gordon, I had a French waiter once say to me, I said, everybody else is ordering drinks. I said, I'll have a Diet Coke. And he goes, American champagne. I was like, hey, fuck you. Fuck you, dude. They just have the most romantic ways of describing food. We have grilled cheese, cheese and toast.

36:27They have fucking hot monsieur. We have mashed potatoes. They have pomme puree. We have apple pie. They have a dote de pomme. But it is good. It is delicious. So other than French cuisine, what's your guilty pleasure? What's your thing that you're like, oh, I'm going to go and have that? Oh, God. I'm a big fan of In-N-Out Burger. I love burgers, honestly. Yeah, I do too. A great smash burger. I just love burgers. I absolutely adore burgers. Did that just start, the smash burger? and what it is literally, you just make the patty not fat and juicy. You make it thin and a little better. Camerolized, yeah.

37:01And social media has popularized it for sure. Yeah, and the bun, the bun too, right? So it kind of becomes a little bit more sort of dense. Like a sandwich. Because whenever I would go to a hotel and order, it'd be gigantic, the burger, and you couldn't even get your mouth in it. And then it was like a mess. They ask you how you want it cooked. Jesus, Sean, your blood pressure is going, relax, okay? They're going to fix the burger. Christ. But also you get a much better caramelization on that smash burger because you roll and then literally smash it immediately the minute it's being pressed onto that griddle.

37:32And then literally 90 seconds each side, it's caramelized, it's juicy. And you can do a double stack on that as well and really identify the flavor of that meal. What's the dish you think, what dish are you most proud of? What dish do you think you make, because you make so many? What dish do you think you make really well? And it could be as simple as an omelet. What's the thing that you do really well, in your opinion? There's two things. When we took over Clarities back in 2004, I sort of reintroduced the fillet of beef wellington, which is a showstopper. And that's just like your perfect sort of go-to.

38:02That's like beef and a pastry, right? Yeah, I love it. Is that what it is? I don't think I've ever had it. I don't think I've ever had it. I'll say it's delicious. And then second is scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs for me are... I knew it. ...so important. Because anything rubber, anything overcooked, undercooked, there's nothing worse, honestly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then every time I see chefs put fucking eggs in a microwave, I scream. I just, oh, no. Some of the best scrambled eggs I ever had in my life was at the Hotel Georges Sank. Oh, there you go. Amazing. Of course. They put a little cream in it, right?

38:35Well, I asked the guy, I said, how do you get them so soft and creamy? And I don't know if he's joking with me. Go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. With just a dash of go fuck yourself. With all these questions, stupid American, shut up. You like to know the magic? In French, it's fat for food. Yeah. Fat foot foot? Yes. What does that mean? Go fuck yourself. Wait, but so I don't know if he was joking. He said American cheese, right? And I'm like, no, that can't be. What? Wait, I come home. Listen to this. I come home. I make scrambled eggs, soft scrambled eggs, really slow. And I put Kraft singles in them.

39:10It's incredible. Let me tell you. Let me tell you. I'm going to make it for you. Stop it. It's incredible. Gordon just punched a hole in the wall. It makes it sweet and creamy. Somebody once put a little cottage cheese in scrambled eggs. Oh, cheese. It was pretty good. No, no, no. The secret behind any great scrambled egg is stopping the cooking. That's right. You don't stop the cooking. They'll just overcook and turn it into rubber. So it's a teaspoon of creme fraiche or a little tablespoon of cream, and that just slows the process down. Sean, he was fucking with you. He just wanted to keep you in America.

39:41He wanted to go home and stay home. You know what the one thing I do like? Here's my guilty pleasure eggs. I will say this. My guilty pleasure eggs in Southern California, especially, is chorizo and eggs with a little bit of cheese. I love these. And corned beef hash. Yeah, there you go. Eggs we can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's the nice thing about eggs. That's the simplicity behind eggs. And it's something I taught all the kids, our kids to make from the ages of six. Great scrambled eggs. And is it true that the cholesterol in eggs has been dispelled? They're fine for you is what I hear?

40:14Or what do you know? Yeah, it's the balance, isn't it? I mean, don't eat that every day. So we'll do scrambled eggs maybe at the weekend, Saturday or Sunday. Okay. We'll be right back.

40:27All right, back to the show. Wait, but go back to your kids because you have six kids. Good for you. Right? Oh, I'm jealous. Six children. Yes. And I read that you missed the births of your first four kids on purpose. Is that right? Well, hold on. You're going to get me into shit here. Let's make one thing absolutely clear. Okay. Well, I read it. I know, but my wife didn't want me in there. Why? She said, first of all, I want my mum and your mum in here. You're not going to fucking see me in that state. Right. Okay? Okay, okay. That side of the curtain, get out of there. Okay, okay. So that was her decision.

40:59I had to respect that decision. And then when I did finally arrive in the theater for our fifth baby, I fucking clapped like a wimp. Oh, no. I blacked out holding Oscar in the air. Yes. I was so fucking... Holding the baby? But they said, what do you want to listen to? It was coming through the sunroof. And so there's a lot of commotions going on. It was a C-section? Yes. Yeah, yeah, I've been there. Do you call that the sunroof? Yeah. I've been for all three of my sons. I said, can you play Ed Sheeran? So they started playing Ed. If you turn up the volume, I can hear all these noises. Turn up the volume.

41:32And all of a sudden, I saw two more doctors dive in. I looked on the floor and there was blood everywhere. Oh, God. They popped him out. And then they came straight over to me. And I went, whoa, whoa, whoa, shit. Yeah, yeah. And I sat back and then I clapped like a fucking idiot. My second son, they came through on the radio. You could just hear very low. Young hearts, be free tonight. I love that song. I know, me too. It was so bizarre. That's great. And then, Gordon, how do you, forgive me for asking, but I think it's incredible you have all of these business ventures. You just go, go, go. The drive, the ambition, the success.

42:09What is your rules of balancing all of the family life and the work life? Yeah, that's a great question. So balance is critical. We got the right kind of support. Every time we were filming throughout the US, the kids would come with us and then we would take them out of school two weeks early, put them back two weeks late. So we'd do their sort of filming schedules around the school schedules. It's a lot easier now. We had four amazing kids and then Tana and I had this crazy idea to go back for more. And so there's quite a big gap. Megan, she's our eldest. She's 26. She's an incredible police officer back in London.

42:43Oh, that's great. Then we have the twins at 25. Jack's a Royal Marine Commando. Holly's into her fashion. And then there's Matilda, who's 23, who's literally just come back from culinary school, would you believe? And I have a beautiful school called Ballymalo. I am a little bit miffed, the fact that she didn't ask me to train her. She's gone off elsewhere. She's seen your show. To come back to the fold. Yeah, she's seen the shows. That's the problem. So it sounds like you made all your, did all your kids have, did they all work sort of as they were growing up and have jobs and do things and have direction?

43:13Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And you never, you always make them fly coach or something? 100%. And I tried to explain to them what they could do with the money when they land because we're all getting on and getting off together. So I understand the difference. And secondly, no disrespect, an eight-year-old or a 10-year-old, they don't need fucking business class or first class or even as a teenager, they shouldn't be used to that kind of exposure. Right. So you get up, you'll walk a bread roll from first class back to them. A bread roll. Oh, the bread's so hot up front. and here's a couple. I'll be right back.

43:44I'll be back in about an hour to check on you. Yeah. Back to sleep. I said, turn fucking right and do not disturb us for the next 12 hours. All right. You're doing them a service though. Because otherwise you're depriving your kids of learning how to live life and how to do things if you don't provide that for them, I think. Yeah, and also removing the hunger, right? And so it's not about excelling at school with A stars and A's everywhere. I think so. It's about creating individuals. Well, give them a direction of something that they want to do, right? And values, Will. Give them the values. Install those values.

44:18And they can't depend on the mom and dad. I'm not perfect at it. I'm not suggesting that I am. You know, because I got net jets on the other line. They want to talk to you about your appearance next week. No, but I mean, you know, look, you've got your daughter. You got her into directing, and she came and worked on your show, and you got her sort of into the thing and give them a direction. I got my kids are working this summer. They're teenagers. They've got jobs. Give them a start, and then see what they do with it. Exactly. I want them to have an idea of what it takes to make their own living and take care of themselves.

44:44I worked at a furniture shop. We don't care. How many times? Is that mic still on? Fucking unreal. Gordon's here and he's talking about his family. I'm trying to speak. Let the guy, he's our guest. I didn't know what I was doing. Gordon, how do you feel? So the restaurant business, you know, you love, you killed it. And then you get into the television business. You know it. You love it. you're killing it. Is there a similarity between the two? Is there an appeal that is shared with both? Or do you love one over the other? How does that all fit in for you? Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think it's the level of creativity, I think, that I enjoy most about the TV.

45:25I hate it when shows are canceled, so I'm always a firm believer in taking your own show down first before you get canceled. And so there's nothing worse when something gets canceled. Fuck it, I'll come up with a better idea so you don't take me down and replace it with that. Also, I think not standing still. I think that's one thing growing up watching mum handle three jobs. Even on Christmas Day, we wouldn't see her to 5 p.m. in the afternoon because I knew she was coming in from the night shift working in a hospital. So you grow up with that work ethic. And I mentioned it earlier, not just the fear of not having it there one day, but just the value you have where you are and how long it's taken to master your craft.

46:01And that crossover into the TV world is sort of hand in love because it's real, okay? The shows are real. I take it serious. It's not about light, camera, action. I'm not a big fan of the shiny floor stuff. I love the raw stuff, if I'm honest. Oh, Rob is mad at you for saying that. He's always mad at me. He loves the shiny floor. I know, but even when we are on the shiny floor, I want to keep it real, okay? I want to keep it really real. Right, right. Are you able to stop and enjoy the fruits of your labor and all the success? I mean, because every time we talk about your shows and you love what you do and you go, like you said, you just go, go, go.

46:43Are you able to just stop and go, wow, look at this and actually vacation and calm down for a bit? Pat yourself on the back. Yeah, I'm not very good at pat myself on the back. What I do do, when I'm off, I'm off. Every six months, there's either an Ironman or a marathon. And so there's this sort of date that I build up to. My next Ironman is coming... It's an Ironman? An Ironman. It's an Ironman. A triathlon. Triathlon. Oh, got it, got it. And so my wife competes as well. She loves it. We spend a lot of time together swimming, cycling, and running. And so we have that nice little balance. Do you have a first gear?

47:21Do you ever shift down? No, but a lot of people are scared of that level of exercise. For me, it's a way of relaxing. I know it sounds crazy, but it is a way. Is that what keeps you? Is it fear? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just fear of exercising. Yeah. You might start sweating. Fear of exercising. Yeah. I don't want to sweat. That's impressive. What's your strongest sport or what's your weakest? Is it swim? The swim and the bike are strong. No, everyone's traces out over the swim. And to be honest, everyone overworks that swim to shave two minutes off their time, which is crazy. I remember sitting in the deep water start in Hawaii for Kona Ironman.

48:00And there's 2 ,500 athletes. so we had to swim out 200 meters and then wade, you know, tread water for 10 minutes before the cannon went off at half five in the morning. I thought, my God, this is the most beautiful moment of my life. And then the visibility was 30 meters. The swim was 3.8 K. No wetsuits because there's a lot of salt in that water so you're naturally buoyant. And I put my goggles on and I'm looking underneath. I'm like, fuck, it's like being alive, finding Nemo down here. The fish were everywhere. I started conjuring my deers for dishes, et cetera. And then I got out of the swim super relaxed and then onto the bike because I do relax when I train because I just get into that rhythm and I de-stress and I offload and then I'm uncontactable.

48:41I think that's the most important part about shutting off. No one get a hold of me. No one knows that. JB, you have a meditative quality to your workouts too. You like to run for six miles and be kind of non-contactable. I do, yeah. It's just nice. I think just the discipline, right? And it's solitary. It's just you against your body, your will, your discipline. Yeah, I do enjoy it. Hey, Gordon, you mentioned your mom a couple of times. She sounds like she was a huge influence on you. Is she still with us? Was she able to see and appreciate your success? Yeah. Mom's 78. She's down in Taunton, southwest of England.

49:21My first ambition after winning our third Michelin Star was after selling our house to go and get that lease because the bank wouldn't back us. So that was the only tangible asset I had. After winning our third star, the first time we ever come into any money, I went and bought mum her first house. And so for her to have that in her 50s, something that she's never grown up with was just one of the most exciting moments of my life. We have so many similarities. Sean, you did the same thing. Yeah, I grew up with a new set of tires, right? Because he really burned through those first ones getting the hell out of there.

49:55Real flat spot on the hell. Shit. And he ripped the rear views off too, right?

50:04Shit, you guys. Honestly. Oh my God, I'm crying. While the wheel was spinning, he ripped the rear view mirror off, threw it out the window. I think he hit Sean and Tracy both in the forehead with it. Then the tires tracked up and off he went. And we haven't been closer since. My God. Wait, Gordon, but so many similarities. We don't have to go into it, but my mom, super hard workhorse. Like, I learned everything from her. Grew up really poor, five kids. Dad was nowhere. And similar. I just have a lot of the same drive that you do. And it's just, it's great to talk to you about all of that. I get it.

50:45I get where it comes from. And you bought your mom a house. And I bought my mom a house, too, yeah. You did the same thing. Yeah, it's amazing. It's the best gift you could ever give. By the way, I've told this story a million times. I'll tell it later. It's my mom. I did this big moment for her where I moved her into a condo. This is when you gave her the monocle? Yeah. My mom has one eye, Gordon. She had one eye, yeah. And so I moved her into a condo while I built her this big mansion for all of us to live in. And I had that big movie, that bus moment where I filled it with the furniture and the silver.

51:19Literally, she just had to bring her toothbrush. And she walks in and she was so shocked and so surprised. She was crying her eye out.

51:30and she's literally touched the couch and she said, I don't know that I would have picked out that couch, but everything else is like that and that instead of like, and that really. All three of us have the same mom. Yeah, that's mothers. That's mothers. That's crazy. I remember when she came to Clarity for the first time and she was like the guest of honor for the opening party and they put her upstairs in the penthouse suite and the butler came in and said, Mrs. Ramsey, can I kind of run your bath? And she said, certainly not. I can run my own bath. Thank you very much. I'm like, oh my God, honestly.

51:59And then I flew over to LA and we got this beautiful house up in Bel Air Crest and it's beautiful. The views are stunning and it's a dream. And she was looking after the kids while Tana and I went for a run, funny enough. I came back and I said, you're okay? She said, yeah, I'm just wandering. You're the neighbours. I said, yeah, what's wrong with them? She said, no one's got their washing out. I said, for fuck's sake, bud. No one hangs their washing out. Our neighbour for 10 years was Stevie Wonder who lived next door to us. And the sweetest guy, the sweetest guy. Yeah, I bet. And mum didn't even know it was Stevie Wonder.

52:34And I'm like, mum, I had to sing her the fucking song. Oh, is that? I'm like, for God's sake. I'll pop round and ask if you'd like a cup of tea. He said, no, no, no, mum. You don't pop round to your neighbor's house. You can't do that in LA. Security will take you away. I love that. So, by the way, you have a new show coming out, which I'll completely watch, called Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service, right? When does that come out, by the way? Like May? Yeah, just when does it come out? Maybe it's already out. Secret Service? May 21st. Fuck, sorry, I should know that. Rob's going to kill me. Okay, so it's already out by the time this comes.

53:08Yeah. By the time this comes, it's already out. Why do you think, this is one of the dumbest questions, but I can't get enough of food shows, and what is the huge appeal? What is it that taps into people that are upset? Why is everybody obsessed with watching how food gets made? It's something we do three times a day, seven days a week. Breakfast, lunch, and we eat. I know, but still, why would you want to watch somebody do it? I think to make yourself feel better. And everyone wants to be better at it. Exactly that. So I think, you know, there's so much to learn about food. There's so much enjoyment to cooking.

53:42And it's emotional. And so those emotions, as you know, run high. And Secret Service is everything I've learned over the last 20 years working in the U.S., from talented producers to great creators. is in this show. Yeah, yeah. I can't wait to see it. It looks so good. I can't cook. Can you guys cook at all? No, I can't even boil water. I can make Slappy Joes. That's it. But is it a farewell? Is it something that you, is it intimidating? No, it's one of those things every once in a while out of the blue, it'll occur to me like, I should learn how to cook and then it goes out of my head and I don't think about it again.

54:12And I don't know what it is. No? Sean? No, it's just, it's like I'm not interested. I'm, you know, I'll get like in the winter, I'll get into baking and I'll bring these guys like over stuff like that I make a lot of the times. And then once I get into the rhythm of like making cheesecakes and cookies and whatever it is, I'm like, oh, I kind of see it. But it's the mess and then the cleaning up. Yeah, that's the thing that keeps me away from it. The ratio between the prep, the cook, the cleanup versus the eating and the enjoyment. It's such a small wedge is the eating. I almost don't want to eat it after I make it.

54:51I don't know, it's just so much time to clean it up and to prep it. I should get into that. And I also love the fact that there's a roadmap, like a recipe book. You can just like, it literally tells you step by step what you need to do to get what looks great and it's going to taste great. And you just, it's dummy proof. But the fulfillment is immense. Yeah. When you get over those bums and you see that thing on the plate, it's like, wow. You can do it with your kids. But I will say that the thing I do understand about what you do is when you do make something great and you serve it and somebody says, that's the best blank or whatever I've ever had.

55:26There is like a ego boost that you're like, oh, I did that. Like that's, you know. It's a great payoff, but you can be taught, okay? All this bullshit about you have to be bought into it. Do you have an educated palate? And do you have to be natural? Absolute bullshit. How do I go from a, yes, yes, yes, yes. And so I'm a little bit different to a lot of chefs. I teach my chefs to taste first before we learn to cook because if you don't understand how it tastes perfectly, you shouldn't be cooking it. Too many chefs don't taste their food. And so we go through a little sort of series of blind taste tests where we'll have five, seven, nine, 11 items on the plate and they cannot get to cook those items unless they understand the taste.

56:05So blindfold on, teaspoon at a time and describe the taste, describe the texture, describe the perfect flavor. Do you hate doing the washing up? That's the other thing. Yeah, I mean, the kids always complain that I never do the washing up. I said, well, come on, guys. You want me to cook and wash up? Jeez. Growing up around mum, there was no such thing as dishwashers back then. You just got in and dug deep and washed up. But I am a very smart and tidy worker. I don't make a mess. Of course you are. I sort of clean down everywhere I go. A bit of OCD going on. So, yeah, the kids are good at cleaning.

56:39Yeah. All right, a couple of rapid fires here because I know we got to let you go. You're a car fanatic. What car do you drive? What car do you wish you had? Depends where I am and depends who I'm with. Majority of the cars we have are all in this incredible hangar that we've just built. Oh, my God, that's amazing. And I'm embarrassed about the collection. I've been collecting for over 20 years. Oh, wow. Don't be. And the only way I really get to understand these cars is on the track. So three or four times a year, we'll rent a track out. Wow. Truck them down there. I bring in mates. Silverstone?

57:10Silverstone and Thruxton are two big tracks. Thruxton's the biggest track in the UK. And what's your favorite one to drive? Oh, it's like saying, who's the favorite kid? I would say I still love that little Super Laguera Aston Martin DB4 or the Ferrari SP3 Monza. Extraordinary piece of kit. How many cars do you think you got? I think it's about 94. Jeez. 94 cars. Good for you, Corso. That is really cool. That's really cool. I love that. So you hate pineapple on pizza. I do too. What is the other shit that you can't? What's another thing that you absolutely cannot stand combined? Fucking cold foams, man.

57:50When I see foam on a plate. What's cold foams? Foam. When chefs start aerating stuff and putting foam on a plate, that's for your fucking chin. Shave with foam. Don't fucking eat it. Right, right. And that disgusting, sticky, insipid, balsamic glaze, I love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm with you. Yeah, I don't like it either. It's too sticky and gross. I hate that shit. And one, and I think you already answered this, but the one food that you, if you had to live with one dish for the rest of your life, I think it would be a hamburger. Is that correct? No, it's going to be it. It'd be a hamburger all day long.

58:23Hamburgers. Same. Smash burger. Smash burger. With cheese? No, no, no, no. No, just a beautiful smash burger. Don't deter from the flavor of that beef. Lettuce and tomato? No. No, no, no. Just a bun. Oh, just the burger and the bread. There you go. Are you serious? Nice. Really? No ketchup? Everyone puts lettuce and tomato. No, they put lettuce and tomato on there to make you feel fucking better as if it's healthy. Here's your salad all at once. We've become accustomed. I like yellow mustard. I've become a big proponent in the last five years of old school plain yellow mustard. It's the best. It's so good.

58:54It's the best. In New York, they don't sell it. You can't find it anywhere. It's so frustrating. No, because everything is Dijon or some sort of version of there. I know, it's like spicy, whatever. Yeah. Anyways, talk about spicy. Gordon, you're the best. Yeah, really. It's such an honor to meet you. I've been such a fan for so long. and I really have watched every episode. And I was just in the UK a couple months ago for a stretch and I found, and I never knew it exists, Kitchen Nightmares. It was Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares before you came here to do it. And I was like, oh my God, it was a channel that had it on 24-7.

59:25I watched every episode of that. I just, I'm just, I love it. I love you. I just love everything you do. So I think thanks for being on. Congrats on Smartless, by the way. Thank you, Paul. It's my one to go to every week when we download. And yeah. Yeah, very nice. Thank you. Thanks, guys. It's an honor to have you. Thanks, man. It's so good to see you. Thank you so much. Thanks, Sean. Cheers, guys. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Sean. Thanks, Will. Bye-bye. Bye, guys. Thank you, Jason. Bye-bye. Bye, buddy. He barely thanked you at the end there, JB. Did you hear that? Like, at the last thing, he was like, oh, yeah, thanks, Jason.

59:56Couldn't remember the name. No. It's hard. It's a tough one. Because he was going to say Justin like everybody else, right? He was going to say, thanks, Justin. Right. I got one the other day.

1:00:09I was so excited to bring him on and surprise you guys. And there's like, you're like, oh, hey, Gordon, what's going on? I was like, I didn't know you knew him. Jason and I saw him recently. Well, sorry, we're not like some crazy super cooking show fan freak. I didn't know you knew him. In fact, I've never seen one of his shows, but I will now. Yeah. And I do enjoy a cooking show, but I have not seen one. Yeah, no, it's so good. It's so good. It's so good. And he's... Well, I mean, like, who's like... I walked through the airport the other day, and I saw this restaurant called Plain Food. Mm-hmm.

1:00:39P-L-A-N-E. I was like, oh, that's clever. It's Gordon Ramsay. Yeah. There you go. And an airport. In an airport of all places. He's got a restaurant. I mean, he's... Yeah, he's doing very well. You got to do well to buy 93 cars. Okay? Yeah. Yeah. It's insane. 93. Did he say 94? I think he said 94, yeah. Did he say 94? Pretty sure he said 94, yeah. He just bought another one. Golly. Good for him. You know? I know. I know. Yeah, he's great. I love him. I'd love to go to his... Where did he say it was in Chelsea? Yeah, in Chelsea. Let's go. Let's go. You know what? Let's go see Shawnee's play. Yeah.

1:01:14And we'll go for dinner there. Let's do that. And then what about when you're in England doing it? That's what I'm, yeah. No, no. Oh, it's in Chelsea, New York? It's in London, I think, isn't it? Oh, oh, great. Okay. Yeah, well, I mean, it's, yeah. Let's do it. Let's do that. And we'll get to, and Bradley's been there. Yeah. Okay. How about that? End of story? Yeah. I mean, just like that he's held out on us. I didn't know that he'd been to this three Michelin star. Right. We'll go to the restaurant. Yeah. We'll sit down. I can't wait. I'm trying to wait for a while. It's rare that he doesn't build up, so let him know.

1:01:50I know. I'm like letting him. We'll sit down and we'll just have a nice quick bite. Bite. Bite. That was good. That was really good, yeah.

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