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Q My son works in a commercial kitchen. I’ve heard the chef Gordon Ramsay talking about “heat stress infertility” – but is this a real danger to my boy?

DR THOMAS STUTTAFORD

A Gordon Ramsay’s phrase “heat stress infertility” encapsulates two factors that might make it difficult for your son to impregnate a woman. Either the stress of being shouted at and harried from morning to night could be dampening his sexual desire, or the heat in the kitchen may be toasting his testes.

Any exhausting and stressful job – and there is no better example of this than a professional kitchen – will shrivel libido. Physically tiring or emotionally draining work leaves a man longing for peace and quiet, a pillow and sleep, rather than the embrace of a woman.

It was always believed that recruits when first joining the Army had bromide added to their tea to remove their libido. Not so. The true reason for their loss of interest in sex was that they were shouted at all day as they worked hard from 5am to midnight.

Most men’s libido would also suffer from life in a hot kitchen. The effects of heat on the physiology of the testis will become more pronounced the longer the exposure to high temperatures. And the harmful effect on sperm production may take up to three months to disappear. Testes need to be kept at a temperature that favours spermatogenesis, the manufacture of sperm. This process is not at its best if the heat is persistently abnormally high. High temperatures will affect the results of a standard comprehensive semen analysis, the sperm count, and the more detailed sperm DNA fragmentation tests.

Although men with poor-quality semen and low sperm counts are more likely to have sperm that show DNA fragmentation (abnormalities that can also affect fertility) the relationship is not consistent. Men with normal sperm counts may have DNA abnormalities. Research shows that many things can affect the ability of sperm to fertilise eggs: too few sperm, too many abnormal sperm, too little semen; or laggardly sperm which, instead of swimming purposely towards the ovum like greyhounds after a hare, stroll like shoppers down Bond Street. Conversely, excessive sperm fragmentation and DNA abnormalities reduce the chance that the ovum will develop normally.

The factors that affect male fertility in one way or the other are poor diet, smoking, environmental pollutants, drugs – including so-called recreational drugs – and excessive alcohol. Other causes of reduced fertility are: chronic infection, varicose veins in the scrotum, tight trousers, so that the testes can’t hang loosely but are held firmly against the crotch, or working in a sweaty, busy kitchen.

If your son is infertile, the first step is for him to have a comprehensive sperm assessment. When the results are known you and your son will know whether some change in lifestyle is going to be necessary if you are to have grandchildren to play with in old age.

If your son only has to give up drinking half a bottle of whisky a day, forswear cigarettes, refuse recreational drugs, and buy boxer shorts rather than Y-fronts, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It may be rather more difficult if he has to change his career. If he can’t face life without having a celebrity chef swearing at him like a drill sergeant, and the rest of his lifestyle is sound, there may be little that you can do.

Dr Thomas Stuttaford, The Times doctor, spent many years working in a genitourinary clinic.

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Gordon Ramsay kisses my girlfriend a lot
Feb 9 2008 by Sally Williams, Western Mail

HE MAY be famed for his colourfully-worded tirades at his under-performing chefs, but Gordon Ramsay is really just a “pussycat”, one of his proteges has revealed.

The Scotsman’s straight-talking kitchen manner has proved both commercially effective and extremely popular with viewers, making him a regular on television screens thanks to programmes such as Hell’s Kitchen and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.

But, according to young chef Aled Williams, it’s really all an act.

Aled was the winner of the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship, beating 200 other young chefs in a fiercely fought competition as a keen 24-year-old in 2006.

His prize was the opportunity to gain experience by working at Ramsay’s restaurant in New York and to receive training at an Australian vineyard.

And now, armed with a wealth of experience after cooking at Ramsay’s restaurant in London too, Aled, from Anglesey, has revealed the true character of Ramsay, whom he describes as “a gentleman” and a far cry from his firebrand television persona.

He said, “For me, that was the highlight of my month in New York, learning from the best in the world.

“I learnt how to cook to the standards that Gordon Ramsay expects – Gordon is a fantastic person, my mentor and friend.

“He kisses my girlfriend Helen a lot, tells her she’s beautiful and she likes it.

“He’s helped me, he’s kind and it’s funny how relaxed he is around people. He’s a gentleman, a really nice person. He has changed my life.”

Williams has also been able to work with Heston Blumenthal, owner of the Fat Duck in Bray – named the world’s best restaurant and home to three Michelin stars – and an exponent of a scientific approach to cooking.

Aled worked alongside Blumenthal during a month-long unpaid placement at the Fat Duck.

He said, “Heston has an amazing style that really stands out.

“I didn’t mind not getting paid because what you get in learning from him is worth far more. He is so out there and unique, he plays with your mind and tries to confuse you.

“He gets liquid nitrogen out for guests and creates smoked bacon and egg ice cream.

“Then he will ask you to taste something coloured orange that tastes like beetroot and something coloured red that has an orange flavour that you don’t expect.”

Over the past few years Aled has been working 17-hour days, six days a week in a bid to broaden his cooking repertoire.

He will soon return from a three-month food tour of Asia, touring hotels in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam with Helen, a marine biologist from Bangor.

Next he will join Michelin-star chef, Chris Chown at Plas Bodegroes, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, to prepare for his role as head chef at Chown’s new venture, the White House Hotel, Abersoch, this spring.

Williams added, “The hotel is Chris’s baby and I will be preparing different types of food and catering for larger numbers of diners.

“I want to open the eyes of the Welsh people.

“I want them to have food they’ve never had before.

“The presentation is so important. The food has to look like a work of art on a plate.

“Without being in the kitchen, I would have gone crazy.

“I want to learn from other chefs. I want to be the best. You can never think you know it all.

“My goal in life is to get a Michelin star.”

While Aled was being filmed for S4C’s documentary series, Wynebau Newydd (New Faces), Michelin inspectors arrived unexpectedly at the Gordon Ramsay restaurant in New York.

The restaurant eventually won two Michelin stars.

Griff Rowland, director of the programme Y Chef a’r Afal Mawr (The Chef and the Big Apple), said, “You could feel the tension.

“The chefs were shouting at each other but that’s all part and parcel of kitchen culture. Nobody takes it to heart.

“Aled’s like a sponge. It’s an obsession with him and in New York he was constantly questioning the chef.

“Everyone at Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen works together and listens to each other and Aled fitted in perfectly.

“They could see that he was taking it seriously.”

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Whatever happened to 1990s new man? He got trampled on by Gordon Ramsay

From The Sunday Times
February 3, 2008
John Niven

Terry Christian, the BMW compact, new Labour, the entire “career” of Goldie – we got sold a few lemons back in the 1990s. But perhaps more baffling than any of these was the notion of the new man.

Remember that one? The success-crazed 1980s were over and men were all going to play nice from now on. We were going to evolve from sex/cash/career-obsessed ego machines into caring, sharing family men. The notion was horrifically encapsulated in the Athena poster classic, Man and Baby: a strapping hunk tenderly cradling a newborn infant.

Well, truss me up with my red power-braces and melt my giant balls off with a fistful of flaming £50 notes – it seems someone forgot to tell men about this. Consequently, the concept of the new man proved about as durable as the third Oasis album. Welcome, instead, to the dawn of the New Alpha (NA).

And it’s the NA’s world now: Gordon Ramsay, Simon Cowell, Alan Sugar, Donald Trump, Jeremy Clarkson, Alex Ferguson . . . Not a single TV minute goes by without some NA’s swollen face filling the screen to tell you that unless you earn a billion quid a minute while driving a Ferrari Strapadicktome around the marbled halls of your 35-bedroom mansion, chewing on a raw steak, washed down with the hot blood of one of your minions, you might as well be an unemployed homosexual tofu farmer.

To NAs, any problem can be solved as long as you boot it hard enough up the arse. Truculent employee? Boot them up the arse. Underperforming stocks? Boot them up the arse. Dying mother? Boot her up her dying arse.

Take Ramsay, the NA’s poster boy: nodding briskly while he listens to some quivering restaurateur trying to explain why they have embarked on the suicidal folly of not doing something his way. The poor fool is clearly unaware that when Ramsay is nodding briskly – his index finger crooked around the terrible bum-cleft of his chin – it means that his giant pumpkin of a head is about to explode. Ramsay listens. Then he explodes, and calls the man a giant, fat, useless, mutant, half-wit fool for 20 minutes. In front of his employees, wife, children and customers.

And when Ramsay is verbally castrating some wretch, turning them into an oily stain of beta-male shit, are women screaming, “Look at that odious bully”? No, they’re mentally undressing him, running their greedy eyes over his taut chef’s butt, while the men are all shouting, “Go on, my son.” Thus, Ramsay fulfils the two fundamental criteria of alphahood. Women? We would like to be with him, please. Men? Can we be him?

Millions of years ago, this attraction made sense: back in the days when we had to club our way through a couple of bears in order to get lunch, women would logically choose the mate who looked most capable of kicking animal ass. And still the attraction persists, even though the alpha providing the lunch these days is unlikely to be wielding anything more than a bottle of olive oil and a fistful of fresh herbs.

As for that Athena poster, suffice it to say that the male model portraying the tender hunk went on to have more than 3,000 sexual partners – fathering a child in the process, whom he has never actually held in his arms. Meanwhile, the photographer blew the millions he made from the image on cocaine and private jets. And the baby? He is studying to be a lawyer.

Now that is New Alpha.

( Quiz HOW MUCH OF A MAN ARE YOU? )

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Gordon Ramsay to Stop Swearing

TV swearing expert and presenter of the F-word, Gordon Ramsay, has said in a statement today that he intends to curb his foul language, and concentrate, instead, on being a chef.

Ramsay, 61, is the most-wrinkled man on TV has become notorious for his use of the words fuck and fucking, and the really nasty word (according to a recent MORI poll) cunt but has fallen foul of critics who say that his cooking is suffering as a result.

Even the failed footballer himself has admitted as much. During a broadcast of a show last month, he told how he had prepared a meal that was:

"Fucking awful".

A spokesman for Channel 4, who screen his garbage, said:

"He made a flan that was just plain fucking shite, and a cheesecake that you wouldn't have fed to your fucking dog."

Ramsay says that from now on, he will use the alternative words Fruit, instead of fuck, and Cake in place of cunt.

Rival chef, Jamie Oliver, reacted to the news by saying:

"He's a Fruitcake."

The story above is a satire or parody. It is entirely fictitious.
If you fancy trying your hand at comedy spoof news writing, click here to join!

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Published: Wed, Jan 23, 2008
Ramsay makes 'Humble Pie' into a tasty read
BY AILEEN MURPHY

Love him or loathe him it's hard to avoid celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay who seems to be on the screen nearly every time we turn on the television.

Now while the loud, arrogant, foul-mouthed Ramsay may not be to everyone's liking there is something strangely addictive about the canny Scotsman, and his autobiography 'Humble Pie' shows there is a lot more to him than meets the eye.

This is a tale which will shock readers. It is written with the same passion which he puts into his cooking and television shows, except this time he's talking about himself and his family, as a result he has produced a real page turner.

His first chapter starts with his childhood and he recalls the first thing he can remember 'The Barra' in Glasgow, which he explains 'It's a market, the roughest, most extraordinary place, people bustling, full of second-hand s***. Of course," he continues, "we were used to second-hand s***. In that sense, I had a Barras kind of childhood."

Ramsay talks of a childhood where the family were dominated by his father a 'hard-drinking, womaniser' who took his ill-temper out on his wife and family. The Ramsay family were constantly poor, constantly on the move and constantly in fear of their patriarch.

In an attempt to impress a young Gordon clung on to the only thing he was really good at 'football'. He admits 'football was the only way I thought I could impress Dad. Nothing else worked.'

However, his career was dogged with on-the-pitch injuries, first to his spleen, and then to his knee. At sixteen he got his first big break when a Rangers scout spotted him, it was make or break time.

He did secure a place with the Scottish club, but then disaster struck in a bizarre training accident he smashed the cartilage in his knee, 'and stupidly decided to play on'. As he battled to get a place on the first team the news got worse when they decided not to sign him. He explains: "I wanted it all, or I wanted nothing. No matter how much promise I had shown, I was always going to be labelled as the player with the gammy knee. I had to let go of the game that I loved."

"I needed a new challenge. The only question was what would it be?" And so he turned to cooking, a move which certainly didn't impress his father, who he explains: "He always thought that any man who cooked had to be gay."

( More Article Under Here )

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Clare makes a meal of working with Gordon Ramsay

AN Armoy woman is one of the leading young female chefs employed by Gordon Ramsay who is showing the boys that she doesn't mince her words when it comes to cooking with the best.
Clare Smyth has been head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London for the last nine months, having left her Armoy home at just 16-years-old to pursue her chefing career.

However the 29-year-old, who is also dyslexic, is now celebrating being the first female head chef in Britain to run a restaurant with three Michelin stars.

"When I started in this kitchen six years ago, everyone, including Gordon, said I wouldn't last a week," Clare said.

"It was full of testosterone and lots of the guys said I didn't belong here. Even though they were often in tears from stress, cutting their fingers or burning themselves, I had to cover anything like that up as it would have been seen as a sign of weakness because I was a woman."
Ramsay is not the only well-known chef with whom Clare has cut her teeth since leaving Northern Ireland at 16 to follow her career.

She has also enjoyed stints with top names such as Heston Blumenthal and the Roux brothers. And she is no shrinking violet when it comes to asserting the abilities of women in the kitchen.

"Sometimes men can be as dumb as donkeys in the kitchen," she said. "It is harder to get a point across to them than women.

"I won't tolerate bullying of any sort, but I can be very aggressive and I don't think twice about grabbing hold of a guy and screaming in his face if he gets it wrong.

"It's about respect for getting things right. I am dyslexic but I have learnt how to spell everything in the kitchen, and so should my team."
A day's work certainly requires stamina, as Clare often starts at 7am and rarely leaves again before midnight. The demands of work also mean much of her free time is spent working on new recipes or reading up on other great chefs.

"Normal life is just quite boring compared to all this," she added.
Commending Clare, Gordon said : "Clare has an instinctive palate and self-determined level of focus, a tunnel vision for perfection that is rare today - male or female. She has a level of composure, a posture that is intimidating, almost like a boxer entering the ring, and she dresses food like Picasso.

"I would say that talent like Clare Smyth comes through the kitchen maybe once every 10 years. There is an articulation of calmness about female chefs that makes them particularly impressive when they get it right."

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Gordon verbalises his feelings in new world
Jan 26 2008 by Paddy Shennan, Liverpool Echo

AND so Gordon Ramsay’s quest for world domination continues (Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA, Channel 4, Wednesday).

The Yanks have a saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (although some Liverpool fans may believe Messrs Tom Hicks and George Gillett’s motto must be “If it doesn’t need fixing, break it”) – and Ramsay must know he’s onto a winner with his, now extremely familiar, formula.

It’s worked in nightmarish UK kitchens for years: Get in there, shout and swear a lot, slag off the food – then cut the clutter by simplifying both the menu and the decor, thereby making the former more tasty and the latter more tasteful.

In fact, it seems so straightforward – and always so successful – an approach that you wonder why any restaurant owners still need to be told.

Thankfully, for the sake of our easy entertainment, people continue to make a dog’s dinner of their businesses and Ramsay continues to be asked to state the bleedin’ obvious.

Having suffered in Hell’s Kitchen USA, he’s now bringing us more nightmares – but with a different accent and attitude.

This seems slicker, glossier and more showbizzy, just as The Apprentice USA seemed slicker, glossier and more showbizzy than the UK version.

First up in the series was The Mixing Bowl Eatery in Bellmore, 30 miles outside New York City. Thankfully for us viewers lapping it all up at home, its creepy, charisma-free manager, Mike, was a complete joke.

Gordon, of course, was able to give him some helpful advice. Like: “Don’t point at the customers. We’re a restaurant, not a f*****g zoo!”

Being in America, we naturally had to put up with people talking in a bizarre, nonsensical language. As when Mike said: “I’m verbalising how I feel”, while chef/owner Billy talked of the need to “step up to the plate” (a hideous phrase which is now also used by far too many people in the UK, includng those who have taken part in our version of The Apprentice).

The Mixing Bowl was in a right state but, although there were tears and tantrums along the way (Mike’s tears and tantrums – he’s a very emotional guy), Gordon gave its menu and decor a successful makeover.

It may be a familiar formula, but it’s a tried and trusted one – and it’s still worth watching the process unfold.

Keep on shouting, Gordon . . . especially at the Yanks.

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BBC America menu: Ramsay
By Kimberly Nordyke
Jan 25, 2008

BBC America said Thursday that it has acquired five unscripted series that will be making their U.S. premieres, including two starring chef Gordon Ramsay.

The network has acquired Season 3 of "Gordon Ramsay's F Word" and Season 4 of "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" (Fox airs a U.S. version of the latter that also stars Ramsay).

This means that BBC America will have aired the U.S. premieres for all four seasons of "Nightmares" and all three of "F Word" as well as two seasons of "Ramsay's Boiling Point."

The acquisitions include eight hourlong episodes of "Nightmares," which features Ramsay helping failing chefs save their restaurants, and nine 49-minute episodes of the food magazine show "F Word," both of which are produced and distributed by Optomen Television. "Nightmares" premiered at 8 p.m. Thursday, while "F Word's" debut date has not been announced.

BBC America also has acquired a third food-centric series, the reality competition "Last Restaurant Standing" (first season). The show, which stars chef Raymond Blanc, features nine couples competing to open their own restaurant with Blanc's financial and personal backing.

The series, which went under the title "The Restaurant" in the U.K., consists of 15 hourlong episodes and is set to premiere on BBC America at 8 p.m. Feb. 12. It's produced by BBC Production and distributed by BBC Worldwide.

The other two shows acquired by BBC America are "Mary Queen of Shops" (first and second seasons) and "Top Gear" (Season 10).

"Mary," which features retail/branding/marketing expert Mary Portas helping struggling boutique owners, is produced and distributed by Optomen, with a premiere date yet to be announced.

The car-centric "Top Gear" is produced by BBC Production and distributed by BBC Worldwide. It premieres at 8 p.m. Feb. 25.

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Ramsay Swears by Simplicity at Foxtrot Oscar: Richard Vines
Review by Richard Vines

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Gordon Ramsay gets such a kicking for his multiple television shows, his new career in advertising and his general shouty demeanor, it's easy to lose sight of the fact he's one of the best things that's ever happened in London dining.

Some of the most talented chefs, including Marcus Wareing at Petrus and Jason Atherton at Maze, rose through the ranks. Even if personality clashes and artistic differences mean that team Ramsay isn't always entirely harmonious, his group has fine restaurants.

Foxtrot Oscar, which reopened in Chelsea this week as part of Gordon Ramsay Holdings, features an accessible and enticing menu, good cooking, friendly service and the kind of buzz others might need chemicals to create. I'd have said go quickly before everyone discovers it, if it hadn't already been full on the third night.

The venue can accommodate up to 80 people, but that includes a basement area, and the dining room itself is small. The look is understated retro and the tables are jammed in, though not unpleasantly so. It's the intimacy that helps create the buzz, that and the host, or ``restaurant director'' as he's called.

Michael Proudlock created Foxtrot Oscar in 1980 as a smoky bistro that welcomed chefs, journalists and other roues. Some mourn the passing of such a hangout. I never went and can only say that on Wednesday night, with punters queuing to get in, and the actress and cakemaker Jane Asher squeezed in one table along, it was fun, and I was happy the smokers were out on the pavement.

( More of the Article Found Here )

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Gordon Ramsay eats his own words
Last Updated: 11:34pm GMT 19/01/2008

'Women can't cook to save their lives." So said Gordon Ramsay, the chef famed for his kitchen machismo. A decade on and he is back-pedalling fast. As Ramsay's empire expands, increasingly it is female chefs who are running his kitchens.

When his latest venture, a relaunch of the restaurant Foxtrot Oscar, opens in Chelsea tomorrow night, the head chef whites will be worn not by a man barking orders at his brigade but by Gemma Tuley, a softly-spoken 25-year-old who is also the youngest-ever head chef appointed by Ramsay. Later this year, Angela Hartnett, Ramsay's long-time collaborator, will run two of his new restaurants and he has also appointed 29-year-old Clare Smyth as the first female head chef at Gordon Ramsay, his three-Michelin-starred restaurant on Royal Hospital Road in west London.

So are the times finally changing in the male-dominated world of haute cuisine? Of the 121 British restaurants with Michelin stars, only seven have female head chefs. And, according to the Office of National Statistics, less than a third of the 164,000 full-time chefs in this country are women.

Yet a female revolution is on its way. For too long, believes Ramsay, women entering the industry have been selling themselves short. "One of my major gripes is the number of girls I see who don't appreciate the status of being a great chef," he says. "They come into the kitchen and say they just want to do pastries because it's easy. That's bullsh*t and it makes me cross because I know most are so much better than just baking bloody cakes."

But is it any wonder that many women want to hide behind the protection of the pastry cutter? Few chefs would dispute that chauvinism is rife among many of the top kitchens, where women are still viewed with suspicion and, often, contempt.

( continued here )

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Dan Kaufman, reviewer
January 16, 2008

Gordon Ramsay visits restaurants in trouble and screams, yells and emasculates staff until they get it right.

Type: Reality
TV Channel: 9
Date: Thursday January 17
Time: 9:30 PM

Gruff former footballer Gordon Ramsay is the antithesis of Jamie Oliver and with several Michelin stars under his belt, he's also got more cred as a chef. However, this isn't a cooking show: instead, Ramsay visits restaurants in trouble and screams, yells and emasculates staff until they get it right. It sounds like yet another awful reality TV show and it does have some cringe-making moments. But those who are passionate about food (or humiliation) might still find this as addictive as I do, if only because Ramsay certainly knows his stuff.

This episode sees the angry Scotsman visit the resort town of Blackpool to revive Clubway 41 which, despite its name, is not a sex club but a restaurant. With an inept head chef who's never even cooked a casserole or mussels before - "You're pulling my plonker!" Ramsay splutters when he finds this out - the restaurant needs all the help it can get.

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Ramsay boosts scallop sales



The popularity of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has resulted in a surge in seafood sales, according to supermarkets.

As part of Channel 4's Big Food Fight season, Ramsay is to lead the country through a live cookalong, airing at 21:00 GMT tonight.

And when Ramsay's recipes for the three-course meal were published on the internet on January 9th, the inclusion of scallops on the menu has led to a boost for sales of the item.

The foul-mouthed chef is to cook pan-roasted scallops with a tomato and herb salsa, followed by a main course of steak and chips and chocolate mousse for dessert.

And according to Waitrose, sales of its frozen scallops have risen by 600 per cent in the last fortnight.

Talking to the Scotsman, frozen food buyer Sally Brooks said: "With the programme's producers encouraging customers to cook along from home, it certainly appears that people aren't taking any chances and are ensuring that their fridges and freezers are stocked up."

Ramsay said the sales increase was "great news".

"A lot of people are somewhat intimidated by [scallops] but they're very good for you," he added.

Morrisons has reported a huge increase in sales of sirloin steaks while Asda expects to ship record amounts of honeycomb chocolate ahead of Ramsay's live preparation of the three-course meal for four.

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Gordon Ramsay chased by knife-wielding chef



Gordon Ramsay has revealed how he met his match in America when an irate chef chased him down the street with a knife.

The outspoken cook said he was annoyed with the man for using frozen food during filming of his show Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA - so he lashed out at him.

“A guy came for me and chased me down La Brea, he was an ex-actor who couldn’t cook,” said Ramsay.

“He came running at me with a knife.”

Ramsay, 41, revealed why the chef saw red. “I got really upset with him because everything was slightly fake in a way.

“He was using frozen food defrosted, he didn’t have the intelligence to make fresh pizza dough even though we had a machine that makes it.

“We had all these pizza tossers in and after working for days on end to get these guys to toss dough perfectly, he went back to using frozen dough, which really cheesed me off.”

“I said to him, ‘in all the restaurants I’ve worked in anywhere in the world there’s no one I dislike as much as you’.”

Fortunately for Ramsay the knife-wielding chef didn’t catch up with him after his security pounced, he revealed on Richard and Judy.

The Michelin starred chef then stood up to show off his washboard stomach and spoke about his bizarre method for getting fit. “I was just over 18 stone and was properly fat, so I did something about it,” he said.

“I got a rucksack, filled it with potatoes and ran in this air chamber, it’s extraordinary.

“Antony Worrall Thompson would love a tummy like this but he’s got no chance.”

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Ramsay escapes filleting

FIERY TV chef Gordon Ramsay was chased down the street by a chef brandishing a KNIFE after a clash during filming of a show.

Gordon, 41, blasted the cook for using frozen food while working on his Kitchen Nightmares USA.

The gourmet celeb said: “He couldn’t even make fresh pizza dough, even though we had a machine that does it.

“I told him I disliked him more than anyone in the world.”

The chef was headed off by security staff.

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Cookalong with Ramsay a sure recipe for discontent
By Roxanne Sorooshian

DID YOU enjoy your scallops, steak and chocolate mousse on Friday night? If the hype is to be believed, thousands of wannabe chefs stocked up and stayed in for the chance to Cookalong Live with Gordon Ramsay.

The brainchild of Channel 4, the concept was simple: publish the menu and recipes in advance online, market the show to within an inch of its life, then sit back and allow to simmer.

According to supermarkets, it was a recipe for success. Asda expected average sales of the ingredients for Ramsay's TV dinner to increase by 200% by the time the show went to air at 9pm. Morrisons reported that sales of scallops, the starter dish, were up 500%; Waitrose said they expected theirs to be up 600%. Ramsay recommended the hand-dived variety, but since these are usually on the first refrigerated lorry out of Scotland, let's settle for frozen Canadian ones selling half-price at a supermarket near you.

Also on the menu was steak, and mousse with chocolate-covered honeycomb (that's a Crunchie to you and me).

Sally Brooks, a buyer for Waitrose, said: "With the programme's producers encouraging customers to cook along from home, it certainly appears that people aren't taking any chances and are ensuring that their fridges and freezers are stocked up."

That people are willing to shell out for Gordon's gourmet meal is hardly surprising. We are total suckers for celebrity chefs. Nigella gets all gooey over goose fat, and the shops sell out. Jamie tells us what we always, deep down, really knew about the poultry industry, and we stop buying chickens for £2.50.

I tuned in with interest on Friday night, although I confess I didn't join in the game. You see, the first flaw I encountered in the elaborate project is that it presupposes you have a telly in your kitchen. I'm afraid I was not rearranging the furniture for Gordon or anybody else. And try as I might, I couldn't get the microwave - albeit a wonder of technology with dozens of useless settings - to switch to television mode.

But I think I'm glad. Much as I love cooking, the Ramsay experiment struck me as a real-time kitchen nightmare. Accompanied by Radio One DJ and culinary numbskull Chris Moyles, the atmosphere was tense from the first whistle. For good measure, there were live links to other celebrities who were on hand to spoil the broth. There was also a wifie with no clothes on who, thankfully, put her pinny on before she singed her scallops.

All this was filmed by a frantic cameraman who, judging by the break-neck angles he was employing, was obviously trying to whip cream at the same time.

In between frenetic shots of Ramsay chopping things with sharp implements and berating Moyles for being incompetent with a sharp tongue, yon nerve-jangling music from Reservoir Dogs would cut in with a run-down of what stage the viewers/cooks should have reached. It was enough to make your blood run cold. I suspected it was Moyles who would be getting his ear cut off.

It left me feeling queasy, unnerved and puzzled as to why anyone would want to turn the therapeutic pastime of cooking into an exercise in stress management. Let Ramsay into your kitchen and the air is bound to turn cordon bleu.