Marco Pierre White has never been shy about dishing out his opinion regarding Jamie Oliver and he has now claimed that he refused to film a TV show with him
Marco Pierre White has sensationally claimed that he was the reason why Jamie Oliver was dropped from an upcoming BBC show — simply because he refused to work with him.
The Rise of the Rockstar Chef is a three-part BBC documentary series that charts the careers of Marco, Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal. However, according to Marco, Jamie was originally supposed to be part of the production, which is due to be released later this year.
The show was produced by Gordon’s Studio Ramsay Global and celebrity chef Marco, 64, spoke with Mark Wogan about why he initially turned down the opportunity. “They approached me,” the Michelin-star chef said on Spooning with Mark Wogan. “So the chief exec of Gordon’s studio came to see me and they tell me about the show. It’s called The Making (Rise) of the Rockstar Chef.
“They interview Heston and they interview Jamie Oliver and then they come to me. So they tell me it is going to be the four of us and four shows. I say no to it. And they said, ‘Why?’
“It’s very simple. Heston worked hard for his three stars, Gordon worked hard for his three stars and I worked hard for my three stars. How many stars has Jamie won?”
Mark then pointed out that Jamie “works very hard” and Marco, the first British chef to win three Michelin stars, said he wouldn’t dispute that and credited him as being very successful. However, he added: “But he’s not part of our jigsaw. He’s not part of the three-star world.”
Defending Jamie, Mark suggested that he wouldn’t claim to be part of that so-called jigsaw, and Marco continued: “I said ‘Do the show without me, do the show without me’. For the simple reason is, he’s very successful, and he’s very good at what he does and he’s the best at what he does and you can’t take that away from him… but he’s not part of that three-star party.”
Mark suggested that perhaps Jamie could have been a member of that party had he gone down that route, pointing out his great tenacity. However, Marco had his doubts.
He said he looked at the hands of chefs and added: “You watch people who are on TV, and you can see they’re there for their personality, and not for their technical ability or their understanding of food. When you see Gordon, you can see that he’s classically trained. When you see Heston, you can see he has a great understanding of food.”
He then said Keith Floyd was the greatest one of all to do it on television before concluding: “Anyway, going back to our show, so I said no. And then they rang me the next day and said, ‘If we drop Jamie, will you do the show, Marco?’ I said ‘Fine’. I mean, Jamie should be with James Martin, Matt Tebbutt, Nigella, that’s their jigsaw. Build that jigsaw.”
It is not the first time that Marco has made cutting comments about Jamie and back in 2007 he told The Sun that he was a “fat chef with a drum kit”.
And last year, Jamie appeared on The Louis Theroux Podcast where he said Marco never liked him. He said: “I don’t know (why). I have no shared history with him, working under him, so, he doesn’t have a sense of control.”
He added: “I mean, I could easily start saying, look, we don’t get on, more importantly, he was really important for the industry. When I was a very young chef, the industry was quite dark and boring, and it felt like from a different era and he came along, and he was incredible, and his sort of energy and attitude was so cool, he was my hero, for sure.”
The cookbook author, who is one of the best-selling authors in the UK, went on to say: “We went on a shoot one day, spent a day with him and it was perfectly lovely, and then a week later he just destroyed me on a double-page spread.
“I was really pleased to meet him, but he just destroyed me. And then you sort of think, well that was sort of a bit low. But, you meet people you love and often they’re like, they clearly think you’re a w****r. So that’s fine. I don’t need anything from him.
“I still think he was a game-changer. He was still my hero for that period of my life. But, that’s life and it’s not just Marco, it’s lots of people it’s happened to,” he added.
However, Jamie won’t be involved in The Rise of the Rockstar Chef, which is reportedly released later this year.
And ahead of its release, Catherine Catton, BBC Head of Commissioning, Factual Entertainment and Events, said: “Decades ago, Marco, Gordon and Heston ripped up the rule-book of British fine dining and changed the world of restaurants forever. I’m delighted they’re reuniting to bring BBC audiences the truly extraordinary story behind their fierce rivalry, uncompromising ambition and, at times, truly outrageous antics.”
Gordon Ramsay was contacted regarding claims made in this story before publication. The same can be said of Jamie Oliver who declined to comment.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
