With 20 years of Hell’s Kitchen on Fox under his apron, it’s clear to anyone watching that Gordon Ramsay does not phone it in. And the multi-hyphenate master chef reiterated that (in his own inimitable NSFW way) when he recently sat down to discuss his past two decades of U.S. fame with TV Guide Magazine.
“I take it so seriously,” he said of his approach to working with the talent on HK. “I don’t just rock up two minutes before we open and say, ‘Right showtime!’ F*** that sh**. I’m in the trenches. I’m prepping with them. I’m doing the challenges with them. They see me as the chef, the cook… it’s f***-all to do with some celebrity status, empire bullsh**.”
That said, the man does have an empire. He has 94 restaurants across the world, has published a slew of cookbooks, and a line of cookware from Hexclad that is a game-changer for anyone who fancies themselves a home chef. His prolificacy is just unreal. And of course, he’s got his Cheesecake Factory-sized menu of shows. Even with a full plate on Fox, the cheeky, charming Ramsay — who is way taller than you imagine and so delightfully far from the anger-ball most viewers imagine — has always had a lot of pots on the stove.
Here’s a look back at some of his most memorable TV stops beyond his current haunts at Hell’s Kitchen (U.S. edition), Kitchen Nightmares, and Next Level Chef.
Boiling Point, 1999
This is the (first) one that caught everyone’s attention! Audiences ate up Ramsay’s talents and well-seasoned temper in this five-course chronicle of the opening of his first restaurant.
“There’s thousands and thousands of chefs out there that dream of success,” he says of the pressure to get it right. “And there’s two types of chef: There’s ones that stare and watch and there’s ones that want it and do it.”
A year later, Beyond Boiling Point looked at his new fame outside of the kitchen.
Hell’s Kitchen, 2004
The original British version of the show that we now have was a monster undertaking for the young Ramsay. It was a two-week, live competition featuring U.K. celebrities who were essentially there to learn how to cook for famous guests.
“I know how important those shows are for celebs,” acknowledges Ramsay of the contestants’ ulterior motives and the producers’ need for drama. “They wanted this, they wanted that, and they wanted to get to this point. It’s unscripted drama… When those curtains are up and that reservation is full, I can’t stop that train. It’s left the station, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I also knew how much those celebrities were getting paid to be on television and so I wanted the best out of them. I wanted the celeb part to get removed and for them to focus on the respect for food. I wasn’t expecting it to be brilliant, but I wanted a commitment.”
What he got instead is what he called in his autobiography Humble Pie, “one of the worst experiences of my life.” And then he got out… Ramsay left the show after one season and refined the recipe for Fox.
In the first of his two stops on the U.K. racing series, a babyfaced Gordon gamely sampled food cooked on the engine blocks of three different cars.
The Simpsons, 2011, “The Food Wife”
Ramsay joined chefs Mario Batali and the late Anthony Bourdain as voice guests in foodie Marge’s dream sequence.
Photo: Fox
Phineas and Ferb, 2013, “Thanks but No Thanks”
Getting animated again, Ramsay piped up as a stern chef being complimented by Major Monogram during dinner service.
New Girl, 2017, “Operation: Bobcat”
Ramsay spent Valentine’s Day with a sadly single Jess (Zooey Deschanel) who had won a meal by the celebrity chef in an auction. And honestly, the advice he offered his heartbroken diner is pretty spot-on… minus the throwing the plates. And never forget: Scallops aren’t for liars!
“The Smurfs: Lost Village,” 2017
In a fittingly trollish bit, Ramsay’s Baker Smurf poo-poos Smurfette’s cake fail. Thankfully his language isn’t as blue as his on-screen alter ego.
Having recovered from the mess that was the Brit version of Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay went live again for this Fox show that saw teams of amateur chefs competing in a tricked-out restaurant and feeding a dining room full of hungry patrons. “This is the first time the public will truly experience the electrifying buzz of a happening, functioning restaurant,” Ramsay told TV Guide Magazine at the time. “Professional chefs go live every night—and it’s so theatrical! Our restaurant opens half an hour before we hit the air so that, at exactly five seconds past 9 o’clock, the viewers will be thrown right into the energy and excitement. We’re also live because I enjoy putting people on the spot. ”
From Texas to Tasmania, Ramsay explores local cuisines and customs in the four-season docuseries. He also took on two former proteges—and daughter Tilly!—in 2022’s competition, Uncharted Showdown. We won’t spoil who won their Costa Rican cook-off, but Ramsay stills jokes that Tilly is doing just fine without his fiery guidance. “We got 94 kitchens across the world and she won’t spend a day in any of them!”