44David Bragiel

3-21-18
Martineau
5th period

Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay is a world famous chef mainly known for his T.V shows “Hell’s

Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares.” These shows were popular because of how mean

Gordon Ramsay was on the show to the contestants. His personality is what made him

famous. However, the three Michelin Star chef had very different plans early on in his

life and had a different career on his mind.

Gordon Ramsay was born in Johnstone, United Kingdom on November 8, 1966.

He came from a poor background. His father was an alcoholic and didn’t do much for

the family. His family had to move a lot because his family was struggling to pay bills

and got kicked many times (biography.com). This really taught Ramsay to not be like

his father and work hard because of all the pain and damage it had done to his family.

This taught him that supporting a family and being a father is not the easiest thing and

you need to be strong. Gordon Ramsay’s brother Harry Ramsay also became a drug

addict and he was on the news many times for being caught with drugs or being found

unconscious (newsmakers). When Ramsay was successful people always asked why

he wouldn’t help his brother but Gordon Ramsay said “It’s the one thing I failed at. I find

it hard knowing that there’s nothing I can do to help” (dailymail.co.uk). Ramsay also

revealed that Harry Ramsay threatened to kill his family for money. “I’ve changed my

numbers, got extra security in the house with CCTV everywhere, but I’m not giving in.
I’m not living like that anymore.” - Gordon Ramsay (dailymail.co.uk). Also his brother

wouldn’t go to their fathers funeral unless Gordon Ramsay bought him drugs. “It was

f**king grim” said Ramsay (dailymail.co.uk). His family had a huge influence on his

mindset and that helped him work harder and become more successful.

Originally Gordon Ramsay’s focus was not cooking surprisingly. It was actually

football (soccer) (biography.com). He had a passion for soccer and would always play

but his dream came true when he got signed to play for the Glasgow Rangers. A

professional team that was doing very well at the time (newsmakers). In Ramsay’s first

ever season playing for the Rangers, his knee gave out. He got cut from the team.

When he was told by his manager “thanks but no thanks” “[he] bawled [his] eyes out -

for hours” - Gordon Ramsay (newsmakers). Becoming a soccer player was a dream

come true for him but it unfortunately ended very quickly for him. He needed a new

profession.

With nowhere else to go, Ramsay visited a career counselor. The career

counselor gave him three options. Either enlist in the Royal Navy, join a police

academy, or a hospitality industry training course. He chose the hospitality industry

training course and studied at the Oxford Technical College from 1983-1985

(newsmakers). His first job as a chef was in a restaurant in Stratford, but did not like the

food they served and decided to quit (newsmakers). After the Stratford restaurant he

started working at the Mayfair Intercontinental Hotel, where he worked with world

famous chef, Marco Pierre White. He learned a lot from the world famous chef, helping

him gain a lot of experience. Marco Pierre recommended that Ramsay should go to
France to work and study there (culinaryschools.com). He was invited to work with a

group of Italian investors to take over a new property. However, he was fired after

drama. Someone stole the reservation book off the front desk. Ramsay blamed it on

Marco Pierre but it turned out that Ramsay did it after telling the truth many years later

(newsmakers). He opened his own restaurant “Restaurant Gordon Ramsay” back in

England after being fired by the Italian investors. It won 2 michelin star awards, the

biggest award a restaurant can ever receive.

While Ramsay's culinary career was very successful because of his restaurants,

he also started his television career in 1996. He appeared on BBC as a judge for

“Masterchef” (biography.com). This was one of Britain’s favorite shows to watch on

Sunday nights. He gained even more fame from another series called “Hells Kitchen”

that launched in 2004 (newsmakers). His third series called “The F Word” came out in

2005 and played on channel 4 in England. He already gained a huge audience and fan

base in his home country. But that was not enough for him. In 2007, his shows started

being broadcasted on American television on FOX. Ramsay started his TV shows in

New York City (biography.com). After large success on his shows in America, he

launched another series called “MasterChef” in 2013. A show about people competing

to make food that the judges including Ramsay, will rate and compete to be the best on

the show. All of his success has earned him a lot of money. Ramsay makes about

250,000 dollars on every episode and 10 million dollars from his restaurants and media

(thefamouspeople.com). While he was getting a lot of money from his TV shows and
his restaurants, he had some problems with taxes. He faced fraud accusations

because of an unpaid seven figure tax bill (nydailynews.com).

Although Gordon Ramsay had very different goals in life early on, it is a good

thing that something as simple as getting an injury early on in his soccer career guided

him to be something much bigger than that. If his career counselor didn’t give him the

options he was given, he would never become the world famous, celebrity chef he is

today. From early on in his life he learned to become a very hard worker because of

how his family was, and this is what helped him become so successful​ ​and have a net

worth of 80 million dollars (thefamouspeople.com)

Work Cited

- “Gordon Ramsay.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017,

www.biography.com/people/gordon-ramsay-17169720​.

- "Gordon Ramsay." Newsmakers, vol. 2, Gale, 2008. Biography In Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1618004691/BIC?u=dist214&sid=BIC&xid=2a33960d. Accessed 13

Apr. 2018.

- "Gordon James Ramsay." Gale Biography in Context, Gale, 2007. Biography In Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1650005809/BIC?u=dist214&sid=BIC&xid=d890eed9. Accessed 13

Apr. 2018.

- Lowry, Brad. “Chef Gordon Ramsay.” Chef Gordon Ramsay's Formal Culinary Training and Rise to Fame,

www.culinaryschools.org/famous-chefs/gordon-ramsay/#context/api/listings/prefilter​.

- “Who Is Gordon Ramsay? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline,

www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/gordon-james-ramsay-1534.phpf​.