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Gordon Ramsay buries cleaver with 'squashed Bee Gee' rival
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor28.07.09
First he had to apologise to his wife Tana over an alleged seven-year affair. Then he had to grovel to Australian TV presenter Tracy Grimshaw after calling her a lesbian pig.
But you know things have got really bad for Gordon Ramsay when he has to kiss and make up with Antony Worrall Thompson.
According to the former Ready Steady Cook TV chef, a chastened Ramsay, 42, has buried the cleaver after years of heaping abuse on the man he famously described as a "squashed Bee Gee".
In an interview with Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine Worrall Thompson - who has called Ramsay "my nightmare dinner date" - tells how his former tormentor made his peace offering.
The two were booked to do cooking demonstrations at the Birmingham Good Food Show this year when Ramsay knocked on his rival's door.
"He came into the room and said, 'Antony I just want to wish you luck.' I was shocked. I said, 'Hang on Gordon, why the change of heart?' He said, 'Well, when you are down you realise you are picking on people and you realise you shouldn't have done what you did'.
"It was bizarre. It was like saying 'I'm being kicked in the teeth, therefore I'd better not kick anyone else in the teeth'."
Worrall Thompson, 58, who has had to put four of his restaurants into receivership during the recession, was one of the earliest victims of Ramsay's career. In 2001 he said that Worrall Thompson "can't cook to save his life".
But after describing the reconciliation in his interview Worrall Thompson ruins it by saying: "Gordon knows Michelin food but I have a feeling he hasn't got any depth. I don't think he reads cookbooks like they were novels like I tend to do. He's a one-trick pony."
Reader views (7)
Who cares how, what or why these two (or any other celebchef) cooks?! Their entertainment value is in their picnicking on one another in the press. And didn't Gordon name one of his turkeys 'Antony'? How, oh HOW can you forgive something like that?!
- Brat Of Kent, Tenterden, Kent
Ramsey looks a lot older than Thompson - do you think it's his diet?
- Bob H, Brisbane
Gordon's actions are akin to what AA tell you to do when you kick the bottle - you know, go round and apologise to people that have been affected by your behaviour. I don't think he's a one trick pony. He brought pigs up on ale, as well as cooking them after they had been slaughtered (in the proper sense of the word).
- Prototypical Englishman, Wormwood Scrubs
Oh, I'm so relieved they've made up! I've been so worried! (HEAVY SARCASM, for the slower to catch on!)
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx
Hopefully the years of fuss over basic nosh and the tedious "my meat and veg is better than your meat and veg" is over.
Reading a cook book like a novel? - i hope they do not intoduce ingredients at a late stage to cover a poor recipe.
- The Real Me Pastry, Brisbane
They both need to see a plastic surgeon. With faces like that, I would want to stay away from the camera, not in front of it. My mum can cook better than both - I know, ive been to both their restaurants whilst entertaining clients. Anthony is at least pleasent, polite and nice to hear and watch, even though he does need a shave.
- Banker Ec3v, London, England
Who really cares? There are far to many celebrity chefs on TV these days most of which are not worth watching - and these two definately are not!
- Man U Fan, London
