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WHY I’M BANKING ON MY NEW GAME SHOW
Lockdown has devastated his restaurants, but Gordon Ramsay doesn’t sit still. As he hosts his first game show on BBC1, he tells Jenny Johnston why he doesn’t give a hoot what the critics say...
What would the late, great Bob Monkhouse, king of the game shows, say? The legendary quizmaster was as clean-cut as they come – certainly never one for swearing on air. Even he might let an expletive slip at this news, though.
TV chef Gordon Ramsay – no stranger to the odd swear word – is our newest, slickest (he hopes) game show host. Yes, you read that correctly. He may have a track record in TV, but Gordon’s previous shows have been food-based or documentaries. Now he’s gone all showman.
Has the world gone completely mad? It certainly feels like that watching an early edit of the programme, called Bank Balance, which has Gordon showcasing his best cheesy smile for the camera. Here he is striding around a glitzy TV studio, lights bouncing off his barnet. And being nice to people too! We’re not used to that. It’s most surreal.
‘Yeah, well, I’m not going to lie, I was nervous doing it. I had to get my s*** together,’ he says, sounding much more like the Gordon we know and love. ‘You have to be the referee. You can’t give them the answers; and you have to be the ringmaster, you know. The sort of… encourager.’
There’s traditionally something of the slick used-car salesman about the game show host, while Gordon has been more of an in-your-face type of presenter to date, but he seems a bit miffed I’m having trouble with the concept (even having seen him in action). He argues there are other less likely TV souls who have segued into the quiz show arena in recent years, some even less qualified than he is.
‘Look at Danny Dyer. One minute he’s headbutting the barman in Eastenders, then he’s presenting The Wall. You wouldn’t expect that, would you? Then you’ve got Jeremy Clarkson travelling across the Atlantic in a bathtub with an engine – and next minute he’s presenting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, which he’s done a really cool job of, too. Bradley Walsh on The Chase! He’s an amazing, funny, witty, quick guy. And then there’s that guy Gino. Can’t remember his surname…’
This is a very Gordon swipe at his old mate and Gordon, Gino And Fred co-star Gino D’acampo, who hosted a rebooted Family Fortunes last year. Gino didn’t even know who Bob Monkhouse was before he landed that gig, so perhaps he deserves the ‘least qualified to be a game show host’ crown, but it’s a tough call.
The format of Bank Balance is a tried and tested one, but with a twist. A team of two contestants (‘it’s couples, siblings, friends, people who know each other’) answer questions from 12 subject categories and are rewarded with bars of gold for correct answers. As it’s accrued, the bullion must be strategically stacked on a precariously balanced platform like a four-way seesaw so that the stacks stay standing. Get the weighting wrong and the whole lot crashes to the ground, meaning it’s game over for that team; but get the balance right – as well as negotiating the 12 rounds of questions – and the pair can win the jackpot of £100,000.
Gordon is particularly proud of the set. ‘It’s like we’d asked 007 to design a set and make it look like the most incredible spaceship. When you walk up the steps, it’s like walking into a big vault. It’s bloody exciting.’
There are echoes of Michael Mcintyre’s game show The Wheel (born out of similar lockdown logic). In both, the physical element adds interest for the viewer – and distraction for the contestant. On Bank Balance, while the contestants are fretting about weights and balances they also have to answer questions, and yes, their brains can go to mush. Cue viewers shouting at the TV screen.
TV gold, basically, especially as game shows are enjoying a revival in TV land, and for understandable reasons in these chaotic times. They’re relatively straightforward (and cheap) to make, they can be adapted to be Covid-friendly and they don’t involve a cast of thousands or problematic travel arrangements. Lots of episodes can be filmed over a short space of time. To be blunt, it’s where the money is too. Having a successful game show format that can be sold all over the world is every TV executive’s dream. Little wonder that every celebrity wants a slice of the game show gateau.
Perhaps in normal times, with Gordon off around the world filming for his regular shows, another host would have been engaged. He says he was astonished when the BBC said they wanted him front and centre. What many may not be aware of is that Gordon’s TV production company has already diversified over the years from making just Gordon’s solo programmes. Recently it has made the Gordon, Gino And Fred road trip shows as well as documentary series, including one on The Savoy.
In 2019, the idea of a game show had been mooted and the programme was in development. Then came Covid – plunging the restaurant side of the Ramsay empire into meltdown and severely impacting the ability to make shows about the restaurant business. Yet, as Gordon says, he wasn’t going to sit around waiting for things to just pick up again.
‘These lockdowns have been devastating for all of us,’ he admits. ‘We traded for 249 days last year. In December we had to cancel 2,500 reservations. We had to make all those calls cancelling anniversary celebrations, weddings. I wasn’t going to sit doing nothing. I’m a creative person. I can’t sit still.’
At the same time that his restaurants had to shut because of coronavirus restrictions, his TV diary was suddenly empty too. ‘I’d been due to film a show called Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars with the BBC, showcasing up-and
‘I’mnot going to lie, I was nervous doing it’
coming British talent,’ he says. ‘But because it involved filming all over the UK, and because of its size, it had to be put on the backburner.’
Fortuitously, the two situations dovetailed. A set was built – in the basement of his Bread Street Kitchen restaurant in London, no less. ‘We built a set there, and then took over the private dining room and started playing this bloody game, increasing the size of it. It was all done there.’
While the production values are high on the new show, putting together some pilot episodes sounds like more of a seat-of-the-pants operation. Perhaps more fun for it, though. ‘We finished at 8.30pm one night, had a round of drinks and we all sat there and I said, “Thank you”.
I thought we had something special. We invited the networks to look at it. Within 24 hours of the presentation, ITV and the BBC were bidding, and Channel 4 backed out because they couldn’t compete. It was the BBC who said they wanted me to front it. It came as a shock to me too!’
He likens the entire process – coming up with an idea and then putting all the elements together – to making a dish. ‘It’s a bit like putting a recipe together,’ he says.
Will viewers be convinced by Gordon as host, though? Aren’t the critics going to find it hard to stomach? It does look rather flippant, flouncing into game show territory during a pandemic that could decimate the entire restaurant industry. He gives a typically Gordon response. ‘We didn’t choose to shut down. We were forced to. It does become demoralising, but I do think I’m good at adapting to adversity. You have to dust yourself down and stay positive, and this was a great way of finding positivity. I would split my days – half at the restaurant, half at the studio – and I have to say it was great being able to come back from a meeting about Bank Balance with positive news.
‘The restaurants are well supported by me financially so we are going to come out of this. I’m going to come out of this thing strong, and keep the team motivated, but today it’s not about making money in restaurants. It’s about navigating a way out of this mess and getting back to
what we are good at.’ In short, he doesn’t care much what his critics think. ‘I can take the criticism, the short-term criticism about presenting a game show. There might be a few critics but those will pale in comparison to the millions who will be watching it. I’m fine to take a kicking, trust me.’
I’ve interviewed Gordon many times over the years. He’s taken many kickings, and never stayed down for long. During lockdown he was in the papers for a supposed blasé approach to the restrictions. Locals in Cornwall, where he has a second home, objected to him descending with the family. Today, he denies he broke any rules. ‘We spend more time there than we do in London anyway, and we didn’t break the rules.’ The locals were miffed, though. ‘Yeah, it’s funny how they didn’t start complaining when we bought the place.’
Lockdown has meant Gordon, 54, spending more time with the family, which has been a genuine positive. There are five Ramsay children, spread over 20 years, and he’s never been at home as much. His youngest, Oscar, was born in April 2019. Has he noticed a difference in how he parents now compared to when he first became a father? ‘I’m a more experienced dad than 20 years ago. I’m definitely more hands on.’
From the photographs of them on the beach on their Instagram feed, life Chez Ramsay looks like a long, fun-filled adventure. Pre-covid they were forever hanging out with the Beckhams. That their cookery books (his wife Tana has her own collection) sold a particular lifestyle ‘brand’ meant that the Ramsay children looked set on a path of privilege.
Gordon, always proud of his own
modest roots, insists this is not so. In October he revealed his eldest son Jack, 21, had joined the Royal Marines having completed his training, and the other older Ramsay children are also forging their own paths. Megan, his eldest at 22, is in PR. ‘She’s working on several projects with the NHS. You should have seen her when she got the letter confirming she had the job,’ he says. Holly, Jack’s twin, is studying fashion, while Tilly, 19, already has a TV series to her name, with CBBC cookery show Matilda And The Ramsay Bunch, as well as a spin-off book.
‘They’re normal hard-working kids. They’re very humble. I mean, Jack’s only on £18,000 a year. But they seize their own opportunities. I said to them, “I don’t mind you coming to work for me, but come tothetablewith something. You don’t come in and do what I can do. You bring your own thing.”’
As for little Oscar, Gordon says he can envisage the latecomer to the Ramsay clan following in his footsteps and being a whizz in the kitchen. Although the 22-month-old is just discovering food – ‘he prefers my cooking to his mum’s,’ Gordon jokes – he says hopefully, ‘Oscar could still be a chef at Gordon Ramsay.’
Gordon clearly has his hands full, with his restaurants and his new TV venture. Have things settled at home, or is there more expansion planned there too? Tana has publicly said she’d like a sixth child. ‘I think maybe a sixth,’ he admits. ‘But who knows. Let me focus on Bank Balance first.’
He means the show, rather than the actual bank balance, but perhaps the two are intertwined.
‘In December we had to cancel 2,500 reservations’
Bank Balance starts on Wednesday 24 February on BBC1 and will air three nights a week.