Knives are out as Jamie claims rival Ramsay is just jealous
IT’S an ongoing war of words that has seen the knives come out more than once.
Now Jamie Oliver has reignited his feud with Gordon Ramsay after accusing the Scots chef of being ‘deeply jealous’ of his success.
In their latest spat, 39-year-old Oliver lashed out after Ramsay criticised him for not attending the opening of his new restaurant, Jamie’s Italian, in Hong Kong.
Ramsay – who opened his Bread Street Kitchen there – said his fellow Briton could ‘ at least turn up’ to his own restaurant launch.
Now Oliver has claimed his success irritates 48-year- old Ramsay, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire.
In Sydney at the weekend, Oliver said: ‘Gordon will do anything to try to take the p*** out of me because he is deeply jealous and can’t quite work out why I do what I do and why he can’t do that. He is too busy shouting and screaming and making our industry look like a bunch of shouters and screamers.’
Oliver and his wife Jules have seen their fortune rise to more than £240million with the success of their restaurant chains, TV appearances and range of children’s clothes.
Ramsay, who saw his £70million fortune fall by half following a split with his mentor – and wife Tana’s father – Chris Hutcheson, has made a financial comeback to more than £100million.
Oliver said their rivalry extends to the bookshelves after his 15th title, Save With Jamie, shot to the top of the UK bestseller list, bringing his career sales to just over 37million.
Ramsay’s 21 books have sold an estimated three million copies.
‘I think that really, really annoys him,’ Oliver said. ‘Book sales are about having a deep, trusted relationship with the public. I really write my books.
‘I don’t just turn up for the front cover. I write every word, every letter and I oversee every bit of design.
‘You can sell a few books by luck or a moment – but not 37million books. That’s not luck.’
The two celebrity chefs, both fathers of four, have clashed over their differing styles before.
In a promotional tour of Canada in 2010, Ramsay said Oliver was ‘just a cook’ while he was ‘a chef’.
A year earlier, he had described him as ‘a one-pot wonder’. Of Oliver’s cooking methods, he said: ‘ Everything kind of gets mixed in, hands in. He sticks it in the oven, it comes back three hours later and it’s done.
‘We cook differently. I use basic ingredients taken up with a lot more excitement. But competition is healthy. It’s good to have that kind of rivalry.’
After being asked when he had last complained about a meal, Ramsay answered: ‘Last time I had dinner at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant.’
Last month, on Ramsay’s US show Master-Chef Junior, his daughter Matilda said her dad was the real ‘naked chef’, despite Oliver using the title.
The 13-year-old was asked by the show’s judges if her father embarrassed her. She replied: ‘Yeah! He loves to run around naked.’
Ramsay has revealed that a fear of early death motivated him to become super-fit, leading him to embark on a training programme that sees him compete in Ironman triathlons.
He said: ‘I was a fat chef. Four years ago, I was 44 and 16-and-ahalf stone. There wasn’t muscle tone. I had a fat tummy.
‘In our family, there’s a history of illnesses and heart attacks. So I scared myself into getting fit to set an example to the kids.’
‘He is too busy screaming’