Gordon Ramsay splashes the cash

He’s putting up £150,000 of his own money in a culinary version of The Apprentice. The catch? He’s the (unexpurgated) judge...

GORDON RAMSAY’S FUTURE FOOD STARS

Thursday, BBC1, 9pm

It’s an entrance worthy of James Bond: plunging from a helicopter hovering 80ft above the waves into the waters below and then swimming forcefully to the shore. No, that’s not an outtake from the latest 007 flick but Gordon Ramsay introducing himself to the dozen contestants who are waiting on the beach as his new show begins. It’s what you might call real pressure cooking.

The stakes are high enough in this new reality competition offering a £150,000 investment in their food business to the eventual series winner. But adding an extra dimension of fear to the whole process is having Ramsay as the presiding judge, who’ll be forking out his own cash for the champion.

If you thought the grillings that Lord Sugar gives his contestants in the boardroom on The Apprentice were bad, just wait until you see how the initial dozen young hopefuls fare as the notoriously straight-talking celebrity chef assesses whether or not they can take the heat in the kitchen.

This is far more than just a test of culinary skills. Each week they will also have to demonstrate that they have the wherewithal to deal with the various aspects of running a business, whether it be diplomatically soothing impatient customers, managing the jostling egos and emotions in a team, or perhaps, most important of all, having the financial savvy to return a profit.

For the opening week the challenge is selling snacks to tourists on the beach in the Cornish resort of Newquay. That may sound easy enough, but you can imagine what Ramsay thinks of customers having to wait for 40 minutes or more to get a simple toastie (clue: he’s not happy).

At the end lies that tremendous prize for one of the dozen hopefuls, all of whom have dreams of setting up imaginative businesses and come from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Among them are 1950s-style obsessive Bola with her apple cider vinegar seltzers, and former Navy officer Steph and her Japanese-inspired soft drinks, while handsome smoked salmon producer Vincenzo has come up with a suitable name for his luxury brand: Smokin’ Brothers.

But before any of the entrepreneurs can get closer to the big cash prize, first they’ll have to survive the verdict each week of Ramsay, who is known for expressing his thoughts in unexpurgated fashion.

His previous shows include

The F Word, and note the initials of Ramsay’s latest series: FFS.

Contestants and viewers alike, you have been warned.