Is SECOND Ramsay show set to be axed as ratings plummet?
BBC bosses are considering axeing another of Gordon Ramsay’s shows after the sweary celebrity chef’s ratings flopped.
The Mail on Sunday understands that his team fears that Future Food Stars will not be recommissioned after the forthcoming second series. His Bank Balance game show has already been canned.
A source close to Ramsay, who has won TV success in America with Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef, said some at the BBC had concluded that his ‘face no longer fits with UK audiences’.
Despite being aired in the BBC1’s 9pm primetime slot on Thursdays, Future Food Stars is attracting an audience of under a million viewers. It features young food entrepreneurs competing for a £150,000 investment.
More people watched Horizon, a BBC2 documentary about combating insomnia, than watched the first episode of Future Food – which drew 1.9million viewers – on March 31. The source added: ‘Gordon loves Britain, it’s his home and he was so excited about working with the BBC and entertaining the British public. It is hugely disappointing for Gordon – he is Mr Cookery Show. Nobody can work out why it wasn’t a hit.’
Bank Balance has also been axed. The 55-year-old hosted the show, which featured contestants attempting to win up to £100,000 by putting stacks of bars on a balancing board after answering a series of questions. It drew 2.7million viewers when it began in February 2021, but that had plunged to 1.5million when the ten-show series ended last March. Both series were made by Ramsay’s TV production company, Studio Ramsay, which has had hits with ITV’s Gino’s Italian Family Adventure, starring chef Gino D’Acampo; the reality show The Savoy; and Gordon, Gino And Fred: Road Trip, featuring Ramsay, Mr D’Acampo and French master maitre d’ Fred Sirieix.
The firm set up Mr Ramsay, who is estimated to be worth about £200 million, also catapulted his teenage daughter Tilly to fame by making her CBBC series Matilda And The Ramsay Bunch. She later appeared on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
Last night, the BBC said: ‘We are very proud of Future Food Stars, which is attracting a great young audience on BBC iPlayer. We start filming the second series in June.’