Gordon's Great Flop

Last night we saw the first episode of Gordon Ramsey's Great Escape to India (Channel 4), part of their new 'Indian season'. While the idea was dangerous to start with the programme is pretty dire. Sending Gordon Ramsay to India to look at the cooking and people could have been great..instead, it was patronising and embarassing.

Gordon Ramsay has been having a rough old time of it lately what with his resturants loosing the Michellin star, although no doubt this film was in the can long before that, so this could have been a good opportunity to re-brand the Ramsey image, as a caring, thoughful, chef - first and foremost. But Gordon just isn't that sort of bloke.

Sending Ramsay to India should've shown a more tactile and reflective man, humbled by the great food which was often made in difficult circumstances. Sadly, we didn't get Gordon's Great Escape, but instead Gordon patronises just about everybody!

While there is no question that Ramsay was very impressed with what he came across, there's also no question that he was an appalling spectacle while he did it. In one segment, he was shown how to make an amazing biryani using a whole goat. Instead of being visibly wowed, he instead told the 86 year old chef that native that his biryani was "authentic".

Later in the show, he went to a remote bit of India and chowed down on a chutney that blew his little mind. Instead of explaining the differences between the Brit curryhouse chutneys and the Real Deal to his incredibly warm host, he instead preferred to nudge his 90 year old mothers and say "F*** me. I thought she was dead."

The rest of the time was spent shouting loudly in English to 'the natives'! In a kitchen segment toward the close of the show, we saw Gordon in a kitchen full of chef who couldn't speak a word of English. His response was to gesticulate wildly and repeatedly holler "STAR. ANISE. STAR (waves hand in air) ANISE?" When one chef understandably grinned and waved back, Gordon's reply was along the lines of 'Jesus. What an idiot. He thinks I'm trying to say hello'.

It's a good job the people he met were kind, open and welcoming people or this show would have been completely unwatchable....

Sorry Gordon - can do better.