The F Word, Tuesday 9pm, Channel 4

Posted by Stewart Turner

It’s been a rough twelve months for gobby Gordon. With the ‘F’ in The F Word veering perilously close to standing for "financial meltdown", at times it looked like his empire was crumbling faster than it takes to reheat a two quid fish cake and shove it on the menu for a tenner.

So it was nice to see Gordon gushing for a change. We’re used to watching him spit another culinary calamity into a paper napkin before getting to work on a Kitchen Nightmare, but last night he was given a chance to celebrate the tastier end of the trade, with two top Italian eateries competing in the first heat of a competition to find Britain’s best local restaurant.

All well and good, but the trouble with The F-Word is that it hasn't quite worked out what it wants to be. The aforementioned cook-off was a vaguely entertaining but essentially overlong Masterchef pastiche, while wheeling out Katie Price was presumably just a cynical attempt by Channel 4 to shore up the ratings. Still, we did at least learn the secret of her formidable mashed potatoes. It’s all about the sugar. No wonder Pete did a runner.

Another gripe is Ramsay’s frankly bizarre presenting style, which mainly involves barking out recipes in the manner of an irate Sergeant Major playing a word-association game. “Egg yolk. Fold. Herbs,” he roared. “Chop, Bake, Serve.” Let’s just hope he doesn’t get paid by the word.

Indeed, whether you enjoyed it all probably depends on your attitude to grumpy Gordo - the televisual equivalent of a slab of calves' liver seared in Marmite. For me, he summed it all up while reeling off his recipe for a fig and mascarpone tart. “Chill. Puff Pasty. Cut Discs,” he boomed, before adding in a rare moment of self-awareness: “Prick".

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Comments

[lloobbeeyy]

I much perfer Marco Pierre White he has much more character.

The F Words are not as necessary as he thinks

[Daniel Munday]

Ramsay is more interested in being in the media spotlight than he is about food, are you not tired; tired of hearing his foul mouth pollute our homes, what kind of example does this set, get rid of him, i'd be happy never to see his face again.

[Chris]

He is the best thing on tv. Better than this X factor and strictly come dancing drivel. Snoozefest!

[daz]

i enjoyed f word last nite -katie price made my evening by asking gordon "those food tasters are blind,arnt they?"
ha ha ha!

[Judd]

It's ridiculous to pay someone to make you feel awful and listening to someone swearing for a living makes me feel awful, he's become a pantomime figure. I would much rather watch Nigel Slater, Michel Roux or Heston Blumenthal.

[Rod Cowling]

He’s boring and foul mouthed, so called celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay are part of the problem we have in our society today. You cannot catch a bus or go to the cinema without hearing people who cannot speak without swearing and are often drunk and intimidating. These celebrities who don’t have much to offer in the way of entertainment try and shock us with there foul words, well I have worked in factories, been a marine engineer and have worked all over the world and I can tell you all it does is devalue our country. People come from other countries expecting us to be a respectable country with superior values and are very disappointed when they are confronted by the truth on our television. The television executives who sign up these people such as Jonathon Ross and Gordon Ramsay on enormous salaries’ should be named and confronted.