A few weeks ago this column was not particularly complimentary about the antics of Gordon Ramsay on Channel 4's Cookalong - a culinary Listen With Mother with more swearing.
In particular, Critical Eye decried the less-than-convincing prosthetics Ramsay used to supposedly infiltrate a Delia Smith cookery course. However, it's now clear the great man was practising for a life in hiding in advance of the media storm over his tangled private life.
But if Gordon truly wants some peace he could always go for some R&R with the gang from I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here (ITV, seemingly all the time), who have been doing their bit for the exotic meats trade by tucking into the usual raw testicles and maggots so fresh they're still moving.
Predictably, the show has been blasted by animal welfare types, who seem to think the sight of Robert Kilroy-Silk - the first contestant ever to make the cockroaches feel uncomfortable - noshing uncooked kangaroo will make less tanned mortals such as ourselves want to follow suit.
Were Ramsay to decamp Down Under, he would be following in the footsteps of Loyd Grossman and Antony Worrall Thompson, whose own stints in the jungle consisted mainly of moaning about the type of rice they had to eat while watching footballers' girlfriends take showers.
But surely TV producers are missing a trick. Celebrity chefs, on an island somewhere near Rotherham, forced to make do with what they can forage from a nearby Costcutter.
This viewer, for one, would love to see Jamie Oliver sealed in a Perspex coffin with dozens of Turkey Twizzlers for company, or Delia forced to cope without her freeze-dried, shrink-wrapped, ginger-effect condiment paste. The campaign begins here.
No less exotic but far more palatable fare was on offer with Indian Food Made Easy (BBC2, Monday), which does what it says on the tin. Host Anjum Anand travelled to Liverpool, where she helped the Mitchell family whip up favourites from the Keralan region of India. As promised, most of it seemed pretty straightforward to cook and Anand is direct enough with her protégés to avoid being patronising.
No Perspex coffin for her.
In particular, Critical Eye decried the less-than-convincing prosthetics Ramsay used to supposedly infiltrate a Delia Smith cookery course. However, it's now clear the great man was practising for a life in hiding in advance of the media storm over his tangled private life.
But if Gordon truly wants some peace he could always go for some R&R with the gang from I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here (ITV, seemingly all the time), who have been doing their bit for the exotic meats trade by tucking into the usual raw testicles and maggots so fresh they're still moving.
Predictably, the show has been blasted by animal welfare types, who seem to think the sight of Robert Kilroy-Silk - the first contestant ever to make the cockroaches feel uncomfortable - noshing uncooked kangaroo will make less tanned mortals such as ourselves want to follow suit.
Were Ramsay to decamp Down Under, he would be following in the footsteps of Loyd Grossman and Antony Worrall Thompson, whose own stints in the jungle consisted mainly of moaning about the type of rice they had to eat while watching footballers' girlfriends take showers.
But surely TV producers are missing a trick. Celebrity chefs, on an island somewhere near Rotherham, forced to make do with what they can forage from a nearby Costcutter.
This viewer, for one, would love to see Jamie Oliver sealed in a Perspex coffin with dozens of Turkey Twizzlers for company, or Delia forced to cope without her freeze-dried, shrink-wrapped, ginger-effect condiment paste. The campaign begins here.
No less exotic but far more palatable fare was on offer with Indian Food Made Easy (BBC2, Monday), which does what it says on the tin. Host Anjum Anand travelled to Liverpool, where she helped the Mitchell family whip up favourites from the Keralan region of India. As promised, most of it seemed pretty straightforward to cook and Anand is direct enough with her protégés to avoid being patronising.
No Perspex coffin for her.
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