Gordon Ramsay has revealed that he’s set to make his debut as a prime time game show host, as part of a new deal inked with the BBC.
The celebrity chef, 53, will front the new show – called Bank Balance – following a fierce bidding war between the BBC and rival network ITV.
TV personality Gordon, whose production company Studio Ramsay devised the show, said of the upcoming programme: ‘This is going to be truly epic.
The host with the most: Gordon Ramsay has revealed that he’s set to make his debut as a prime time game show host, as part of a new deal inked with the BBC
‘It is such an intense game with so much jeopardy to win big and lose even bigger, where the difference between failure and success is always in the balance.
‘I’m so happy to be working with the fantastic team at the BBC and cannot wait to get in the studio and start stacking those gold bars!’
A press release describes Bank Balance as ‘a high-stakes, high-pressure, game show where contestants need both knowledge and nerves to succeed, where they can literally build themselves a fortune or see it come crashing down in an instant’.
Chef: The star still makes money from his TV appearances (pictured on Hells Kitchen)
Kate Phillips, Controller of Entertainment Commissioning at the BBS said in a statement: ‘It’s fantastic to have Gordon on board hosting this new prime time game show. It promises to test nerve, accuracy and knowledge as well as entertain you.’
Production on the game show is scheduled to kick off later this year.
Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that the star worked for free last year after deciding not to take any salary from his company’s profits.
The celebrity TV chef is the director of Gordon Ramsay Restaurants Ltd which includes eateries such as his three Michelin star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
A report filed to Companies House now shows that the chef didn’t take any director’s dividend from the profits which totalled £11.9million last year, reports The Sun.
Gordon’s company has an interest in fourteen London based restaurants and also has licence agreements for 10 others around the world.
These include his three Michelin star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and the one Michelein star Petrus, as well as the Savoy Grill and Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay.
The report also revealed that Gordon is planning on opening up to 50 sites over the next five years in the UK as well as 200 in Asia.
One of the ventures named is the Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Macau, with the report suggesting that this should be open in the autumn of 2020.
And determined to make the most out of his business, Gordon is also set to launch an Academy to develop young chefs’ skills and passion.
The chef has an estimated worth of £200m and this was the second year he didn’t take any dividend. However his fellow director Andy Wenlock was paid a wage of £417,000.
He also put in £7.4m of his own money as a ‘loan’ according to the report and has given ‘personal guarantees totalling £5 million in respect of the Group’s banking facility’.
It comes after Gordon began reopening the first of his 35 restaurants in July after the business struggled during the coronavirus pandemic.
However his ambitions to ‘create a billion-dollar dining proposition’ are undented by the Covid-19 pandemic that has devastated much of the hospitality trade.
Gordon believes the new restaurants will create around 2,000 jobs in the UK including some in head office.
Businessman: Gordon has several restaurants across London and is planning to open more around the world (Restaurant Gordon Ramsay restaurant pictured )
‘We have big dreams, big plans and a global strategy so ambitious it takes my breath away,’ he has previously said. ‘We have had to acknowledge and review the impact of the horrendous coronavirus pandemic.
‘We continue to be optimistic and ambitious, knowing it is more important than ever before to invest in our industry, to support suppliers and to create jobs.’
Gordon Ramsay Holdings said: ‘GRNA (Gordon Ramsay North America) has exclusive rights to develop Gordon Ramsay branded restaurants in North America, Canada and the Caribbean where it has plans to open up to 200 restaurants as well as continuing to grow its very successful licence business with other partners.
Getting back on track: The TV chef began reopening the first of his 35 restaurants in July after the business struggled during the coronavirus pandemic
‘The pandemic has had a significant impact on the group. It is difficult to estimate how the outbreak will impact trading and for how long and the directors consider this as a level of uncertainty over which they have no control.’
Despite the coronavirus, Gordon intends to launch a new ‘Street Burger’ outlet this winter, which will be modelled on his £15 all-you-can-eat Street Pizza brand.
A second Hell’s Kitchen is opening in Dubai – the first is in Las Vegas – and a Pub and Grill is scheduled to open in Macau in the autumn.
While back in May, The Sun reported Ramsay had taken out loans with Barclays against 16 companies, which includes those managing some of his Michelin star outlets.
The loans were intended to provide a lifeline to companies which manage some of the TV chef’s flagship eateries, such as London’s Savoy Grill and Petrus.
Gordon prompted outrage by reportedly using the government’s taxpayer funded furlough scheme to pay 500 workers sacked from his restaurants in March as the hospitality industry ground to a halt.
It is understood that some of the workers made redundant by Ramsay are being paid via the furlough scheme that is estimated to cost the government around £80bn of taxpayers’ money.
The lockdown led Ramsay to lay off 500 employees in March, with no guarantee their jobs would be safe in the future.
Chefs, waiters and other staff were called to a meeting and told their contracts were being terminated – rather than being furloughed on 80 per cent pay.
Family: Ramsay also grabbed headlines throughout the lockdown after he had his wrist slapped for flouting lockdown rules (pictured with his son Oscar)