Jamie Oliver reveals celebrity chef rivalry

In an interview with Nick Ferrari, to be broadcast on Classic FM tonight, Jamie Oliver gives an insight into the rivalry between the top celebrity chefs.

Oliver says: “I don’t think I’m competitive, but we do annoy eachother quite a lot.” Asked by Ferrari who annoys him in particular, Oliver says: “Marco (Pierre-White) hates me, I don’t think Gordon (Ramsay) particularly likes me much.” He praises chefs including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, whom he “really admires”, and Rick Stein, who is a “total gentleman”, but says that in general “most of us are very cruel to eachother”.

Oliver comments on his relationship with Marco Pierre-White, whom he idolised while he was growing up:
“Marco’s an interesting one… it’s quite obvious he doesn’t like me very much… The sad thing for me, actually, is that when I was a 16/17-year-old kid, that man was everything to me, I had his books, I read every single word, looked at every single picture. He represented a new lease of life in an industry that was full of fuddy-duddy old gits that were kind of so worldly that that was a very inner sanctum, and he was cool man. And I think what’s sometimes disappointing about life, is when you meet your heroes, and they’re either not what you expect, or they don’t like you.”

To hear the full interview with Jamie Oliver, listen to The Classic FM Interview on Saturday 23 October from 7pm on Classic FM.