Humble pie is something chef Gordon Ramsay says "I'll be eating for breakfast for the rest of my life" after the "Hell's Kitchen" host apologized for a sexist rant at the Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show that led to a very public spat with a journalist.
Ramsay apologized Wednesday for comparing Australian TV newscaster Tracy Grimshaw to a pig. He said he knew he'd gone too far when his mother phoned him in a huff.
"When your mum rings you, and it's a bollocking down the telephone, then of course you start to get the picture," he told Grimshaw's program "A Current Affair."
YouTube video of the incident Saturday at the food show shows Ramsay telling the crowd: "Look who I sat next to on the plane at Qantas," as an image of a naked pig woman on all fours and a photo of Miss Piggy are shown. "There she is, oh Jesus, I'm not going to tell you her name but it begins with T." He then says, "It's a joke."
The insult came a day after Grimshaw sat down with the hot-head chef in an interview that began with him asking "What turns you on?" and ended with an insult to a mole on her face.
The food show comments sparked a worldwide outcry against Ramsay, including a jib by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who called the chef "a new form of lowlife."
Gordon Ramsay
Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay shakes hands with Nelson Mandela during a lunch to Benefit the Mandela Children's Foundation as part of the celebrations of the opening of the new One&Only Cape Town resort on April 3, 2009, in Cape Town, South Africa. Ramsay will be launching his first restaurant in Africa at the resort, Maze and Robert De Niro will be opening Nobu. The 130-room property is One&Only's first urban resort and sits in the fashionable Waterfront district.
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Chef Gordon Ramsey and his wife Tana Ramsey arrive at the GQ Men of the Year Awards at the Royal Opera House on Sept. 2, 2008 in London.
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Chef Gordon Ramsay and family attends the premiere of the 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' at Empire Leicester Square on Oct. 7, 2008 in London.
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A picture taken on March 20, 2008 shows British TV chef Gordon Ramsay, chef at Gordon Ramsay au Trianon, his restaurant outside Paris in Versailles, which was awarded with two stars on March 2, 2009 by French Michelin restaurant guide in its 100th edition. The 41-year-old chef already heads 10 restaurants and pubs in United Kingdom and another 10 in the United States.
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Gordon Ramsay promotes his new book 'Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite' at Borders Columbus Circle on Feb. 10, 2009, in New York City.
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Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay prepares the food for the opening party in his Maze restaurant at the new One&Only Cape Town resort on April 2, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Gordon Ramsay holds Christmas Theatre at 'Taste of Christmas' at ExCeL on Dec. 4, 2008 in London.
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Chef Gordon Ramsay and his wife, Tana Ramsay, arrive at the Grand Opening of the new One&Only Cape Town resort on April 2, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Ramsay insisted Wednesday that he never called Grimshaw a lesbian and said the pig images shown to a crowd of 3,000 in Melbourne were meant as a swine flu joke. "I felt ill when I first arrived here," he said.
"I've said some very flippant things in my time, and I call it as I see it," he said. "So having a pratting-around joke from a man's point of view about a renowned professional journalist and calling her a pig is not clever."
Ramsay said subsequent disparaging comments about the newscaster came because she refused to take his phone call on Saturday.
"I'm like a school child -- someone shows me attention and it's funny -- that's what I am," he said. "I made a big mistake. I've gone too far. If any of you guys had called my wife a pig and it was in front of me, I'd punch your lights out. And I am deeply, deeply sorry for the hurt that's been caused, and I accept full responsibility and I want to put it to bed."
Grimshaw accepted the apology.
"I believe it's taken a lot for a bloke with Gordon's sort of personality to turn around from all that he's said in the past four days and offer what he has today, and I appreciate it," she said.
[Via Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun]
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