Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has been making worldwide headlines after he apologised for allegedly calling an Australian TV presenter a “lesbian pig”.
And the incident appears to have brought back some unhappy memories for one freelancer who had the “honour” of interviewing him as a young Sunday Mercury reporter in 2001.
The Scot was in Birmingham to promote his new book so Charlotte Ward was dispatched by the newsdesk to interview him for a feature.
She admits: “At the time I was still quite shy and had little experience of interviewing celebrities, so I was both excited and nervous to be meeting a celebrity like Gordon.”
As a twist on the usual interviews, the Mercury asked local restaurateurs to pose their own questions or culinary dilemmas to the chef as part of the feature.
After what seemed to Charlotte like a relatively straightforward meeting, she later discovered he had given her a bit of a tongue lashing during an after-dinner speech, also referring to the Mercury as a paper which “sells about 72 copies somewhere off the M6″.
The planned double-page spread promoting Ramsay’s book was duly spiked and the whole incident left young Charlotte with a bitter taste in her mouth.
Comments
Web Man (17/06/2009 09:53:31)
I’ve just read this woman’s full piece about her “unsavoury encounter” with Gordon Ramsey – and what a load of old tat it is too. I’m not surprised if Gordon gave her a tongue-lashing if she conducts her interviews anything like she writes articles. This supposed ordeal happened eight years ago, so get over it already! I also think it’s shameful how the Sunday Mercury allows journalists to put links to their own personal websites at the end of an article. This woman’s rather laughable personal site provides links to books she’s written. Talk about an attention seeking drama queen.
Dave (17/06/2009 10:29:07)
I think you’ll find Web Man it’s called earning a living!! Bravo to Charlotte for getting the Sunday Mercury to give her a commission in the first place.
ejm (17/06/2009 12:46:30)
Oh dear, Web Man. What a load of old tat you are spouting!
It seems to me you may have a severe case of sour grapes! Surely the job of a freelance is to have articles published – and self promote in order to get more work, thus ensuring a successful and ongoing career.
This writer obviously has made excellent contacts over the years.
And clearly, with the amount of work she is creating for herself, numerous editors do not agree with your summary of her writing skills.
Good luck to her, I say.
pub writer (17/06/2009 13:06:51)
I think it is an example of how awful Ramsay was to people on the way up. No wonder he is suffering on the way down!
Special (17/06/2009 13:16:33)
Webman appears to be trying to emulate Ramsey’s acerbic nature by giving a tongue lashing of his own… Unfortunately this just comes across as jealousy.
How surprising that Miss Ward’s personal website has links to the books she’s had published…it’s almost as if the site was set up to promote them.
ljc (17/06/2009 13:50:50)
who got out of bed on the wrong side today Web Man? Surely you know it’s all about shameless self promotion in this day and age. Charlotte’s clearly on the ball to get on top of stories like this, well played to her!
Featsman (17/06/2009 15:27:22)
I agree with Webman. This woman sounds tedious.
Vika um Tonga (17/06/2009 15:39:13)
Web man gets my vote too, what a self indulgent bore this woman is and why did the mercury let her write this load of pap. And i agree with Gordon, the questions were dull especially the naan bread one.
Onlooker (18/06/2009 09:02:55)
It’s obvious Web Man, Featsman, and Vika um Tonga are the same sad person. Definitely a rather jealous person, too. The piece about Gordon Ramsay was interesting and illuminating.
HoldtheFrontPage (18/06/2009 09:50:06)
Sorry, but we are closing the comments on this thread as it all seems to be becoming rather nasty and personal.