From Footballer to Chef
Hoping to become a professional footballer one day by playing the game since he was 12, Gordon Ramsay sustained a serious knee injury when he was 16 years old and was forced to give up his dream and re-think his career in life. Ramsay enrolled at North Oxfordshire Technical College to study hotel management, calling his decision to enter college as a complete accident. Ramsay started working as a chef in the mid 1980s in London until he moved to Paris in 1989 to work with Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon, both Michelin-starred chefs who owned world class chain restaurants all over the world. In 1998, Ramsay opened his first ever restaurant in Chelsea calling it Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which currently holds 3 Michelin stars since 2001.
The Scottish Celebrity
Gordon James Ramsay was born in the Scottish town of Johnstone and is the son of Helen Cosgrove a nurse, and Gordon James Sr., a swimming pool manager and shopkeeper. On top of being a British chef, television personality, and writer, his restaurant group Gordon Ramsay Restaurants which are scattered all over the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, has been awarded a total of 17 Michelin stars overall. Ramsay's television appearances are defined by his fiery temper, strict demeanor and bluntness, which he displayed in the shows Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and MasterChef. In 2020, Forbes listed Ramsay's earnings to be $70 million for the previous year, and ranked him No. 19 as Forbes' highest-earning celebrities.
Opening Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Ramsay's reputation is built upon his obsession for culinary perfectionism, being noted by one of his mentors Marco Pierre White, as being highly competitive since he worked with him in the 80s. Ramsay was first officially seen on television on the documentaries Boling Point in 1999 where he was closely followed during eight of the most intense months of his life as he opens his first restaurant in Chelsea in 1998. Boiling Point was his first exposure to television audiences, which also first revealed his highly driven, fiery-tempered personality which eventually became his brand and trademark. In 2010, Ramsay served as a producer and judge for MasterChef US, along with Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich, where his popularity continued to rise.
The Athlete Chef
Over his career, Ramsay has seen overweight and unfit chefs collapse or become unable to move quickly around the kitchen, driving him to exercise semi-competitively for his general well-being. Ramsay competes in Ironman events, marathons, triathlons, and also holds a black belt in Karate, on top of being a cyclist. To this day, Ramsay still supports the Rangers, his old football team, where he seriously injured his knee, smashing the cartilage during training. As of 2022, Gordon Ramsay has a net worth of over $820 million US dollars, and banks between $60-$80 million dollars per year from his restaurants and his career.
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