Hell's Kitchen Host: Gordon Ramsay

British chef Gordon Ramsay, who hosts Fox Network’s reality show Hell’s Kitchen, has been referred to as the Simon Cowell of the kitchen. His distinctive British accent hurls profanity at the show’s contestants every week, and he is slowly but surely racking up points as the most hated reality show host.

But who is this Gordon Ramsay? For one thing, he is more than the foul-mouthed host on Hell’s Kitchen. Before Ramsay’s name became popular in the world of fine dining, he was a pro-footballer with the Scottish team the Glasgow Rangers. He’s also something of a rags to riches success: Ramsay was only 32 when he independently opened his own restaurant. How did he bridge the gap between Scotland and prime time on the Fox Network?

Ramsay quit the pro-football sport and enrolled in a HMD course in hotel management in 1981. Five years later, he joined the London branch of Maxim’s de Paris, as chef de partie and his career has been growing ever since. In 1989 he worked at Le Gavroche before heading out to France where he mastered the art of French cooking and worked at some of France’s famous kitchens of Guy Savoy and Paul Robuchon.

After taking a yearlong hiatus to work on a cruise ship with a media mogul, Ramsey then returned to London in 1993 where he joined Aubergine, a new restaurant and it was there that he received numerous awards for his work and the restaurant earned the Michelin three star award within three years of opening.

Catey Awards deemed him newcomer of the year in 1995 and in 1998, Ramsay opened his eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, London. Soon, other awards followed: Chef of the year Catey 2000 award, owner of top ten restaurants in the UK and best Fine Dining restaurant in 2001, according to Harden’s Guide to name a few.

With four published books under his belt Ramsay is owner and co owner of several restaurants in the United Kingdom. In 2001 he started The Gordon Ramsay scholar award, in order to encourage students of the culinary arts. And every week, he’s making culinary hopefuls shake in their chef’s hats on Fox as the host of Hell’s Kitchen.