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The F Word (British TV series)

This article is about the British cooking show. For the American cooking show, see The F Word (American TV series). For other uses, see F word.

The F Word (also called Gordon Ramsay's F Word[1]) is a British cookery programme featuring chef Gordon Ramsay. The programme covers a wide range of topics, from recipes to food preparation and celebrity food fads. The programme was made by Optomen Television and aired weekly on Channel 4. The theme tune for the series is "The F-Word" from the Babybird album Bugged.

The F Word
GenreFood magazine/Cooking show
StarringGordon Ramsay
Giles Coren (Series 1–2)
Janet Street-Porter
(Series 2–5)
Opening theme"The F Word" by Babybird
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series5
No. of episodes51
Production
Running time44 minutes
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release27 October 2005 (2005-10-27) –
7 January 2010 (2010-01-07)
Related
The F Word (American TV series)

Programme segments

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Each episode is based around Ramsay preparing a three-course meal at the F Word restaurant for 50 guests. Diners in the restaurant include celebrities, who participate in conversations, challenges, and cook-offs with Ramsay. Other segments focus on food-related topics such as alternative foods, visits by Ramsay to help people focus on healthy cooking and eating (some visits include taking on the occupations at the workplaces he visits), and even Ramsay himself demonstrating recipes of the courses to the home viewers.[2] Finally, there was a series-long feature on home-reared livestock or poultry that was ultimately served to F Word diners on the series finale.

Series 1

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Gordon Ramsay

The first series is based around the "Get Women Back in the Kitchen" campaign where Ramsay visited several English households to help women who wanted to improve their culinary skills.[3] The Times's restaurant critic Giles Coren and food writer Rachel Cooke acted as field correspondents who presented reports on unique food fads and healthy eating respectively. Two or three commis (picked from a thousand applicants) squared off in each episode to earn a position at one of Ramsay's restaurants. Ramsay raised turkeys in his garden, so that his children gained a better understanding of where their food came from. Chef and television presenter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall regularly offered tips on raising free range turkeys. The turkeys were named after other celebrity chefs, for example, Ainsley, Antony, Jamie, Delia, Gary and Nigella. The pudding (dessert) challenge regularly pitted Ramsay with a celebrity guest, with the winner having the honour of serving his or her pudding to the guests at the F-Word restaurant.

Series 2

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The series theme emphasises the importance of Sunday lunch, with Ramsay teaching families how to prepare this meal on a regular basis. From the second series onward, the restaurant had 50 paying diners served by an amateur brigade. If guests found any of their food unsatisfactory, they could choose not to pay for that item.[4] Janet Street-Porter became the series' regular field correspondent; Giles Coren only appeared in a one-off segment on the Pimp That Snack website and phenomenon. The celebrity pudding challenge was changed to a general cooking challenge, while Ramsay raised pigs in his garden, which he named Trinny and Susannah.[5] Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall returned to offer advice on raising the pigs. Unlike Series 1, the second series of the show was usually transmitted after the 9pm watershed, meaning that Ramsay's infamous bad language was no longer bleeped out.

Series 3

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This series ran a campaign stating that "Fast food doesn't have to mean junk food", with Ramsay showing people how to prepare a simple supper in under 30 minutes, without having to order takeaways or rely on frozen meals or other convenience food.[6][failed verification] The best weekly amateur brigade was rewarded with the prestige of cooking at Ramsay's restaurant at Claridge's in the series finale.[7][failed verification] Ramsay home-reared a pair of Charollais-Welsh lambs, named Charlotte and Gavin.[8] There was also a series-long search for a new "Fanny Cradock" which culminated in the selection of Ravinder Bhogal.[9][failed verification]

Series 4

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This series' weekly amateur brigade featured a celebrity and their relatives.[3][failed verification] Janet Street-Porter took on the responsibility of rearing veal calves nicknamed Elton and David in a North Yorkshire farm.[10] Food columnist Tom Parker Bowles appeared on two episodes. In his first appearance, he visited Sardinia to sample casu marzu, a local cheese containing maggots.[11][failed verification] On his second stint, he attempted to cook a whole pig.[12]

Series 5

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A fifth series premiered on 3 November 2009 on Channel 4.[13] The series focused on a search for "Britain's best local restaurant".[14][failed verification] 10,000 nominations were narrowed down to 18 restaurant finalists representing nine different cuisines.[15] The second round involved the finalists serving their signature dishes to a panel of diners at their own establishments, followed by a semi-final cook-off at Ramsay's flagship restaurant at Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea.

American version

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Main article: The F Word (American TV series)

On 30 September 2016, Fox announced that The F Word would go to the United States sometime in 2017.[16] On 3 February 2017, it was announced that it would air for the summer.[17] Each installment of the series will be presented live and will feature surprise guests and VIPs as well as foodie families from across the U.S. battling in cook-offs.[16]

The series premiered on 31 May 2017 on Fox.[18]

Episode guide

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Series 1

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No. Celebrity guest Guest cook-off Original U.K. air date
1 Al Murray and Martine McCutcheon Gordon loses 27 Oct 05
2 Joan Collins and Helen Cosgrove Gordon wins 3 Nov 05
3 Christopher Parker Gordon wins 10 Nov 05
4 Rachel Cooke Commis chefs compete 17 Nov 05
5 Jonathan Ross and Gary Rhodes Gordon loses 24 Nov 05
6 Richard Wilson, Nancy Dell'Olio, Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie Gordon loses 1 Dec 05
7 Jimmy Carr, Sarah Beeny and Davina McCall Gordon loses 8 Dec 05
8 Colin Jackson, Martine McCutcheon and Janet Street-Porter Gordon loses 15 Dec 05
9 Sharon Osbourne and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Gordon loses 21 Dec 05

Series 2

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No. Celebrity guest Guest cook-off Kitchen brigade Brigade score (out of 150) Original U.K. air date
1 Kathy Burke and Angela Griffin Gordon loses The Butchers 112 21 Jun 06
2 Cliff Richard and Janet Street-Porter Gordon loses The Essex Boys 117 28 Jun 06
3 Darren Gough and Jeremy Clarkson Gordon wins The PR Girls 46 5 Jul 06
4 Dermot O'Leary and Janet Street-Porter Gordon loses The Bolton Boys 94 12 Jul 06
5 John Humphreys and Dean Lennox Gordon wins The Doctors 128 19 Jul 06
6 Michelle Collins and Jonathan Ross Gordon wins The Students 83 26 Jul 06
7 Nick Knowles and Jessie Wallace Gordon wins The Adams Family 111 2 Aug 06
8 John Thompson Gordon wins The Farmer's Daughters 120 9 Aug 06
9 Janet Street-Porter, David Walliams and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Draw between Gordon and Janet The Doctors[Note 1] 149 16 Aug 06

Series 3

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No. Celebrity guest Guest cook-off Kitchen brigade Brigade score (out of 150) Original U.K. air date
1 Dawn French and Natasha Kaplinsky Gordon Wins The Eton Boys 105 8 May 07
2 Ronnie Corbett and Girls Aloud Gordon Loses The Firemen 96 15 May 07
3 James May and Denise Van Outen Gordon Loses The Lancashire Lasses 126 22 May 07
4 Alex James and David Gest Gordon Wins The Eastenders 96 29 May 07
5 Chris Moyles and Meera Syal Gordon Wins The Estate Agents 62 5 Jun 07
6 Ian Botham and Dom Joly Gordon Loses The Desperate Housewives 109 12 Jun 07
7 Jonathan Ross and Sara Cox Gordon Wins The Police 111[Note 2] 19 Jun 07
8 Gok Wan and Cat Deeley Gordon Wins The Army Boys 75 26 Jun 07
9 Ricky Gervais and Johnny Vegas Gordon Wins The Lancashire Lasses[Note 1] 144 3 Jul 07

Series 4

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No. Celebrity guest Guest cook-off Kitchen brigade Brigade score (out of 150) Original U.K. air date
1 Wendi Peters, James Corden and Geri Halliwell Gordon Wins The Peters Family 129 13 May 08
2 Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Kate Garraway Gordon Wins The Guru-Murthy Family 101 20 May 08
3 McFly and Ben Miller Gordon Loses The McFly Brigade 115 27 May 08
4 Melanie Blatt, Liam Gallagher, Nicole Appleton and David Blunkett Gordon Wins The Appleton-Blatts 136 3 Jun 08
5 Paddy McGuinness, Dara Ó Briain and Jamelia Gordon Wins The McGuiness Brigade 121 10 Jun 08
6 Neneh Cherry, Andrea Oliver, John Prescott, Tom Parker Bowles and Dannii Minogue Gordon Wins The Cherry-Olivers 117 17 Jun 08
7 Angela Griffin and Meat Loaf Gordon Wins The Griffins 128 24 Jun 08
8 Matt Dawson, Joanne Salley, Edith Bowman, Dizzee Rascal and Tom Parker Bowles Gordon Loses The Dawsons 107 1 Jul 08
9 Mica Paris, Harry Enfield and Jo Brand Gordon Wins The Paris Family 124 8 Jul 08
10 Christopher Biggins, Jessica Hynes and Rob Brydon Gordon Wins The Biggins Family 89 15 Jul 08
11 Jon Snow, Erin O'Connor, Jade Jones and Emma Bunton Gordon Wins The Bunton Family 120 22 Jul 08
12 Melanie Blatt, Nicole Appleton and Graham Norton Gordon Wins The Appleton-Blatts[Note 1] 135 29 Jul 08

Series 5

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No. Celebrity guest Guest cook-off Competing Restaurants Original U.K. air date
1 Katie Price Gordon Wins Salvo's   (73/100) vs Prosecco   (71/100) 3 Nov 09
2 Lenny Henry Gordon Wins Lasan   (76/100) vs Curry Corner   (64/100) 10 Nov 09
3 none none French Table   (65/100) vs Bouchon Bistro   (72/100) 17 Nov 09
4 none none Chop Chop   (62/100) vs Sweet Mandarin   (82/100) 24 Nov 09
5 Rory Bremner Gordon Wins Simply Thai   (82/100) vs Yum Yum   (62/100) 1 Dec 09
6 Kelly Brook Gordon Loses El Gato Negro   (74/100) vs Lola Rojo   (61/100) 8 Dec 09
7 Ian Wright Gordon Wins Santa Maria del Sur   86/100) vs Discovery Bay   (75/100) 15 Dec 09
8 Dita Von Teese and Peter Andre Gordon Wins The Pheasant   (80/100) vs The Swan   (79/100) 22 Dec 09
9 Johnny Vaughan, Kate Silverton, and Fay Ripley Gordon beats Kate but loses to Johnny and Fay Retsina   (77/100) vs Doukan   (63/100) 29 Dec 09
10 none none Lasan   vs Sweet Mandarin   vs Santa Maria del Sur   5 Jan 10
11 none none The Pheasant   vs Simply Thai   vs Retsina   6 Jan 10
12 none none Lasan   (Win) vs The Pheasant   (Loss) 7 Jan 10

International broadcasters

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The show has been broadcast around the world including the following countries:

Country Broadcaster
  Argentina Film&Arts
i-Sat
  Australia 7TWO
Nine Network
[19]
  Canada BBC Canada

Food Network Canada[20]
Casa
  Czech Republic Prima Love
  Finland Jim
MTV3
  Greece Skai TV
  Hong Kong Asia TV
  Hungary Paprika TV
  Ireland TV3
  Italy Rai 5
  Netherlands RTL 4
  New Zealand TV One
  Norway VOX
  Philippines Lifestyle Network
  Poland BBC Lifestyle
  Portugal Sic Radical
  Quebec Casa
  South Africa BBC Lifestyle
  South Korea Dong-a TV
  Sweden Kanal 5
  United States BBC America
FOX

In South Korea, the show was renamed Cook-King[21]

Controversy and criticism

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Women in the kitchen

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A major component of series 1 was Ramsay's "Get Women Back in the Kitchen" campaign. In a self-administered survey, he found that three-quarters of women could not cook, with some 78% never cooking a regular evening dinner.[citation needed] Ramsay's findings were met with mixed reactions. While some of his contemporaries, like Nigella Lawson, previously stated similar opinions, other celebrity chefs, like Clarissa Dickson Wright, felt Ramsay's proposition was "rubbish and about ten years out of date".[22] Wright felt that these comments undermined the increased enrollment of women at culinary schools across the United Kingdom. It was claimed that his desire was to help women who want to be able to cook but lack the confidence or motivation.[citation needed]

Animal slaughter

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  • The second-to-last episode of the first series featured the slaughter of six turkeys that were raised in Ramsay's garden. The scene had been preceded with a content warning. 27 viewers complained about the slaughter, leading to an investigation by Ofcom. Conversely, the media watchdog and Channel 4 also received 18 letters of support to counter the complaints. In 2004, Ramsay had also been criticised by the broadcast watchdog for swearing on-air.
  • In the second series, viewers also saw the slaughter of his two pigs, which were raised throughout the series. They were taken to an abattoir and their brains stunned with an electric shock before being slaughtered.[23] A few months earlier, another Channel 4 series, Jamie's Great Italian Escape (featuring Jamie Oliver) also received similar complaints after it featured the slaughter of a lamb.
  • Similarly the lambs he kept were slaughtered at the end of series three. Warnings were given to viewers before the start of the programme explaining the graphic nature of the footage, there was no censoring of the death or evisceration of the animal.
  • In series four, Ramsay received criticism for "sky fishing" for puffins, having their necks broken and eating the animals' raw flesh and heart of two birds, a local tradition in Iceland. Ofcom received 42 complaints, but no rules were deemed broken. Ofcom "also noted the birds were killed in a humane way with minimal suffering".[24]

DVD releases

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North America

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BFS Entertainment has released all five series of The F Word on DVD in Region 1.

DVD name Episodes Release date
The F Word – Series 1 9 17 February 2009
The F Word – Series 2 8[25] 17 March 2009
The F Word – Series 3 9 6 October 2009
The F Word – Series 4 12 20 April 2010
The F Word – Series 5 12 25 October 2011

United Kingdom

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IMC Vision has released the first four series of The F Word on DVD in Region 2.

DVD name Episodes Release date
The F Word – Series 1 & 2 18 22 October 2007
The F Word – Series 3 9 10 March 2008
The F Word – Series 4 12 27 October 2008

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c The best performing brigade is invited to the series finale.
  2. ^ Jonathan Ross assists in the dessert round.

References

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  1. ^ Plunkett, John (11 June 2008). "Gordon Ramsay's F Word hits series high". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Grilling Gordon Ramsay". Channel 4. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  3. ^ a b "The Real Gordon Ramsay". Channel 4. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  4. ^ "The Brigades". Channel 4. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  5. ^ "Pork for thought". Channel 4. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  6. ^ "Fast Food Recipes". Channel 4. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  7. ^ "The F Word Brigades – Series 3". Channel 4. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  8. ^ "Welsh lambs to star in Gordon Ramsay's F Word". Farmers Guardian. 22 May 2007. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  9. ^ "Find me a Fanny". Channel 4. 6 September 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  10. ^ Wilson, Ben (22 June 2008). "The kitchen thinker: are you for veal?". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 July 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
  11. ^ "Episode 6 – The Cherry-Oliver brigade". Channel 4. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
  12. ^ "Scotland on Tuesday". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008.
  13. ^ "Chef Gordon Ramsay spotted at Calderdale restaurant". Halifax Evening Courier. 26 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009.
  14. ^ "Gordon Ramsay's F Word Series 5". Channel 4.
  15. ^ Tompkins, Michelle (8 January 2010). "It's F-lipping F-antastic!". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  16. ^ a b "GORDON RAMSAY'S "THE F WORD" TO AIR LIVE IN 2017 ON FOX". Fox.com. Fox Broadcasting Company. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  17. ^ "Facebook". Facebook.
  18. ^ Malone, Michael (22 March 2017). "'F Word With Gordon Ramsay' Debuts on Fox May 31". Broadcasting Cable. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  19. ^ 7TWO Schedule Archived 30 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Honey, Kim (29 April 2008). "Gordon Ramsay heats up Star kitchen". Toronto Star. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  21. ^ Cook-King Ramsay(Promo page) Archived 10 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine (Korean), Dong-ah TV, Retrieved on 3 August 2007
  22. ^ Innes, John "Saucy Ramsay pans female chefs", The Scotsman, 24 October 2005
  23. ^ Adams, Guy "Ramsay reduced to tears as pigs go under knife", The Independent, 9 August 2006
  24. ^ "Ramsay cleared over puffin eating". BBC. 15 September 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  25. ^ Episode 2 of series 2 is not present in the BFS DVDs; the case lists "clearance issues" as the cause of the omission. "The F Word DVD news: Box Art and Details for the F Word - the Complete Collection Set | TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 9 January 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
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