CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night’s TV: There is an F-word for Ramsay’s Greek misadventure… it’s Flop!
Gordon, Gino & Fred Go Greek!
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The Perfect Pitch
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Cover your ears, auntie! In the midst of the constant foul-mouthed chunter on Gordon, Gino & Fred Go Greek! (ITV), I think I heard Signor D’Acampo say the word ‘flipping’.
It was a mistake, obviously, and I expect he’ll apologise for it. What he meant was the other F-word, which was used in every sentence and every shot by all three of the witless foodies.
For men who are so snobbish about their refined palates, they don’t care what filth comes out of their mouths. It’s not just unfunny, it’s so monotonous it becomes unwatchable.
What was good enough for Goebbels is good enough for Gordon Ramsay. His coarse, crude presenting style must attract viewers, because it certainly cannot be the pap he cooks
Perhaps they wouldn’t be so proud of their puerile swearing if they knew more about the history of foul language on the airwaves.
According to historian Adrian Weale, the F-word was first transmitted in Nazi propaganda broadcasts during World War II, to tempt British audiences to tune in for broadcasts from Berlin.
A pair of traitors recruited in 1940 from PoW camps — a Sergeant MacDonald and a Guardsman Griffiths — were bribed with booze, tobacco and brothel visits, and left to spout pro-German diatribes over the radio on a show called Workers’ Challenge.
They used a frequency close to the BBC Home Service, so listeners could stumble on it. The men announced the ‘bloody government’ was losing ‘the bloody war’ and that soon ‘Churchill and his b****rs will clear off’.
But the most unpleasant dish was a barbecued lobster that Gordon split with a hatchet
The Minister for Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook, was ‘a miserable little coward’, they added. ‘The best way of dealing with a bloody f****r like him is to give him a good beating.’
An internal BBC report admitted the tactic was working: ‘People switch on to hear the swear words. Old ladies in Eastbourne and Torquay are listening to it avidly. They enjoy counting the Fs and Bs.’
What was good enough for Goebbels is good enough for Gordon Ramsay. His coarse, crude presenting style must attract viewers, because it certainly cannot be the pap he cooks.
As he and his sycophantic cronies swaggered from Crete to Santorini and on to Mykonos, they had a half-hearted attempt at baking moussaka.
A sandwich of sugared filo pastry filled with gooey sheep’s cheese looked like a packed lunch left in a sauna.
But the most unpleasant dish was a barbecued lobster that Gordon split with a hatchet. Watching that creature being hacked into slimy pieces could easily turn you vegan.
Happy camper Chris declared himself a vegan, as six contestants met for the first time on The Perfect Pitch (C4).
‘Oh, bless you,’ replied fellow holidaymaker Caroline, the way you might if someone revealed they had just six months to live.
Happy camper Chris declared himself a vegan, as six contestants met for the first time on The Perfect Pitch (C4)
This series sends three couples to campsites around the country, starting at a dairy farm in the Lake District, to tackle tasks and report on the facilities.
Mother and daughter Dawn and Sophia didn’t enjoy milking the cows. Caroline and retired hubby David bickered in the cab of their campervan, though the road rumble as they drove smothered most of their conversation.
It’s less competitive than the E4 sister show, Coach Trip. No one got drunk or overacted for the cameras.
Caroline and retired hubby David bickered in the cab of their campervan, though the road rumble as they drove smothered most of their conversation
And instead of raving all night at Mediterranean discos, this lot found themselves doing some gardening in the vegetable patch at a stately home.
Jet-skis at sunset off a Greek island is more glam than paddling a raft in a freezing English lake, it’s true. But the campsite couples managed to have fun without turning the air blue.
They looked like they were genuinely enjoying themselves. Gordon and co just looked like spoiled prats.
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