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Foul-mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay and Boost Juice queen Janine Allis find the secret sauce

Food Stars is coming

Source: Channel 9

Sometimes, the most perfect pairings are the ones you least saw coming.

Award-winning, foul-mouthed UK chef Gordon Ramsay has teamed with Australian business mogul and Boost Juice founder, Janine Allis, to co-host Nine’s Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars.

Allis, 59, was initially “nervous” when approached to join Ramsay, 57, on the reality TV competition, which is incidentally not so much about cooking, but to find Australia’s next new food and drink business.

“One of the things I was nervous about when I said ‘yes’ was I knew it would only work if Gordon and I connected. We connected brilliantly,” Allis said, referencing similar upbringings, education, work experience (on boats) and sense of humour.

“There were so many things we had in common that it made the connection on the show really quite strong.”

She has worked alongside British billionaire Alan Sugar on Celebrity Apprentice, and been a shark on Shark Tank, but when Allis revealed the fiery-tempered Ramsay called her his “TV wife”,  it was clear the two had a match made in heaven.

“If the [TV] hosts don’t have a chemistry, it just falls flat. You can’t manufacture it, it’s either there or it’s not … for us it was definitely there.

“At one point he was calling me his TV wife. We were lucky it clicked.”

What about his temper and profanities?

Ramsay, who has been married to Tana since 1996 and with whom he shares five children, is famous for his no-holds-barred personality, blunt criticisms and overuse of swearing on global networked shows such as Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and his own cooking show, The F Word.

According to a word count on Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay swore in every episode, with at least 30 F-bombs per show.

In his National Geographic series, where he travelled the world for international cuisines, he said sh-t 27 times, arse 11 times, and all up a total of 302 expletives in one Uncharted episode, according to The Sun.

So how’s all this going to play out on this show?

In a series of promo commercials before the premiere, we see Ramsay and Allis together for the first time.

“What the f–k”, is among his first one liners, as Allis leans in.

Couldn’t help himself.

“He is such an ‘on’ guy and it’s part of his vocabulary … whether he’s on or off TV, he doesn’t put it on, it’s just Gordon,” Allis said, adding that having worked with “real egomaniacs” in the past, she found Ramsay a “gentleman”.

” … he also had as much fun as I did on the show … we’d take the mickey out of each other mercilessly … he was surprised I was more fun than he expected.

“When I first called him a wanker on TV, he replied: ‘Did you just call me a wanker?’ I said, I did, because you have been, and you are at this point in time.

“Australia uses wanker a little bit lighter than in England. I think he was ‘oh’, but then he thought it was hysterical.”

Celebrity Apprentice meets Survivor meets The Voice

So what’s the format of Food Stars?

Ramsay and Allis choose seven contestants each from a pool of hopefuls with big food industry-related ideas after they’ve pitched their concept to win a spot in the competition.

The contestants, who are already successful with their products in the real world but want to crack the big time, have to survive high pressure challenges and an intense grilling from the pair, who act as both mentor and judge.

“It is my team against Gordon’s … for example, if you have to rebrand the Chiko Roll … and whoever’s team wins, goes off and has a lovely night and the other team comes back to the boardroom and one of them goes home,” explains Allis.

Allis reckons now is the perfect time for it to run in the same Tuesday time slot normally dedicated to ratings juggernaut, Married At First Sight.

“Sometimes shows have a magic dust, this show has a magic dust.

“I believe this is a great spot, its on after MAFS, it’s very strong with lots of eyeballs so we have a shot at delivering on it … we just need people to trust us, have a watch and it’s up to us and the show to keep them with us.”

Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars premieres on Tuesday, March 26 at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now
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