Foulmouth Gordon's cooked his own goose

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Jun 14, 2009 | by Fiona McIntosh

THERE was a time when Gordon Ramsay's swaggering cheek was mildly amusing.

The former footballer with the potty mouth had a certain rough charm about him, helped by a gorgeous wife, lovely kids and a magic way with truffle oil.

But like everyone else I know, I'm over Gordon Ramsay. I am tired of his constant effing and blinding. I am fed-up with his bully-boy business management style.

I am disgusted by the way he treated his wife Tana by allegedly having a seven-year affair with a sex writer. But most of all, I loathe the way he treats women.

Turns out Ramsay's brand of chirpy chauvin-isis in fact full- blown misogyny. The extent of his deep-seated disrespect for any woman who doesn't live up to his blokey expectations came spilling out on his tour to Australia. Dur-ing his live cookery show, Ramsay launched a vicious and unprovoked attack on Australian TV host Tracy Grimshaw.

Tracy is a 39-year-old woman who is attractive and intelligent. Yet that didn't stop Ramsay serving up several courses of poisonous, personal insults.

For someone who can get away with charging pounds 90 for a three- course meal (wine not included), Gordon Ramsay isn't half stupid. What he did in front of that largely female, middle-aged audience of fans was to kick a spectacular own-goal.

No Gordon, it's not funny to liken any woman to a pig - let alone a TV presenter who looks a lot like the women who buy your books, eat your overpriced food and pay your wages. It is not funny to make fun of the mole on her lip, or suggest she's gay (which she isn't) and needs to see Simon Cowell's botox doctor (as if he can talk).

Comments like these are not funny. They are rude, sexist and insulting not just to Tracy but to his entire female fanbase. They are also staggeringly stupid. You'd think if your company is struggling financially you'd want to kiss the hand that feeds it - not bite it off. But that's exactly what he did, garnished with a big slice of hubris.

Gordon Ramsay is so blinded by self-love he's lost all touch with reality. This is not just me banging the drum for wimmin's rights. The PM of Australia Kevin Rudd was so horrified by Ramsay's attack on Tracy Grimshaw he branded Ramsay a "new form of lowlife".

Ramsay would do everyone a favour, particularly his longsuffering family, if he kept his head down and his big gob shut. He should give up the Bernard Manning routine, lose the hippy necklaces and start acting his age. At 42 the rude kid image just doesn't wash any more.

He appears to be so drunk on egomania he has no idea the moment those allegations of an affair blew apart his squeaky clean family image, he lost all right to dish it out. When Tracy Grimshaw accused him of not treating his wife well, Ramsay took a swipe at her for that "disgusting attack on my wife".

No it wasn't. It was an attack on him for dragging the mother of his four kids through such tawdry allega-tions. Throughout every one of her husband's monumental cock-ups, Tana Ramsay has remained loyal and dignified.

But you wonder how even the most saintly wife could put up with it for much longer. So Gordon, run along back to the kitchen where you belong. For all our sakes.