Last year Sarah Symonds made headlines when it was alleged that Chef Gordon Ramsay had cheated on his wife with her -- over the course of seven years. In my review of the new season of "Hell's Kitchen," I wrote that I didn't care for his verbal abuse. I wonder how many fans he's lost because of this scandal?
Sarah e-mailed me this morning to say she agreed with my assessment, and had some more to say, too. She's been on "The View" and "Dateline NBC" recently to promote her book, Having an Affair? A Handbook for the Other Woman.
Does this make you want to boycott "Hell's Kitchen"?
From Sarah:
"I was flabbergasted to recently read that Gordon had suggested I was 'an Extra' brought in for the finale episode of Hells Kitchen Season 5 (aired this April.) Hmm..how so when I was personally invited by Gordon and took along two of my best friends - my hairdresser and his partner - who dined with me all evening. We were given the best table in the house (or so his PA had told me) and Gordon came over to chat to us personally, while my friends insisted on giving him a gift, a special bottle of wine they had brought to thank him for the invite. When filming was done Gordon sweetly arranged for us the luxury of a tour behind the scenes to see where it all happens and to meet his team. We later bid him goodnight, sharing kisses all round.
Any one who knows me knows I have never been an extra in my life. Not withstanding that, I have also read recently that he called me 'deluded' for saying we'd had an affair over a period of seven years. Now, while I am wiling to concede that many men view an affair as just sex and won't accept the actual "A" word, surely Mr. Ramsay is the deluded one here if he doesn't even know his extras from his mistresses?'
Initially I was disappointed when Gordon denied our affair, as I felt he didn't show his bombastic on-camera behavior to own up and move on (I quote, "The good thing about me is that when I make a mistake, I put my hands up and say:" unquote) however after I thought about it all, if he HAD admitted it right away, it would have all been over in 24 hours; this way it will drag on now for months..."
