‘Gordon Ramsay betrayed me’ says Hell’s Kitchen winner Holli Ugalde over Savoy job

Ramsay betrayed me, says Hell’s Kitchen winner: TV contestant’s fury over Savoy Grill job prize that never happened

By Peter Sheridan Updated:

The boudin blanc foie gras with spiced quince has been chilled and preparations made for the lobster Thermidor.

You are watching: ‘Gordon Ramsay betrayed me’ says Hell’s Kitchen winner Holli Ugalde over Savoy job

The Art Deco chandeliers have been polished and the wood panelling burnished to a fine lustre.

The only thing missing when London’s Savoy Grill reopens tomorrow after a three-year £220 million renovation of the iconic Savoy hotel is Holli Ugalde: the winner of the seventh series of Hell’s Kitchen in America, who was promised the head chef role as her prize.

While the glitterati celebrate the return of the restaurant where Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill and Frank Sinatra had regular tables, Ugalde is fuming more than 5,000 miles away in the town of Beaumont, California, outraged at what she perceives as Gordon Ramsay’s treachery.

‘I’m extremely disappointed and I feel a little betrayed,’ says Ugalde, aged 26.

‘I was so excited to win the competition, and crushed when told I wasn’t going to the Savoy.

But I’m more upset that I’ve heard nothing from Chef Ramsay. All I’ve seen is his press release saying I’m not going to London after all.’

Ramsay, 44, has claimed that Ugalde could not be given the position because the Home Office failed to approve her visa application.

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But Ugalde says: ‘My winning season finished filming in February 2009, and Chef Ramsay and his people have had almost two years of planning for this.

I would have thought they would have asked me to fill in some paperwork to apply for a visa, but I’ve never once filled in one single piece of paper. I don’t know how the immigration process works, but I’m betting there’s at least a few forms to fill in. I don’t know if they even applied for my visa.’

Ugalde’s agent, Zlata Faerman, claims the visa excuse is ‘a smokescreen’ and Ramsay decided he could not place such a fabled restaurant in the hands of a TV contest winner.

‘Holli’s face just didn’t fit for the Savoy,’ says Faerman.

Obtaining a UK work visa should have been simple. Ugalde has no criminal record, has demonstrated unique skills by winning the competition and was offered a fixed-term contract after which she would return to the United States.

‘I called about 20 million times to find out what was going on,’ Ugalde says.

‘I was repeatedly told, “We’ll see what we can do.” I was a little concerned because nothing was happening. But I figured Chef Ramsay’s people knew what they were doing. They’ve done this before. Finally somebody from Fox TV said, “You’re not going.” ’

Ugalde had already felt cheated when Ramsay announced this summer that Andy Cook had been hired as the Savoy Grill’s head chef, and that she was to take a subordinate position.

‘It’s false advertising,’ Ugalde says.

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‘On the show I was told that if I won I’d be head chef of the Savoy Grill. It was said repeatedly during filming and aired on TV. Since then I’ve heard him say that the head chef position was never open to me, and that he hired Andy Cook long before I won the competition. ’

Ugalde is a single mother who separated from husband Philip four years ago and was counting on the job at the Savoy to transform her life.

‘There’s been a lot of disappointment,’ she admits. ‘I was preparing to move my family to England for at least a year. My six-year-old son Dylan told his friends that he’s going. He’s upset. He’s so embarrassed now that we’re staying in California.’

The row is only the latest embarrassment for Ramsay, however, whose company lost more than £4 million last year. He is also involved in a family feud, after firing his father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, 62, as CEO of Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

‘I’ve turned down numerous opportunities, because I knew I’d be head chef at the Savoy,’ says Ugalde, who was a chef at a restaurant in California.

‘I’ve had my life on hold for almost two years, because I was committed to going to London.’

ITV claims it made its ‘best efforts’ to obtain a visa for Ugalde, and a representative for Ramsay says: ‘We were sorry that Holli Ugalde can’t join the team. In spite of our best efforts, we were unable to obtain a work visa for Holli. Holli elected to receive the cash prize instead.’

A TV source claims: ‘At no time has either Gordon Ramsay or the Savoy indicated to producers that they didn’t want Holli to work at the restaurant. In fact, Gordon expressed disappointment to the producers when he found out that she wasn’t able to obtain the visa and work at the Savoy.’

Ugalde considered suing, but says: ‘I signed a contract for Hell’s Kitchen that was as thick as a book, and somewhere in there it probably says they can substitute prizes. But that doesn’t make it right. I received some cash in place of the Savoy job. I’m not allowed to say how much.

‘Yes, Hell’s Kitchen opened up a lot of opportunities for me. But now I’m not going to London it would at least be nice if Chef Ramsay had the decency to call and let me know what was going on. I know it was only a reality TV show, but it’s my life, after all.’

Source: https://gardencourte.com
Categories: Kitchens