The fallout between Gordon Ramsay and his former CEO (and father-in-law) Chris Hutcheson went up a notch today with an no-holds-barred interview with Hutcheson in the Mail on Sunday.
In it, Gordon's father-in-law says he was sacked, rather than resigned and denies knowing anything about certain financial irregularities which rumour had it were behind the dismissal. ‘I have no idea where this figure of a missing £1.5 million from the company has come from. The first time I heard it mentioned was when I saw it in the papers. ‘I have taken money out of the company, just as Gordon would do, in the normal course of events, and it was registered immediately in the directors’ loan account. I haven’t used it unethically, without anyone knowing, without accountants knowing or Gordon knowing.'
It's clear the break was far from amicable. 'Gordon drops everyone in his life at some stage. You could do a list,' says Hutcheson. 'If you do a list of those from the early days, the chefs, Marcus Wareing, Jason Atherton – there are so many people, big people in his life, who he’d just say to me, “Chris, just get rid of them.”
Hutcheson's take on the break-up is very different from what Gordon's right-hand-man Stuart Gillies told Hot Dinners just over a week ago: 'Chris is 63 – retirement was always coming, you don’t do it forever. And London’s moved on as well.'
So should Gordon Ramsay be worried? Well Hutcheson does give a veiled warning, saying; 'Do I know everything? No. But I do know where Gordon’s bodies are buried. Take me up on the Moors and I could show you where – but it doesn’t mean it is what I would do.'
You can read the full interview here:
