Why celebrity chefs should fear fame


  • Pin It













Indeed, some chefs have become famous by, in essence, showcasing their own workplace tyranny, a tactic beloved by TV networks due to the inherent dramatic heat and potential for storytelling therein. In fact, the idea of trial by fire at the hands of a master has become a key part of many celebrity-chef narratives. The sizzle of a steak on the grill has dramatic properties but makes better TV when you also feel the heat in the cheeks of the humiliated sous-chef.

But that's a dangerous business, as Deen and her partners have found out. The humble employee can get litigious or chatty or both, and humiliation to build character often does not mesh with workplace legalities. It's one thing to have a tantrum in a Hollywood trailer; those on the star's payroll typically just roll their eyes. But have a fit inside a big, busy workplace full of low-paid workers and it's a whole different souffle, chef.

Watching the Deen affair these last couple of weeks, it also has been staggering how ill-equipped she has seemed when it comes to stemming her own destruction. She seems to have very little introspection or self-awareness. Her other problem is that while a Lindsay Lohan or a Roman Polanski can, in effect, change the narrative of personal disaster by turning in a great new performance or directing a potent new movie, Deen does not have those tools at her disposal. What is she going to do? Come up with a game-changing potato pie?

It's not going to happen for a woman whose very fame was built on the approachability of her food. Bizarre as it may seem, celebrity chefs are more dependent on their image than actors, rockers and directors. Their art does not morph as easily.

This has not been a good couple of weeks for celebrity chefs. Nigella Lawson was advised by the British tabloids to dump husband Charles Saatchi for the sake of her U.S. TV career, after an image of an enraged Saatchi with his hand around Lawson's throat (apparently amid a marital argument) went viral. Brian Malarkey, Lawson's fellow judge on ABC's "The Taste," said that the scandal could compromise Lawson's image as "America's sweetheart." Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Daily News said it had uncovered racist tweets created by one of the contestants on "MasterChef."

Such gotchas are, for the sure, part of the price of chefs' new-found, hard-won fame. And celebrity chefs being engulfed by scandal is hardly new.

In 1976, Cradock's then-famous show was dropped by the BBC after a notorious filmed segment in which she lambasted and insulted an amateur English cook who had a won a contest. Celebrity chefs walk a fine line: They are expected to be experts and artists but not to humiliate us with their skills, because we all like to think we can cook.

But aside from a useful reminder for celebrity-craving chefs about how fast fame can blow up in your face, l'affair Paula also offers a cautionary tale for newly minted celeb chefs about paying more attention to what is going on inside their businesses, even if it means one less book or appearance. Deen, no doubt, has image-doctors now: In her case, they have arrived too late.


Twitter @ChrisJonesTrib

  • Pin It