Restaurant Social Media
Should it matter?
the questions is, Should it matter? Would you hire Robert Irvine now that this has happened? Have you ever watched his show? I have, and hes got talent. Too bad he was caught up the rise of fame and fortune.
Celebrity chef serves up fake resume
Dylan Welch
March 4, 2008 - 9:39AM
Found out ... Robert Irvine
robert irvine chef queen 'Real' - or not?
He was Sir Robert to his American audience, but as far as the English royal family are concerned it's a case of: "Who the bloody hell are you?"
Robert Irvine, a British-born chef with a successful cooking show in the US, has been outed as a fraud after Buckingham Palace said it could not verify his vastly exaggerated resume.
Irvine, 42, is the presenter of Dinner: Impossible on the Food Network. He recently admitted to lying about being made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and receiving a castle from the Queen.
Irvine claimed he was discovered by heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, while he was a chef on a Royal Navy vessel.
The story broke in Florida paper the St Petersburg Times.
The flamboyant chef was also at the centre of a row involving a series of creditors and angry Floridians after plans for twin restaurants, to have been called Ooze and Schmooze, collapsed amid acrimony and recrimination.
His website consultant said he was owed thousands, the interior decorator was reportedly suing Irvine and a local marketing firm said he owed it more than $US100,000 ($106,400), the paper wrote.
The owner of a marketing firm, Wendy LaTorre, said she had introduced Irvine to an elite circle of St Petersburg socialites.
When she asked how he wanted to be introduced, he replied: "Sir Robert Irvine, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order."
"He said there were five levels of knights, and KCVO is the highest level of knight you could be. The Queen handpicks you," Ms LaTorre told the paper.
The designer for the twin restaurants also said Irvine asked him to create a display box to show his so-called "royal uniform", which looked like a Three Musketeers costume, the Times wrote.
Irvine claimed he worked as a travelling chef for Charles and Diana for a decade, during which time he cooked for former US presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
However a recent inquiry into the facts in his autobiography, Mission: Cook, revealed much of his history was concocted.
His US cooking show will now run to the end of its fourth season, but the Food Network said it would not renew his contract.
When contacted at his New Jersey home by the Times, Irvine said: "I met people with all this money, it was like trying to keep up with the Joneses. I was sitting in a bar one night and that came out. It was stupid."
The Times also wrote about a quote from Irvine found at the bottom of his resume, outlined in bold.
"My passion is to reach beyond inspiration - to be spectacularly creative," it reads.
Celebrity chef serves up fake resume
Dylan Welch
March 4, 2008 - 9:39AM
Found out ... Robert Irvine
robert irvine chef queen 'Real' - or not?
He was Sir Robert to his American audience, but as far as the English royal family are concerned it's a case of: "Who the bloody hell are you?"
Robert Irvine, a British-born chef with a successful cooking show in the US, has been outed as a fraud after Buckingham Palace said it could not verify his vastly exaggerated resume.
Irvine, 42, is the presenter of Dinner: Impossible on the Food Network. He recently admitted to lying about being made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and receiving a castle from the Queen.
Irvine claimed he was discovered by heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, while he was a chef on a Royal Navy vessel.
The story broke in Florida paper the St Petersburg Times.
The flamboyant chef was also at the centre of a row involving a series of creditors and angry Floridians after plans for twin restaurants, to have been called Ooze and Schmooze, collapsed amid acrimony and recrimination.
His website consultant said he was owed thousands, the interior decorator was reportedly suing Irvine and a local marketing firm said he owed it more than $US100,000 ($106,400), the paper wrote.
The owner of a marketing firm, Wendy LaTorre, said she had introduced Irvine to an elite circle of St Petersburg socialites.
When she asked how he wanted to be introduced, he replied: "Sir Robert Irvine, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order."
"He said there were five levels of knights, and KCVO is the highest level of knight you could be. The Queen handpicks you," Ms LaTorre told the paper.
The designer for the twin restaurants also said Irvine asked him to create a display box to show his so-called "royal uniform", which looked like a Three Musketeers costume, the Times wrote.
Irvine claimed he worked as a travelling chef for Charles and Diana for a decade, during which time he cooked for former US presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
However a recent inquiry into the facts in his autobiography, Mission: Cook, revealed much of his history was concocted.
His US cooking show will now run to the end of its fourth season, but the Food Network said it would not renew his contract.
When contacted at his New Jersey home by the Times, Irvine said: "I met people with all this money, it was like trying to keep up with the Joneses. I was sitting in a bar one night and that came out. It was stupid."
The Times also wrote about a quote from Irvine found at the bottom of his resume, outlined in bold.
"My passion is to reach beyond inspiration - to be spectacularly creative," it reads.
Tags: foodtv.com, honesty, klickkitchen.com, resumes
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dan Ziegler on -
another point of view http://annienewman.typepad.com/anniesnyeats/2008/02/robert-irvine-a...
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Permalink Reply by Brook on -
This has been a topic of discussion on a lot of food sites. And it amazes---nay, shocks---me the number of people who share Annie Newman's view.
Let me first say that I love watching Dinner: Impossible. As a talent, Irvine has it all over most of FN's other celebrities.
But that does not excuse him. And the idea that because it's television it's different is, to me, a crock of the well known barnyard effluvia.
Dishonesty is dishonesty. Personally, there is no incentive you can name that would get me to hire Robert Irvine for any job whatsoever. After all, if lieing is ok, how about stealing? Selling trade secrets? Sharing your customer list with competitors? These are differences of degree, not of kind.
That aside, you have to wonder who made the decsion to hire him at Food Network. His claims are rather outrageous. But I'll bet nobody up there checked them out. The most ludicrous acceptance of pure BS since Clifford Irving (hmmmm? Note the similarity in names......) almost put one over on McGraw Hill.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Ziegler on
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agreed
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Permalink Reply by Tony on -
Talented or not he's a liar and that's all that matters!. If you were to hire him could you trust him? That's the issue at hand. It's sad because it hurts the profession as a whole. Restaurants have had and continue to have stereotypes to overcome. Every time you read about a cook or a chef performing some unhealthy act upon a diners plate it hurts our industry as a whole. It's an issue of trust. The public trusts us to prepare their food in a safe and healthy manner. They also trust us as Chefs to be truthful with them not just about our ingredients but also about ourselves as professionals.
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Permalink Reply by Andy Swingley on -
My dad always told me, if they will steal an egg, they will steal an ox - you have to have trust or we can go no further
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Permalink Reply by Dan Ziegler on
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Again,
Well said. As a trusting person by nature i have always believed the proof is in the pudding. I have hired many many people over the years that....well....fluffed up their resumes and i knew it on day one... BUT there is a limit and when the public relations machine and the news are involved a company must put it's foot down like the food network did.
too bad, i kind of like the way Mr. Irvine was adapting to his newly found persona.
B.C Cooper said "It is better to be occasionally cheated, than perpetually suspicious" well i used to believe that, I am not perpetually suspicious, simply cautious...my gut still guides me...
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Permalink Reply by Kristen Siqueiros on -
Everything happens for a reason, and I believe in Karma!
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