March 2014. Sydney & Geelong, Australia. I probably should clarify the title. Jamie didn't come all this way just to see little old me. In fact, Jamie probably still doesn't know who I am, even after spending a few hours with me each day. But, he did come to Australia, and I was fortunate to spend those few hours a day with him, and get up close and personal. Although I'm not a big fan of cooking shows, I admit I'm a bit of a Jamie fan. I always find him engaging and witty, and above all passionate. It was great to see that he's just like that in real life.
To cut a rather long and boring story short, it was a work based visit, and I had to squeeze in a live cooking show (not my gig, but hosted by our charitable arm), a lunch with Jamie for fifty of our VIPs, and a two hour photo shoot at our Geelong Store. Here's a quick rundown of what went on:-
23 March 2014. Kitchen Talk with Jamie Oliver (Carriageworks, Sydney 3pm-6pm.)
This event was organised by Jamie's Ministry of Food Australia, which my company brought to Australia (ahhh, there's the connection), and still holds an active interest in. It was basically a chance for Jamie to get in front of TV cameras and a live audience of around six hundred, to share his personal vision of the Ministry of Food and to announce its future plans. "Australia is now the fourth most obese nation in the world, and 3 in 10 Australians are obese. The only good news is that you didn't win." Ouch. "We've got to stop the kids reaching for scrote burgers when they get home." He definitely has a way with words, and his cheeky chappy personality lets him get away with it.
The show was billed as Kitchen Talk with Jamie Oliver. That's the official pitch. In reality it was Jamie and three of his celebrity chef friends mucking about on stage. It was a bit of a revelation to me how four chefs could command the stage and captivate an audience like they were rock stars. Sign of the times maybe? There didn't seem to be a script, the cook tops didn't work properly, and it ran hopelessly over time. But it was quite a giggle. "This isn't a salad and it isn't a salsa - it's er, a salad-sa. Er thing. Maybe" said Jamie. Meanwhile celebrity chef Anna Gare clearly loved having him as her "kitchen bi-a-tch!" Her words. Not Mine.
"Jamie, can you shave my fennel" cue hysterical giggling on stage. "Ana, you can't say THAT." Cue fifteen minutes of Outrageous flirting.
Speaking of rock and roll - there was even a VIP after show party. With booze. I did get to chat with him briefly at the party, but he looked like a man desperately in need of some sleep. So did I, so we said our farewells.
24 March 2014. Lunch at Jamie's Italian (Pitt Street, Sydney 1pm.)
Jamie came into his own as a true pro. I briefed him on what to say just two minutes before he did his welcome speech, and he got it 100% right. He smiled politely for every single one of the two hundred photographs we took, and didn't mind one bit when I ushered him around each table in the room. "I'm here for you mate, whatever you want." Bless.
After we said farewell to the last guest, we had a quick sit down and chat. He was getting ready for some afternoon interviews with Australian media. "You see Brad, I don't want to come across as some fucking righteous English twat." No problem Jamie. That's Russell Brand's job.
I told him I laughed when he proclaimed live on stage that "induction cook tops are shit" as frustration boiled over when he couldn't get them to work. He just single-handedly wiped out the entire market for them in Sydney. "Which was very funny Jamie. Unless your company sells them. Like mine." I laughed, he saw the funny side. I'm not sure Electrolux did.
25 March 2014. Photoshoot (Geelong 12pm.)
I flew back to Melbourne on Qantas. Jamie flew over on a private jet that my company paid for. If his entourage wasn't that big, there might have been room for me on there. The main goal today was to update our Jamie photography, using our Geelong store as a set. We didn't close the store, we just didn't tell anyone that Jamie was going to be there. We didn't even tell the store staff until the morning of the shoot. Yet somehow around twenty die hard Jamie fans found out about the visit. And they were mostly nutters - this was Geelong after all.
Which is why my biggest worry today was the potential for the crowd getting out of hand. Don't get me wrong, I'd have looked after Jamie myself, but since he had three personal security guards who were bigger than me, my concern turned to the possibility of hundreds of fans turning up and causing a bit of a scene. That would get Jamie (and maybe, me) in the newspapers for all the wrong reasons. Thankfully the nutters didn't phone their friends.
The look on general customers faces when they saw Jamie in our store was priceless. We had made a temporary studio in our kitchen area, and blocked it off. Those twenty die hard fans stood at the barriers and watched for the full two hours. We gave Jamie the full-on 5 star treatment - we even made a dressing room for him with a sheet draped between a couple of fridges.
I re-introduced myself to Jamie for the third time in three days. I really wasn't sure that these global superstars remembered the little people. He looked at me like I was mental, 'Yeah, I know Brad. Good to see you again." Maybe it helps when the little people are paying for your private jet.
The photo shoot went really well, apart from the loud music Jamie insisted on to keep him energised. I just think he wanted a little dance, which he did between each shot. I wanted to smash the MP3 player by the end. After the make up artists, the food stylists, the PA, the technical team, the lighting man, the sound engineer, the cameraman, and old Uncle Tom Cobbly and all had all finished up, we were running a little behind.
We had promised the girls on the checkout they could have their picture taken with him, but Jamie suddenly disappeared into a car for the airport. "Jamie, hang on mate, we haven't finished." I dared ask. His Deputy gave me a death stare, "what do you mean we haven't finished?" "Er, one more shot. It's right there on the shot list. Number one hundred and forty five," I lied and somehow managed to keep a straight face. One of the check out girls was close to tears, thinking she hadn't got her photo. Her face lit up as he walked towards her, she got her photo. We got shouted at by the head of security. Ah well, you can't win them all.
Jamie Oliver, geezer, legend.
No comments:
Post a Comment