Jamie Oliver reveals reason he can’t stand watching The Bear

The chef said his reaction to the first two episodes of the hit FX show was: ‘He can’t chop’

Tuesday 12 December 2023 17:47 EST

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Jamie Oliver has said he gave up watching hit television show The Bear because of the cast’s poor kitchen skills.

During an appearance on BBC talk show The Graham Norton Show on Friday (8 December), Oliver was asked by the host whether it annoys him when he’s watching television and “people aren’t cooking right?”

“It really does,” replied Oliver. “I’ve got to get back into The Bear because I watched the first two [episodes] – and I know it’s brilliant, everyone keeps telling me how brilliant it is – but I watched the first two and I’m like, ‘He can’t chop.’

“They just jump cut it and cut around it,” the celebrity chef continued. “And they often get extras in the background that are actors, not chefs, even though they’ve got no lines. But they’re just touching it all wrong and sort of bashing it all wrong... Yeah, it does wind me up.”

The Bear stars Jeremy Allen White as Carmy, a young chef who dreams of transforming his family’s Chicago sandwich shop into a Michelin-starred restaurant. The acclaimed series also stars Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who were both Emmy-nominated for their roles in the show.

It has previously been reported that White spent 10 days training at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in preparation for taking on the role of Carmy.

Jamie Oliver (left) and Jeremy Allen White in ‘The Bear' (BBC/FX via AP)

“I couldn’t have gotten into The Bear or gone into the environment that I went into without ICE,” White told the ICE blog. “I was really clueless – and that’s not me being modest or humble – I had no experience in the kitchen at all.”

“As frenetic and intense as ever, this chef drama sizzles in the skillet,” The Independent’s Nick Hilton praised in his four-star review of the show’s second season, which aired in June.

“The Bear is frenetic: at times it hisses like sauteed onions, at others, it burbles like roiling stock. The controlled pandemonium of a chef’s kitchen – so viscerally portrayed in the writing of Anthony Bourdain or the reality TV of Gordon Ramsay – reaches aggressively stressful crescendos.”

Last month, it was announced that the acclaimed series has been renewed for a third season.

After four years away, Jamie Oliver recently opened a new restaurant on Catherine Street in London. The Independent’s Hannah Twiggs went along to find out whether the new Covent Garden location can right his wrongs.