Gordon Ramsay Goes Full (Fake) James Bond, Jumps Out of Helicopter on Uncharted

Once described as the biggest bully on TV (culinary programming or not), Ramsay is now kinder, softer in speech but more fearless in his approach to delivering fun content. His new show, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, airs on the National Geographical Channel, with the most recent episode seeing him jump out of a flying helicopter.

There’s a video of the stunt at the bottom of the article. Ramsay was in South Africa, where he was scheduled to meet two local chefs on a beach, to try and make curry together. He was flying in by helicopter, but the pilot (oh-so-conveniently) informed him that it was too windy to even attempt to land on the beach. So Gordon was given two options: abort the mission and go home, or jump into the water and swim to land.

Unsurprisingly, he chose the latter. To dramatic music and from various angles, he was shown jumping into the water from the bird and then making his way to the beach. Once there, soaking wet, he further drummed up the moment.

“Jumping out of a helicopter into a ferocious sea, laced with sharks, to get to the beach,” he says. “Trust me, after that jump, I hope those mussels are worth it, because I'm here to learn.”

It’s true, he did jump out of that helicopter and maybe even swam by himself to shore, but don’t forget that this is still reality television programming. Much of what we see is scripted, considerably less dangerous (no producer would let their main star die at the jaws of sharks or by drowning) and carefully planned in advance.

Kudos to Gordon for embracing his wild side and going all out to deliver entertaining content, but let’s not get carried away: James Bond he is not.