Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has drawn a mixture of praise and derision for a prank in which he pretended to have his hand pulverised in an electric blender.
The famously potty-mouthed chef was making his presenting debut on ITV's The Nightly Show, a programme that has been widely panned and delivered terrible ratings since it launched last month.
But Ramsay, while managing to swear 24 times in his half-hour-long slot, received mostly positive reviews - and he even slipped in an alarming gag to keep the show's studio audience on their toes.
In the process of making some food for English comedian Frank Skinner, Ramsay told him he would work some food items into a blender to create a gourmet smoothie.
However, after complaining that his knife is not where it was supposed to be, he then turns to deriding his unstable chopping board, lack of handtowels and powerless blender.
While the audience and Skinner both assume that Ramsay is simply being trivial and hyper-critical of the production team, it's actually all part of an elaborate ruse that the TV viewers, Ramsay and the set crew are all in on.
After Ramsay returns to the set with a blender that now has power, he tells a member of the production crew to wait until he gives the go-ahead before turning it on, as he has his hand in the machine.
But the crew member appears to ignore him, and after turning it on it explodes in a swirl of fake blood, and Ramsay collapses to the ground in pretend pain and unleashes a string of expletives.
Skinner, who is taken in on the joke then turns to the audience and says, "Some of you might think this is a joke, [but] not if you're sitting where I'm sitting."
However, moments later, Ramsay pops his head over the counter, triumphantly yelling, "Got you! And got you as well!" he said, pointing to Skinner.
The Nightly Show's producers will be hoping the prank and positive reviews will be enough to turn around the programme's fortunes.
Newshub.
