Robert Irvine

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Robert Irvine

Born	1965 England
Television show(s) Dinner: Impossible (2007-2008)

Robert Irvine MCFA (C.G.) (born Robert P. Irvine^[1] in 1965 and raised in Wiltshire, England^[2]) is a celebrity chef who starred in the first four seasons of the Food Network series Dinner: Impossible.

1 Career
2 Controversy
- 2.1 St. Petersburg Times Article
- 2.2 Responses to the article
3 After the controversy
4 Personal
5 Professional honors
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Career

Irvine began his cooking career upon enlisting in the British Royal Navy at the age of fifteen. Having completed culinary training, Robert served aboard Her Majesty's Royal Yacht Britannia. He has also been of service to the Naval Mess in the West Wing of the White House.^{[citation needed]}

Upon completion of his 10-year tour of duty, Irvine performed consultant work in Bali, Jakarta, and Ho Chi Minh City before becoming Executive Chef aboard numerous cruise ships, culminating with the five-star MS Crystal Harmony.^{[citation needed]}

Irvine has been Executive Chef for Donald Trump’s Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and Caesars Atlantic City. He has also been involved with the Children Uniting Nations charity that was founded by southern California socialite Daphna Ziman. He was one of a team of celebrity chefs who participated in their fundraising dinner for the 77th Academy Awards in 2005^[3] in addition to serving as Head Chef at their 78th Academy Awards dinner in 2006.^[4]

Irvine is currently president and founder of Irvine Thyme, LLC., and has introduced an Irvine-branded line of titanium cooking pans and knives, spices, and other food-related products ^[5].

Irvine's first cookbook, Mission: Cook!, written with Brian O'Reilly, was published by HarperCollins Publishers in September 2007 ^[6].

Irvine appeared on a December 2007 episode of Iron Chef America with Tyler Florence, in a dessert battle (theme ingredient: sugar) against Paula Deen and Cat Cora. The men lost. He is a member of the Council of Chefs, Cora's charity dedicated to helping hungry children.^[7]

Irvine was selected as one of the "25 Fittest Guys in America" by Men's Fitness magazine in 2007.^[8]

Irvine typically works in a black T-shirt or chef's jacket bearing the Irvine clan badge with the motto: "sub sole, sub umbra, virens" (flourishing in both sunshine and shade) ^[9].

[edit] Controversy

In 2006, Irvine arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida and announced his intention to turn the city into "the next Monaco" with the opening of two restaurants - the casual cafe Ooze and the upscale Schmooze - on the ground level of a condominium tower overlooking Vinoy Basin. Locals were impressed by the fact the chef was about to launch Dinner: Impossible and was in the midst of writing a cookbook. They were further impressed by his other claims: he was a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order; he had a degree in food and nutrition from the University of Leeds; he worked on the wedding cake for Prince Charles and Princess Diana; he had worked as a White House chef. These supposed credentials attracted the attention of socialite Wendy LaTorre (who says she is owed more than $100,000 for her contributions to the project), interior decorator Susan Nice, and website designer Monica Taylor.

[edit] St. Petersburg Times Article

In an article dated February 17, 2008, the St. Petersburg Times quoted sources who disputed most of Irvine's assertions. Nice has filed suit against him, claiming he breached a contract when he decided to use interior designer Paul Guillaume instead of her. Guillaume himself abandoned the project when he learned Taylor and her partner were supposedly owed $10,000 for their work on the website.

Three months after the project's scheduled opening, the 7,000-square foot space intended to house it remained vacant. According to Irvine's business partner, J. Randall Williams, "Everybody ... involved in the restaurant is paid up to date ... Robert is not interested in avoiding any obligations at all. What I'm trying to do is gather all of these claims and figure out what's real and what's not real, and it's difficult because everyone is claiming to have agreements with Robert."

Irvine claimed he was pressured into opening the two restaurants by LaTorre, rather than a much smaller restaurant he could have financed without backers.^[10]

[edit] Responses to the article

Claims that Irvine had made elsewhere were called into question based on the article. In Mission: Cook!, Irvine states he was at the Royal School of Cookery while the wedding cake was under construction, and was often consigned to "painstakingly inspecting, culling and cleaning billions of individual bits of dried fruit for inclusion (in the cake). This was 'KP' of the highest order for Queen and country." According to Dave Avery, the chef responsible for creating it, "Robert Irvine may have been a trainee student at the Royal Naval Cookery School whilst I was making the royal wedding cake. He most certainly was not involved with me in making or baking the cake."^[11]

In response to the Times article, the Food Network pulled Irvine's biography and celebrity chef status from its website. Network spokesperson Lisa De Colle said they were taking "the necessary steps to ensure the accuracy of all representations of Robert." Beginning with the episode that aired February 20, 2008, the claims that Irvine had worked for three U.S. presidents and the Royal Family were removed from the opening sequence of Dinner: Impossible.^[12]

Fallout from the controversy continued. The Home Shopping Network removed eight Irvine products from its website. Tom Briglia, who took the photographs for Mission: Cook!, claims he was not paid for his work, although he had no written contract. Irvine, who was scheduled to perform two cooking demonstrations at the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival the weekend of February 23-24, 2008 withdrew from the event. He also removed the biography from his own website, ChefRobertIrvine.com.^[13]

On February 29, 2008, the Food Network announced it would honor its contract with Irvine for a fourth season of thirteen programs but was looking for a replacement host for the series.^[14]

On March 7, 2008, posters proclaiming the forthcoming opening of Ooze and Schmooze were removed from the windows of the space the restaurants were supposed to occupy. The landlord said he was not responsible, and his lease with Irvine still was in effect. Irvine's representatives declined to comment.^[15]

On March 10, 2008, the landlord and Irvine's business partner issued a joint statement announcing the chef had abandoned his plan to open the restaurants. The reasons cited were "the timing is not exactly right" and Irvine "cannot commit to spending at least four days a week" at the restaurant, as he had planned.^[16]

In early March 2008, Food Network executives were uncertain if they would air the Irvine episode prepared for Chefography week (April 7-13, 2008).^[17] It ultimately was pulled from the schedule ^[18]

On April 21, 2008, Food Network executives released a statement announcing they were expanding the series to a one-hour format and replacing Irvine with recent Iron Chef America addition Michael Symon, whose episodes will begin airing during the summer.^[19]

[edit] After the controversy

Food Network restored Irvine's biography to their website later in the spring of 2008. It reflected his service in the British Royal Navy, service on the Royal Yacht Britannia, and service in the Naval Mess in the West Wing of the White House.^[20] He also appeared in an episode of The Next Food Network Star on June 8, 2008.^[21]

[edit] Personal

Irvine has lived with his wife Karen in Absecon, New Jersey since at least 1998.^[22]

[edit] Professional honors

Ambassador of the Culinary Institute of America (awarded for giving commencement address in December 2007)^[23]
Chef Professional from La Toque Blanche International
Chef’s Five-Star Diamond Award from American Academy of Hospitality Sciences 1998-2003 (recipients pay for the honor)
2001 Culinary Excellence Award granted at Carnegie Hall by the Culinary Institute of America and the American Tasting Institute
Trustee of the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences' Five-Star Diamond Award
Member of the Cookery and Food Association (MCFA) and Chef's Guild (CG)