Saturday, 20 October 2007

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Gordon Ramsay: I nearly died filming The F Word

Celeb chef tells of underwater ordeal

Gordon Ramsay was left fighting for his life during filming for TV show The F Word.

The celebrity chef was diving for crabs in Kirkenes, Norway, when the icy conditions took him by surprise.

‘I was down at 15 metres and then suddenly everything started to go wrong,’ he explains.

‘There was a strong current, I got totally disorientated, let go of the rope and mucked up my breathing on the regulator.’

As he rose to the surface, 40-year-old Gordon hit his head on the ice.

‘I knew I had to go back up, but I had no idea how fast I was going to shoot up through the water,’ he tells Live magazine. ‘Just as I was coming to the surface my head cracked into solid ice.

‘It was agony – I was right on the verge of being knocked out. I had a few moments of this thinking, “This is it. This is how it ends.”

'I had no idea where the ice hole was; all I could see was dark water and white ice.’

Fortunately, Gordon was able to find the borehole and swim to safety. But his producer wasn’t happy.

‘Then I was almost killed by the producer for being so stupid,’ he jokes.