Gordon Ramsay's Latest Project Is Inspired by a Big, Sad Secret Among Chefs

Gordon on Cocaine is the bold working title for a forthcoming two-part docuseries that Gordon Ramsay plans to release in the U.K. The unflinching look into the dark side of the drug was inspired by the widespread problem of cocaine addiction that secretly grips the culinary world and caused him to lose one of his own in 2003.

“I’ve wanted to understand the ‘world’ of cocaine ever since I lost one of my chefs at my flagship restaurant in Chelsea and I wanted to learn why it’s becoming such an epidemic not just globally but specifically in the culinary world,” he told Deadline. “Understanding and seeing how it’s made, transported, distributed, abused and prevented, has opened my eyes to the dreadfully dark side of cocaine that is simply not talked about and shown me that it’s far from glamorous and harmless."

Gordon went all the way to South and Central America to see how cocaine is cooked up and smuggled, tagged along with police raids and arrests in Columbia and the U.K. and talked to a former dealer and a recovering addict. According to the publication, networks in the U.S. are interested in airing the series as well, but a deal has yet to be announced.

"The documentary is gritty and shocking," he said, "but importantly an eye opener and hopefully a real education to all those in our industry and beyond. I dare anyone to watch this series and not think again about taking cocaine.”