http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1191786/Australias-Prime-Minister-calls-Gordon-Ramsay-lowlife-row-TV-host-reaches-boiling-point.htmlGordon Ramsay apologised in an extraordinary row with an Australian TV host because his mother told him too, it has emerged.
The foul-mouthed TV chef was branded a 'lowlife' by none other than Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd yesterday after his war of words with a female television presenter reached boiling point.
Yesterday Ramsay offered an 'unreserved' apology for his insulting comments - and today he admitted he had done so because his mother Helen told him too.
The row began last week when Tracy Grimshaw interviewed the chef as part of a promotional tour.
During the interview Ramsay inexplicably made insensitive remarks about the presenter's appearance.
At one point he commented on Miss Grimshaw's facial mole and asked: 'Is that a wart? It looks like your little sister's on your lip.'
The next day he caused uproar at a food fair in Melbourne when he likened Miss Grimshaw, 39, to a pig.
In front of an audience of thousands he held up a picture of a naked woman with the features of a pig, and said: 'That's Tracy Grimshaw. I had an interview with her yesterday... holy ****. She needs to see Simon Cowell's Botox doctor.'
Yesterday Mr Rudd felt moved to intervene. He said: 'I think I can describe his remarks as reflecting a new form of low life.
'I just drew a breath when I saw the sort of stuff which he said about her. I just think that's off, and offensive.'
This morning the Ramsay admitted that where Mr Rudd and Miss Grimshaw had failed to make him see the error of his ways, his mother Helen had succeeded.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Angry: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Speaking to Australian media, he admitted he had received a heated 'please explain' phone call from his mother, still in the UK.
'She was disgusted and she wanted to know what actually happened,' Ramsay told the Herald Sun.
'When your mum rings you and starts giving you a bollocking down the telephone then of course you start to get the picture.'
He also insisted that he had tried to apologise to Miss Grimshaw before.
'I made a strong attempt on Saturday to contact her and I suppose like any petulant teenager, when you get ignoredand the whole thing escalated,' he told Australian media.
'I tried to contact her, there was no response on Saturday, so I kept jibbing away at her (on Sunday).
'I wish I'd had the chance to put this fire out three days ago.'
Channel Nine has confirmed that Ramsay tried to contact Grimshaw through her show's producer.
Earlier Miss Grimshaw had hit back at Ramsay on her show, A Current Affair.
She asked viewers: 'How many people would laugh if they were effectively described as an old, ugly pig?
'I spent all day yesterday trying to think about how to respond and I thought about saying nothing.
'But we all know that bullies thrive when no one takes them on. I am not going to sit meekly and let some arrogant narcissist bully me.' Then came what Mr Rudd described as a good 'upper cut'.
Miss Grimshaw spoke of Ramsay's relationship with his wife.
Alluding to an alleged seven-year affair with author Sarah Symonds, she said: 'We have all seen how Gordon Ramsay treats his wife and he supposedly loves her. We are all just fodder to him.'
The presenter continued her attack today in a radio interview during which she said Ramsay would not be invited back on her programme.
'I'm not interested in speaking to the bloke again,' Grimshaw told Fairfax Radio. 'I can't imagine any circumstances where I would want to interview him again.'
Yesterday Ramsay said 'things had been over-exaggerated' and took a swipe at Miss Grimshaw for a 'disgusting attack' on his wife.
Ramsay claimed he had never used the word lesbian when speaking of Miss Grimshaw.
'I am very sorry now that Tracy now decides to attack my wife...
'So for me on a personal front to see how sad and how bitter for someone like that to come out, a renowned pro, to stoop that low to attack my life is disgusting.'
He later added to media: 'If any of you guys had called my wife a pig and it was in front of me, I'd punch your lights out.'
By last night, however, there were rare signs of contrition.
Referring to Ramsay's comments at the Australian BBC Good Food Show, his spokesperson said: 'His comments relating to Tracy Grimshaw, who had interviewed Gordon the previous evening, were off the cuff and in response to heckling from the audience.
'His intention was to make a joke and indeed he did raise a big laugh at the time.
'However, with hindsight he realises that his comments were inappropriate and offensive to Tracy Grimshaw, and he has unreservedly apologised both to her and anybody else who may who may have been upset.'
The row was ramped up even further as he threatened legal action, while her station chiefs at Channel 9 released backstage video of the chef insulting stylists and a weather forecaster.
A series of uncut scenes shot minutes before Ramsay's ill-fated interview Miss Grimshaw have also been released by Channel 9.
They show the chef swearing and insulting staff at the Channel Nine TV studio.
In make-up, he was filmed speaking to staff saying: 'Christ almighty. Your f****** breath stinks. F****** caffeine. Turn round the other way.'
In another shot, speaking about the station's weather forecaster Lavinia Nixon, he said: 'She doesn't know her a*** from her elbow. She said it would be p***ing down with rain at lunchtime and it isn't.'
He also told another female reporter that if she ran a marathon she should rub extra-virgin olive oil into her nipples.
He said: 'Having run ten marathons, extra-virgin olive oil is good for the nipples. Hot tip.'
Meanwhile, Sarah Symonds, the woman at the centre of an alleged affair with the chef, has labelled Ramsay as 'nervous and very angry at the world' following his outburst at Grimshaw.
'If women were an ingredient I think he would liken them to lard,' she told Australian TV show Today Tonight from her Los Angeles home.
'He would think they were stupid, a little chunky, just good for baking cakes and staying at home.
'I would say right now that his ego is starting to eat him up and he is beginning to look to the general public, myself included, like a vicious pig.
'I don't know why Gordon Ramsay is doing certain things. I can only say from the outside that it looks to me that he is very nervous and very angry at the world.' 'When I know him if you could get past the hot headiness he is quite a nice person.
'Sadly these days I think he is growing into his own persona and was becoming a parody of himself.' And the alleged former lover says she is not surprised at the chef's comments about Grimshaw.
'Gordon Ramsay called me a name I would rather not repeat it is so disgusting and low level I still haven't forgiven him for it,' she added.
