14 DAY TRIAL // Celebrity chef and healthy eating champion Jamie Oliver has stepped at least on one set of toes while in Australia. Asked by a female reporter whether he's gained some weight, Jamie called her the b-word and “thanked” her for noticing.
As fans must know, Jamie is one of the champions of healthy eating, having also built a business empire on it in the process.
He has books, shows and various campaigns to change the way our children eat both in school and at home. His latest project is in Australia.
During a Q&A with the press to promote it, Jamie apparently lashed out at a reporter – though, the Daily Mail notes, he could just as well have been joking about it.
Photos from the event are here. They do seem to indicate that he's packed on a few pounds, which went straight to his face.
“I don’t know,” Jamie told the reporter, when asked if he's packing some extra weight. “I am very healthy. Are you from a tabloid? Thank you for noticing, you [expletive],” he added.
The Mail notes that chances are that Jamie was just joking, especially since he didn't show any signs that he was upset later on during the Q&A session.
He even joked that he was a bit lightheaded because he'd been out drinking with friends the night before.
On a more serious note, he stressed the importance of eating healthy and getting plenty of exercise, though he did admit that, in his case, there was always room for improvement.
“I do my best. Working in the food business is quite hard when someone is constantly asking you to try things. I eat fresh. I train twice a week. I could definitely do better, but I am trying to do my best like most people when they hit 30,” he said.
Later on, after the press event, as word of the so-called incident got out in the press, his rep went in damage control mode, issuing a statement to say that Jamie hadn't gained any weight – if he seemed that way in pictures, it's because the angle was bad.
“I can say for a fact he hasn’t gained any weight. They were bad pictures,” the publicist said.