TV chef James Martin has revealed he used to sleep in a camper van due to fears over his career coming to an end. The ITV Saturday Morning host, one of Britain's best-known TV chefs, has built a hugely successful career in the kitchen and on screen over more than two decades.
As well as his regular television work, James has presented a host of food and travel programmes, including James Martin's French Adventure and James Martin's American Adventure. He has also written numerous bestselling cookbooks, cementing his place as one of the UK's most popular celebrity chefs.
Camper van confessions
Following his departure from the BBC on Saturday Kitchen, James launched James Martin's Saturday Morning on ITV, where he continues to cook up his signature dishes alongside celebrity guests and some of the country's top chefs.
In an episode of the Grilling podcast with Simon Rimmer, his fellow celebrity chef spoke candidly about his time working at the BBC Good Food Shows and one of the earliest occasions he encountered James at the NEC. He described it as a "properly brilliant time", despite staying at the "worst hotel in the world", but one thing Simon could always recall from "those days" was James' professionalism and how he slept in his camper van in order to arrive at work early.
Probing James about his dedication, Simon said: "You've never lost that. You were always known as being the guy that would like... you'd roll up in your camper van, you'd sleep in your camper van at times, and you'd do the show, and you've never stopped working. Still now, you still don't. Is that because of a love for it, or is it also... are you slightly insecure that you worry about it ending?"
Worries about career ending
James replied: "Several things... I worry about it ending for sure, not that I'm pressed about it now as much as I was. But I still care more than I did before, if that makes sense?"
This isn't the first time the celebrity chef has spoken about burnout. The celebrity chef has also experienced burnout as the restaurant industry became "tougher and tougher". He confessed: "I can't bend down as quickly as I used to" as three decades in the hospitality sector takes its toll.
James' dedication to work once meant he went without a single day off for three years, but he revealed a shocking incident prompted him to try and achieve a better work-life balance.
Shocking incident changed perspective
Speaking on Loose Women, he explained: "Work was fundamental to this happening - I hadn't had a day off for several years, and before that it was two days off for nearly three years. I was doing a gig abroad and I was chatting to a gentleman who was the same age as me, he had the same work ethic, he was really keen on work. He went out on stage literally five minutes after I spoke to him to do an awards ceremony, he fell and died before he hit the floor. All of us were just around him in a total shock. I got back on the plane and thought 'now I'm going to redress the balance.' And now I'm in a great place."
Earlier in the interview, Simon noted that James had been in a position where he could have "kicked back a little bit" if he'd "wanted to", and might even have "become a little bit arrogant" off the back of his success, putting less effort into his demonstrations. Yet despite this, James displayed a "work ethos" that perfectly embodied the timeless saying, "You don't get owt for nowt", according to Simon.
