Jamie Oliver has said that BBC executives kept his wife Jools Oliver off camera during the first series of The Naked Chef because they did not want viewers to think he had a girlfriend. The 51-year-old chef, who was 23 when the show first aired in 1999, admitted he was "naive" about the decision at the time.
Filmed at home without Jools
The Channel 4 presenter of Jamie's 20 Minute Meals explained that the show was filmed in the flat he rented and lived in with Jools, who is now his wife. However, she was absent from the first series. Speaking on The Splendid Table podcast earlier this year, he said the "middle-aged BBC executives didn't want me to have a girlfriend."
He recalled: "They were just following my life and instead of filming in a studio, they filmed in the flat that I rented, and I actually lived there. And for the first season, the kind of middle-aged BBC executives didn't want me to have a girlfriend. Jools didn't exist in the first series, so, obviously, you know, that was interesting."
More freedom after success
Jamie said he gained more creative freedom after The Naked Chef became a major hit. "But then, as The Naked Chef went out and it was huge, a little bit more permission came my way and I was slightly less naive," he said. "And the whole series, like, Jools was in my bedroom downstairs kind of waiting for production to finish and get out of the house so we could just have a house again!"
Despite the challenge of concealing his private life, Jamie described his time on the BBC programme as "amazing." He added: "It was amazing, and I was grateful, and I was excited to be living in London as a country boy. I was excited to be in love and be with my Mrs."
Jools' recent diagnosis
Jools, who has been married to Jamie for 26 years, recently revealed she has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD. She said that not understanding her neurodivergence has "ruined" her life for the past 45 years. Speaking on the Lessons From Our Mothers podcast, the mother of five said: "It's no superpower. It's just a drain and it's just really hard work."
Jools decided to undergo testing for autism after her ADHD diagnosis, recognising that she shares behavioural patterns with some of her and Jamie's children, who have also been diagnosed with autism. Jamie's 20 Minute Meals airs on Monday 2nd November from 8pm on Channel 4.
