Jamie Oliver

Who is Jamie Oliver?

Jamie Trevor Oliver was born on 27th May 1975 in Clavering, Essex. Jamie is a British chef, cookbook author and restaurateur. Not to be confused with Jamie Oliver, the keyboard player of Welsh band Lostprophets or Jaime Oliver Spaniard boxer. 

His cooking skills are well-known for his approachable cuisine by a regular home cook. Jamie opened numerous restaurants, led different television shows and has a highly subscribed YouTube channel.

Personal life of Jamie Oliver

Jamie was born and raised in Clavering, Essex. He started learning the art of cooking at a very young age. Jamie’s parents Trevor and Sally Oliver, ran a restaurant of their own called The Cricketers. He has one sister Anne-Marie.

Jamie Oliver was educated at Newport Free Grammar School and left the school at the age of 16 with two GCSE qualifications in Art and Geology. After that, Jamie went to Westminster Kingsway College, called Westminster Technical College beforehand. After graduating with City & Guilds National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in home economics.

In July 2000, Oliver married Juliette Norton. “Jools” is a former model and writer. This couple has five children—Eldest Poppy Honey Rosie, born on 18th March 2002. Daisy Boo Pamela was born on 10th April 2003. Petal Blossom Rainbow was born on 3rd April 2009. Buddy Bear Maurice was born on 15th September 2010, and the youngest River Rocket Blue Dallas was born on 8th August 2016.

Jamie Oliver moved with his family during the summer of 2019 into Spains Hall. They now live in a huge £6,000,000 property. This house is a 16th-century mansion in Finchingfield, Essex. It includes a 70-acre estate, three-bedroom lodge, six-bedroom farmhouse, tennis court, swimming pool and converted stables.

The career of Jamie Oliver

Jamie’s first chef job was at Antonio Carluccio’s Neal Street restaurant as a pastry chef. This is where Jamie met his friend and mentor, Gennaro Contaldo. After leaving Antonio’s restaurant, Jamie opened his own collection of high street restaurants, Jamie’s Italian. Jamie employed his friend Contaldo to help him run Jamie’s Italian.

That would be enough for most people, but not for Jamie. He moved to The River Café, Fulham and started working there as a sous-chef. Being amongst the top in his industry, Jamie got noticed by BBC in 1997 and starred in a show “Naked Chef” after making an unscripted appearance in a documentary about the restaurant Christmas at the River Café.

Jamie Oliver started his own campaign in 2005 called “Feed Me Better” to encourage British school kids towards healthier foods and away from junk food. Thanks to that, Jamie won “Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2005” in Channel 4’s annual viewer poll.

Controversies of Jamie Oliver

Being this famous as Jamie Oliver, you’ll indeed create some controversies and step on people toes. 

In 2005, Oliver got into an argument with animal rights groups. Jamie slaughtered a lamb on his TV show without first stunning it. Sean Gifford, the PETA spokesman, said that it was hoped the footage “could turn the more die-hard carnivore into a vegetarian”. Peta stated that it showed the public problems with the methods used within slaughterhouses. British TV regulator Ofcom reported over seven complaints from the public.

Jack Monroe stated that Jamie Oliver’s comments “Support damaging myths that poor people are only poor because they spend their money on the wrong things, rather than being constrained by time, equipment, knowledge or practicalities”. He introduced “cheap” food and encouraged poor people to prepare their own healthy meals. He was criticised for an unrealistic view of poverty in Britain and around the Mediterranean.

Jamie is also not afraid to share his opinion. At the LeWeb conference in London, 2012, Oliver commented on other chefs. Oliver also spoke against Marco Pierre White, who has been overly critical of Jamie Oliver in the past and also about Gordon Ramsay.

His “Feed Me Better” campaign in 2005 also involved some controversy. Giving students an option to eat healthier, what could go wrong, right? This campaign was arguably successful, but many students and parents believed that they shouldn’t be forced towards more nutritious food and should be given a choice.

In 2011, Oliver advocated cooking meals from scratch and using local ingredients. It turned out that Jamie’s Italian sauces in Glasgow were from an industrial park almost 400 miles (640 kilometres) away from Bicester. 

That same year, in 2011, Oliver was accused of the lack of food safety protections in his restaurants and illnesses associated with undercooking minced meat that may have been contaminated with E. coli.

His “Big Fish Fight” campaign that he ran with Gordon Ramsay caused another controversy. This campaign was supposed to advertise sustainable seafood. It got criticised for using an endangered fish.

In 2014, Oliver got criticised once again for funding and advertising Woolworths Supermarkets. The reason for this controversy involved his relationship with the supermarket. 

“Moreover, in this case, he is not a spectator but effectively a beneficiary of these demands on our farmers. If he disapproves of Woolworths’ ethics, he can withdraw from the campaign and refund his endorsement fee. In the last 12 months, the average vegetable grower has gone from making a small profit to making a loss. In the same 12 months, Mr Oliver’s wealth rose by an estimated £90 million. Now we know how.”

Oliver got into an argument with Minnette Batters in February 2017 after he criticised the Red Tractor Scheme. 

Oliver said: “Chickens are bred to grow fast with a high ratio of meat to bone, but this makes them heavy so they can struggle to walk...I think people would be shocked by the reality of what we are buying. I personally wouldn’t feed it to my kids.” 

Batters repelled with: “There are a lot of people on tight budgets, and they must not be disadvantaged in all of this. It is about making sure we can provide quality, affordable, safe, traceable food to everybody regardless of budgets, regardless of background.”

Jamie Oliver partnered with Royal Dutch Shell to offer a Jamie Oliver Deli in 2019. This deal was criticised as a way to improve their image due to Shell’s lack of action on climate change, bribery and corruption. These allegations damaged Jamie’s image of working in the interests of children and for action on climate change.

Advertising of Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver has been the face of Sainsbury’s supermarket chain since June 2000 and appeared in their multiple advertisements and in-store promotional material. Oliver and J. Sainsbury never shared the exact figure Jamie gets, but over £1 million is estimated every year. Jamie stared in over 60 advertisements by 2004. It didn’t go without controversy. Jamie admitted that he does not use supermarkets, despite having “product placement” in his TV series.

The deal between Oliver and Sainsbury’s ended on Christmas 2011. Jamie criticised Sainsbury’s CEO, Justin King when he slammed the “junk” sold by supermarkets. King hit back, stating: “Dictating to people-or unleashing an expletive-filled tirade-is not the way to get engagement.”

Jamie Oliver also advertised a line of non-stick pans and cookware for Tefal.

He also appeared in Australian television commercials for Yalumba wines, using Del Boy’s catchphrase of “Lovely Jubbly”. 

Jamie Oliver partnered with Canadian supermarket chain Sobeys in August 2013.

In October 2013, Oliver began a partnership with Australian chain Wollsworths supermarkets to collaborate on a series of better nutrition initiatives.

Oliver partnered with another brand called HelloFresh in January 2016. This international meal kit subscription service announced a partnership to incorporate his recipes into the weekly subscription deliveries. Customers started receiving one recipe written by Jamie Oliver with all the exact ingredients and steps for the dish.

Jamie Oliver also collaborated with Tesco and created a series of recipes in September 2018. He participated in the promotion of the company’s food products.

How much does Jamie Oliver earn on YouTube? Net worth!

Jamie Oliver has more than 5,500,000 subscribers on YouTube. With that many subscribers, Jamie gets over 110,000 views per day. YouTube channels get somewhere between $3 to $7 per 1,000 views through YouTube ads. That means Jamie should earn somewhere around $13,000 per month and $200,000 per year on the low end. 

Even though Jamie’s channel is relatively big, it’s only a portion of his net worth. His net worth is estimated to be at a crazy $300 million. He published multiple books, some of them are amongst the top-selling in the UK, and he starred in various TV shows.

Some of Jamie Oliver’s TV shows

1. 1999 - 2001 The Naked Chef - This show is not what it sounds like. Even Oliver himself stated he was worried that his mother would think he was a pornstar. Naked means Oliver was cooking simple dishes without fancy additions. The opening titles include a clip of him telling: “No way! It’s not me. It’s the food!” The success of the show led to the books (1999) “The Naked Chef”, (2000) Return of the Naked Chef and (2001) Happy Days with the Naked Chef.
2. 2002 Oliver’s Twist - The program’s name is a play on the title of Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist. This showed aired after his first TV series, “The Naked Chef”. This show became a success with its 52 episodes and was airing in over 70 countries. It helped to establish Oliver’s global popularity.
3. 2015 Jamie’s Super Food - During the series, Jamie Oliver travels to some of the healthiest places in the world to find out how people there live longer and healthier lives. This series focuses on the recipes in Jamie’s Super Food book to teach people how to make fun, rich and delicious food. The series also included a documentary called “Jamie’s” Sugar Rush. This documentary takes a look at the sugar in products and why we should be worried about it.
4. 2017-2020 Jamie’s Quick & Easy Food - This is an eight-episode series based on the recipes in Jamie’s 5 Ingredients: Quick & Easy Food book, which tries to show people how to cook great food from just 5 Ingredients. This show had four series.
5. 2019 Jamie’s Meat-Free Meals / Jamie’s Ultimate Veg - Jamie wants people to eat less meat and try more vegetables. He travelled all over the world to find inspiration from different countries. Jamie created a collection of stunning hearty and healthy veg dishes that are easy and delicious.
6. 2020 Jamie: Keep Cooking and Carry On - Jamie prepares food with limited ingredients and substitutions. This show was created for the crowd isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Episodes are filmed on Jamie’s phone with his family serving as crew. This show has been criticised once again for using ingredients and techniques not found in a typical home. 
7. 2020 Jamie: Keep Cooking Family Favourites - A television series based on the recipes from Oliver’s 7 Ways book. This show aimed to show people how to cook simple, affordable and delicious meals using common household ingredients. First Series premiered on 17th August 2020 on Channel 4. The second series premiered on 22nd February 2021 on Channel 4.
8. 2020 Jamie and Jimmy’s Festive Feast - Jamie & Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast Christmas special with special guests Joe Wicks and Sam Smith, premiered on 29th December 2020 on Channel 4.

Interesting facts about Jamie Oliver

• In 2015, Jamie Oliver told The Times magazine that he had lost 13 kg (28 lb) in three months just by changing his diet and getting enough sleep.
• Jamie Oliver suffers from severe dyslexia and read his first novel (Catching Fire) in 2013, at the age of 38, strangely beginning in the middle of an established series.
• In June 2003, Oliver was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for “services to the hospitality industry”.
• Disney Pixar chose Oliver to provide the British English voice of health inspector in the animated movie “Ratatouille”.
• In December 2009, Oliver received the 2010 TED Prize.
• Oliver is the second-best-selling British author, behind J. K. Rowling, and the best-selling British non-fiction author since records began.
• As of February 2019, Oliver has sold more than 14.55 million books, generating just under £180m for the chef.
• During the summer of 2019, Jamie and his family moved into Spains Hall, the 16th-century mansion in Finchingfield, Essex. The £6m property is located on a 70-acre estate and includes a six-bedroom farmhouse, three-bedroom lodge, swimming pool, tennis court and converted stables.
• Oliver’s holding company, Jamie Oliver Holdings Ltd., earned enough for Oliver to have been listed on The Sunday Times list of richest Britons under 30.