Gary Rhodes Biography

Gary Rhodes was born on April 22, 1960, in Camberwell, South London, United Kingdom, to Gordon and Jean (née Ferris) Rhodes.

Gary and his family soon moved to Gillingham, Kent. There, he attended The Howard School in Rainham.

He then attended the Thanet Technical College (also known as East Kent College), where he met his future wife, Jennie.

Gary Rhodes’s first job was at the Amsterdam Hilton hotel, where he cooked up nouvelle cuisine. However, while in Amsterdam, he met with a serious accident, in which he was hit by a transit van while he was rushing to catch a tram.

Following this, he traveled across Europe and took up various jobs. He eventually joined the Reform Club, Pall Mall, as a sous chef.

He then joined the Michelin-starred Capital Hotel, located in Knightsbridge. He worked under the guidance of Brian Turner there.

Gary then joined the Castle Hotel in Taunton, Somerset, as their head chef. He maintained the hotel's Michelin star rating.

In 1990, Gary went back to London and joined The Greenhouse restaurant in Mayfair, as their head chef. In January 1996, he obtained a Michelin star for the restaurant.

Gary launched his first restaurant, City Rhodes, in 1997. The following year, he opened another restaurant, Rhodes in the Square. Both the restaurants were located in London and were launched in association with Sodexo.

The partnership later led to the launch of Rhodes & Co. in Manchester, Edinburgh, and Crawley.

In 2003, both City Rhodes and Rhodes in the Square closed down. Following this, Gary launched Rhodes Twenty Four at Tower 42 in London. The restaurant obtained a Michelin star in 2005. Till 2014, when it was closed down, the restaurant had retained its two-Michelin-star status.

Gary Rhodes was also the owner of Arcadian Rhodes on the P&O superliner MS Arcadia. He also owned the Rhodes Calabash at The Calabash Hotel, Grenada, and the Rhodes W1 at The Cumberland Hotel, London. He often wrote for the magazine BBC Good Food.

In 1992, at the age of 27, Gary made his debut TV appearance, with the documentary series Hot Chefs, under the guidance of TV chef Glynn Christian. In 1994, Gary earned a BBC series titled Rhodes Around Britain.

He was also part of the documentary series More Rhodes Around Britain (1995) and Gary Rhodes (1997). The TV special titled Gary's Rhodes' Perfect Christmas was aired in 1998.

The following year, Gary hosted the BBC TV series named Gary Rhodes' New British Classics. In 2000 and 2001, Gary appeared as a host in two seasons of the PBS show MasterChef USA.

In 2001, he was back with another season of the cookery series Gary Rhodes. The following year, he hosted the series Gary Rhodes: Cookery Year.

He was also seen in the documentary Rhodes across India, which featured his apprentices Scott Davis, Bushra Akram, and Kalwant Sahota.

In 2008, he appeared in Rhodes across China, along with sous chefs Teresa Tsang and Melissa Syers.

Gary also tied up with Tate & Lyle in the 1990s. As a result, he appeared on Tate & Lyle sugar sachets.

Along with Flora UK, he was part of the Cooking in Schools campaign. He was also seen in TV commercials for Flora magazine.

In 2006, he represented the South of England in the BBC culinary competition Great British Menu. However, the contest was eventually won by Atul Kochhar.

Gary was seen on the parody game show Shooting Stars on BBC Two. He also teamed up with Karen Hardy to participate in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing, which began airing in September 2008. The duo ranked 14th on the show.

Some of the other shows Gary had been part of were Hell's Kitchen (2004 to 2005), Jam (short, 2009), Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (2004), The Great British Menu (2006), and Loose Women (2008 to 2017). He had also been part of the UKTV Food show Local Food Hero and the ITV1 show Saturday Cooks.

In 2011, Gary moved to Dubai, U.A.E., where he launched Rhodes Mezzanine, which was later renamed Rhodes W1 Dubai, at the Grosvenor House Hotel.

He had another restaurant in Dubai, named Rhodes Twenty10, at the Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa.

In 2013, Gary launched his first restaurant in Abu Dhabi. It was named Rhodes 44 and was located at The St. Regis Hotel.

Gary had launched his own line of bread mixes and cookware. He had also written numerous cookbooks, such as Rhodes Around Britain (1994), Open Rhodes Around Britain (1996), Short-cut Rhodes (1997), New British Classics (1999), New Classics (2001), Food with Friends (2002), Cookery Year: Spring into Summer (2003), Hell's Kitchen Cookbook (2005), Keeping It Simple (2005), and Time to Eat (2007), among others.

On June 17, 2006, Gary Rhodes was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

In 1989, Gary Rhodes married Jennie Adkins. Jenny, too, is a trained chef. They had first met at the catering college named Thanet Technical College. They initially lived in Orpington, Kent.

The couple had two children, their sons Samuel (born in 1988) and George (born in 1990).

On November 26, 2019, Gary died in Dubai, U.A.E., at the age of 59. Initially, it was assumed that he had fallen in the shower and had suffered a head injury that had caused his death.

However, a statement made by his family later confirmed that he had died of subdural hematoma, or bleeding in the brain.

Gary’s friend Jaideep Bhatia later revealed that Gary was fine after shooting for the show Delicious Dubai the entire day. Gary had then gone back home, taken a shower, had a ham sandwich with his wife, and collapsed while getting ready to go to bed.

Gary was a huge fan of the Manchester United football club.

Gary Rhodes was known for his signature spiky hairstyle, which became somewhat of a trademark during his career as a celebrity chef.

He was passionate about preserving traditional British cuisine and often incorporated classic recipes into his modern dishes.

Gary Rhodes held a Michelin star for his restaurant in London, showcasing his culinary talent and commitment to excellence in the kitchen.

He was a familiar face on various cooking shows and competitions, where his expertise and charm endeared him to audiences around the world.

In addition to his culinary skills, Gary Rhodes was also a published author, sharing his knowledge and love for food through several cookbooks.