Chef's latest business offloading could net him more than £20m

Gordon Ramsay may have had to close down The Devonshire but he stands to make millions offloading another of his businesses. The apparently financially troubled Chef has sold his half of One Potato Two Potato - the production company which makes many of his hit TV shows including Gordon's Great Escape and Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live.

Ramsay’s TV career has long proved successful. May 2004 saw Ramsay star in the Channel 4 series Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, later to be awarded a BAFTA and an International Emmy. Shortly after this, he was given two weeks to direct a group of celebrities towards Michelin standard cooking in the ITV series Hell's Kitchen. A second series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was followed by the debut of Channel 4's The F-Word, a high-octane food show with cooking, food campaigns and celebrity guests. In America, a sixth season of Hell’s Kitchen aired this summer to exceptional viewing figures of over 14 million.

It is his seemingly constant presence on our small screens that has often been blamed for keeping him out of the kitchen and away from his restaurants.

One Potato Two Potato, which is being sold to All3Media as part of a takeover of Optomen Television, will reportedly net Ramsay £20 million which will no doubt come in handy after it transpired authorities in the US sent his firm Gordon Ramsay Holdings three outstanding tax bills in the last eight months.

He told The Press Association, "Twenty years of working in kitchens has taught me that success is always a team effort, and with the help of the team at All3Media I'm confident we can take things to the next level and soon reach three potato, four potato and more."

A spokesperson for Gordon Ramsay Holdings said that the taxes are not Ramsay’s personal liabilities. The demands followed hot on the heals of the closure of his restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday, July 30.

August 18, 2010