Despite disappointing ratings for Gordon's Great Escape, broadcaster understood to have agreed in principle to contract
TV chef Gordon Ramsay will sign an exclusive one-year deal to stay with Channel 4.
Despite his latest series, Gordon's Great Escape, not performing as well as expected, the broadcaster wants to keep him on and he is understood to have agreed in principle to a new contract, although the deal has yet been signed.
Unlike his previous multi-year deals, Channel 4 offered Ramsay a one-year extension to his golden handcuffs deal.
It is understood that Ramsay had exploratory conversations with ITV ? which makes his hit US show Hell's Kitchen ? but has decided to re-sign to Channel 4.
Ramsay's current deal expires next month and according to sources the final details of the new contract, thought to be worth just under �1m, will be sorted out when he returns to the UK in a couple of weeks.
It is understood the deal is for two series ? one that combines a business-related concept with Ramsay spending time in a prison and another, yet to be decided, which will probably be more traditionally food-related.
A spokeswoman for Ramsay said: "Gordon is delighted to be continuing a great relationship with Channel 4 and is excited about the new project they have in development."
After a year when revelations about Ramsay's personal life hit the headlines, rather than his restaurants and TV shows, there had been speculation that his reputation was tarnished and that Channel 4 might not renew his exclusive deal after it appeared his ability to cook up huge audiences in the UK was waning.
At the height of the popularity of hit Channel 4 series Kitchen Nightmares, Ramsay was pulling in around 4 million viewers for the broadcaster.
But Gordon Ramsay's Best Restaurant ended up averaging just over 1.5 million last year ? higher than the slot average, but below his previous ratings highs.
And on Monday, his latest series Gordon's Great Escape, finished its four part run with about 900,000 viewers at 9pm.
It was in a tough slot, up against ITV1's Coronation Street and Britain's Got Talent, with Simon Cowell back on the judging panel for the first time in 2011, but nevertheless will be a disappointment. According to Channel 4 insiders it is thought unlikely Great Escape will return.
But the broadcaster and Ramsay have a long history together and the mutual loyalty between the two is said to have played a large part in the new deal, with Channel 4 executives thinking he should have "another crack at the whip" rather than axe him because of a ratings blip.
He signed his first three-year exclusive deal with Channel 4 in 2004, the year Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was first broadcast. In 2006, at the height of the UK TV talent bidding wars, Channel 4 won a three-way contest with ITV and the BBC to keep Ramsay on an exclusive contract. He stayed with Channel 4 for a reported �8.5m four-year deal running to mid 2011.
Ramsay's new shows will be made through One Potato, Two Potato ? the joint venture production company he set up with Optomen Television. Both companies were last year bought by All3Media.
He is busy in the US with the successful American versions of Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen and Masterchef, and is planning to do less work in the UK for the time being.
However, it is understood Channel 4 has been talking to him, along with some of its other most famous faces, about playing a part in its Paralympics coverage next year.
He is also appearing in a new film alongside Dougray Scott, Simon Callow and Peter Bowles called Love's Kitchen, out on 7 June.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/01/gordon-ramsay-channel-4-deal
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