Top chef Gordon Ramsay tackled the cocaine epidemic head on after losing a colleague, who got hooked on the drug.
In new documentary Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine, the TV personality meets with the leaders of one of the world's most notorious drug gangs and also uncovers abuse in his own restaurants.
And the idea for the film started when a friend died.
"It’s obviously everywhere and it’s a huge problem," Gordon tells U.K. chat show host Jonathan Ross. "(I) suffered a great loss years ago, an amazing young man... We had dinner the night before he passed. I wish I’d seen signs earlier. Cooking at a level where everyone is under that pressure but you don’t need that substance to continue. It was a big loss.
"I think the image today of a chef, I think everyone thinks it’s this rock and roll lifestyle and you need that help, that substance."
But Ramsay was surprised to find cocaine use was rife in his own restaurants: "I called a meeting. I didn’t throw anyone under the bus, I didn’t single anyone out. I just said, 'Look, this is everywhere, it’s spotted in the restaurants and it needs to stop'."
That was the easiest part of the documentary. Gordon also met with terrifying, real-life drug lords: "It was very dangerous. We had an amazing fixture (insider) on the ground for three months prior to entering into that part of the neighbourhood. Then when we got there we got stitched (up) with a dummy address, spotters all on the roofs, windows down...
"When I walked inside this room, (there were) AK-47s to Glocks (guns) to wraps of coke, bullets sprayed everywhere, in a neighbourhood next to a ‘chop house’, where they used to take the bodies to chop them (up)...
"There was a possibility (of me being kidnapped)," he adds. "I was with an amazing journalist, who has an incredible relationship over the last decade with these guys... He was my benchmark and a great support. But I never really wanted to think about that, because I wanted to see what happens when these deals get done... and why there is such violence in this cocaine warehouse... I never wanted to be criticised for tip-toeing over things."
