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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Jamie Oliver & his flaming perfect Xmas's!

136 replies

Halloweencat · 13/12/2021 21:18

Nothing to gain from this thread except to air my irritation lol. Just been watching Jamie Oliver create his perfect pre Xmas soiree for about 20 friends & family. Gorgeous food, drinks, cocktails, Xmas decorations, perfect children helping out & singing merrily away. I love the fact that he is so in love with food & is very passionate about it, but is life really like that for anybody, & does it give you fomo & make you feel like you're not putting in enough effort cos your Xmas does not live up to it?
After a day at work & dealing with this cold that never seems to go away I can hardly summon up the energy to do the washing up! There is always the off button on the remote to turn this fantasy land off the tv...

OP posts:

amnm · 13/12/2021 21:19

I have to say I've never been a fan about how he uses his children, they're all over his books, Instagram and TV shows. It's almost like he's using them as marketing tools.

WeAreTheHeroes · 13/12/2021 21:22

I enjoy spotting all the things that show it is not in fact Christmas when they are filming: 1. the stylist chosen flowers on the windowsill trying hard to look Christmassy; 2. the fact it was clearly light outside at the kids' bedtime meaning it was either 3pm or not winter, etc, etc.

Jamie simplifies things which is a good thing. I'm going to make the gin cocktail on NYE.

Tal45 · 13/12/2021 21:22

He probably doesn't even know most of the people at his soiree, they're probably just hired to make it look like it's the perfect party. It's all for tv, edited to be coveted, none of it should be considered real life.

megletthesecond · 13/12/2021 21:24

I had to turn it over. Our house is hellish at the moment. I don't want my nose rubbed in fake perfect. (Proper bad mood here).

DillDanding · 13/12/2021 21:25

We do ‘perfect’ hosting but it’s all smoke and mirrors and we’re usually flapping around and being completely tetchy with each other up until the first guests arrive.

Plus Jamie Oliver makes me squirm.

Luredbyapomegranate · 13/12/2021 21:28

Life is like like for no one - it’s as fake as Instagram.

Nothing against him, but that event will have nothing to do with his actual life - he’s running a business and his image is core. Half the guests will have been random, at least.

Classica · 13/12/2021 21:29

He served salad with a beef stew.

IT WAS SO WRONG.

DownToTheSeaAgain · 13/12/2021 21:30

Food telly is like glossy coffee table books and property porn. Designed to be aspirational not real. I like his recipes and his passion for bringing good food to all. The rest of it - I switch over and watch This Life which I have just rediscovered via iPlayer. Now that's real life........

AlphabetStew · 13/12/2021 21:32

God no. I could not care less about what Jamie Oliver is up to. Seriously, couldn't imagine giving any less of a toss.

Sn0tnose · 13/12/2021 21:37

It certainly doesn’t give me fomo. He’s using his kids to flog his repeats and his wife looks dead behind the eyes. And his food doesn’t look that appetising.

ThinWomansBrain · 13/12/2021 21:37

haven't seen the ads
Is he having a not-christmas barbecue?

Haffdonga · 13/12/2021 21:38

Jamie was wearing a T shirt. His youngest ds was in dungarees, topless and had wet hair. It was very clearly warm weather despite the multiple shots of snow on pine trees that were in a different country altogether.

I just wondered how he has trained his dc to join in with the Christmas pretence and not to blab but daddy we're only pretending it's Christmas, aren't we?

Boood · 13/12/2021 21:41

@Sn0tnose

It certainly doesn’t give me fomo. He’s using his kids to flog his repeats and his wife looks dead behind the eyes. And his food doesn’t look that appetising.

Jools looks deeply, deeply unhappy to me. As if she’d rather be ANYWHERE else.

Sn0tnose · 13/12/2021 21:46

I just wondered how he has trained his dc to join in with the Christmas pretence and not to blab but daddy we're only pretending it's Christmas, aren't we?

I think the answer to that depends on whether you believe his ‘jolly dad’ bollocks before he calls his wife to scoop them all up and out of the way so he can get on with cooking.

HangingDitch · 13/12/2021 21:47

I don’t know why people are bothered by this. Yes, it presents an idealised picture of family life but that’s marketing. What do you expect him to do? Cook next to a sink full of pots because no-one has loaded the dishwasher? Get one of the kids to come in half way through and throw up on the lino? Him to decide to say fuck it and just warm up some M&S party food?

gofg · 13/12/2021 21:54

Well said @HangingDitch. Honestly, why people get so bothered over things that really don't matter. Have you watched any TV programme at all - most of them don't relate much to real life. Either watch and enjoy, or watch something else - it's simple really.

MeredithGreyishblue · 13/12/2021 21:56

Until he starts using plates like a normal human, I'm not watching him.

Pinkcurtwinsinthebin · 13/12/2021 21:58

A couple of years ago on something like getting ahead for Christmas he made what seemed a really nice gravy, it was downright expensive and was disgusting. I normally like his stuff but I reverted to the Bisto.

Classica · 13/12/2021 22:00

@Pinkcurtwinsinthebin

I'm intrigued by that gravy. People either rave about it or bleurgh at the memory of it!

ToykotoLosAngeles · 13/12/2021 22:01

Jamie Oliver was a very early version of an influencer and is not to be taken seriously!

That said I had colleagues in a former job in Frome who were so painfully middle-class-cookbook-stately-homes and that really was their life. It looked exhausting.

FrenchyQ · 13/12/2021 22:04

We always use his gravy recipe at Christmas, goes down well everytime. (Made and froze mine 2 weeks ago).

LobsterNapkin · 13/12/2021 22:06

Oh, I don't know OP. I suspect that if they didn't look fun and such people wouldn't be keen to use his recipes. We all know it's fake.

I have used a lot of his Christmas recipes in the past and I find them really good, tasty and also not too difficult. And usually not expensive.

SisterAgatha · 13/12/2021 22:06

*He served salad with a beef stew.

IT WAS SO WRONG.*

I could not agree more, I was 😱

5foot5 · 13/12/2021 22:07

There is always the off button on the remote to turn this fantasy land off the tv...

But it is a fantasy I love watching!

Of course it was filmed weeks ago, you would have to be an idiot not to realise that. But it's hardly like he is the only person on TV to do that. If Jools Holland is still doing the Hootenanny I bet that is already in the can.

I like his relaxed style and think the food looks yummy and actually I have his latest book on my Christmas list.

And actually I think the recurring theme of this Together series, which seems to be about doing as much in advance as possible so that when your guests come you can spend time with them rather than flapping about with the food, is a very good one.

Also I think it over cynical to suggest the guests are actors. He did introduce his mum and dad and MIL tonight and I recognised at least one other guest from a previous episode.

SisterAgatha · 13/12/2021 22:07

Also I just looked it up and reckon I’ll make that gravy actually. Minus the cranberry business.

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