Exclusive – Gordon Ramsay explains how he got hooked on Bank Balance and ended up hosting

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, the TV chef said he became invested in the show after his production company started developing the primetime entertainment series.

"I didn’t start out wanting to host a game show. It was a seed of an idea created by our brilliant, young dynamic development team at Studio Ramsay that grew very quickly into something pretty epic over lockdown last year," he explained.

"I was home, grounded, like we all were. I couldn’t travel, all I could do was sit on endless zoom calls watching this brilliant balance game come to life.

"Then we made a prototype board which got sent to my house in a van and I endlessly stacked blocks over and over again trying to understand the jeopardy. Let me tell you, it’s really really hard – much harder than people will think!

"As lockdown began to ease and as we [Studio Ramsay] started pitching the idea to the networks, I realised I was so invested in the b****y game that I couldn’t just step away and let someone else host it, so that was the deal, we devised, created, produced and filmed the whole show in one year all in COVID. B****y crazy really!"

Ramsay, who is best known for presenting cooking shows Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and MasterChef US, as well as Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip, begins hosting his first game show, Gordon Ramsay's Bank Balance, next Wednesday.

The series sees pairs of hopeful contestants try to answer various questions correctly before placing different-sized stacks of gold bars on a volatile balance board. The more bars balanced, the bigger the jackpot but if it all comes crashing down, then they go home with nothing.

Gordon Ramsay's Bank Balance airs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 9pm on BBC One from February 24th. If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide.