Gordon Ramsay had self-defence classes before cooking with prisoners for Gordon Behind Bars

Gordon Ramsay had self-defence classes before cooking with prisoners for Gordon Behind Bars

He was teaching 12 lags how to cook for a living for his latest Channel 4 series when simmering tensions between two inmates suddenly boiled over.

Gordon revealed: “Prisons are very intimidating places â€" every two or three metres there are bars.

“There was one incident where a guy lunged to headbutt another inmate, who was arguing over sauce.

“The general consensus of a meal is they douse it in chilli flakes, HP sauce, ketchup and make this concoction. Someone forgot to bring someone’s sachets in and that was that.

“I was standing close by one bloke with another opposite me, and then this guy lunged over and went to headbutt him. I had to sort it out.

“That is how fragile things are when they argue over nothing. They are deprived of everything, for obvious reasons, so a little incident becomes a massive one.

“I was always on edge when it did kick off because you can’t get to the situation readily â€" it’s not like a kitchen at Claridge’s or the Savoy.”

The craggy-faced TV star spent six months in Brixton Prison in south London filming Gordon Behind Bars, which starts on Tuesday.

Before he went inside, wife Tana made him take self-defence classes.

He said: “Tana was very nervous. She insisted on some self-defence classes where I learnt how to grapple properly. I thought, ‘Jeez, here we go’ until Will Usher, the guy who was training me, went for me, then I knew I had to stop d***ing around.

“He is a small guy but he put me on my back. He flattened me. That is when I knew I had to pay attention. He showed me what you can do with your elbow. I learnt how powerful they are. That gave me a lot more confidence.”

Tana wasn’t the only one worried about Gordon’s prison project. Their children Megan, 14, twins Jack and Holly, 12, and Matilda, ten, were also anxious â€" as were pals David and Victoria Beckham.

Gordon added: “David said, ‘I don’t know what you want to go inside for’. I told him that it was not just about getting these guys job-ready but to send out the message that prisons are hard enough places before you get in there.

“I told the children that Daddy was going to work... I was out early as some mornings I had to be there at 6.30am because getting these b****** up wasn’t easy.”

Gordon was surprised at how much the inmates knew about the news â€" until he realised they were reading The Sun every day.

He said: “They watch a lot of TV and they read The Sun. Everyone has got the Currant Bun every day and it gets passed around. I didn’t expect that level of knowledge about the outside world.”

One reason he did the challenging show was as an antidote to his showbiz life in LA. He said: “You get spoilt in America when you get successful there.

“All of a sudden whatever you say goes. I get sick to death of it. I don’t like that kind of arse-kissing. Doing this show was like going from one end of the spectrum to the other. Here I was filming MasterChef in LA and suddenly I was locked up. Even though I was let out every night, we were doing 12-hour days. It was physically and mentally very full-on.”

For Gordon, who The Sun revealed on Friday has signed a new £1million deal with Channel 4, it was a way of making a fresh start. The last turbulent 18 months have seen his business empire on the brink of collapse and his family at war.

Gordon said: “It has been difficult... That has been dealt with now but for me it has also been one of the most exciting 18 months as now I am in control. I feel like my life is my own. I’ve got it back.” Gordon also had personal reasons for doing his prison project. He said: “I come from a rough background and I’ve seen a lot of s***.

“My little brother Ronnie was a heroin addict and my father was an alcoholic.”

His aim to get the men in prison working seems to have worked. The inmates set up Bad Boys’ Bakery, making cakes and wraps which are now sold to 11 branches of Caffè Nero in London.

Gordon said: “Think of all of those people in there. Barely ten per cent are getting anywhere near work. I hate all that negative energy. I believe there are massive missed opportunities in prisons.”

But he was shocked by how easy the prisoners’ lifestyle was.

He said: “You are almost cocooned to an extent that you think this is a breeze. TV 24 hours a day, DVDs, Xboxes, and then the menu comes every Sunday. Five choices. They call them customers in there but they are prisoners. That got my back up.”

Gordon also has a new deal in the US â€" and new recruits for his expat gang, Brit boyband One Direction.

He said: “I cooked for them in Vegas last weekend. They went to my steak house.

“The old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll guys would party all the time but these guys came in and had a stunning dinner â€" rump and entrecote, and prawn cocktail and oysters to start.

“That’s the modern rock ’n’ roll.

“Literally, they finished dinner then 15 minutes later they walked out on stage. It was crazy.”

Gordon Behind Bars is on Channel 4 on Tuesday at 9pm.