I just don’t get Jamie Oliver, TV chef extraordinaire. He seems to be leaping between ever greater peaks of admiration and disgrace, but I really can’t see how he can rebound from the frankly disgraceful “flavour shaker” that he is relentlessly advertising on the TV.
This pointless plastic piece of shit is retailing for an incredible £20 and it is Amazon’s number one seller at the moment – which means tens of thousands of sales. It even has it own website. Its name has even been trademarked!
The sheer cynicism of it amazes me. It is nothing but a plastic shell with a stone, called a “magic ball”. It is the perfect Xmas gift – something relentlessly hyped, fucking pointless, that appears to save you loads of grief but which will fail miserably within a month and see everyone return to their old methods. But it will be bought by thousands of people for other people.
How will the “flavour shaker” fail? Who knows, the grip will come off, the plastic connection will fail – most obviously – people will simply lose the “magic ball”.
But what is so offensive is that Jamie Oliver is pushing this and even claims to have “invented” it. Here is the bollocks on the official site: “I was in my kitchen a few years ago bashing up some ingredients in my pestle and mortar and I suddenly thought to myself that even though I love the old pestle, there must be an easier and quicker way of bashing and grinding your herbs and spices together. Some way that isn’t messy and doesn’t take as much time.
“I’ve never come across anything in the shops that has come close to a good pestle and mortar though. I put the thought to the back of my mind, but it kept reappearing every time I was making a dressing or a marinade so I decided to try and come up with my own invention. It started out as a personal challenge but as the ideas came I suddenly realised that I was on to something…”
What a load of shit. This has been created by a team of 15 creatives working incessantly for eight months at horribly inflated wages who spent more time “designing” the marketing approach as they did creating the actual product. I imagine getting Jamie “on board” was somewhat of a coup.
This isn’t the first time that Jamie Oliver has stretched beyond making the most of his selling potental and slipped into unethical profiteering. But it is the most blatant and it makes you wonder whether he is suffering ethical slip – gradually having his morals and principles dragged down.
Suddenly it starts looking like all the really good stuff he has done is more to do with him relieving his conscience, rather than, as he has claimed, the real reason behind his commercial efforts.
When Jamie Oliver started off, he was a breath of fresh air. Here was someone clearly passionate about food who was inclusive rather than pretentious or arrogant. He loved cooking food and wanted you to love it too.
But his sudden fame went to his head and he started becoming irritating, his mockney accent getting worse and worse, his appearance in every mag under the sun, and the classic straying into giving his opinion on everything that is a hallmark of a short-term ego-maniac celeb.
But then, to his credit, he realised what he was becoming and dreamed up “15” – where he put his own money into a restaurant that was a charity that would train up kids from troubled backgrounds, giving them a big chance they would never normally have.
You had to admire him. It was filmed of course. But he was putting his money where his mouth was and it wasn’t easy.
But then off he went with increasingly commercial and less valid Sainsbury’s ads, pulling in more and more of his family, pushing food that as a chef he shouldn’t be pushing. He had sold out. For big sums, but still sold out.
Then he surprised again by tackling a subject that has been driving people in the UK crazy for years – absolutely appalling school dinners. What was slightly disturbing was that it was portrayed as Jamie seeing the problem, getting a bee in his bonnet and deciding to do something about it.
This is bollocks because as a journalist I have reported people’s fury over this for years. There was a groundswell of support and things were changing. But Jamie leapt on it, and it is impossible not to be pleased that he did because he gave the issue huge public attention at just the right time. It has, hopefully, led to a permanent change in a dreadful, embarassing situation.
But note that this one was not Jamie’s idea. It had been beautifully constructed by a professional production team to act as a vehicle for him. He also didn’t make the same mistake, as with 15, of putting his own money into it.
He certainly put in alot of effort and for that he is to be admired. But at the same time he started doing more and more commercials that I would argue were dubious in his position of a chef. And he involved his family and his personal life more and more, and it started to feel a bit wrong.
Then there was an Italian “holiday” which was of course filmed and which was nothing but another TV vehicle. It was something that Jamie of old would have turned down.
And now the flavour shaker. I really can’t see how he can work his back into earning people’s respect. I suspect that we will not see Jamie on any more campaigning issues. Or if he does, he will be no more than a figurehead, with all the hard work done elsewhere. There certainly won’t be any of his increasingly large sums of money put into it.
Which I think is a real shame. I don’t particularly blame him – the pressures are enormous and all he has to fight back against commercialism – which earns alot of other people alot of money – is his own mind. Plus of course money is a great amnesiac.
Jamie Oliver is going to be a very rich man but in five, ten years’ time he is going to wonder why no-one respects him. I hope he doesn’t succumb to the even-worse fate and become bitter.
At least it will provide those irritating fools that harp on about how “money doesn’t bring you happiness” with another example of how right they always are.
Update: June 2021
It’s absolutely no surprise to find that the “flavour shaker” is dead. Amazon is showing it as no longer available and the reviews are exactly what I predicted:
Applecheeks7592 gives it one star and says: “WASTE OF MONEY!!! I tried several times to use this gadget, all to no avail…..I finally threw it out the other day…..”
Tony Diggs says: “The concept is good. The delivery not so much. Mine broke after very few uses. The threads crossed and that was it. This was several years ago. Maybe they’ve fixed it.” [They haven’t Tony]
Marstud says: “I guess I was luckier than some other people who bought this thing – I was able to return it and get money back. I was So excited to get this shaker! Imagine my disappointment when at closer look the rubber ring used to hold the two sides was not actually in place to do it – right out of box. How ever I tried to put it back, it did not work. From the product design, I am confident the issue is not in my particular shaker, but in the product design/manufacturing itself. I was supposed to wash those things and put them all back together on regular basis, right? I don’t see though how that would happen. It’s a shame this thing has Jamie’s name on it. I returned it the same day and got money back. Not for shipping of course, oh well…”
These reviews are all the ones currently featured btw – I didn’t go hunting for them. So there you have it. Mr Oliver should be ashamed of himself for this nonsense. I can only assume he was very well paid for it. Short term gain, Jamie.
john Smith
June 25, 2006 at 7:39 amI have just had a 3 month experience working for Jamie Oliver at a very high level I agree with you its all bullshit and I hae come away seeing and hearing things that have devastated me considering I was in awe of him before.
Kieren
June 25, 2006 at 8:35 amSorry to hear that. One of the sad realities of meeting renowned or famous people is that they rarely live up to expectation and, in some cases, turn out to be complete arseholes. Most people off the TV fit into this category in my experience.
Did they get you to sign a confidentiality contract? Because if not, there is a newspaper out there that would pay for a behind-the-scenes expose. The Daily Mail or The Evening Standard.
I think it’s a shame that fame and fortune has corrupted Jamie Oliver but he’s not the first and he won’t be the last.
Kieren
tim johnson
January 3, 2007 at 12:18 pmMy flavour shaker is broken. Only used it about 10 times and the plastic lugs that hold the lid on are all broken. I would never have forked out £20 for this gimic – it was a gift, but I am still pissed off that such an expensive piece of kit is broken after so little use.
Michael Patterson
January 4, 2007 at 8:49 amI got a flavour shaker for Christmas. It leaks! The rubber seal is too thin and doesn’t seal it properly. It is not of merchantable quality!I found your site whilst looking for a manufacturer to contact with fedback!
Jace Naylor
April 13, 2007 at 10:47 pmA brilliant idea let down by one critical and possibly leathal problem…the plastic used in its construction is too fragile and rigid for the task at hand!
On first use the teeth around the outside of each seal which hold top & bottom together cracked.
I only noticed when I found SHARDS OF BROKEN SMOKEY-COLOURED PLASTIC IN MY SALAD DRESSING!
I sealed it tight but not tight enough to do that level of damage and shook it less violently that Jamie does on TV!
Clearly those who designed this and made all the critical decisions on what plastic to use had no clue just how much punishment that ceramic ball could dish out!
jan
September 13, 2007 at 8:03 amThis flavour shaker is crap! I nearly choked my husband on the broken shards in his salad. Our 11year old bought the shaker for him at christmas and was very upset to think she had nearly killed daddy!
Something should be done
Jan
Donna
November 10, 2007 at 12:46 amDONT BUY IT. Mine arrived a few hours ago and the seal came off during the first few shakes and left my counter and hands in a right old mess.
OK it looks pretty especially in red, however it is NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE There should have been a recall on this poorly designed product. Jamie shame on you.
Paul Thompson
November 13, 2007 at 5:58 pmI bought the flavour shaker to make a couple of recipes, well I have just slaved for 1.5 hrs and then poured the dressing over the dinner to find 2 broken bits of smoked plastic. I have 3 and 5 year old boys and am disgusted with how fragile this is it could have killed them!!!! So dinner is ruined and if anyone can help I need to pursue this further. I agree this product should be recalled immediately before someone actually chokes on the plastic shards!
ANon
November 14, 2007 at 3:46 pmIt may be shit i do not know i haven’t got one. i probably won’t get one after reading the comments but you’ve got to ask yourself if you hate him that much why the hell do you care about him so much by writing 20 paragraghs about him. if it was truly hate you would even be bothered by him!!!
Peter Chaffer.
November 20, 2007 at 10:22 amHow on earth jamie Oliver, or whoever really invented this potentially lethal piece of garbage,has not been prosecuted , either under trade descritions act or dangerous goods act, amazes me. The broken shards of plastic I found in my shaker could easily have caused fatal damage.Remove from sale now, before there is a fatality .
Ian Paton
December 21, 2007 at 2:33 pmI used my ‘Flavour Shaker’ about 5 times and the seal streched and is now useless. My email to Jamie Oliver requesting a replacement has been ignored. The ‘Flavour Shaker’ wensite redirects you to another site to obtain replacement, that website does not mentions it. Be advised; the Flavour Shaker’ is a total waste of £20.
Kieren
January 2, 2008 at 4:36 pmWhat utter nonsense. To say I “hate” Jamie Oliver is to willfully misread the post above, but then using this fabrication to then argue that I should haven’t written anything in the first place is, frankly, bonkers.
Good, don’t buy the Flavour Shaker – there are enough comments here from people that have to make it clear that it is just as bad a product as I predicted it would be. But also do please try to post coherent and reasoned comments if you feel the urge to bother people on other blogs in future.
Kieren
NS
January 13, 2008 at 6:49 pmI got my flavour shaker for xmas from my wife. After the first use I thought it was excellent, after the second use, terrible. The seal wont seal properly it leaks everywhere, totally useless, much quicker just to use a pestle and mortor.
The flavour shaker is a great idea, but I am suprised Jamie Oliver puts his name on it, he has gone down in my estimations. He obviously doesnt use one or he would have experienced anyone of the problems poeple have listed on this site. Amazon wont take it back as I have binned the packaging plus with postage it wouldnt have been worth it anyway!
SHITE!
Anonymous
January 18, 2008 at 10:39 amHello pips,
I really don’t understand why is everybody against it. Nice idea bad implementation I agree. So since it is not good enough let’s fix it. I got inspired but the flavour shaker and made my own, simple as this ! And yes it doesn’t cost me 20 GBP and it does close much better. I do believe that sometimes the people miss the bigger picture. Just because Jamie or any other muppet wanted to charge this amount, it doesn’t mean that you have to go and get it !
Sheila
February 18, 2008 at 7:43 pmI could not agree more with this post! JO has become a complete sell-out! It is embarrassing to watch him on the telly as he does constantly cooks up similar stuff. I have worked with a great deal of good chefs and Jamie does not come near them!
That said, I used to enjoy the cooking show he did several years ago (before he was really famous). He seemed like a good bloke and was a great new TV personality. However somewhere along the way something went terribly wrong!
Additionally… I also got a shaker for Christmas and it was actually good the first time I used it. However already at the third use it started leaking and now (6 uses) it has a crack along the bottom.
Paul-B
April 5, 2008 at 10:57 amI was considering buying one of these but probably won’t now. However, if there are so many people with problems why on earth don’t they return them to the store where they bought them and get a refund or a replacement. If enough people did that surely the company making/marketing them would have to dop something about it before reputable outlets like Debenhams and Argos would stop stocking them?