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Goss.ie Meets… TV chef Donal Skehan: 'Jamie Oliver is such a great guy to work with'

Donal Skehan is one of Ireland’s most in demand TV chef’s.

From climbing up the ladder in RTE, to landing a deal with infamous chef Jamie Oliver, Donal’s star is still on the rise.

We chatted to the celebrity cook about his new TV show, his dream wedding and his band.

donal sk

Tell us a bit about your TV show, which is being filmed in Vietnam?

I’m heading off next week and we’re going to the north of Vietnam so we’re in Hanoi and then going up to Sapa and we’re going to be there for two week, I am very excited about it. It’s a two part series for Food Network and it’s a great opportunity.

I’ve actually been to Vietnam before so I am really looking forward to going back and experiencing it and being able to show people how wonderful it is.

How’s your nationwide cooking tour going?

It’s going great. It’s full on. It’s the first time it’s ever been done in Ireland and that was last year. Now this year we’re back on the road again with a bit more experience under our belts and I suppose it’s a new concept of cooking on stage in theatres so we’ve had a great reaction to it last year.

It’s a real family show, we have everyone from the grandmothers right down to the five year old sons and daughters and everyone in between coming along so it’s a great family show. The great thing about it is that it’s live cooking on stage.

 

Taste of Dublin Festival 2011, Iveagh Gardens, Dublin

TV star: Donal is huge in the chef industry | VIPIRELAND.COM

Anyone who has watched the TV show will never have got the smells that you get when you see the live cooking show. Last year we had the first three or four rows get excited as soon as the pan gets heated up. It’s a really great opportunity as well for me to go out and meet people who watch the show because basically we do a meet and greet after each show and you get to come up and say hello and obviously have a meet.

And we do have these cooking competitions where we get audience members to come up and basically cook with me on stage and they are so much fun. That has to me my favourite part because some people. The mothers tend to drag the husbands along and I like to get them up on stage so they don’t get to comfortable in their seats. We have egg whisking competitions and we have pancake flipping competitions and they’re really good fun.

donal-sofie-030

Loved up: Donal and his fiance are planning their wedding

Any plans on ever moving to London for work?

I actually spend a lot of time over there already. I was filming there through out and I am actually going back over there on Monday before I go to Vietnam so I am pretty much regularly over there.

I think Ireland will always be home for me and I think if I had more stuff to do over there we might consider it but yeah definitely it’s a possibility, you never know. 

What’s Jamie Oliver like to work with?

He’s great; he’s a really nice guy. We’ve worked together all last ye this year and he’s great for giving advice. He’s been through everything so he’s wonderful and very supportive and he is really all about encouraging people rather than kind of putting them down.

He’s a really nice guy. I mean in the space of six months we’ve grown our YouTube channel from 4,000 people to 100,000 people so I mean the power of having him involved is incredible. I suppose if I’m getting a little bit of his hardcore Jamie fans – it’s lovely to have them spread the love.

Did you look up to Jamie growing up?

One of the first cookbooks that I was given was Jamie Oliver’s first cookbook.  To be able say that I am working with him is an amazing thing, it really is. He was a big inspiration for me. I think for a lot of young guys – I suppose cooking wasn’t as cool as before Jamie came and made it a little more acceptable.

It now has become something that everyone can do it. I remember the fact that I was interested in cooking you know people would have gone ‘oh really? OK that’s different’, now it’s so common and everyone has an interest in it.

donal and jamie

Jamie Oliver: Donal is working with the famous chef

Would you see it as a stepping-stone to bigger things?

Yeah, already it has opened doors in lots of ways for me. If you think about it, YouTube has gone just over the one million subscribers so you know you’re tapping into that huge fan base he has. It’s an incredible opportunity but in terms of things coming through.

We’ve just done a series called Grandma’s Boy in Italy and that’s going across Fox International so there’s plenty of things. All these things add up and to be as busy as I am – I have to pinch myself because it’s an incredible opportunity I have.

Do you ever miss being in the band?

I have to say when we were in the band. Well actually the boy band wasn’t very successful but we had two number ones with the other band – Industry. We supported the Pussycat Dolls and JLS so from that point of view I do miss it.

That was an amazing experience and when you’re doing a cooking demonstration it’s not quite the same audience. The screaming fans aren’t exactly the same on the Kitchen Hero Live Tour but you know they’re there and they’re great but you know being in a band was just an amazing experience. I do miss it to some extent but you know what I do now has much more creative control and I am much more passionate about what I do. I love what I do so I don’t miss it too much.

Industry Launch atThe Sugar Club

Band: Donal on the stage with Industry | VIPIRELAND.COM

What would you find more rewarding? A number one hit with Industry or getting your own shows on TV?

I think when we were in the band it was very rewarding because obviously an Irish number one is great.  The creativity is in someone else’s control and so for me when we get a TV show. I essentially write all the recipes and I spend a lot of time planning the format of the show.

And then writing the books and I do all my own food photography as well so from my point of view I get a lot more in terms of like a reward because you are allowed to be creative so I get a lot more out of what I do now than I did in the band.

How are the wedding plans coming along?

They’re going very well. We haven’t decided on a venue yet but we are hoping for next summer. We’ll hopefully have it all sorted before the end of the year.

 Any date yet finalised for the big day?

No not yet, unfortunately. I’d love if that wasn’t the case but hopefully we’ll sort that out before the end of the year.

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