Fred Sirieix was born in Limoges, France, in January 1972. He started his training as a chef before switching to front-of-house service and moving to the UK, where he worked as maître d’hôtel at some of London’s most prestigious restaurants.
Sirieix became a well-known face on British TV when he took the role of maître d’hôtel on Channel 4’s First Dates in 2013. He’s since starred in Million Pound Menu on BBC Two and Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Road Trip on ITV.
He founded National Waiters Day to celebrate the work of front-of-house staff and to encourage younger generations to enter the industry. He also launched The Right Course, a program that transforms prison restaurants into training centres for inmates, teaching skills needed to work in hospitality.
Speaking to Big Issue for his Letter to My Younger Self, Fred Sirieix recalled the lure of the UK, the experience of his daughter winning an Olympic medal and meeting his fiancé.
When I was 16, I was in catering college, the number three catering college in France. It was an incredible place where the ethos was on teaching us how to be part of the elite of restaurants and hotels, so that’s all I wanted to do. It was a quest for professional excellence, and I loved everything about it. I was totally immersed in it. I wanted to be a chef. And then I actually changed my mind and became front of house. The idea of working in a dark kitchen, head full of grease all day, rather than completely being free front of house and looking after people, was no good for me.
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I’ve always been in a rush. I think that the one thing I didn’t understand is that I could take my time a bit more. If you take your time, things will come. It doesn’t matter whether it’s going to happen today or in a week’s time. Patience is a virtue for a reason. I didn’t have much patience. The difference is in the state of mind when you feel that you’re not succeeding, or you are not succeeding fast enough. That can create anxiety. And it did create anxiety for me, feeling I was not where I ought to be. That is something that has plagued me for years. But I’ve learned it’s actually about enjoying the process. I would tell my younger self, enjoy every stage and don’t focus so much on arrival. If you enjoy the journey, you enjoy life, because you are enjoying the moment. But now I’m 53, I’m in a space where I am aware of the fact that I need to slow down, because where am I going? I’m going nowhere. So let’s just enjoy it.
2012: Fred Sirieix (left) with Marcus Wareing for Rumble in the Kitchen charity event. Image: Manu Palomeque/Lnp/Shutterstock
Working hard in the restaurant means working nine to one o’clock in the morning, Monday to Friday, and picking up calls and emails on Saturday. So it’s not a normal day. But the reason I went into hospitality was because I did not want to have a normal life. I liked the idea of working nights, working weekends, working when people are on holiday. It’s just not the life that everybody has. And doing this in the UK was even more different for me, because not only was I working those hours, but I was doing it in English in a foreign country. I love speaking English, and I loved the idea of living in a foreign country. My mum was mad. It took her years to recover from this, because I just left France on a one-way ticket, and I never came back. Britain was the country I wanted to go to – it was the music that first attracted me. You know, the punk movement. Because I was a rebel. I’m still a rebel inside my head.
When I was 26 or 27, although my career was going well, I felt that I was kind of stuck. I didn’t know where to go. I was really in a mess. I was really doubting myself. I was anxious, I was in a dark place, and I went travelling. When I came back things starting to ease up, but it took me quite a while to get back to where I wanted to be and to feel that sense of satisfaction.
My 16-year-old self wanted to be in the premier league of restaurants, which I have done and achieved. So that wouldn’t surprise him. What I never considered is that I would be where I am now, for example, known well enough to be talking to Big Issue. I would have never imagined I would be able to travel the world for my job and be involved in really creative and exciting television programmes, which I love to do. And you know, what you learn in restaurants – the ethics, the standards, the values that you use – are exactly the same that you use in television. And there is a creative aspect in television, which actually links with me, my personality, but also my professional training in restaurants. The work ethic is very important, because people who are able to work hard – who are reliable, who are loyal, who perform – they deliver.
In a way, I am living a dream that wasn’t a dream of mine. It is a dream I never consciously worked to make happen, and it happened as a result of what I was doing. The reason I’m on television is because I started a charity about 20 years ago to get disadvantaged kids into training, education and full-time employment. And that was picked up by the BBC and then became a series. That was about 14 years ago. And it was a real success. And because I enjoy television, I pursued it as well. I’m like that. When I have something in my head, I’m like a dog with a bone. I don’t let it go. And I liked the television, so I pursued it.
2023: Fred Sirieix in the jungle for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Image: ITV/Shutterstock
You adapt to slowly and progressively to being recognised. It’s strange, you know? I come from a small village in France, so everybody knows you, right? Because of what I did in hospitality over many, many years, I was very well known in hospitality, but that’s different. It’s just a small world. Hospitality has 3.5 million people working in it in the UK, but I can’t compare that to the scale of what it’s like now. The nice thing is when people like you. I can’t imagine what it’s like if you are a polarising person in the media, when some people like you and some people hate you. I’m lucky, people like me.
When Channel 4 first offered First Dates I wasn’t sure at all. They said, it’s going to be amazing. I said, I want to come and see you. And I met everybody. I met the channel, I met the producers, I met the executive. I had so many conversations because I was working all the time, I didn’t watch any TV whatsoever, and I wanted to know what the show was like. So then I had a screen test. Then they said, we’ve got to have you. I said, of course the screen test is good because I knew it was. But I said, I don’t want to make anybody look bad on television. I don’t want to be a pawn in anybody’s board game. I want to make sure that what we’re doing is right. Until I know that I’m not doing it. So it took me a little bit of a time to get on board.
2024: Fred Sirieix with daughter Andrea (centre) and her diving partner Lois Toulson with their bronze medals for synchronised diving at the Paris Olympics. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Seeing my daughter [UK diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix] win a bronze medal at the Olympics was one of the best experiences in my life. If not the best. It was amazing. I took the train with the diving Team GB to Paris. We took the Eurostar, and that was beautiful to be with my daughter. I arrived in Paris, I went to get my accreditation, and the very next day I started reporting on the Olympics. Just to be close to her, in such a momentous moment in her life, was just, yeah, I mean, I don’t know what to say. It was beautiful, very, very special. There’s no word to describe being there with your daughter, competing in the Olympics, getting a medal, the emotions. Oh, just talking to you I have tears coming in my eyes.
If I could live one day again… I’m just thinking of the day I met Fruitcake, my partner. We’re going to get married soon. It was the most beautiful moment. We met in the street. She was coming towards me. She was smiling. She looked at me. She smiles with so much life and energy, and there was something in her eyes that I liked. And I just stopped her. I don’t remember what I said. I asked her for her number. She gave me a number. And then we met the very same night for a date and the rest is history. That was a beautiful moment. We often talk about it, it just feels like it was yesterday. We met 10 years ago, it’s not yesterday, and to still feel the same level of excitement for somebody is… it’s quite extraordinary.
The new season of First Dates, featuring Fred Sirieix, is on Mondays at 10pm on Channel 4 and on channel4.com.
