James Martin ‘wanted to find a hole to cry in’ after live TV blunder mocked by BBC bosses

James Martin revealed last year that celebrity chef Rick Stein once texted him within 15 minutes of a hilarious gaffe on live TV, to thank him for the "ultimate compliment".

The TV chef said the on-screen mistake was so embarrassing that he "wanted to find a hole to cry in" as BBC bosses burst out laughing in his earpiece, but James was forced to continue with the show.

In a mortifying opening segment on Saturday Kitchen Live in 2012, James tripped over his words, much to the amusement of his guests, exclaiming that something was delicious, but it certainly wasn't Rick's "dish".

Speaking on the Travel Diaries podcast in 2023, James, who has dyslexia, said: "I was doing my old show on the BBC, and Rick Stein... I was coming out of a Rick Stein VT, and usually I sort of, I'm reading the autocue thinking I can't spell that, I can't say that, so I've got to change this.

"For some reason, I didn't because I was too busy getting prepped with bits and pieces and chatting to my guests, and I remember just looking up - James, we're coming to you in five, four, three, two, one, and I read it."

He continued: "And for some reason, I just got all my words mixed up. What it was supposed to say was, 'what a delicious looking dish, Rick; now I'm going to do spotted dick and custard, and now I'm going to show you what to do'.

"What I said was, 'what a delicious looking d**k, Rick', and before I even got the apology out, they're laughing in my ear. I've got the BBC laughing in one ear, producers wetting themselves.

"I just wanted to find a hole to cry in, and I had to carry on - you had to carry on for 12 minutes live, knowing full well that all the while you're doing this, and the producers are in my ear going, 'it's gone viral, it's gone viral', and you're trending all over the place.

"It's in the national newspaper, and I was still on air! There's nothing you can do about it."

James said small mistakes can be "amplified" when you combine the pressure of live TV and "somebody who is dyslexic", like himself.

He said he'd been working on live television for around 30 years, but it "never really mattered" if he made an error about 15 years ago, as the mistakes couldn't be tracked down.

The BBC doesn't have a "record" of them, according to the chef, who said despairingly that nowadays, it's "all over bl**dy Instagram by the time you've "got to the changing rooms".

When asked if Rick Stein commented on the blunder, James said he texted him within 15 minutes from Australia to say "thank you very much" for the "ultimate compliment."

James, who has been gracing our screens for more than 20 years, has written more than 20 cookbooks and sold millions of copies across the world.

He presented BBC's Saturday Kitchen for more than ten years and opened his own restaurants prior to hosting ITV's Saturday Morning with James Martin, as well as a number of other shows.