TV chef Gary Rhodes dies aged 59

Celebrity chef and prolific cookery author Gary Rhodes has died at the age of 59.

Rhodes died on Tuesday (26th November) in Dubai, where he has a restaurant. “The Rhodes family are deeply saddened to announce the passing of beloved husband, father and brother, Gary Rhodes OBE,” a statement sent to the press read. “Gary passed away last evening, Tuesday 26 November 2019, at the age of 59, with his beloved wife Jennie by his side. The family would like to thank everyone for their support and ask for privacy during this time.”

Rhodes sold 1.08 million books for £15.5m through Nielsen BookScan TCM records since monitoring began in 1998. His two biggest sellers are New British Classics with 197,515 copies sold, and 2000’s Gary Rhodes at the Table, at 128,365 copies (both published by BBC Books). Food writer Jay Rayner today described New British Classics as "one of the greatest cookbooks of the last 30 years".

Rhodes was most recently published by Penguin Random House including Gary Rhodes 365: One Year. One Book. One Simple Recipe for Every Day, published by Penguin in 2008, and The Complete Cookery Year (Ebury, 2005). 

He was best known for fronting programmes such as “MasterChef”, “Hell’s Kitchen” and “MasterChef USA”.