Tearing himself away from the kitchen for the night, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver shook things up a bit at his charity fundraiser as he called in a host of celebrity pals to make the festivities go with a bang.
Grabbing a cocktail shaker, the popular 31-year-old mixed up a festive treat as he showed Tess Daly how to make a cool Christmas cocktail, before taking to the stage with R&B heart-throb Lemar to get revellers dancing to the beat of their drums.
Hollywood superstar Kevin Spacey, who dashed over from the Old Vic to make a surprise appearance, praised his friend's work in highlighting the poor quality of school meals and supporting young chefs. "What Jamie and Fifteen have done is pretty remarkable," he said. "They are changing people’s lives and changing our eating habits, and that’s a pretty good thing. He got a lot of flak and stick for a long time but he kept his head high and made it."
The fundraiser generated £250,000 in ticket sales alone, with tens of thousands more pounds being raised through a charity auction. The cash will be used to support Jamie's charity backing young budding chefs who come from underprivileged backgrounds and train in one of his Fifteen restaurants. The big-hearted chef recently opened a new Fifteen in Melbourne - it joins those already up and running in London and Cornwall - and has just returned from a trip to New York where he says he's considering adding another branch.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
