Jamie Oliver breaks down revisiting abandoned restaurant following collapse

Jamie Oliver broke down in tears tonight as he walked through his empty restaurant Fifteen following the demise of his restaurant business.

Jamie Oliver: The Naked Chef Bares All charted the celebrity chef’s life and career, from the success of The Naked Chef to the collapse of his restaurant empire earlier this year.

On visiting the first restaurant he ever opened after his business fell apart, Jamie, 44, fell apart with host Davina McCall.

Eerie footage showed food still in pans and plates and other kitchen equipment strewn everywhere.

‘The staff got paid up to the date and I made sure of that,’ he said of the 1034 redundancies.

‘The hardest part was telling staff that they haven’t got a job anymore.’

When asked what went wrong, he told Davina: ‘To survive in this industry is tough. I was very naïve.

‘I was good at running one restaurant.’

He added: ‘I opened lots of big restaurants and people like small restaurants and we sort of has these big cathedrals we couldn’t fill.’

Earlier this week, the chef was criticised for blaming Brexit on his restaurant collapse.

The documentary has received mixed reactions from viewers, with many taking to Twitter to share their thoughts.

One fan wrote: ‘Really tough watching @jamieoliver as his first restaurant closes, particularly when you see how much he cares about his staff. Genuinely good bloke. Keep going Jamie!’

However, another tweeted: ‘Maybe if @jamieoliver had spent as much time focusing on his restaurants as he did getting a tax to fleece the poorest on a pint of coke it wouldn’t have flopped! #nakedchef #blamebrexit.’

Jamie Oliver: The Naked Chef Bares All aired on Channel 4 at 8pm.

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