What's all this Hula Balu about Robert Irvine?

[PicBuddy]

Hey folks, someone fill me in here, what's all this Hububb about Robert Irvine? "Save Robert Irvine!" "Bring back Robert Irvine!"

From what I have read there was some controversy about his statements that he cooked at the White House and for the Royal Family or something, that wasn't exactly true? You know, I've tried to do my own research but a lot of the "stories" I am reading tend to be vastly different. I have considered that perhaps it was just a massive marketing stunt that Scripps (Food Network) instigated maybe for publicity when he was going to leave anyway. But then there seems to be a loyal fan following, some so upset that they have posted some pretty vitriolic slam dunks online.

So, I am confused here. And I guess this is the best place to ask, what happened? I had never seen nor heard of the guy until I saw an ad showing Iron Chef Michael Symon as the host of "Dinner Impossible". So I went to look up the episode line up and found these previous past seasons. And since now they are showing a Robert Irvine episode right after the new Michael Symon episodes, I have watched them passively. I like them. To me he exudes this ex-marine persona, not to mention that he looks like a Marine. He looks to be in pretty good shape, and I am pretty sure he's popular with the ladies. To me he looks fun to watch and got me to chuckle a few times.

So, what happened ya'll?

[cyberdoc]

Here's the Reader's Digest version:

There is a lot of debate on what was claimed by whom. The question is did Robert exagerate his experiences or was he simply ambiguous. He claimed to have assisted woth Charles and Diana's wedding cake. The cake's creator Dave Avery claims that he played no part in the cake. In Robert's book, he decribes his role as that of basically sorting a cleaning little pieces of fruit for the cake. Not too terribly unbelievable to my mind. It is doubtful that Mr. Avery would have any memory of who he assigned this task to. If true then it would be factual if perhaps amibigous statement for Robert to say he assisted with the cake. If he said he baked the cake, then that would be a grossly exagerated claim. Another point of dispute is Robert's role at the White House. In his book Robert plainly states that he worked with the Navy chefs as part of the guest chef program and does not claim that he was a White House Chef. Again the question is whether Robert claimed to have worked at the White House, or whether he claimed to have been a White House Chef. One would be an acurate though amiguous claim, the other, again, would be an exageration. What was claimed by whom will probably never be known to us. But the claims in his book regarding these particular experiences don't strike me as overly exagerated.

[BerryBaby]

It's been discussed previously. Go to the Forum Food Network Programming and Stars.
If you alphabetize the threads, on page 45 you will find three threads regarding Robert Irvine.

RI Contract Will Not Be Renewed
RI Mischaracterization
RI "It's Liberating"

This should answer all of your questions. Hope this helps!

[Bentley Green]

I think it does. Thanx!