You may think you know Chef Robert Irvine from watching his television shows “Dinner Impossible” and “Restaurant Impossible.”
But that doesn’t mean you will know what to expect when Robert Irvine Live comes to the Four Winds Casino at 9 p.m. April 19.
A veteran of more than 25 years in the culinary business, Irvine decided to take his “show on the road” and meet his fans in an environment of fun and excitement.
“I can tell you they can expect a lot of fun and unusual things,” Irvine said about his show. “But that’s about all I can tell you because the audience decides the food and the challenges. It’s a very interesting format. That’s the fun part about it because I never know what to expect. We involve the audience a huge percent of the time.”
Being an author and television personality is a far cry from where his culinary career began.
Irvine, a native of England, joined the Royal Navy at age 15 and it soon became apparent his skills far exceeded those of the normal Navy cooks. He was selected to work aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia where the Royal family and their entourages regularly dined.
He also took part in a guest chef program, where he trained U.S. Navy chefs and also worked in the White House.
He has authored a pair of books, “Mission: Cook!” and “Impossible to Easy,” and is the owner of two restaurants – Robert Irvine’s eat! and Robert Irvine’s nosh in Hilton Head, S.C. and Bluffton, S.C. respectively.
His television shows on the Food Network have achieved great success.
“Dinner Impossible” and “Restaurant Impossible” are the top two shows on the network. “Dinner Impossible,” which he finished shooting three years ago is still one of the top-requested shows on the Food Network.
Elements of “Dinner Impossible” are incorporated into the live show.
“Restaurant Impossible,” now in its fifth season, is the network’s No. 1 show.
“People saw me on TV and wanted to meet me, but I was either on TV or at the restaurants,” Irvine said. “So we came up with this idea, and it has just been so much fun for me to do. When we started, we were averaging 2,000 people in the audience. We have cut that back to 1,500 because I stay afterward and meet everyone and I would be there to like 4 in the morning.
“But I wouldn’t be on television if it weren’t for these people. It’s just a good-time getaway and it’s for the entire family. You can bring your kids because there won’t be any swearing or anything like that.”
Irvine said he had no idea where cooking would take him when he began his career.
“We started with ‘Dinner Impossible’ and then ‘Restaurant Impossible,’” he said. “’Restaurant Impossible’ started out as a show where we went in and fixed the menu and the business and that was it. But when you meet these people, you get involved in their lives. Everyone has a gift. God gave me the gift of giving. I’m a tough guy, but when you see their faces when we do the reveals, it gets really emotional.”
Irvine doesn’t just fix them and forget them, either. In fact, he recently spoke with the owner of Dodge City and “they are killing it,” he said. “I keep in contact with everyone who has been on the show.”
Tickets for the show are still available at www.fourwindscasino.com.
You can follow him at www.chefirvine.come or on Twitter @robertirvine1.