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The Savoy has confirmed the news we've all known about for some time - it has delayed its re-opening until 2010.

On the phone to the hotel's general manager to get a quote on the story, one of Kitchen Rat's colleagues was rather taken aback to hear the choice of hold music.

Thriller by Michael Jackson. Yes, the Michael Jackson who sadly passed away just a few hours ago in LA.

Was it deliberate we wondered?

Probably not if the reaction was anything to go by. "You're joking? We'll have to look at that..."

Perhaps they should look at the Man in the Mirror and Beat It before making such Bad and Dangerous musical choices. There will be Blood on the Dancefloor.

It seems to Kitchen Rat that Hell's Kitchen this year is much more about celebrity squabbling than the cooking.

Last year we were impressed by the creative menu tackled by the celebrities but when dining there last night the meal left the Rat feeling uninspired although the individual elements were well executed.

It was Danielle's turn on the pass as our check was called and she either had a magic wand or a great deal of prep had been done in advance as our starters - asparagus and Hollandaise, potted shrimps, and two paté de foie gras - arrived almost before we ordered them.

The main courses followed swiftly and while the Rat's generous portion of lamb was nicely caramelised on the outside and pink on the inside, both it and the companions' veal came with just a large dollop of mash as an accompaniment - no greens in sight. Oh to have saved some of the asparagus from the first course.

KR was also shocked to find lamb sprinkled with cockles. One has heard of surf 'n' turf but that's taking it a bit far.  

Marco Pierre White returns to our screens next Monday for the latest instalment of ITV1's Hell's Kitchen.

The participants were revealed today and, as per usual, it is a mixed bunch.

The full line-up: TV presenter Anthea Turner and her husband Grant Bovey; model Danielle Bux (better known as Gary Lineker's fiance); singer Ms Dynamite; actor and comedian Adrian Edmondson; former Liverpool goalie Bruce Grobbelaar; Jody Latham from Shameless and former Dynasty actress Linda Evans.

A few Kitchen Rat predictions: Anthea will be the first to cry, Ms Dynamite will be the first to have a shouting match with MPW, the cameras will take a shine to Bux and Jody will be the best chef (well, one hopes so - he's launching his own restaurant soon).

  We've heard of a hotel formed from shipping containers, as built for Travelodge recently in China, but the small kiddies plastic bricks? Lego? Give us a break.

Well apparently this is - partly - the case for the people behind Legoland in San Diego, frequented by Heidi Klum among others. They're set to put up - very slowly perhaps - a Lego hotel outside the theme park.

Not every element of the building, made up of 250 rooms, will be made from the small plastic brickies. But a few areas will be Lego-themed, and children will surely love this place - good thinking on the part of the theme park organisers, we say.

Travelodge opens hotel made from shipping containers >>

Lego shows how to build a theme park >>

It seems no-one is escaping the effects of the credit crunch.

Gordon Ramsay has sacked his long-standing public relations guru Gary Farrow, after five years working together.

The move comes just weeks after Ramsay was accused of having an extra martial affair, but Chris Hutcheson, chief executive of Gordon Ramsay Holdings, called the decision a "rationalisation".

He told trade mag PR Week that Ramsay would not look for a new publicist and that the company would continue to use Sauce Communications for its UK PR.

Farrow, chief executive of The Corporation, did not comment.

No one in the industry is going to escape the effects of the looming recession and Kitchen Rat hopes Ramsay will now focus more on the restaurant business than showbiz (although being quoted in Marie Claire probably isn't the best start).

Michael Vaughan, the former England cricket captain, is believed to be at the centre of a power struggle between current captain Kevin Pietersen and team coach Peter Moores but he is not letting that get in the way of business.

Vaughan, who plays for Yorkshire, has been appointed as head of corporate leisure for local property developer the Skelwith Group, which is currently overseeing more £130m worth of hotel development.

The cricketer is already an investor in the £100m buy-to-let Flaxby Country Club resort near Harrogate and has now become a more formal part of the business. He promised to use his "contacts and experience" to help the company grow.

But Vaughan - whose proudest moment was lifting the Ashes in 2005 - insisted that he was still focused on getting back in the England side.

"I'm still committed to get back into the England team and have another crack at Australia next year but this is a fantastic opportunity for the future," he said.

"I've been involved with the Skelwith Group for over six months and am very excited to formalise my relationship with them." 

Let's hope he will knock them for six and not get caught up on a sticky wicket.

Fair play to Guy Ritchie. After realising that he couldn't live off two half-decent films forever, he got himself a pop star missus, stayed married for a few years and is now picking up a cool £50m-£60m in the divorce settlement.

And kind old Madonna is also letting Ritchie keep the Punch Bowl, the underwhelming Mayfair boozer he bought earlier this year.

The purchase of the pub became a rather bizarre story. Davis Coffer Lyons, the property agent, announced that Madonna had bought the pub, but this was swiftly denied by both Madonna herself, whose publicist described the story as "pure fiction", and the leaseholders, Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises

But it eventually emerged that Ritchie - and, by association, Madonna - did in fact own the pub and had paid around £2.5m for it.

Ritchie made the most of owning the pub with stories claiming he would throw out the regulars to have lock-ins with celebrity pals. He also celebrated his 40th birthday there in September.

And he'll still be able to drown his sorrows (and count his winnings) there.

Pop diva Madonna has reportedly splashed out £650,000 at the Four Seasons hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While on her Sticky and Sweet Tour, her 200-strong crew complained about their digs on tour, so she put them up in the hotel.

The singer also stayed at the property, but not in a hotel room. She had her own £6,000 a night mansion within the hotel's grounds.

A new kind of memorabilia has been created to surround the furore of Saturday night's X Factor grand finale on ITV - pizzas branded with the judges' faces.

Neopolitan pizza chain Rossopomodoro has created four pizzas costing £9 each that are embellished with the grinning faces of Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Danni Minogue and Cheryl Cole.

Rossopomodoro's managing director Simone Falco says: "I absolutely love the X Factor, so my tribute to the programme was to task the team at Rossopomodoro to make the pizzas - I think the resemblance to the judges is uncanny!"

Since the finalists were announced on Saturday, Simone has been selling pizzas named after the three X Factor finalists:

Eoghan Quigg - Corbarella
Mozzarella, mushrooms, ham, cream and fresh basil
A green, white and gold pizza of stunning simplicity

Alexandra Burke - Massese
Tomato, mozzarella, spicy salami and fresh basil
The spiciest pizza on the menu, full of guts and fire

JLS - Teanese
Four traditional Neapolitan cheeses; provola, caciocavallo, mozzarella and Bagnoli Pecorino

No doubt fans are chomping right into the cheesy treats in eager anticipation of Saturday's showdown. Personally, I'm amazed the team at Rossopomodoro managed to find a pizza base large enough to contain Simon Cowell's head...

aAim goes into adminstration>>

X Factor>>

The secret inspiration behind Swiss Toni?>>

Formula 1 is a glamorous circus with a British world champion in Lewis Hamilton and no shortage of razzmatazz and oversized Champagne bottles.

Certainly it's a fast paced, occasionally tedious, sort of do, so you'd expect catering for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone to be an exciting, no-time-to-catch-your breath, sort of affair.

And you'd be right. And then some, if caterer Aspire Hospitality's experiences are anything to go by.

Having won the deal to cater at the circuit in 2007, and another at Towcester race course last month, the relationship so far has been a rewarding one that has, naturally enough, involved a steep learning curve for the newly formed group, which consists of independent caterers.

While you might think that running the British Grand Prix at Silverstone each summer would naturally involve a week or so of preparation ahead of the race weekend itself, the truth is somewhat different.

In fact five-and-a-half weeks ahead of the grand prix in June this year the race engineers turned up to test tyres, smoke and listen to heavy metal (one presumes), in one of those heart-stopping moments that all caterers face at some point in their career.