James Martin recounts explosive family barbecue that sent chops 'flying 30ft in the air'

James Martin, the well-loved TV chef famed for his time on BBC's Saturday Kitchen, has shared a rather explosive story about a barbecue mishap that resulted in chops being catapulted "about 20-30 feet in the air". The star of ITV's Saturday Morning, James also confessed to experiencing a fiery blunder at his own home, which involved an accidental house fire caused by a barbecue gone awry.

While speaking on the Grilling podcast with fellow culinary expert and celebrity chef Simon Rimmer in 2021, James served up his thrilling account when questioned about any barbecue blunders he'd encountered. Describing the blazing episode at his home, the former BBC presenter revealed it was due to a pizza oven roof that was supposed to be metal but was erroneously constructed from wood.

He amusingly added that his father's barbecue misadventure was even more extreme. James shared: "I set my side of my house on fire. That was a good one because... I mean, I love builders and particularly... a certain group of Irish builders, who are fantastic, that decided to build an Italian pizza oven roof.", reports OK!.

"Instead of having metal, (they) built it out of wood, which is quite handy. And I think the best one of all was my dad... we're DIY people. My dad was hopeless at DIY."

He went on to say with a laugh: "He built himself a barbecue back home at the house, on the farmhouse, and it was basically four like concrete blocks on one side, four concrete blocks on the other one... and we had some York stone."

James regaled with a fiery tale of when a "massive" stone needed eight individuals to shift it, causing a grilling catastrophe at his residence.

He fondly recounted: "Next minute, there was an almighty bang. It was like, honestly, it was (a) huge explosion, and you get bits of lamb chops, pork chops, sausages flying over the top of this house. It was massive."

"There was an air gap in the brickwork, and it basically overheated and exploded - the whole thing - with my dad stood next to it. The image that I've got is just chops going about 20-30 feet in the air. It was hilarious."

Simon discovered the enormity of the situation "funny", however, he confessed that it could have been an "absolute disaster", a sentiment James echoed, admitting it "could have been".

Regardless of the bedlam, James and his father managed to rescue their toppled snacks, quickly retrieving what they could.

James isn't unfamiliar with kitchen mishaps; on one notable occasion during a live broadcast of Saturday Kitchen Live in 2012, he amusingly mixed up his words.

Stumbling over his script as he attempted to introduce a segment, he made a comedic mistake, leaving his chum and fellow chef Rick Stein struggling to stifle his laughter.

James narrated the incident, quipping: "And for some reason, I just got all my words mixed up. What it was supposed to say was, 'what a delicious looking dish, Rick; now I'm going to do spotted dick and custard, and now I'm going to show you what to do'."

"What I said was, 'what a delicious looking d**k, Rick', and before I even got the apology out, they're laughing in my ear. I've got the BBC laughing in one ear, producers wetting themselves."