The Nightly Show viewers turn off as Gordon Ramsay drops 16 f-bombs in 30 minute show

Throughout his TV career, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has become widely known for turning the air blue at the drop of a hat.

But lashings of harsh language might not be the right garnish for ITV's struggling Nightly Show.

More than 300,000 audiences members switched off mid-episode during Ramsay's Monday night debut – where he dropped the f-word 16 times.

Frequent jibes against fellow chef Jamie Oliver saw Ramsay brand him a “fat f***”, while he also referred to overweight children as “chubby little f******”.

However, Ramsay did admit from the start that there would be more swearing on the show than in previous weeks.

In his opening monologue, he joked: “I’ve got a very important message – because of my reputation for colourful language, ITV have asked me to warn viewers that the following programme may contain bad language… right from the f****** start.”

The episode began with 1.5 million viewers, with an audience of 1.2 million by the end of the half hour.

Ramsay’s first Nightly Show was also hit by a technical hitch, when the show unexpectedly went off air for three minutes.

During the advert break, viewers were presented with a message on their screens reading: “We're sorry for the interruption.

“We’re working hard to fix the issue and will return to normal programming soon.”

ITV, 10pm