Mega-matchmaker and boxer-philosopher, the magnificent maître d’ of First Dates Fred Sirieix’s net worth is still under review.
Fred Sirieix was born in January 1972 to hospital nurses Francoise and Claude Sirieix, in Limoges, France. At 20, Sirieix landed in London in pursuit of a career in the hotel industry, beginning at the Michelin-starred restaurant La Tante Claire (opened in 1977 and closed in 2004) as a Chef de Rang. He soon found himself working in various roles at London’s top restaurants such as Sartoria, Le Gavroche and Brasserie Roux.
How did Siriex gain fame?
In 2006, Sirieix joined the Michelin-starred French haute cuisine restaurant Galvin at Windows (28th floor of London’s Park Lane Hilton) as general manager.
He first appeared on TV co-hosting BBC2’s Michel Roux’s Service (January 2011) beside the two-star Michelin chef Michel Roux. Within two months, Sirieix introduced his own hospitality training programme The Art of Service. In 2012, he appeared in BBC1’s The Apprentice along with Galvin at Windows.
In June 2013, he donned the role of maître d’ in Channel 4’s matchmaking reality show First Dates—filmed in London’s classy Paternoster Chop House. It went on to win the Best Reality and Constructed Factual show at the BAFTA in May 2016.
Sirieix’s awards with Galvin at Windows include: Hotel Restaurant Team of the Year (Hotel Cateys 2007), Best Front of House (Tatler Awards 2007), Best Hotel Bar (Imbibe Awards 2009), Personality of the year (National Restaurant Awards 2011), Educator of the Year (Imbibe Awards 2012), Manager of the Year (30th Cateys Awards 2013; the hospitality industry’s ‘Oscars’), nominated Industry Legend of the year (Imbibe Personality of the Year awards 2014), Food Service Award (AA Awards 2014-2015) and Charity Initiative of the Year (Eat Out Awards 2016).
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He is involved with charities such as Galvin’s Chance (an initiative co-founded by him in 2008 that raises funds annually to train, educate and employ disadvantaged youth in the hospitality industry) and The Right Course (an initiative launched by Sirieix in 2015 to train youth offenders to run restaurants within prison, which would help in rehabilitating them once they got out).
Organising a boxing match Rumble in the Kitchen in September 2012 (in which he fought Marcus Wareing), Sirieix was able to raise £55,000 for Galvin’s Chance. For his charitable efforts, Sirieix was presented with the British Citizen Award in January 2016.
The fervent philosopher has also authored two books: The Art of Service (2010) and First Dates: The Art Of Love (2016).
The University of West London awarded him an honorary MBA in March 2014.
Apart from jogging and cycling, ‘Fitness Fred’ is an avid fan of boxing. He also has a dance track titled “La Vie Continue” (2015) to his credit.
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