# Robert Irvine of Restaurant Impossible **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532 "2012-06-28T01:54:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/1 "2012-06-28T01:54:33Z")
Where exactly is his accent from? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/2 "2012-06-28T01:57:02Z")
Somewhere in England. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/3 "2012-06-28T01:58:47Z")
Definitely a Western European accent. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/4 "2012-06-28T02:41:01Z")
According to Wikipedia (the most academic source ever) he was raised in Wiltshire, England. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/5 "2012-06-28T14:18:12Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Somewhere in England. :smack: Yeah, I got that. But the Brits are very good a pinpointing accents. The Wiki entry helps. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/6 "2012-06-29T01:02:56Z")
The way he says pasta is just grates on my ear bones. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/7 "2012-06-29T04:00:20Z")
Want some grating? Get a Brit to say “the Mafia eats pasta.” It comes out “the maa-fee-a eats paa-sta.” Not a shining moment. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/8 "2012-06-29T06:27:05Z")
I miss Dinner Impossible 😕 ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/9 "2012-06-29T13:56:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Where exactly is his accent from? The back of his throat. > [@Brynda](#): > > Want some grating? Get a Brit to say “the Mafia eats pasta.” It comes out “the maa-fee-a eats paa-sta.” Not a shining moment. 🙂 More fun: Have a Scotsman say ‘Burglar Alarm’. He’ll choke to death. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/10 "2012-06-29T15:04:52Z")
I thought he was caught embellishing his resume a few years ago? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/11 "2012-06-29T15:08:55Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I thought he was caught embellishing his resume a few years ago? :dubious: He was. Got smacked on the wrist for it. He is still one of the most popular personalities on Food Network. They weren’t about to kick him loose just for that. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/12 "2012-06-29T15:17:51Z")
One of these days he’s going to strangle himself by wearing a too-tight shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/13 "2012-06-29T15:22:34Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > One of these days he’s going to strangle himself by wearing a too-tight shirt. I have NO complaints about the shirt. Dude’s got some great biceps! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/14 "2012-06-29T16:34:49Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > I have NO complaints about the shirt. Dude’s got some great biceps! 🙂 Someday I would like to see him arm-wrestle [Roger Hazard](http://www.designhazards.com/images/post/42_keye.jpg) of “Sell This House!” ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/15 "2012-06-29T17:06:30Z")
My favorite: an alumni dinner at a college. He yanked sleeping ‘volunteers’ out of bed in the frat house and ordered them to get downstairs and start cooking. God, I laughed!!! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/16 "2012-06-29T21:06:16Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > I have NO complaints about the shirt. Dude’s got some great biceps! 🙂 No shit! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![robertirvineisweird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@robertirvineisweird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertirvineisweird)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/17 "2013-11-13T17:04:39Z")
Hi everyone. I am British. I grew up in southern England, about 150 miles from where Robert Irvine is from. His accent is not a real accent. **No-one in England has this accent.** His accent must be made up. He seems to speak about 2/3 with a British accent then throws in a lot of American pronunciations to sound glamorous. The way he says “Restaurant” is a typical example. The **aunt** at the end of the word is a very short, closed **o** sound in UK English, but he pronounces it the more open, longer American way. Yet he doesn’t do any of the American **r** effect with the second “r”, like Americans do, e.g. the way you say “hear”, “fear”, “are” etc. where Americans pronounce the “r” but Brits do not. I believe that in the US the British accent is seen as “quaint” or “cute”? Well in the UK, the American accent is seen as “cool”, “glamorous”, “like movie stars”. I think this is why he puts on this accent - he wants to look more glamorous or exotic. I can tell you 100% that his accent does not come from anywhere. I found this website, and created my username, **just so that I could post on here and comment how annoying and fictional his accent is!** I found this website by googling “Robert Irvine accent” because I was on holiday in the US recently and watched a programme with him in it and could not fathom his bizarre accent. So in this case the claim “Brits are good at pinpointing an accent” does not apply because it is not a real accent. FYI, despite being “English” (although his accent suggests he is in serious denial about his heritage), he is _completely unheard of_ in the UK. In the UK you can go up to anyone in the street and say the name Gordon Ramsay and _everyone_ has heard of him. Robert Schwarzenegger-Irvine is completely unknown in the UK. I guess that’s why he’s gone across the pond to reinvent his career … and his accent. ---
**Author:** ![robertirvineisweird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@robertirvineisweird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertirvineisweird)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/18 "2013-11-13T17:06:07Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > Want some grating? Get a Brit to say “the Mafia eats pasta.” It comes out “the maa-fee-a eats paa-sta.” Not a shining moment. 🙂 We just pronounce it the way Italians do, and they’re Italian words!😉 You can add the word “basil” to British pronunciations that would probably annoy you! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/19 "2013-11-13T17:28:12Z")
> [@robertirvineisweird](#): > > His accent is not a real accent. **No-one in England has this accent.** I think his accent has been colored by living in the southern US for a while, and for having teeth that are obviously too big for his mouth to easily enclose. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532/20 "2013-11-13T17:40:28Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I think his accent has been colored by living in the southern US for a while, and for **having teeth that are obviously too big for his mouth to easily enclose.** I’d argue that standard English dentition would yield standard English pronunciation characteristics. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-irvine-of-restaurant-impossible/626532.md?page=2)