Fiery chef Gordon Ramsay is known for his intense and volatile personality. The perfectionist cook, who uses lots of swearwords and interesting criticism in his kitchen, is thought to be unapproachable - but now fans have opened up on what the TV chef is really like after meeting him in person.

Some of those who have interacted with the Kitchen Nightmares star have said that his television mean-guy persona is "all an act". Taking to Reddit, replying to a thread asking what the 59-year-old star is really like, one person shared: "He was sat at the table next to me at a restaurant in Maine once. Immediately the staff focused all of their attention on his service, so we didn’t love that that part, but we were surprised to see that he was insanely nice and respectful to the servers etc. He was also very nice to the couple of patrons who asked for a picture. I thought it was rude of them to interrupt his dinner, so I did not meet him, but from what I could see the tv shows are an act for tv, he is a nice dude."

Someone else added: "He's arrogant, but in a really lovely way, if that makes sense? He knows how good he is, and makes no qualms about it, but he was lovely to me and my friend when we had a private class with him. Nothing at all like his online persona!"

Another fan pointed out: "If you actually watch the behind the scenes versions of Hell's Kitchen, he's not actually as bad as when the cameras are rolling. He's still a bit intense, but he's not screaming his head off, swearing and yelling 'IT'S RAW' every 5 seconds."

One more fan shared that they met him while he was filming in a restaurant close to their home. They said that Gordon was keen to help other local businesses as they shared: "My husband and I just met him while he was filming at a restaurant behind our house!

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"On the last day of filming he came out and said hi, took pictures and signed things. He was honestly super nice and charming.

"My husband gave him a dollar to sign and he said 'Ugh! You never waste money!' Haha! Also, on the last day he was upset that people kept clogging up the parking lot trying to get a glimpse since other local businesses are there.

"He made sure the production crew controlled the parking lot of the plaza better so the other businesses could still be accessible. If you wanted to stand close you had to buy something from one of the businesses.

"I thought that was a stand up thing to do. Honestly so happy and grateful we were able to have that experience."