Chef Robert Irvine Fired !!

Food Network celebrity chef Robert Irvine is headed for the chopping black after lying on his resume when hired for the network's Dinner: Impossible series. Irvine was fired for embellishing his resume by saying he graduated from the University of Leeds and had cooked for Princess Diana, among other claims. Questions over the chef's true qualifications arose after an investigation launched by the St.Petersburg Times.

In researching Irvine's history for a story about his failed restaurant launches in St. Petersburg, the Times uncovered multiple instances where fact did not quite match the fabulous image of a worldly, first-class British chef. One of the most telling revelations was that the University of Leeds had no record of Irvine ever attending the university or having any connection to it, according to a press officer at Leeds.

Another tale that didn't quite match up was Irvine's story of helping to work on the wedding cake for the famous wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The story, which Irvine has reportedly told several press sources and includes in his biography Mission: Cook! may not be quite true either. When confronted by the Times, he backed off his original tale that we worked on the "elaborate side panels" of the cake and said he helped by "picking fruit and things like that."

One lie about his past Irvine has confessed to is his claim of being a "knight." The Times reports they inquired about this claim with the press officer at Buckingham Palace, which revealed Irvine had never been knighted. Irvine admitted he was not, in fact, a knight of any variety, claiming it was something he said "keep up with the Joneses. I was sitting in a bar one night and that came out. It was stupid."

On Friday, the Food Network issued a statement regarding the information in the Times story. "We looked into the situation and found that, as Robert as already admitted, there were some embellishments and inaccuracies in his resume," Food Network President Brooke JohnsonDinner Impossible have been removed. said in the statement. "The few and minor incidents of the inclusion of these embellishments in

While the statement said the network will continue to show reruns of previous shows and the new series of the show currently in production, the network will not renew Irvine's contract for future seasons.

In addition to losing his future career with the Food Network, Irvine is facing a plethora of legal and financial problems revolving around the two restaurants he had planned to open in St. Petersburg. The restaurants still remain under construction and various parties say Irvine owes them tens of thousands of dollars for their work on the uncompleted projects.