The celebrity chef, who completed the marathon in 4hrs 20mins, added that the heat, which apparently reached 22C on the 26-mile course, was "extraordinary".

"It was like running in a desert," he said. "I stopped to help one guy. It was quite bad. They were dropping like flies."

Gordon, speaking after the marathon, admitted he was disappointed with his time.

"It was very hot out there and it has been a manic year - insufficient training clearly," he said.

"I had set my target for 10 marathons and I have got two more to go. Next year I will come back."

He added: "The big advantage of having weather like this today was there were thousands of people.

"They would not let you stop, walk or stretch and I think I have overdosed on jelly babies."

BBC television presenter Evan Davis also took part and said he did better than he had expected.

He said: "A good thing about the hot weather is I sweated a lot so I did not need to make any toilet stops."

Other celebs to take part included Nell McAndrew, The Apprentice winner Michelle Dewberry and Strictly Come Dancing’s Matt Dawson.

Top chef Ramsay ’most admired man’ - April 7 2007
Fiery chef Gordon Ramsay is the most admired man and Pete Doherty the least admired, according to a survey.

Professor Stephen Hawking, TV survival expert Ray Mears, 007 star Daniel Craig and comedy star Ricky Gervais also feature strongly in the survey of figures that British men most respect.

Doherty, whose profile has rocketed since he began dating Kate Moss, one of the world’s most desirable women, is the least respected British man.

He was followed by Russell Brand and footballer David Beckham in the survey for men’s magazine Esquire.

It interviewed 500 men for the State of the British Man Survey - and found Scarlett Johansson is the woman the majority want to bed, have dinner with and marry.

Almost half the participants - 42% - were more concerned about global warming than the threat of terrorism or the state of the economy.

While football is the favourite sport of 63% of those surveyed, more men fantasise about having a number one album than they do about playing in an FA Cup final.

The study also found that men were more interested in doing a job they love than the size of their pay cheques.

Gordon ’admits to framing rival’ - Mar 27 2007
Gordon Ramsay has allegedly admitted framing fellow chef Marco Pierre White to stop him taking his job - by stealing his own reservations book.

Gordon said he hired someone to carry out the "theft" in 1998 and then blamed his former mentor, because he feared Marco was going to be appointed as chef at Chelsea restaurant Aubergine in his place, the Daily Mail reports.

The 40-year-old foul-mouthed chef apparently told The New Yorker magazine: "I nicked it. I blamed Marco because I knew that would f*** him and call off the dogs."

Yesterday Marco denied plotting to take Gordon’s job, adding: "It bothered me that I’d been accused of theft. What would my gain have been? If that’s how you pay back your friend and people who’ve helped you, that’s sad."

Police investigated the case at the time and found no culprit, but now there are calls for Gordon to pay the Met for wasting police time.