A new Area 51 conspiracy theory, involving celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, gained traction in January 2025 after an Instagram and TikTok star famous for guessing geographical locations highlighted it.
Trevor Rainbolt (@georainbolt), a professional player of the geography-guessing game GeoGuessr, posted a video on Jan. 21, saying he noticed something interesting about one of Ramsay's Instagram photos. That picture — posted on Ramsay's account on Jan. 17 — depicted him sitting on a private jet. The image featured a very small frying pan in his cup holder and distant mountains visible through the aircraft's windows.
(Image courtesy of @gordongram/Instagram)
In Rainbolt's video, he said the mountains matched hills at Area 51, the U.S. military installation in southern Nevada associated with decades-old rumors about extraterrestrial life. The site restricts public access.
Days later, TikTok user @leyshaa also posted a video saying she served as the flight attendant on Ramsay's flight. In her clip, she mentioned and then held up a similar-looking small frying pan.
However, some skeptical users including Instagram's Christopher Alexander (@odd_chris_), Aaron Rheins (@aaronrheins) and others discovered the truth of the matter. They uncovered no evidence of Ramsay visiting Area 51.
Instead, they noted two very specific details. First, the videos posted by Rainbolt and @layshaa had captions containing the hashtag "#hexcladpartner" — a small hint missed by quite a few commenters. The hashtag suggested ties to a marketing campaign for the HexClad cookware company, for which Ramsay is a spokesperson and part owner. Also, the end of Rainbolt's video displayed names of peaks located in the San Jacinto Mountains in California — hundreds of miles away from Area 51.
We contacted Rainbolt on Instagram and @leyshaa by email, asking about the videos and "#hexcladpartner" hashtag, and will update this story if we receive any further details. A spokesperson for HexClad told us by email the brand could not comment but mentioned a "big update" coming on Jan. 31.
'Come Fry With Me'
On Jan. 17, Ramsay posted the photo showing him sitting inside a private jet, complete with his small frying pan tucked in the cup holder. The text caption read, "Come fry with me….Big (and small) things on the way."
Rainbolt's Analysis
Four days later, on Jan. 21, Rainbolt posted his TikTok video. The text caption featuring the "#hexcladpartner" hashtag read, "you can't hide @Gordon Ramsay #geo #geography #hexcladpartner." The clip received more than 30 million views, 3 million likes, 150,000 bookmarks and 97,000 shares.
In the video, he said, "I saw this Gordon Ramsay post on Instagram and immediately knew something felt off, because he's not actually at an airport." He then said the mountains visible in the window didn't match the landscape around Las Vegas-area airports. He continued, "And well Gordon, I found you. With these pixels that resembled a fence, these mountains and this arid landscape, there's only one option: Area 51, with a perfect match. Gordon, you can't hide."
The names of various peaks displayed at the end of Rainbolt's video referenced the San Jacinto Mountains, around 250 miles from Area 51.
As of this writing, it's unclear exactly where a photographer captured the photo of Ramsay, including whether the picture showed a genuine working airplane or a studio. The nearest airport to the San Jacinto Mountains is Palm Springs International Airport, but again, the assertion involving the names of peaks involved Rainbolt's video did not necessarily identify the location.
Flight Attendant Video and Ramsay's Response
TikTok's @leyshaa — who shares videos documenting her life as a flight attendant — posted her video on either Jan. 23 or 24. Her caption read, "I need answers! #gordonramsay #area51 #hexclad #hexcladpartner #hexcladgordonramsay." In the video, she said, "One, we didn't even know where we were flying to. Usually we know where they're going to take us to. We just know that we landed somewhere in Nevada, because it didn't even seem like it was a normal airport. It was like, in the desert. When we landed, a group of men in black suits came and escorted him off the plane." She also said the men didn't let her and any other crew off the airplane.
She then held up a small frying pan, saying, "What am I going to cook with this? This is not for a human. I don't know, but if you know who Gordon Ramsay is, you should keep an eye on him because obviously he's cooking something up."
Ramsay posted a video commenting on Rainbolt's clip, also on Jan. 23 or 24. In the video, Ramsay said, "Hey my man. You've done your due diligence, let me tell you. Sounds like you're working for the old Pentagon. Well done. But, I'll be honest with you. You're getting close. But, the proof is in the pan."
During the clip, Ramsay moved his camera to show a view from a tall building. TikTok user PainCorp (@paincorp) commented, "That's Thailand by the Iconsiam mall!" Indeed, a check of Google Maps showed Ramsay captured his video from a room at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok hotel in Thailand, looking out in the direction of the ICONSIAM shopping mall.