18 Facts About Jay Rayner

Jason Matthew Rayner was born on 14 September 1966 and is a British journalist and food critic.

Jay Rayner has worked as a freelance journalist for newspapers including The Observer and The Independent on Sunday.

Jay Rayner was the Observer restaurant critic from 1999 until 2024, when he joined the Financial Times.

Jay Rayner is a judge on the British version of the cooking show MasterChef and has written several novels.

Jay Rayner is the younger son of Desmond Rayner and journalist Claire Rayner.

Jay Rayner was raised in the Sudbury Hill area of Harrow, London, and attended the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School.

Jay Rayner studied politics at the University of Leeds, where he was editor of the Leeds Student newspaper, graduating in 1988.

Jay Rayner worked as a freelance journalist after graduating, writing for newspapers including The Observer and The Independent on Sunday.

Jay Rayner worked as a feature writer for The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday, and The Observer before becoming the Observer restaurant critic in 1999.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many restaurants were forced to close, Jay Rayner announced he would not publish negative reviews.

Jay Rayner has written for magazines including GQ, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, the New Statesman and Granta.

In 1997, Jay Rayner won a Sony Radio Award for Papertalk, BBC Radio 5 Live's magazine programme about the newspaper business, which he presented.

Jay Rayner is the food reporter on the BBC magazine programme The One Show, and was on the panel of judges on the American programme Top Chef Masters.

Jay Rayner appeared as a guest judge on the "UK" episode of The Final Table, season 1.

In November 2024, Jay Rayner announced he had left The Observer.

Jay Rayner was critical of its pending sale to Tortoise Media, and wrote that some Guardian staff were antisemitic, which made it "uncomfortable, at times excruciating" to work for.

Jay Rayner joined the Financial Times as their new restaurant critic, amid an expansion of its weekend food and drink coverage.

Jay Rayner was awarded the title Beard of the Year for 2011 by the Beard Liberation Front.