There are moments from youth that outlive us in the memories of strangers — small fires, literal or otherwise, that burn themselves into the record of a place. Candace Bergen, reflecting on her adolescence during a conversation with Ted Danson, recalled one such moment: at fourteen, boarding school in the Swiss Alps, a glass of wine poured into hot fondue fat, and a restaurant evacuated into the snow. Decades later, a staff member recognized her not by her fame, but by her infamy — proof that some acts of accidental chaos become, quietly, a kind of legend.
Candace Bergen reveals she nearly burned down Swiss restaurant at 14
My name had lived on in the restaurant's memory
Mark
So when you poured the wine into the fat, did you know what would happen?
Mimi
Not at all. I was fourteen and trying to be clever. It seemed like a good idea in the moment—flavor the dish, impress the older girls. I wasn't thinking about chemistry or heat or anything like that.
Mark
And the flame went straight up?
Mimi
Straight up to the ceiling. It was immediate. There was no pause between the wine hitting the fat and the fire. Everyone had to leave the restaurant.
Mark
Did you get in trouble?
Mimi
I was there illegally, so yes, there were consequences. But what struck me most was returning years later and having someone remember me specifically for that night.
Mark
That's unusual, isn't it? Most people forget the person who caused the chaos.
Mimi
Exactly. But at a restaurant like that, in a small resort town, something like that doesn't get forgotten. I became part of the place's story.
The Pulse
- A fourteen-year-old Bergen slipped past curfew into one of Gstaad's finest restaurants, already operating well outside the boundaries set for her.
- One impulsive pour of wine into boiling fondue fat sent flames toward the ceiling and emptied the Olden into a snowy Swiss night.
- The chaos was immediate and total — an evacuation, a fire, and a teenage girl at the center of it all.
- Years later, returning as an adult, Bergen was recognized not as a television star but as the woman who had once set the restaurant ablaze — her name preserved in the staff's collective memory.
- The story surfaced on Ted Danson's podcast amid a broader conversation about Bergen's colorful past, but the fondue fire stood apart as something rawer and more human than any celebrity anecdote.
There are moments from youth that outlive us in the memories of strangers — small fires, literal or otherwise, that burn themselves into the record of a place. Candace Bergen, reflecting on her adolescence during a conversation with Ted Danson, recalled one such moment: at fourteen, boarding school in the Swiss Alps, a glass of wine poured into hot fondue fat, and a restaurant evacuated into the snow. Decades later, a staff member recognized her not by her fame, but by her infamy — proof that some acts of accidental chaos become, quietly, a kind of legend.
When Ted Danson asked Candace Bergen to tell the story of the restaurant fire, what followed was a portrait of teenage recklessness preserved in amber — vivid, improbable, and entirely true.
Bergen was fourteen, a boarding school student in Gstaad, Switzerland, when she broke curfew one evening to dine at the Olden, a high-end restaurant in the ski resort. Seated with older girls, eating meat fondue and drinking wine — legal for her age under Swiss law — she made a decision that would outlast the evening by decades. Someone floated the idea of flavoring the cooking fat. Bergen acted on it, pouring her wine directly into the bubbling pot. Flames shot toward the ceiling. The restaurant evacuated into the snow.
What gives the story its second life is what came after. When Bergen returned to the area as an adult, a staff member knew her immediately — not for Murphy Brown, but for the fire. "Aren't you the woman who burned down the Olden?" he asked. She was. Her name had lived on in the restaurant's memory, a small and unlikely footnote kept alive by the people who had been there that night.
The anecdote emerged on Danson's podcast, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name," alongside other chapters from Bergen's past. But the fondue fire carried something the rest didn't — the particular weight of a moment that was accidental, chaotic, and somehow unforgettable to everyone it touched.
Candace Bergen, the star of the sitcom "Murphy Brown," was a guest on Ted Danson's podcast when he asked her to recount a story about accidentally setting a restaurant on fire. What emerged was a tale of teenage mischief in the Swiss Alps that apparently left a lasting impression—literally.
Bergen was fourteen years old and attending boarding school in Gstaad when the incident occurred. She had snuck out one evening, breaking curfew because students her age weren't permitted to go out after dark. At the Olden, one of the finest restaurants in the ski resort, she found herself at a table with older girls, eating meat fondue—chunks of meat cooked in hot fat—and drinking wine, which was legal for her age in Switzerland at the time.
Somewhere in the conversation, someone suggested flavoring the cooking fat. Bergen decided to take action. She grabbed her wine glass and poured it directly into the bubbling fat. The result was immediate and dramatic: flames shot up toward the ceiling. The restaurant had to be evacuated. Outside, it was snowing.
What makes the story remarkable isn't just the chaos of the moment, but what happened years later. Bergen returned to the area as an adult. A staff member at the restaurant recognized her. "Aren't you the woman who burned down the Olden?" he asked. She confirmed that she was. Her name, she said, had lived on in the restaurant's memory—a small footnote in its history, preserved by the people who had been there that night.
The anecdote arrived as part of a broader conversation on Danson's podcast, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name," in which Bergen also discussed her dating history, mentioning that she had gone on dates with Donald Trump and Henry Kissinger. But it was the fondue fire story that carried the weight of genuine teenage recklessness—the kind of thing that sounds impossible until you hear it from the person who actually did it.
Notable Quotes
I said, 'Oh, let's flavor the fat. Let's put some wine in the fat,' and this flame went up onto the ceiling of the restaurant.— Candace Bergen, describing the moment on Ted Danson's podcast
Aren't you the woman who burned down the Olden?— Restaurant staff member, recognizing Bergen years later
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