Gordon Ramsay's 'Nightmare' lawsuit
07 August 2007
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Gordon Ramsay is being sued by a New York chef who alleges scenes in the US version of his show 'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares' were faked.Martin Hyde - former head chef at West 54th Street restaurant Dillon's - claims rotten meat was planted in the refrigerator and actors were hired to pose as customers for dramatic effect.Hyde told The New York Daily News newspaper: "Watch it with a big pinch of salt."I thought it would be perfect to get Gordon Ramsay in to help the restaurant. He's a Michelin chef, after all. I so believed in this and I fought so hard for it."If they had just been real. Then I would have been happy with that."The show - a big hit in Britain - features the fiery tempered TV chef helping to make over failing restaurants in a week.Hyde's attorney Carl Person said: "People think reality shows are real. And this is one instance where every single thing was programmed."The suit - filed in the Manhattan Federal Court seeking more than $1 million in damages - claims the rotten meat was planted so Ramsay could lose his temper on camera.
Ramsay allegedly screamed at waitress: "Tell the customers to consider themselves lucky - I have just saved their lives.
"If they had eaten the food Hyde had passed, they probably would have died."
The suit also alleges the show's producers tried to goad Hyde into calling Ramsay a jerk on camera.
Hyde said: "My response was that I wasn't going to call him a jerk, but rather a bad judge of character."
It is also claimed Ramsay was given scripted insults to hurl at the New York chef, including "lazy weasel" and a "bloody f**king fake."
Ramsay said in a statement: "The producers and I completely stand behind the authenticity of the programme.
"The current lawsuit alleging that scenes were faked or staged is completely without merit."
A manager at Dillon's declined to comment.
After a court appearance last week, Judge Shira Scheindlin ordered the case into arbitration.
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