Gordon Ramsay accused of using actors in 'faked' reality TV show

Gordon Ramsay: Accused of faking scenes for a new reality tv show
11 April 2012
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is accused of faking scenes for a new reality television show in which he was supposed to "makeover" failing restaurants in a week's time as his confrontations with staff were recorded, according to a lawsuit.

A former general manager at Dillons in Manhattan, Martin R. Hyde, said Ramsay featured the Indian-American restaurant as part of a new series entitled "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares," to be distributed this fall by the Fox Broadcasting Co.

Hyde's lawsuit filed Tuesday said Ramsay falsely claimed meat was spoiled, used a defective chair to imply that Dillons' furniture was shoddy and even hired actors to pose as customers to make the restaurant look busy at the end of the week.

Hyde also claimed Ramsay, known for foul-mouthed outbursts and the star of Fox's reality competition "Hell's Kitchen," humiliated him and forced him to quit his job to avoid further abuse.

He asked for millions of dollars in damages and a court order to stop the show from airing.

Ramsay spokesman, James Curich, said he could not comment on the lawsuit because he had not yet seen it.

As for allegations about fabrications, Curich said: "It is a reality show and as far as I know it's not something they do."

Jennifer Sprague, a Fox Broadcasting spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said she could not comment.

Andrew Blackmore, a manager at Dillons, said he had signed a release stating that he could not talk about the show to the media.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT