Before bringing yet another of his food-themed TV hits across the pond, the upcoming 'Kitchen Nightmares,' Gordon Ramsay may have to contend with yet another lawsuit. Martin Hyde, the ex-general manager of an Indian restaurant that appears on the show, has alleged that Ramsay faked scenes and verbally abused him to the point that he had to quit his job.
For any regular viewer of 'Hell's Kitchen,' the automatic response may be "Well... of course." On 'Kitchen Nightmares,' though, Ramsay comes into already-existing restaurants and helps them shape up, taking those threats of spoiled meat or poorly-deboned fish out of the reality show and into, well, reality (sort of). Martin is seeking a court order to stop the airing of the show, in addition to millions of dollars in damages.
Ramsay may actually have the upper hand on this one. According to E! Ramsay successfully won a court case in the U.K. last year that similarly allaged he had faked scenes on the British version of the show. He also asserted "We have never done anything in a cynical fake way," a claim that's probably a bit more debatable than he'd like to believe. I mean, did you see them run Josh out to the courtyard on 'Hell's Kitchen' just so they could get an action shot of someone running?
In the end, this can probably only work out well for Ramsay. As Donald Trump knows quite well by now, any publicity is still publicity, and where 'Nightmares' might have been completely ignored among stronger fall TV shows, the news stories may keep it afloat. Whether anyone can stomach seeing Ramsay harass a new cast of characters after a summer of 'Hell's Kitchen'--well, that's another issue entirely.
