Gordon Ramsay sued in the US

Gordon Ramsay sued in the US (Image credit: EMPICS)

Gordon Ramsay has been accused of faking scenes for an American version of his reality TV show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. A lawsuit was filed on Monday in a US District Court in New York by Martin Hyde, a former general manager at Dillons, a restaurant in Manhattan. Hyde claimed Ramsay, known for his foul-mouthed outbursts on screen, humiliated him. Hyde said Ramsay forced him to quit his job to avoid further abuse. The lawsuit said Ramsay featured the restaurant as part of a new US show, to be distributed this autumn by the Fox Broadcasting Co. Ramsay was supposed to makeover failing restaurants in a week's time as his confrontations with staff were captured by hidden cameras and microphones, according to the lawsuit. But, in reality, he staged events, falsely claimed meat was spoiled, used a defective chair to imply Dillons' furniture was shoddy and even hired actors to pose as customers to make the restaurant look busy at the end of the week, the lawsuit said. Hyde asked for millions of dollars in damages and a court order to stop the show airing. James Curich, a Ramsay spokesman, said he couldn't comment on the lawsuit because he hadn't 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 couldn't comment. Andrew Blackmore, a manager at Dillons, said he'd signed a release stating he couldn't talk about the show to the media.

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