Gordon Ramsay Getting Sued For £500,000

Required Eating

Posted by Emily Koh, April 23, 2008 at 5:45 PM

Former restaurant manager Martin Hyde was left red-faced after his restaurant, Dillons, was featured on Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" last season, and is now suing the celebrity chef for £500,000 (almost $990,000) for having ruined his career and reputation.

Mr Hyde, who lived in Balham, South London, before moving to New York more than a decade ago, said he now lives in fear of being recognised as "that loser from the Ramsay kitchen show".

"Being ridiculed by Gordon Ramsay on TV has wrecked my life," he said. 'Gordon completely assassinated my character.

"My reputation is in tatters and nobody wants to employ me. I've only managed to watch it once - because it is like watching myself getting mugged."

Hyde claims that many scenes were faked for the cameras, and says much of the footage was edited to portray him as being lazy. He filed against Ramsay last year but the case was dismissed in court. Will the suit hold up this time around? [via Grub Street]

11 Comments | Tags: Gordon Ramsay, Kitchen Nightmares, TV

11 Comments:

I could barely watch that one episode of Kitchen Nightmares USA without hurling something at the TV. The UK show is fantastic, but the typical FOX jerkasses at FOX who produce the US version have decided to make it a typical US reality show. There is this literally incessant music in the background, mostly pizzicato string "this is silly" music and sometimes overly dramatic orchestra stuff, along with screeching knife and gong and explosion noises to make things more dramatic. There are some flies at the restaurant in this episode and they keep re-playing the same "fly buzzing" stock sound effect and a video clip of a fly alighting from a napkin, at least 10 times in 5 minutes. Instead of showing Ramsay having honest conversations with people in the restaurant, they cut it up into little clips that make him look like he's lost his temper. They constantly cut away to those "confessional" clips of various people from the restaurant sitting in an empty room talking about how things make them feel. Ramsay tells a man to not talk on his cellphone during service, and we're treated to a faded-out flashback of the last time we saw the man using a cellphone during service, as if we're too dumb to remember things that happened in the last act. They pretty much do everything possible to insult my intelligence and work against the excellent material they've got to work with (a dirty restaurant with bad teamwork).

Appropriately enough, comparing the US version to the UK version is like comparing one of the Kitchen Nightmare restaurants in its "before" state to its "after" state. Just horrid, cluttered, disrespectful to the good product it has available, unpleasant, no focus or pride in itself or its viewers.

Luther at 9:13PM on 04/23/08

Some of the places he has gone to in the UK are discusting, he actually would turn them around if they would listen to him after he has left for a month. I love his shows and a friend of mine is on this season of Hell's Kitchen.

joanpieroni2 at 10:03PM on 04/23/08

Ummmmmmm....didn't this guy sign up for the show? It is not like KN is a candid camera show and he had no knowledge of what would occur during the taping.

Carosone at 10:51PM on 04/23/08

okay, when you submit yourself to a "reality show" sort of aspect, you should know that unless you go above and beyond you normal shit that Ramsey catches you on, you deserve nothing more than a cold 6 foot hole in which to reside until you deem it proper to remove yourself from the human race... really.
Honestly. What does he ask for? A clean kitchen, a menu that not only the patrons get excited about but the cooks as well and a front of the house person to sell what needs to be sold.
If the judge rules in favor of this "Tool", he (the jackass that couldn't handle GR's ribbing) should be sterilized/have his "stuff" forcibly removed from procreating and wash dishes for the rest of his life.

Really, when does personal responsibility stop? I'm a college student working for a decent restaurant in the town that I reside and when I hear these remarks it just upsets me more. I take more ownership of the product I put out, (as a college student, with a full student credit load and still working over 40 hrs per week between 2 jobs) than this tool that probably went to some school that told him that he should be a chef. I take 150% responsibility for everything that goes out on my days that I work because I've trained most of these guys. If the court decides to rule in favor of the "tool" that can't take criticisism; not only should his knives be taken away, but everything else that he holds dear as well.

bobfole at 3:15AM on 04/24/08

If you sign up for Kitchen Nightmares, you ought to know what you're getting yourself into. Did this guy watch the show before signing up? He got a successful chef's consultation and advice about his failing restaurant for the price of some humiliation and embarrassment. That's the deal-suck it up!

psychsarah at 10:25AM on 04/24/08

If you suddenly get a moment of clarity after you act like a dumb ass and it gets to tv thats not Gordon's fault that is your fault. Hire a PR person.

JerzeeTomato at 11:45AM on 04/24/08

Hey, I'd been to Dillon's before GR and Co showed up there, and you know what? It was pretty much as shown, at least at the front of the house. I was absolutely delighted at seeing them get skewered, because, really, they deserved it. And as noted, when you put yourself up for a situation like this, when you know your place is going to be gone over with a fine toothed comb and then some, you lose all right to complain if they actually find anything, you know? You put yourself up for this. A reality show. A reality show on Fox. Which right there gives you everything you need to know about potential embarassment. Shut Up Martin Hyde.

chisai at 2:02PM on 04/24/08

I'll admit--I indulged in last season, and I remember how awful Hyde was in this episode. Alternatively, I was hanging out with some friends when one of them, a native Brit, turned on BBC (he said it's just about the only channel they'll watch) and I got to see the show, UK style. It's so different!!! But the results as far as the establishments go are the same--better menu, food, service, look, and restaurant overall.

OneWallKitchen at 3:23PM on 04/24/08

Right.
This is like being asked to be on Jerry Springer and then being shocked that your mother/sister/daughter is sleeping with your husband/boyfriend/baby-daddy.
Pullleeeeeze.

wookie at 3:47PM on 04/24/08

I'm pretty sure all shows of this sort require you to sign a waiver. I can't feel sorry for Hyde. Your restaurant is failing, so to be taken seriously as a chef and restaurateur you sign up for a reality tv show that will show your restaurant and you in the worst possible light so that the "After" picture will be that much more compelling, then when it airs, you are embarrassed and decide to sue, forgetting all about that waiver you signed.

wookie at 3:54PM on 04/24/08

I will watch anything Ramsay..:) He's just awesome.

Martin is mad that he's an utter tool and needs to get over it. If he was more capable at his job, he'd get hired somewhere. I wouldn't hire him either.

Anyway-he did sign up for the show...He needs to get over it!

Butrflygirly at 4:03PM on 04/24/08

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