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Gordon Ramsay on 'pathetic' America

By Stone Martindale Aug 29, 2007, 20:56 GMT

British celebrety chef Gordon Ramsay EPA/Rick Nederstigt

Ramsay has unleashed his foul mouth on the American legal system while back home in Britain his culinary star is allegedly waning, according to the Daily Mail.

The Mail writes that Gordon Ramsay is flinging the feces like a monkey, calling America the "most pathetic nation."

Ramsay has broken his silence on a lawsuit accusing the chef of "faking scenes" in a New York restaurant for the upcoming season of his TV reality show "Kitchen Nightmares."

"I would never-ever-ever dream of setting anything up," Ramsay told Television Week. "I want to sleep at night. We were issued a writ because, God bless America, if the toilet paper is not thick enough and you come out with a rash on your arse (you'll get sued)."

Forty-year-old Ramsay added: "Trying to say I set up a wobbly chair - this is supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world, not the most pathetic."

Allegedly some Americans are upset.  According to the Mail, a television expert said: "How dare he say such things about the United States when he is delighted to take our dollars."

"Kitchen Nightmares" takes Ramsay to struggling restaurants and tries to help owners revitalize their businesses.

Manhattan restaurant manager Martin Hyde was fired during the filming of a "Nightmares" episode, then slapped a $1 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Ramsay and the show's producers in June.

Hyde accused "Nightmares" of planting rotten meat, making a stunt chair to fall apart and hiring actors to pose as guests lending the appearance of a successful makeover. Earlier this month, a judge tossed the suit into arbitration.

Ramsay said: "The idea of bringing mouldy food in and planting actors is a f**king joke. There's a man who got very scared and very embarrassed about his lack of professionalism. For a man to waste lawyers' time and taxpayers' money to get upset about something you're the cause of..."

The lawsuit said Hyde urged his boss to invite Ramsay's "Nightmares" production to the restaurant, only to be singled out as a scapegoat by producers who needed a camera-ready villain for the show.

"He wasn't the one in charge of the kitchen," said Hyde's lawyer, Carl Person. "The person responsible left the restaurant a week earlier. They're going to make him appear he was the one in charge and he wasn't. They're setting him up."

Trouble brews in a teapot over the pond for the Chef who told a "Hell's Kitchen" contestant to "Get the f*ck out of my kitchen."

Allegedly Restaurant Gordon Ramsay has lost two of its crowns to rival establishments, although one went to a restaurant within his group run by a former protégé, reports the Mail.

They blame his new found fame and television career stateside as the cause.

The 17th edition of Harden's London Restaurants, is based on the votes of more than 8,000 regular diners. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Royal Hospital Road had won the highest food rating, highest overall rating and top gastronomic experience award every year since 2000.

Peter Harden, co-editor of the guide, told the Mail: "For 11 years, Gordon Ramsay has been acknowledged as the best chef in London but we now have to question whether that is still the case.

"Yes, he has still won the top gastronomic experience nomination, but he has been beaten for the first time on food.

None of his other restaurants shine and his US opening was received with a massive yawn by New Yorkers.

"His whole reputation is based on the rock-solid performance of Royal Hospital Road which, until now, bestrode London like a colossus. This has always disarmed criticism that he is spreading himself too thin. He could always say his flagship restaurant was head and shoulders above everything else. It is now merely first among equals."