It was the episode in which Gordon Ramsay was seen retching after being fed a rancid scallop. Later, the chef who gave him a “signature” dish of scallops, black pudding and hollandaise sauce admitted he could not even cook an omelette.
Yesterday the most memorable episode of the Channel 4 series Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, in which the chef used variations of the word “fuck” 111 times in the course of an hour, was the subject of a libel action at the high court in London.
Ramsay and the programme makers accepted £75,000 damages and an apology from the London Evening Standard after allegations in an article claiming that some scenes shot at Bonaparte’s restaurant in Silsden, West Yorkshire, had been faked to make average restaurants look like a hazard to public health.
Ramsay’s solicitor, Keith Schilling, said the article, by Victor Lewis-Smith, alleged that Ramsay’s programme drove some restaurants out of business.
Mr Schilling told the hearing: “The defendants published an article on November 3 2005 which alleged that the programme specialised in cynically faking scenes to make average restaurants look like public health hazards, driving some out of business. It alleged the claimants were guilty of ‘gastronomic mendacity’ by installing an incompetent chef and fabricating culinary disasters in order to wreck Bonaparte’s reputation.”
It was claimed that Ramsay, the programme makers, Optomen Television, and Patricia Llewellyn, managing director of Optomen, had been libelled. Mr Schilling said: “No scenes had been faked … the restaurant was in financial difficulty before the programme was filmed, the chef was not installed by the claimants.”
Representing the Evening Standard, barrister Adam Cannon apologised for the distress and embarrassment caused by the article, which was accepted as false.
After the settlement, before Mr Justice Eady, Ramsay said: “I won’t let people write anything they want to about me. Even I have limits and on this occasion the line was crossed. I am satisfied with today’s apology.”
Mr Schilling said that both Ramsay and Ms Llewellyn had suffered distress, with their integrity and credibility attacked. He said all three claimants had suffered damage to their reputations.
In the show, Ramsay, holder of three Michelin stars, had arrived at Bonaparte’s to find it struggling. He was sick after he ate a scallop-based dish, which he pronounced “fucking minging”. The kitchen was filthy and there were punnets of rotting strawberries.
The chef, Tim Gray, was later sacked and said afterwards: “I can’t cook as well as I thought I could, clearly.”
