New York (CNN) -- New Jersey restaurant owner Joseph Cerniglia, who appeared on the first season of Fox reality show "Kitchen Nightmares," plunged to his death in New York's Hudson River, the New York City medical examiner said Tuesday.

Cerniglia, 39, jumped from a bridge into the river last Friday in what the medical examiner ruled was a suicide.

His Fairlawn, New Jersey, Italian restaurant was struggling when reality show host Gordon Ramsey taped an episode with Cerniglia in 2007.

"Your business is about to f**king swim down the Hudson," Ramsey said to Cerniglia, while offering advice on how to turn his business around.