Chef told by Gordon Ramsay that his business was about to 'swim down the Hudson' is found dead after jump into river



The scene over lunch in the Campania dining room in suburban New Jersey was classic Gordon Ramsay.

The British chef and presenter of Kitchen Nightmares tore strips off the Italian restaurant’s hapless owner and self-taught chef, Joseph Cerniglia, ensuring maximum effect by doing it in front of customers.

‘Why did you decide to go into business if you haven’t got a clue how to run a business?’ Ramsay, 43, asked him loudly.

Haunting: Gordon Ramsay, left, delivered one of his trademark scoldings to chef Joseph Cerniglia, right, in this 2007 episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Cerniglia has since been found dead after apparently jumping into the Hudson River

Fears: Joe's wife Melissa, left, and mother Pat, right, both expressed their fears for his stress levels during the Kitchen Nightmares episode



As the relentless bombardment hit home, he said: ‘Are you feeling upset now?’

Mr Cerniglia replied he was ‘getting really upset’, to which Ramsay said: ‘Thank **** for that. Hopefully, I’m getting through to you now.’

The notoriously blunt, three-starred Michelin chef likes to point out to the restaurateurs whose ability he monsters that he has only their best interests at heart.

He may do, but his warning to Mr Cerniglia that his business was ‘about to ****ing swim down the Hudson’ has come back to haunt him after the 39-year-old father of three’s body was found floating in the river.

Mr Cerniglia was found on Friday afternoon, an hour after a passerby told police he had seen a man jump from the 200ft-high George Washington Bridge.

It is not the first time that a chef featured in one of Ramsay’s three American shows – often more confrontational than their British counterparts – has met such a tragic end.

Rachel Brown, a 41-year-old chef from Dallas, competed in 2006 in Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. She later said she had no regrets about appearing in the show, although she didn’t win. In May the following year, she was found dead in her home after shooting herself.

Debts: Cerniglia on Ramsay's 'Kitchen Nightmares'. His body was found after a passerby said he had seen a man jump from the George Washington Bridge

Joe's Italian restaurant Campania, in New Jersey, during the Kitchen Nightmares episode

Although neighbours said Mr Cerniglia’s restaurant in Fair Lawn had been doing brisk business, his wife Melissa and mother Pat had expressed fears to Ramsay about the stress he was under.



‘People like us put everything on the line for a dream. If this business fails, we will lose everything,’ Mrs Cerniglia tearfully told Ramsay during the show.

Her husband had sounded similarly desperate, describing his debts as ‘overwhelming’.

Whether Mr Cerniglia had cleared the £50,500 debts to suppliers he faced when Ramsay first visited in 2007 remained unclear, but after his death his family posted a message on his Facebook page asking friends to send money rather than flowers.

Yesterday Ramsay said: ‘I was fortunate to spend time with Joe during the first season of Kitchen Nightmares. Joe was a brilliant chef and our thoughts go out to his family, friends and staff.’

In Ramsay’s defence, he and his camera crew returned to Campania a year after his first visit and he heaped praise on its transformation.



A delighted Mr Cerniglia said it had been ‘nothing short of a small miracle’, as customers had almost doubled while his profits had improved by serving smaller portions.

However, Nadine Kaslow, chief psychologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said the producers of reality shows needed to ‘do a better job of managing and assessing the people on them’.

‘Your life is an open book to people and that makes you feel very vulnerable,’ she said. ‘When people feel very publicly shamed and humiliated, that’s a risk factor for suicide.’

Joseph Cerniglia’s brother-in-law last night praised Ramsay’s approach during the show.

Kevin Wynn, 43, said: ‘In no way did Gordon have anything to do with Joe’s death. When we were filming I found him to be nothing but a gentleman and I have the utmost respect for him.

‘The lessons he gave us such as keeping your food costs under control have stood us in good stead and we were just about to start a refurbishment.

‘Joe’s family are utterly devastated by this but they do not hold Gordon responsible at all.’