During a 2007 episode of Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsay told New Jersey chef Joseph Cerniglia: “Your business is about to f*cking swim down the Hudson.”

Three years later, Cerniglia jumped into the river from the George Washington Bridge.

The chef’s death is one of at least 21 reality-contestant suicides since 2004, according to the NY Post, not taking into account many shows outside of the US.

The Bachelor contest Alexa “Lex” McAllister became the latest to take her own life last month, her season 14 competitor Gia Allemand having died from suicide in 2013.

California-based personality expert Dr Richard Levak told the Post the trend is essential a chicken-or-the-egg debate.

“Does [appearing on reality television] attract people with a higher rate of instability?” he asked. “Are people who are unstable more interested? Or do the vagaries of reality TV precipitate people killing themselves?”

The Bachelor's Gia Allemand (Pic: ABC) (ABC)

The Voice's Anthony Riley

The Bachelor's Alexa "Lex" McAllister

Most reality shows make psychiatrists available, but many contestants have suggested that their mental health is not treated seriously enough.

‘People aren’t screened [by the shows] as well as they should be,” said Survivor participant Eliza Orlins. “A lot of people have trouble dealing with the aftermath.”

The Bachelorette season 4 winner Jesse Csincsak added: “I think people don’t realize the repercussions when they sign up.

“Over the course of eight episodes, 50 million people saw them. Everywhere they go — walking down the streets, on Facebook — all these people are judging them.

“They didn’t sign up to be portrayed as the bully or the slut or the drunk or whatever, but they were, because that creates ratings, and ratings equal dollars.”