'Hell's Kitchen' chef Gordon Ramsay settles British tabloid libel lawsuit
UPI News Service, 06/20/2006
"Hell's Kitchen" chef Gordon Ramsay settled a libel suit Tuesday against a London tabloid which claimed he had faked scenes for one of his British TV shows.
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The Evening Standard ran an article in which it alleged that Ramsay and officials from Optomen Television Ltd. had committed "gastronomic mendacity" by fabricating negative conditions in featured kitchens on their show "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares," the Independent reports.
According to the libel suit, the tabloid also stated that the alleged kitchen alterations helped drive their associated restaurants out of business, something the claimants deny.
"No scenes had been faked, the kitchen was indeed untidy and a health hazard, the restaurant was already in financial difficulty before the program was filmed, and the chef was not installed by the claimants," Ramsay's lawyer Keith Schilling told the Independent.
As part of the settlement, the makers of the culinary show will receive over $138,000 in damages and the Evening Standard will print a prominent apology in their paper.
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