Lawsuit: Celeb chef Gordon Ramsay faked reality show

NEW YORK — Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is accused of faking scenes for a new reality television show in which he was supposed to "make over" failing restaurants in a week's time while his confrontations with staff were recorded, according to a lawsuit Tuesday.

Martin R. Hyde, a former general manager at Dillons in Manhattan, said Ramsay featured the Indian-American restaurant as part of a new series titled "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares," to be distributed this fall by the Fox Broadcasting Co.

Hyde's lawsuit said Ramsay falsely claimed meat was spoiled, used a defective chair to imply that Dillons' furniture was shoddy and even hired actors to pose as customers to make the restaurant look busy at the end of the week.

Hyde also claimed Ramsay, known for foul-mouthed outbursts as the star of Fox's reality competition "Hell's Kitchen," humiliated him and forced him to quit his job to avoid further abuse.

He asked for millions of dollars in damages and a court order to stop the show from airing.

Ramsay spokesman James Curich said he could not comment on the lawsuit because he had not yet seen it. As for allegations about fabrications, Curich said: "It is a reality show, and as far as I know it's not something they do."