Gordon Ramsay's show chef commits suicide by jumping off GW Bridge

Cerniglia, the 39-year-old owner of Campania restaurant in Fair Lawn, N.J., featured in a 2007 episode of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's 'Kitchen Nightmares,' where the debt-laden restaurateur described his financial troubles.

At the time, the notoriously harsh and profane foodie Ramsay said to Cerniglia that his business was going to “swim down the Hudson.”

Chef dies after suicidal jump
Apparently due to his overwhelmed personal money problems, the NJ chef and owner of the debt-ridden restaurant jumped to his death in the very same river.

He was found floating in the Hudson River Tuesday, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

According to The Associated Press, Cerniglia has jumped into the Hudson River from the Washington Street Bridge.

Grace Burgess, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office, told the AP that the examiners Tuesday ruled Cerniglia's death was a suicide.

Chef was in debts
While appearing on renowned chef Ramsay's show 'Kitchen Nightmares,' Cerniglia had told the host that his Italian restaurant in New Jersey was all but doomed, and admitted that his debts exceeded $80,000, AP reports.

"I'm financially in trouble — the debt of the restaurant alone is overwhelming. My personal debt — wife, kids mortgage — that's a lot of debt," Cerniglia said on the cooking show, which takes struggling restaurants around the country and tries to make them into successful businesses under Ramsay's guidance.

His wife added, "If this business fails, we will lose everything."

But Cerniglia's appearance on the show proved fruitful for his restaurant, which was always packed from the time it premiered on the television.

Friend and business associates remember Cerniglia
Meanwhile, The Sun reports that 43-year-old cooking shows host Ramsay has expressed his grief over the tragic and untimely demise of the chef, saying, "He was a brilliant chef, and our thoughts go out to his family, friends and staff."

According to The Associated Press, Cerniglia has jumped into the Hudson River from the Washington Street Bridge.

"He was just a great, outstanding person," said Todd Kuehm, 46, who sold produce to Cerniglia from his farm, Farm's View, in Wayne, N.J., according to New York Daily News.

"He always wanted to try to help families in need," Kuehm continued. "He was passionate about what he did every day. He would pick up every pepper and look at it. Everything had to be to his liking at his restaurant. His food was out of this world."

A close friend of Cerniglia for the last seven years, Jim Edwards, the culinary director at Chef Central in Paramus, said of the self-taught chef, "He never gave the outward appearance that there was anything bothering him."

"He was always very creative and upbeat. He had a very infectious smile and a way of making you feel at home,” he told the AP. "It's very tragic, whatever it was he couldn't overcome," Edwards said.

Cerniglia is the second suicide victim
Cerniglia isn’t the first former contestant on a Ramsay cooking show to commit suicide. Before him, Rachel Brown of Dallas shot herself in 2007 after appearing on Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen in 2006.

Cerniglia is survived by his wife and three sons, ages 13, 11 and 9.