Chef Ramsay sued for faking reality show

New York -- TV kitchen guru and tyrant Gordon Ramsay has been sued in New York, accused of faking parts of the reality show, "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares."

A former restaurant manager accused Ramsay of lying about finding rotten meat, used defective chairs to imply shoddy furniture and hired actors to make the restaurant seem more popular after his weeklong makeover visit, the Telegraph reported Thursday.

Martin Hyde, former general manager of Dillons Restaurant, said Ramsay targeted him for the state of the kitchen so the confrontation could be filmed so Fox could air the show this fall. Hyde sued Ramsay for an undisclosed sum, claiming the chef's exaggerations about the restaurant's condition will ruin its reputation and that of its staff.

Hyde asked a judge to block Fox from airing the series, a U.S. version of a popular British show.

A spokesman for Ramsay, said he read the lawsuit. Of the claims of fabrication, he said, "It is a reality show and as far as I know it's not something they do."

Ramsay won a libel case after an article in the London Evening Standard accused him of faking scenes when he worked to turn around a struggling bistro.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.