Restaurant manager sues top chef Ramsay

New York -- A New York restaurant manager says he is suing Gordon Ramsay because the celebrity chef made his eatery look so unappetizing on his reality TV show.

Martin Hyde has filed a $1 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan alleging Ramsay fabricated scenes for his upcoming FOX show, "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares," while filming at Hyde's restaurant, Dillon's, the New York Daily News reported Monday.

The show follows Ramsay as he tries to improve struggling restaurants in a week's time. But Hyde said it does not reflect the reality at Dillon's, where he worked until April.

"People think reality shows are real," Hyde's attorney Carl Person said. "And this is one instance where every single thing was programmed."

Ramsay allegedly planted rotten meat in a refrigerator for the sake of blowing up at Hyde on camera. The suit also claims Ramsay was fed his lines, hired actors to pose as customers and verbally abused him in front of the staff.

But Ramsay said in a statement he and the producers of the show stand behind its authenticity.

"The current lawsuit alleging that scenes were faked or staged is completely without merit," he said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.