Chef Ramsay wins damages over slur

TV chef Gordon Ramsay won libel damages from a newspaper which claimed his programme Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares had faked health hazards in a restaurant.

London’s Evening Standard had said the programme, in which Ramsay is called in to restore the fortunes of struggling restaurants, specialised in faking scenes.

Solicitor Keith Schilling, acting for Ramsay and TV company Optomen, which makes the programme, told the High Court the episode in question involved Bonapartes restaurant and wine bar in Silsden, West Yorkshire.

„The defendants published an article on 3 November 2005 which alleged that the programme specialised in cynically faking scenes to make average restaurants look like public health hazards, driving some out of business,“ Schilling said.

„It alleged the claimants were guilty of ‘gastronomic mendacity’ by installing an incompetent chef and fabricating culinary disasters in order to wreck Bonapartes’ reputation.“

He said the paper now accepted the allegations were untrue and that the programme had portrayed an accurate picture of Bonapartes.

Schilling continued: „No scenes had been faked, the kitchen was indeed untidy and a health hazard, the restaurant was already in financial difficulty before the programme was filmed, and the chef was not installed by the claimants.

„In fact it was the chef who first contacted the claimants in relation to participation in the programme.“

Adam Cannon for the Standard said the paper apologised for the distress and embarrassment caused by the article which they accepted „was false“.

They agreed to pay libel damages, which court sources said amounted to around 75,000 pounds, to Ramsay, Optomen and its managing director, Patricia Llewellyn, along with costs estimated at 25,000 pounds.

Outside court afterwards Ramsay said: „I won’t let people write anything they want about me – even I have limits and on this occasion the line was crossed.“

Source: stuff.co.nz