'Kitchen Nighmares' chef commits suicide, had 'overwhelming personal debt'

[Liberal_in_LA]

NJ chef featured on TV cooking show kills himself
By BETH DeFALCO, Associated Press Writer

Associated Press September 28, 2010 A New Jersey chef who described "overwhelming" personal debt when he was featured on Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" show jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.

The body of 39-year-old Joseph Cerniglia was found floating in the Hudson River on Friday. Grace Burgess, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office, said the office on Tuesday ruled Cerniglia's death a suicide.

Cerniglia owned Campania in Fair Lawn, N.J., which he bought in 2006. In 2007, the debt-ridden Italian restaurant was featured on Ramsay's show.

During the broadcast, Cerniglia estimated he owed purveyors about $80,000.

"I'm financially in trouble. The debt of the restaurant alone is overwhelming," he said. "My personal debt — wife, kids, mortgage — that's a lot of debt."

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Cerniglia is the second former contestant on a Ramsay television show to commit suicide. The other was a former contestant on Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen" chef competition.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/09/28/entertainment/e085750D07.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz10r14Z3qW

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. I'm sure that getting screamed at by Gordon Ramsay didn't help any, either.

Due to our abusive, bullying entertainment, where people are constantly competing against each other and being humiliated in front of others for not "measuring up".

I got enough of that abuse when I was working for fucked-up lawyers and judges, and I won't watch that sort of "entertainment" now.

[Codeine]

2. Kitchen Nightmares isn't so much about the screaming.

There's a quite genuine effort by Ramsay to get these busineses on a proper footing for success.

And Hell's Kitchen is so obviously faked that it doesn't matter -- those are mainly actors playing parts.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. Ramsay tries to help but I get the feeling most are too underwater when the show films

Many of the restaurants are sold, taken over, close after filming. There is a website
that tracks the post-show status of the restaurants featured on KN.

[Hannah Bell]

7. doesn't matter whether its fake or not: point is to model it to the populace as normal behavior.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. I've never seen Ramsey yell at somebody who didn't have it coming.

:shrug:

[Hannah Bell]

17. i'm not surprised to hear you say that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. I'm not surprised that you don't really disagree.

[Hannah Bell]

20. i'm not surprised you leap to unwarranted assumptions.

[supernova]

3. Can't bear to watch that stuff either

Gordon Ramsey is a great chef. But still, I don't like watching people in trouble be humiliated. The idea that we play up this meanness for entertainment purposes is awful to me.

Very sad all around.

[digitaln3rd]

4. Yeah, because it was a surprise what Gordon Ramsay was like when he signed up for the show? Please.

Yeah, because it was a surprise what Gordon Ramsay was like when he signed up for the show? Please.

[snooper2]

6. Considering the show was done in 2007...

You are probably, no, you are wrong...

You got your digs in on Gordon whom you obviously don't like so bravo for that :eyes:


Here's part one of the episode for the other posters..I remember this one..bunch of kids trying to act like they can produce some fine dining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e8qDvbsH5g

[Hannah Bell]

8. abuse & bullying is the main theme of the modern age.

it's all about denigrating others.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hannah Bell]

14. yes, kind of like those usual suspects; the ones who egg on the public bullying, shaming & blaming

of teachers, public employees, auto workers, smokers, fat people, poor people who don't follow upper middle class norms...long list.

but i understand, you meant those who'd like the people actually in charge -- the ruling class -- to accept responsibility instead of trying to push it down the food chain.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Those sure are bullies, alright.

I'd sure like to give them all swirlies, I tell ya hwat.

[prolesunited]

23. Seems like you are quite acquainted with the topic

[Dappleganger]

9. That is Ramsay's schtick.

Everyone knows that's what he does and in no way did Gordon push him over the edge. Did you know how much he helped this chef to figure out what was wrong and to re-focus his efforts? Looked what happened after the show:

"Cerniglia, 39, was married with three sons. He bought Campania restaurant when he was 33, and though the innovative Italian bistro quickly won fans, he was sinking into debt and turned to reality television for some relief. In 2007, Campania was featured on Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares," in which the profanity-prone celebrity chef whips struggling restaurants (and restaurateurs) into shape. As soon as the episode aired, he told Star-Ledger restaurant critic Teresa Politano, the phone began to ring. "It didn’t stop for a long, long time.”

Since then, Cerniglia won the Ultimate Chef Bergen County competition (a local version of "Iron Chef") and was named one of the top five chefs in the Garden State by Inside Jersey magazine earlier this year. He was active in the Slow Food movement and passionate about locally-grown food."

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/dining/index.ssf/2010/09/joe_cerniglia_suicide_campania.html

All of that happened after the show was aired, but it seems that Joe was in extreme debt due to high expenditures (and no doubt the bad economy compounded the problem). Unfortunately for himself and his family, the only way out he saw was taking his own life instead of seeking bankruptcy protection. My heart goes out to everyone who endures the pain of suicide by someone they love.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Like the guy didn't know exactly what he was getting into.

[haele]

12. Most of the constant yelling you see is editing - Fox doesn't show all the teaching he also does -

I've seen Ramsey's BBC shows, and on them, his screaming and yelling is no more than one would get from most athletic coaches, and far less than I experienced in either Boot Camp or during my short time learning to work my way up the line in an Italian restaurant during a summer break. I don't watch the American Fox shows, because they portray everything as "a battle royal of extreme personalities" rather than the problem-solving DIY restaurant management and foodie type shows BBC would put him on.

Ramsey tends to be genuinely concerned about how efficiently the business is run, what the locals are interested in, and what is available locally, which are pretty much most factors in what causes restaurants to fail. In the BBC series, it didn't matter if it was a 2-star Michelin restaurant or a chip shop, he would put a lot of effort and use different coaching and team building methods with the owners and the staff to bring the restaurant up to the best level it could be.
Most of the time, when a restaurant owner, staff or cook follows his training or advice, they succeed very well. He come across as, while being arrogant, being pretty genuine in raising the skill and competency level in the average local eatery, and he is a big proponent of seasonal, traditional, and local food culture.

What's sad is that this was the Fox Faux version of the original BBC show; many of the owners featured used the show as "free publicity" as well as a cheap make-over - which seemed to be what most of the American restaurants featured were going for. They all acted as if everything would be just fine if they could pinpoint a few staff to get rid of, get a cheaper menu created by "the famous international Chef Gordon Ramsey", television exposure (which would show them improving to a superior level of fine dining, of course) and a restaurant makeover that they usually didn't really understand they had to claim as a gift on their taxes.
Especially since Faux, unlike BBC, picked the worst, most poorly managed, places to send Ramsey to for the most entertainment and fireworks value, with "helping the restaurant" as only a secondary value.
The show for this resturant was on occurred three, four years ago. There are many restaurants that have been failing due to the economy since, and I'm unhappily sure that there have been many other suicides in the area based on a failing business. This one just happened to have a celebrity link from the past, which is probably the only reason it even showed up on the media radar. :(


Haele

[Dappleganger]

18. If people only knew how much the chef in our camp kitchen used to yell at us...

well, that would make for great tv, too! OMG, the shit we used to pull on old Joe to get him back, too. He loved us to death but when we screwed up, he could bellow like an elephant! As bad as that sounds Joe was never, ever abusive nor did he ever call us names. Plus he taught me to make the best yeast rolls you ever had. ;)

[Jamastiene]

21. I have wanted a good yeast roll recipe for years.

Nothing I have tried so far has come even close to the great ones a chef from Boston once cooked for me when we lived down at Myrtle Beach. I wish I had my head together back then to ask for the recipe.

Re: Yelling
When I took the electrical wiring diploma courses at the local community college, the head of the program taught many of the classes. He yelled all the time, but was not abusive either. He yelled to keep us on our toes. He didn't want to smell us incinerate our fool selves if we screwed up when messing with 600V. He made damn sure we stayed alert and knew what we were doing. There was a reason for his yelling. I miss him.

[brooklynite]

16. In all fairness...

...this guy wouldn't have been on KN if he wasn't already in financial trouble. I suspect that this wouldn't even be a national story if Gordon Ramsay hadn't yelled at him.

[Jamastiene]

22. So sad.

I hate to hear someone committed suicide. Usually, when things look the worst, you start crawling back out of it not long after that point. :(