Gordon Ramsay’s brother jailed - Sept 13 2007
Ronnie Ramsay, the younger brother of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, has been jailed for 10 months for heroin possession on Bali island, an Indonesian judge said.

The 39-year-old was also given a £265 fine, said presiding Judge I Wayan Mertha of the Denpasar District Court.

Ronnie Ramsay, who was arrested in February with 100 milligrams of heroin in his pocket during a search outside a supermarket, sat quietly as the ruling was read out. He said he had not yet decided if he would file an appeal.

Under Indonesia’s tough drug laws, Ramsay could have faced up to 10 years in jail, but the panel of three judges decided to be lenient after he pleaded guilty and expressed remorse, Mertha said.

Ramsay’s lawyer, Erwin Siregar, told reporters the sentence was too harsh because the heroin was intended for personal use, not for distribution. His client has for years struggled with drug addiction.


F Word sea bass episode faked - C4 - July 16 2007
An episode of Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word which appeared to show him spearing sea bass off the English coast was faked, Channel 4 has admitted.

The celebrity chef headed into the sea to bag some bass for a beach barbecue in one of the series’ "action" items and was shown returning to shore holding several large fish he seemed to have caught.

But while Ramsay did take part in the fishing expedition off the Devon coast, spending around an hour trying to spear a fish, in reality he failed to catch anything, Channel 4 said.

Spearfishing expert Dave O’Callaghan told the Sunday Times he had caught the fish the celebrity chef cooked on an open fire in the episode.

"I went in 20 minutes before everyone else to make sure we had fish to put on the barbecue.

"I caught about four and then Gordon got in and we spent about an hour in the water. When we came back in we threaded the fish onto a stringer and he carried them."

A spokeswoman for Channel 4 said the broadcaster had looked into the incident and discovered the show’s makers had misrepresented what had happened.

"The production company Optomen has informed us that, after investigation, regrettably it appears that one part of the sea bass VT gave viewers an inaccurate impression about Gordon’s involvement.

"We are working with Optomen to ensure this does not happen again."

She added: "Channel 4 does take such errors of judgment seriously and we regret that viewers may feel they were let down on this occasion."


Gordon accused of faking scenes for TV - June 20 2007
Gordon Ramsay has been accused in a lawsuit of faking scenes for an American version of his reality TV show Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.

The lawsuit was filed yesterday in US District Court in New York by Martin Hyde, a former general manager at Dillons, a restaurant in Manhattan.

Hyde claimed Ramsay, known for his foul-mouthed outbursts on screen, humiliated him.

Hyde said Ramsay forced him to quit his job to avoid further abuse.

The lawsuit said Ramsay featured the restaurant as part of a new US show, to be distributed this autumn by the Fox Broadcasting Co.

Ramsay was supposed to makeover failing restaurants in a week’s time as his confrontations with staff were captured by hidden cameras and microphones, according to the lawsuit.