Xenforo Cloud upgraded our forum to XenForo version 2.3.4. This update has created styling issues to our current templates.
Starting January 9th, site maintenance is ongoing until further notice, but please report any other issues you may experience so we can look into.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Where did these people come from?
Host Gordon Ramsay made haunting remark to dead 'Kitchen Nightmares' chef Joseph Cerniglia
It was a prediction Gordon Ramsay probably wishes he hadn't made.
During a 2007 episode of the reality show "Kitchen Nightmares," the celebrity chef told New Jersey restaurateur Joseph Cerniglia that his business was about to "swim down the Hudson."
Harsh words, to be sure - made all the more cutting by this week's revelation that Cerniglia, 39, may have jumped off the George Washington Bridge to a watery death in the river.
Cerniglia was the owner of Campania in Fair Lawn, which got a scathing review from Ramsay - who excoriated the chef for his "bland" cooking and wasteful ways.
During the show, Cerniglia was depicted as stressed-out businessman who owed $80,000 to his suppliers.
"I am financially in trouble," he said. "The debt of this restaurant alone is overwhelming...My personal debt: wife, kids, mortgage - that's a lot of debt."
Cerniglia's body was found in the Hudson near W. 145th St. on Friday - hours after a motorist reported seeing a man jump off the bridge, police said.
NYPD investigators have not officially ruled it a suicide but they don't suspect criminality. His relatives could not be reached.
A friend and business associate said Cerniglia was a caring, creative man who "had a giant heart" and always wanted to help others.
"He was just a great, outstanding person," said Todd Kuehm, who sold produce to Cerniglia from his farm, Farm's View, in Wayne, N.J.
"He always wanted to try to help families in need," Kuehm, 46, said Monday.
"He was passionate about what he did every day. He would pick up every pepper and look at it. Everything had to be to his liking at his restaurant. His food was out of this world."
Kuehm said he "never in a million years" thought Cerniglia would take his own life.
"I am still a little bit in denial that this happened. I just can't believe it," he said.
On Ramsay's show, the famously caustic host said he thought Cerniglia was in over his head.
"Why would you decide to go into business if you haven't got a clue how to run a business?" he pontificated, blasting Cerniglia for wasting money on large portions.
Cerniglia admitted his money problems were serious, and his family said he was under stress because of the cash-flow issues.
"The hardest thing for me is people like us put everything on the line for a dream," his wife, Melissa, told Ramsay.
"I just want to see him ... you know, succeed," she said, clearly emotional.
I don't want Raj to leave. WAY too entertaining. LOL