
Courtesy of Fox
Ironically, Gordon Ramsay once told Joseph his business was going to ‘swim down the Hudson.’
Kitchen Nightmares chef Joseph Cerniglia, 39, was found dead Sept. 24 in New York’s Hudson River after reportedly jumping from the George Washington Bridge. His death has officially been ruled a suicide by the New York Medical Examiner’s Office. But along with the horrific news, many people are reflecting back on a 2007 episode of FOX’s Kitchen Nightmares on which Gordon Ramsay told Joseph his business was going to “swim down the Hudson.”
Certainly not the best choice of words, but Gordon couldn’t have possibly predicted what would unfold three years later.
Joseph, who owned New Jersey restaurant Campania, said he was about $80,000 in debt at the time of the show’s taping — and his family showed concern over how he was handling the pressure.
“I worry about Joe,” his mother Pat said on the show. ”I worry about his stress levels.”
But a frequent patron of Campania has only the nicest things to say about the late chef:
“He was just so interested in food and so animated,” says Jill Hanifan. “He even made you want to eat things you didn’t like. He would sit down and talk to you about food, about growing food. I had made some green tomato relish, and he let me talk. He wasn’t just about me, me, me, I, I, I.”

Julie Allen
Posted at 11:46 PM on August 15, 2012
Having a family member with depression, though I can never know how it feels to be them, I see the devastating effects it can have. Not only the on the person suffering from it, but those that love & care about them. I’m so sick of people saying “just get over it!” or “why can’t you snap out of it?”. People don’t realize that it’s not that easy. No one “chooses” to be depressed, they don’t “cause” it or make it happen. I watched this episode of “Kitchen Nightmares” & really liked this chef. I hope this continues to raise awareness about mental illness & my prayers are with his family.