Chef Gordon Ramsay with Joseph Cerniglia. Photo: Eric Liebowitz / FOX
The body of a man found floating in the Hudson River last Friday afternoon was identified as 39-year-old New Jersey chef Joseph Cerniglia, a 2007 participant in Gordon Ramsay's reality TV show "Kitchen Nightmares."
Cerniglia, owner of Campania, an Italian restaurant in Fair Lawn, N.J., was pulled from the river around 3 p.m. on Friday when police responded to a 911 call that a body was floating in the river, the New York Daily News reported.
Police still don't know how Cerniglia wound up in the river, but the department is conducting an open investigation, a New York City Police Department spokesman told Slashfood on Monday.
Cerniglia appeared on "Kitchen Nightmares" in 2007 to help revive Campania, which he told the Bergen County Record was deep in debt.
"We were very busy, but I couldn't seem to make a profit," Cerniglia said. "We kept getting deeper and deeper into debt. Our food costs were high, and we couldn't get our labor costs under control."
The show's web site reveals that "Joe confides to Gordon that he has lost $120,000 in eighteen months and owes his purveyors another $80,000... Gordon meets Joe's wife and sons. She confides to Gordon that if the restaurant folds, they will lose everything -- including their house."
After Ramsay helps get Campania back on its feet, "in the weeks following Gordon's visit, Campania's customers are happy, profits are up and Joe has regained control of the front and of the kitchen," the site says.
9-27-2010 @2:58PM beth said... Darn it. Should'a been Ramsay instead!
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9-27-2010 @3:44PM Patty said... You are mean and a danger to society, hope you don't have children...if you do, hopefully children's services will be alerted as well as ASPCA
9-27-2010 @4:04PM Becky said... I love Gordie :)
9-27-2010 @4:11PM Wendy said... No, Beth... should have been YOU
9-27-2010 @4:30PM Gandalf said... Beth isn't nearly as nasty as those of you who replied to her! Wendy, your comment was worse, and Patty, you need to flat out grow up before you point fingers at anyone.
9-27-2010 @5:11PM joe said... maybe it should be you in the river !!!!!!
9-27-2010 @5:12PM ashleigh said... I know you don't really wish death on anybody, Beth, so I think people should lighten up here about what you said... Especially considering the $millions of dollars (more than $25 million) that Ramsay's in debt over! Compared to the unfortunate dead chef who was in debt for a mere $200k, Chef Ramsay owes just one American meat company alone that very same amount... He owes an American wine company even more, and on & on the list grows -- all for goods delivered to his restaurants for his use there for his own profit, but never paid for. He stopped taking calls in November 2009 from any of his bill collectors! He owes millions in taxes both here and in the UK, too... He is in debt up to his eyeballs, and even though he no longer has an empire of any sort, having had to sell all of his restaurants, save one, he hasn't paid any of his debt off, and still hasn't claimed BK, either... He doesn't know squat about the business side of running a restaurant, and so I think Beth was just saying, tongue-in-cheek, that for a guy who has made other businesses go under and made families who owned those business suffer mightily all from him not paying his bills to them, he is the last person on earth who should be giving business advice, and maybe he should've been the one taken out! But just as a joke, people... A joke! Nobody ever wishes ill of anyone, for real, can't you see that? Ramsay knows how to cook, though, even if he doesn't know how to run any sort of business... And I do feel horrible for the thousands of people he has royally screwed over by making their businesses fail because he has cheated them out the milions he owes them! Also, a minimum of 3 of the restaurants that he "saved" on his tv show, have utterly failed, too -- they're out of business right now... Ramsay IS a total failure...
9-27-2010 @6:03PM xueyunlbao said... Body in a river? Hmmm. Owes lots of $$$$. Hmmm. Italian. Hmmm. Doesn't take a genius to figure this one out. LOL, as a New Jersey Italian, I resent such remarks! Now pass the f***ing meatballs. My boyfriend thinks the same with me. He is eight years older than me, lol. We met online at agegapsingl es. c om a nice and free place for younger women and older men, or older women and younger men, to interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.
9-27-2010 @8:47PM Joe said... While what Beth said was pretty mean, what the two of you (Patty and Wendy) said to her was way out of bounds and very hateful as well. The two of you have no idea what Beth's story is or why she feels the way she does, she could have some kind of history with one or both of them, one enver knows. You two (Patty and Wendy) are both very hateful people to someone who you don't even know, to someone who said something you just don't like. Maybe people like you will someday realize that just becuase you happen to feel the way you do sure doesn't mean others feel that way, that your way is not, not even close actually, the way things really are to most everyone else.
As far as this article goes and what's happened, I'm sorry to hear such bad news. Hope their families a re doing the best they can and will be able to deal with this in as the best of ways as possible.
9-27-2010 @8:58PM kanyuxiale said... oh great article ,May God bless the wife, family, relatives, and friends of Joseph Carniglia. And may he rest in peace. You are in my thoughts and prayers.My boyfriend and i both think so ...He is almost 11year older than me .i met him via kissmilita ry.c oma nice place for s'ee'king Army, Navy, Mari'nes, Air Force, Police Force and their admires.just love it
9-27-2010 @10:24PM Barbara said... You are one sick puppy!
9-27-2010 @3:23PM Lacey said... Foggedaboudit!
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9-27-2010 @3:24PM Lee said... Chef Joe really impressed me, as did his wife. Very sincere, hard-working people, trying to fulfill their dreams; and Chef Ramsey seemed to be more invested in this than usual, probably because he's an attentive father as well. I am very sorry for the family's loss and hope they will be able to reasonably recover from this tragedy.
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9-27-2010 @7:05PM Debbie said... Now that's the kind of response that should be here. Heartfelt condolences to a life lost, not all the other bickering and insensitive gargage.
9-27-2010 @3:25PM Jules said... Beth, what a horrible comment to make even if you obviously dislike Gordon Ramsey. What has he ever done to you to warrant that despicable comment?! On the contrary, he has helped countless people, their families, and/or their employees to either improve and save their restaurants or he has helped people pursue culinary careers either in his restaurants or from his cooking shows. I am sure based upon your rude and insensitive comment that you are such a joy (not!) to be around. Instead, a chef, still young at 39, has left his wife a widow and their sons without a father since being found dead. Maybe you should go take a swim in the Hudson River.
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9-27-2010 @8:55PM Joe said... hey Jules, maybe you shouldn't beleive everyhting you happen to see on TV? I understand where you're coming from and you sound like a very nice person and I'm sure not defending what that other lady said either ok. Only, what we all happen to see on the TV sure doesn't, by a long shot, tell the whole story about people. Those two people sure are not saints, just folks like you and me doing what they can to get by the only way they know how. I'm not saying they are bad just saying they are aren't nothing but good either. They've done their share of bad things to others in business, don't for one-second think they haven't.
9-27-2010 @3:27PM Sandra said... What a nasty and unnecessary comment posted by Beth.
Anyway, I actually remember this episode and remember his wife crying to Gordon. I hope this has nothing to do with the depts owed. There will be a lot of speculation but my sympathies to his family.
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9-27-2010 @4:22PM mannamedjoe said... Sandra, this is not your real name, why are you going by that name when it is not your name?
9-27-2010 @4:44PM ashleigh said... to "mannamedjoe" -- why would you accuse "Sandra" of anything, least of all of not using her real name?! It sounds far more like a real name than YOURS, Mannamedjoe!! I use MT real name, so why shouldn't she, and why accuse her of not doing so?! Your comment mystefies...
I feel sad for the chef, and hope it wasn't criminals who killed him for not paying his $200k in debts... A tragic story all the way around...
9-27-2010 @4:58PM Sandra said... So I guess 'mannamedjoe' is your name given at birth...you are off your rocker. Why would I make up a name like Sandra and why would it even matter to you? You were just lacking intellegent input.
Thanks Ashleigh!