F&*k!! The Credit Crunch Hits Gordon Ramsay

It's been a difficult time recently for British celebrity chefs. First, eateries owned by Antony Worrall Thompson and Tom Aikens hit money trouble. Then last week it was reported that Heston Blumenthal's famed Fat Duck restaurant has had to close because hundreds of diners became ill after eating there (the cause is still unknown, although the restaurant has now been allowed to reopen). Suffice to say that certain biological samples are involved).
 
Now it's Gordon Ramsay who's making headlines. And this time it's not his private life that's got him into hot water, but rather his financial dealings.

It recently emerged that his main company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings, has reneged on promises made to lenders to secure a loan. And now, less than a year after it opened, Gordo has allegedly sold his flagship LA restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood, back to the hotel's owner, the LXR Luxury Resorts group.

With his expanding global restaurant empire, his TV shows and his cookbooks, perhaps the foul-mouthed chef has stretched himself too thinly. On the other hand, he was rarely seen at the London West Hollywood anyway (the chef de cuisine is--and will continue to be--Andy Cook).

But one thing does seem certain: despite helping numerous wobbly restaurants out of a financial hole, Ramsay was unable to take his own advice.

His kitchen nightmares just became a reality.