Nexus Choat may be about to take legal action against celebrity
chef and notorious firebrand Gordon Ramsay.
The dispute centres on a promotion the chef did for the humble Bramley
apple last year when he created an apple dish before a live audiene. The
event was organised by Nexus Choat on behalf of the Bramley Campaign
Group.
The feud began two weeks ago when Ramsay was shown attacking the apples
on Channel Four’s fly-on-the-wall programme Ramsay’s Boiling Point.
Among a series of off-hand remarks recorded just after the promotion,
Ramsay said the apples sent to him were not good enough quality. He also
boasted he had been paid pounds 5,000 for the promotion, although the
true figure was pounds 3,500.
Legal advisers to Nexus Choat say the agency could sue Ramsay for breach
of contract and defamation. However, the agency plans to approach the
chef’s PR agent, Peretti Communications, with a graceful way out of the
feud. Nexus Choat are to ask Ramsay to pay back the original fee and
give pounds 1,500 to charity.
’That way he would be seen to be going from being a bad guy to being a
good guy,’ says Nexus Choat managing director Keith Simpson.