15 February 2006
DailyRecord
By Steven Ventura
HEART FAILURE
FIERY Gordon Ramsay feared he had gone too far when a chef collapsed during filming for his TV series.
Stressed-out Lenin Dooris was taken to hospital amid fears he had suffered a heart attack at work in the kitchen.
With the cameras rolling, Ramsay said: "I hope the hell he's OK It was a shock."
The drama during a busy relaunch night at Oscar's Restaurant is featured in the third series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on Channel 4.
But Lenin, 32, who later confessed to a drink problem, was discharged from hospital.
Doctors found he had blacked out after affecting his health by trying to hide his drinking from Ramsay.
Ramsay admitted his week trying to turn round the fortunes of the restaurant in Nantwich, Cheshire, had been his toughest challenge yet.
He even agreed to give up swearing if Lenin stopped boozing.
Owner Maura Dooris had put her life savings of £65,000 into opening the restaurant but was losing £2000 a week.
Her son Lenin was working as head chef without pay and cracking under the strain.
Sitting in the restaurant as a customer on his first night, Ramsay waited 90 minutes for his main course.
He described it as "possibly the worst service I've ever seen".
With customers in revolt, Ramsay went behind the scenes to discover a chef who cooked ribs braised in Coca-Cola, loved sugar sandwiches and stormed out when things got too much.
He said: "A head chef who can't stand the heat? This kitchen is a pressure cooker waiting to explode.
"Like many chefs, Lenin finds it difficult to cope with the stress of a busy service unless he's had a drink."
Ramsay tried to help by ordering the staff not to serve their chef a drink during working hours - and producing a piggy bank.
He explained: "Every time I swear, I put £1 in the box. No smoking or drinking for Lenin."
Maura sold Oscar's last October and it is now thriving under new ownership.
She said she had no regrets about letting the cameras in, adding: "The one good thing about Gordon coming was that he brought the drink problem out into the open.
"We've now got help for Lenin. It was a shock when he collapsed but we need more people to talk openly about this sort of thing."
