Gordon's kitchen nightmare

A chef collapsed with a suspected heart attack after he was lambasted by Gordon Ramsay.

Lenin Dooris was taking part in Channel 4's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - where the celebrity chef tries to turn around the fortunes of struggling restaurants - when he slumped to the floor.

The 32-year-old had been feeling the pressure as he worked for a week under the watchful eye of Ramsay, who is famous for his temper and bad language.

He had already riled Ramsay earlier in the week by taking more than 90 minutes to serve him a main course.

The episode had prompted the Scot to turn to the camera and say: 'A head chef who can't stand the heat? This kitchen is a pressure cooker waiting to explode.'

Just days later, when Ramsay and his producer were there again, Mr Dooris collapsed in the kitchen.

He was taken to hospital amid fears he had suffered a heart attack.

With the cameras rolling, a stunned Ramsay said: 'I hope the hell he's OK. It was a ******* shock.'

Mr Dooris's mother Maura had put her life savings of £65,000 into the restaurant, called Oscar's, in Nantwich, Cheshire. Her son was working as head chef without pay and was cracking under the stress as he tried to cook complicated dishes.

But the venture was losing up to £2,000 a week so Ramsay went behind the scenes and found a chef who cooked ribs in Coca Cola, loved sugar sandwiches and stormed out when things got too much.

Mr Dooris was later discharged from hospital. It was discovered that he had collapsed because a drink problem caused him to black out.

Ramsay, 39, whose eateries have been awarded three Michelin stars, tried to help by agreeing to give up swearing if the chef stopped drinking. 'Like many chefs, Lenin finds it difficult to cope with the stress of a busy service unless he's had a drink,' he said.

'This turned out to be very emotional in an unexpected way. I had no idea that I was going to unearth that kind of situation and find someone so burdened with problems. It's one of the worst things to see.'

Mrs Dooris sold Oscar's in October. It is now thriving under new owners.

She said yesterday that she had no regrets about letting cameras into the restaurant last summer.

'The one good thing about Gordon coming was that he brought the drink problem out into the open and I'm very thankful for that,' she said.

'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.'