Gordon Ramsay from Fox's Hell's Kitchen has become a household name by being a televised terror to his underlings in pursuit of excellence in the kitchen. Of course, he, himself, was lowest on the totem pole at one point. At the beginning of his career, he was a commis (an entry-level position responsible for much of the kitchen grunt work like vegetable chopping, etc.) in the London kitchen of then-two-Michelin-starred chef Marco Pierre White.

While Ramsay does acknowledge that White taught him “everything” he knows, he also vaguely cites the “abuse” he suffered in that kitchen as part of the reason he left. (Possibly, then, the always volatile Ramsay learned something about his management style from White as well.) Despite White giving Ramsay both an opportunity and a wealth of knowledge, the competition between the two as Ramsay came into his own has led to chilly relations.

And now, the master follows the student, as White is now slated to host the British version of Hell’s Kitchen. The show will be a different format; instead of a competition between aspiring chefs, White will be coaching demi-celebrities in the kitchen. And, as White pointedly notes, in a sideways dig at Ramsay, “My approach on Hell's Kitchen will be about inspiring people and helping them, not belittling them and putting them down.”

Recently, the chilly relations turned outright hostile, as White has started the process of taking legal action against Ramsay. In a recent New Yorker article, Ramsay recounted some wild-west activity from his first forays into running his own restaurants. Concerned that White was being considered to replace him, Ramsay faked the theft of his own restaurant’s reservations book (the primary sales record for the restaurant) and threw suspicion on White. This recent article was the first time Ramsay ever admitted this; he had even maintained the fiction in his 2006 autobiography Humble Pie. White is now contemplating a “malicious falsehood” and libel case against Ramsay.

No word yet on the outcome of that potential case, but with the infamously plaintiff-friendly libel laws in Britain, it is possible that at the same time Ramsay is turning up the heat with the contestants on this season of Hell’s Kitchen, he will be sweating in some hot water of his own.

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist