In 2010 a strange thing happened. Two people committed suicide. Both were former contestants on reality TV shows and both shows were cooking competitions notoriously featuring the vicious-tongued foodie Gordon Ramsay.
Joseph Cerniglia, 39, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge, had been on “Kitchen Nightmares” and Rachel Brown, 41, who shot herself, had been on “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Ramsay, who, like many Reality TV judges is loved for being harsh and British, regularly berated his contestants on the program. While it’s not quite fair to say that his harsh words led directly to their suicides, it’s not a stretch to realize that hugely public humiliation is a little more serious than it’s light treatment on TV would have you believe. But then again, those audition episodes of “American Idol” are pretty damn classic.