An ex-Marine challenged Gordon Ramsay to a fight in the new US series of Hell’s Kitchen.

Contestant Joseph exploded in rage, hurled his chef’s jacket at Ramsay, and called him a “bitch”.

He stormed over to Ramsay: “I ain’t no f****** bitch chef. I ain’t no bitch. I don’t give a ****.”

Hurling threats at Ramsay, he fumed: “We can talk about this out in the f****** parking lot.”

He threw his jacket to the floor as he strode across the dining room to Ramsay, asking him: “You want my jacket? You want to talk some ****? Let’s step outside.”

Joseph stood inches from Ramsay’s face as he raged: “You want to get f****** rough?

“You ain’t nothing but a bitch.”

The season opener ended with viewers left waiting to find out what happened next.

Temperatures boiled over as Ramsay prepared to give the first hapless chef the chop.

He asked Marine-turned-sous chef Joseph to name the two nominees from his team.

Joseph, 27, from New York State, told him: “They can speak for themselves because they know who they are.”

But straight-talking Ramsay told him: “Hey, smartarse, I asked you to tell me.”

When Joseph boasted how they had reached a group decision on the nominees with no peer pressure, Ramsay mocked: “What do you want, a f****** medal?”

Joseph started to see red as he snapped back: “What do you f****** want me to say? They know who they f****** are.”

Ramsay blasted back: “Listen, you chippy idiot, I asked you for one nominee and why.”

The pair had clashed earlier when Ramsay asked Joseph to eat his own undercooked sprouts.