Background: Darnell Ferguson is seen during Bourbon and Beyond Music Festival on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, at Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP). / Inset: Darnell Ferguson booking photo Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections.
Television celebrity Darnell Ferguson is known for his Food Network ‘SuperChef’ Grudge Match cooking competition series but police in Kentucky say the famed local restaurateur is now facing accusations he strangled and assaulted someone.
Arrest records reviewed Wednesday by Law&Crime from the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections show Ferguson was booked on Tuesday at 3:55 p.m. and has remained detained, though he has been “moved to a housing unit.”
Kentucky Court of Justice records show Ferguson was charged with seven counts. Beyond strangulation and assault, the criminal charges also included burglary, terroristic threatening and menacing. Local Fox affiliate WDRB reported that a protective order complaint underlying these charges was first filed on Jan. 2.
Darnell Ferguson; Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections booking photo
On the Jefferson County Family Court Docket, Ferguson appears to have an impending hearing this February but it is unclear if that and the assault charges are related at this time. An attorney for Ferguson could not immediately be reached by Law&Crime.
For years the Kentucky native has appeared on numerous programs for Food Network including Worst Cooks in America and alongside other popular reality star personalities and has built a career from what he describes as humbled but challenging beginnings. Well known in Louisville where he operated two restaurants which are now closed — SuperChefs and The Drippin’ Crab — on his website, Ferguson says he “found himself on a self-destructive path, leaving him homeless, in and out of jail, and unemployed for nearly a year” before his successes.
The Courier-Journal reported that Ferguson’s next court date is Jan. 17.
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