He is one of the most beloved TV chefs on the small screen.
And it’s fair to say Gino D’Acampo has only gone from strength to strength since he rose to fame in the mid-2000s. The TV star quickly became a fan-favourite when he appeared on This Morning to cook up a storm for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
At the time, the blonde bombshell struggled to appreciate his mouth-watering delicacies, famously comparing one dish to a “British carbonara”. Since then, he has been crowned the King of the Jungle, launched an ITV series with Gordon Ramsay and Fred Sirieix and opened a series of restaurants.
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But what fans may not know is that the Italian chef had his first brush with fame for all the wrong reasons. As the culinary expert celebrates his 47th birthday with a bang, Daily Star has taken a deep dive into his criminal past with musician Paul Young.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
In the late 1990s, Gino was caught breaking into the Streetband and Q-Tips singer’s home. The star was just 21-years-old and was working as a waiter at The Orchard restaurant in London at the time of the offence.
The TV favourite entered the 67-year-old’s home in Mill Hill, North London back in 2009 and helped himself to many of the star’s possessions. This included one of the star’s platinum records and a prized guitar that was worth a staggering £4,000.
Thankfully, Paul got most of his property back after he reported the break in. Gio – who had only been living in the UK for a few years – was quickly caught when his DNA matched tests on several cigarette ends he’d left in the star’s bedroom during the robbery.
(Image: Getty Images)
Ultimately, the TV chef was slapped with a two-year prison sentence – something that he now credits for helping him “grow up”. In 2019, he told Birmingham Live that the crime was a “mistake.”
He told the outlet: “It was a very crucial moment of my life. It was about embracing something negative and turning it into something positive. I was a very young boy… you make those mistakes. The secret is to learn and to move on.”
Gio’s criminal past didn’t come to light until 2009, when the dad-of-three competed on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Before flying Down Under, the Family Fortunes host contacted Paul personally to apologise for the break in.
(Image: ITV)
And surprisingly, Paul forgave him for his mistake. Speaking in 2012, the musician insisted: “I don’t hold it against him. He said it was bad and he apologised, and I did get most of the stuff back.
“Maybe he needed the wrist slapping and he got that. He said he was in a terrible place at that time and wanted to turn his life around.”
The Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) hitmaker went on to admit that even when he noticed Gio had become a household name, he didn’t feel the need to reveal the star’s prison stint. He told the Evening Standard: “I take it with a pinch of salt really.
(Image: Instagram)
“You’ve got to have a sense of humour. He wanted to meet to say his apologies. I thought that was nice, then he went into I’m A Celebrity and I thought, ‘Ah, now I know why’. I decided to do the gentlemanly thing and not say anything.
“I just said, ‘I hope I get an invite to your new restaurant’. I don’t know if he’s got a restaurant, but if he has and he’s not invited me then I’m p***ed off. He and I should do something stupid like collaborate on a show or book.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
