Gino D’Acampo has urged ITV to contact him as he is ‘deeply worried’ about the ‘distress’ the allegations are causing his family, and has vowed to cooperate with any investigation
TV chef Gino D’Acampo has called on ITV to get in touch after new claims about ‘crude’ antics on his show sets hit the headlines this weekend.
The culinary star is reportedly “deeply worried” about how the allegations are affecting his family. Gino, a dad to three kids with his wife Jessica, has pledged to fully cooperate with any probe and has asked his bosses to contact him.
The This Morning fave and jungle king of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! was thrust into the limelight earlier this month when ITV News revealed that a bunch of ex-staffers and freelancers had made complaints about working with Gino, labelling his behaviour over an alleged 12-year stretch as “unacceptable, “distressing,” and “horrendous”.
Post these accusations, which Gino strongly refutes, his programmes have been yanked from ITV’s lineup. Over the weekend, another accusation surfaced with Gino being blamed for sketching a lewd drawing of a woman during the shoot of one of his ITV gigs.
A producer who teamed up with him on Saturday Cooks!, reports the Mirror. told The Sun: “In front of the rest of the production team on the studio floor during live filming, he picked up a pad and paper and asked to draw a picture of me. I thought it was going to be a harmless caricature. But when he showed me the finished drawing I felt shocked and humiliated.”
The same woman also alleges that D’Acampo made a crude comment about Great British Bake Off legend Mary Berry. A statement from Gino D’Acampo’s team in response to the allegations was given to the Mirror last night, stating: “Mr D’Acampo was first made aware of these allegations relating to events that are said to have occurred over 17 years ago on the afternoon of the Saturday 22nd February when he was emailed by The Sun on Sunday.
“No details have been provided, just extremely vague allegations with no specific year or person identified and no context explained. None of these allegations have ever been brought to his attention previously, he does not recollect them and does not recognise the allegations or the behaviour which is attributed to him. He denies these allegations.
“He has been told by the Sun on Sunday that they are from a complaint to ITV from December 2024. If so, he urges ITV to contact him about it and he will fully cooperate. He is deeply worried about the immense and escalating distress that these allegations are having on his family.”
The complaint is from alleged incidents in 2007-2008, and were brought to ITV’s attention in December 2024. In response to Gino, ITV told The Mirror: “ITV is completely committed to creating an environment where everyone is treated with respect and feels able to give of their best. We have strengthened these policies in the last 5 years and have set up a dedicated Complaints Handling Unit in 2024 to manage any complaints we receive about on screen presenters and ensure ITV has a centralised view across different productions.
“The standards of behaviour that ITV expects are very clear. Everyone working with ITV is subject to ITV’s Code of Ethics and Conduct. At ITV we treat everyone with courtesy, fairness, dignity and respect and do not tolerate abusive behaviour of any form in the workplace. We have also reiterated our expectations of our on screen presenters’ behaviour through our Conduct and Standards Guidelines for On Screen Personalities issued in 2024The behaviour detailed in this press report is inappropriate and unacceptable. We are committed to investigating complaints in an appropriate manner and according to our robust protocols.”
In a statement given to The Sun on his behalf, a spokesperson for D’Acampo said: “Mr D’Acampo has only respect and admiration for Mary Berry and they have always had a great working relationship together. None of these allegations have ever been brought to his attention previously, he does not recollect them. He denies these allegations.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
