Gino D’Acampo has been accused of ‘distressing’ and ‘horrendous’ misconduct during a 12 -ear period at ITV – he denies the claims but this isn’t the first time the chef has been in trouble
Gino D’Acampo is facing claims of inappropriate behaviour at ITV but it isn’t the first time he’s been in trouble.
The TV chef previously spent time in prison after breaking in and stealing from 1980s music legend Paul Young. He was sent down in 1998 after he burgled the home of the Wherever I Lay My Hat singer.
D’Acampo was a 21-year-old waiter at the Orchard restaurant in London when he carried out the act, nabbing around £4,000-worth of guitars. Cops tracked down D’Acampo after they managed to link DNA found on the butt of a cigarette at Young’s Mill Hill home.
D’Acampo’s past criminal activity was not in the public eye until 2009, when Gino called Young to apologise.
Young said of the incident in an interview with the Evening Standard: “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 his wrist slapping and he got that. He said he was in a terrible place at that time and wanted to turn his life around.”
That was then. But now, multiple ITV employees have been alleging “unacceptable,” “distressing” and “horrendous” conduct with D’Acampo over a 12 year period at the broadcaster. One woman, whose identity is unknown, told ITN that in 2011, D’Acampo said he would “like to turn me over and f*** me up the a*** against the kitchen counter.”
D’Acampo has “firmly denied” the allegations, which ITV claims were known about by unnamed production companies.
D’Acampo’s legal team said: “This allegation from almost 15 years ago has never, until now via a media request for comment, been raised or put to Mr D’Acampo.
“He does not recall it, nor accept that this happened. Mr D’Acampo is horrified to be accused of ‘power play’ and an ‘aggressive act’. He emphatically and unequivocally denies these allegations”.
If we go back to incident with Young, then D’Acampo was able to put it behind and learn from it. Speaking to BirminghamLive about the matter, D’Acampo said in 2019: “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.”
And when asked about D’Acampo’s apology, Every Time You Go Away singer Young said: “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 take it with a pinch of salt really. You’ve got to have a sense of humour.
“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.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
