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The Independent
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Melanie Sykes takes swipe at former ITV co-host Gino D'Acampo
Melanie Sykes has shared her view on her former ITV daytime co-host Gino D'Acampo in the wake of allegations against the star. The TV chef has found himself at the centre of a firestorm after ITV News reported dozens of allegations against him, describing 'unacceptable', 'distressing' and 'horrendous' behaviour over a 12-year period. He has strongly denied all wrongdoing. Now, Sykes, who recently revealed a comment made by MasterChef host Gregg Wallace made her quit the TV industry, has shared an alleged behind-the-scenes experience with D'Acampo that made her raise her eyebrows. The star presented ITV series Let's Do Lunch with Gino and Mel alongside D'Acampo from 2011 to 2014. Highlighting the apparent power she alleges D'Acampo thought he had, Sykes said on her YouTube channel: 'I remember once when Gino said to me he can just go up to the powers that be and knock on the door and go in, he doesn't need a meeting. He was quite pleased with himself that he could do that.' She also urged TV bosses to 'clean house' while spending time 'cleaning up' presenters she called 'misogynistic' – and said that 'the industry creates monsters'. 'If you're spending all your time cleaning up people's s***, just clean the house. Clean out the house and start again. That's all I'm saying,' Sykes added. 'I feel like I was in a war zone in that industry – 24 years of battling through an industry that didn't feel right to me anyway.' D'Acampo has denied claims that he made sexualised comments and gestures to female employees behind the scenes of his popular programmes. He said earlier this month: 'I have never been made aware of these matters previously and the allegations are firmly denied. I would not do anything that I thought would upset or distress anyone. This is simply not in my nature. I do not recognise the version of events being put to me. 'Not only have these allegations never been raised with me before, I have been repeatedly supported by executives at the highest level and was commissioned on prime-time programmes during the period in which it is now suggested I was acting inappropriately. 'I take such matters extremely seriously and the suggestion that I have acted in an improper way against is deeply upsetting.' Sykes previously criticised the TV industry for failing to stamp out poor behaviour by high-profile stars in December, stating: 'I know that people think, 'Oh well, you know we can't get rid of him really because it's such a successful show', and it's sort of fear about changing the format in case viewers don't watch.' Sykes spoke out against Wallace in her autobiography Illuminated, which was published in 2023 – one year before an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against the MasterChef host surfaced. In the book, Sykes claimed that Wallace asked her as she walked onto set of the show's celebrity special whether models eat, which she deemed 'unprofessional'. The TV personality, who once hosted a daytime show with Des O'Connor, said the remark stemmed from 'ignorance and disrespect with an extra helping of arrogance'. Sykes wrote in her book: ''The MasterChef experience continued to be an eye-opener and some unprofessional behaviour on set was jaw-dropping.' But it was a conversation with Wallace at the end of filming that made her decide to quit the TV industry 'once and for all'. Writing in Illuminated, Sykes, who has been on screens since the 1990s, said that Wallace told her appearing on Celebrity MasterChef would help her career. 'I didn't know what to say, so I smiled and said 'Yes,' but I was really thinking, 'Yes, you have finally helped me decide to end my television career once and for all,'' Sykes wrote, adding: 'I was done.'
The Independent
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Gino D'Acampo denies inappropriate behaviour towards women on sets
Television chef Gino D'Acampo has denied a string of claims he made sexualised comments and gestures to female employees behind the scenes of his popular programmes. ITV News reports dozens of former staff and freelances have detailed alleged experiences they described as 'unacceptable', 'distressing' and 'horrendous' while working with him over a period of more than 12 years. One woman claimed that in 2019 she saw the celebrity chef – a regular on ITV show This Morning – appearing to threaten a colleague over an ice cream. 'I was present when Gino said to the runner, 'If you don't get me a Cornetto I will f*** your girlfriend',' she said. 'I felt appalled, disgusted, embarrassed and very angry.' Another female crew member told ITV News he was 'using his power to bully and intimidate us. For what? A cookery programme'. Mr D'Acampo's cookery programmes include There's No Taste Like Home, Let's Do Lunch, and Gino's Italian Escape. His legal team said he was mortified to be accused of saying inappropriate words to a junior member of staff on Gino's Italian Express. 'He does not recall this incident at all, and the words alleged are absolutely not ones that he would say,' they said. Another woman claimed that on a magazine shoot in 2011, D'Acampo told her in front of the crew that he wanted to turn her over and 'f*** me up the a***'. She said: 'I definitely saw it as some kind of power play. The very act of what he said was aggressive.' She added: 'I felt like Gino, in that moment, was very entitled and he felt very safe.' Mr D'Acampo's legal team told ITV News he did not recall the incident, nor accepted that it happened. 'Mr D'Acampo is horrified to be accused of 'power play' and an 'aggressive act'. He emphatically and unequivocally denies these allegations.' A third woman said that when she went to brief Mr D'Acampo on a location shoot, 'he opened the door in his boxer shorts, nothing else'. She added that he 'jumped on the bed and was sort of - leg up. 'We had to sort of sit there facing him and he made, you know, reference to his d***.' She said she felt disgusted, adding: 'I see it all as quite aggressive, really.' She said it made her consider leaving her job because she didn't want to be near him. Mr D'Acampo's legal team said: 'Mr D'Acampo categorically denies these allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour. 'To his knowledge no such allegations have been made against him in relation to his time on Gino's Italian Express and this is the first time, six years later, he has been informed of these alleged incidents, and he does not accept them, not least because some of this is considered by Mr D'Acampo to be a fabricated work of fiction.' Other claims relate to comments allegedly made while filming Gordon, Gino and Fred's Road Trip. ITV News reports that it has seen evidence concerns were raised with production company Objective Media Group over sexualised comments, and an email was sent in December last year. The response from Objective Media said D'Acampo was 'spoken to about the differences between on screen character material and behaviour off screen with members of the team'. Objective Media Group said it took the welfare and wellbeing of production staff 'incredibly seriously' and had 'behavioural clauses in talent contracts'. Responding to all the claims, Mr D'Acampo said: 'I have never been made aware of these matters previously and the allegations are firmly denied. I would not do anything that I thought would upset or distress anyone. This is simply not in my nature. I do not recognise the version of events being put to me. 'Not only have these allegations never been raised with me before, I have been repeatedly supported by executives at the highest level and was commissioned on prime-time programmes during the period in which it is now suggested I was acting inappropriately. 'I take such matters extremely seriously and the suggestion that I have acted in an improper way against is deeply upsetting.' A spokesperson from ITV, which airs the celebrity chef's shows, said in a statement to ITV News that it is 'production companies who have the primary responsibility for the duty of care of everyone they work with, both on and off screen, when making shows.' They went on to say that all of the concerns and complaints in this investigation 'describe behaviour which is inappropriate and unacceptable. Most of them were not reported to ITV at the time. Where issues have been raised with ITV action has been taken.'
The Independent
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
TV chef Gino D'Acampo denies inappropriate behaviour towards women on sets
Television chef Gino D'Acampo has denied a string of claims he made sexualised comments and gestures to female employees behind the scenes of his popular programmes. ITV News reports dozens of former staff and freelances have detailed alleged experiences they described as 'unacceptable', 'distressing' and 'horrendous' while working with him over a period of more than 12 years. One woman claimed that in 2019 she saw the celebrity chef – a regular on ITV show This Morning – appearing to threaten a colleague over an ice cream. 'I was present when Gino said to the runner, 'If you don't get me a Cornetto I will f*** your girlfriend',' she said. 'I felt appalled, disgusted, embarrassed and very angry.' Another female crew member told ITV News he was 'using his power to bully and intimidate us. For what? A cookery programme'. Mr D'Acampo's cookery programmes include There's No Taste Like Home, Let's Do Lunch, and Gino's Italian Escape. His legal team said he was mortified to be accused of saying inappropriate words to a junior member of staff on Gino's Italian Express. 'He does not recall this incident at all, and the words alleged are absolutely not ones that he would say,' they said. Another woman claimed that on a magazine shoot in 2011, D'Acampo told her in front of the crew that he wanted to turn her over and 'f*** me up the a***'. She told ITV News she remembered 'a ripple of laughs' but said nobody objected to the comment, although she felt 'horror' and 'shock'. She said: 'I definitely saw it as some kind of power play. The very act of what he said was aggressive.' She added: 'I felt like Gino, in that moment, was very entitled and he felt very safe.' Mr D'Acampo's legal team told ITV News he did not recall the incident, nor accepted that it happened. 'Mr D'Acampo is horrified to be accused of 'power play' and an 'aggressive act'. He emphatically and unequivocally denies these allegations.' A third woman said that when she went to brief Mr D'Acampo on a location shoot, 'he opened the door in his boxer shorts, nothing else'. She added that he 'jumped on the bed and was sort of - leg up. 'We had to sort of sit there facing him and he made, you know, reference to his d***.' She said she felt disgusted, adding: 'I see it all as quite aggressive, really.' She said it made her consider leaving her job because she didn't want to be near him. Mr D'Acampo's legal team said: 'Mr D'Acampo categorically denies these allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour. 'To his knowledge no such allegations have been made against him in relation to his time on Gino's Italian Express and this is the first time, six years later, he has been informed of these alleged incidents, and he does not accept them, not least because some of this is considered by Mr D'Acampo to be a fabricated work of fiction.' Other claims relate to comments allegedly made while filming Gordon, Gino and Fred's Road Trip. ITV News reports that it has seen evidence concerns were raised with production company Objective Media Group over sexualised comments, and an email was sent in December last year. The response from Objective Media said D'Acampo was 'spoken to about the differences between on screen character material and behaviour off screen with members of the team'. Objective Media Group said it took the welfare and wellbeing of production staff 'incredibly seriously' and had 'behavioural clauses in talent contracts'. Responding to all the claims, Mr D'Acampo said: 'I have never been made aware of these matters previously and the allegations are firmly denied. I would not do anything that I thought would upset or distress anyone. This is simply not in my nature. I do not recognise the version of events being put to me. 'Not only have these allegations never been raised with me before, I have been repeatedly supported by executives at the highest level and was commissioned on prime-time programmes during the period in which it is now suggested I was acting inappropriately. 'I take such matters extremely seriously and the suggestion that I have acted in an improper way against is deeply upsetting.' A spokesperson from ITV, which airs the celebrity chef's shows, said in a statement to ITV News that it is 'production companies who have the primary responsibility for the duty of care of everyone they work with, both on and off screen, when making shows.' They went on to say that all of the concerns and complaints in this investigation 'describe behaviour which is inappropriate and unacceptable. Most of them were not reported to ITV at the time. Where issues have been raised with ITV action has been taken.'
