Gino D’Acampo has told ITV to contact him so he can ‘fully cooperate’ with investigations (
Image: ITV)
TV chef Gino D’Acampo has urged ITV to contact him after he was made aware of fresh complaints about his conduct this weekend
Gino D’Acampo has urged ITV to contact him after fresh allegations about ‘crude’ behaviour on the set of his TV shows emerged this weekend.
The TV chef is said to be ‘deeply worried’ about the ‘escalating distress’ the claims are having on his family. Gino, who shares three children with wife Jessica, said he will fully cooperate with an investigation and urged his employers to reach out to him.
The This Morning regular and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! winner came under the spotlight earlier this month when ITV News reported that dozens of former staff and freelancers made allegations about working with Gino, calling his behaviour over a reported 12 year period “unacceptable,” “distressing,” and “horrendous”.
Since the allegations – which the star , 48, vehemently denies – Gino’s shows have been pulled from ITV’s schedule.
This weekend a fresh allegation emerged with Gino accused of drawing an explicit image of a woman during the filming of one of his ITV shows. A producer who worked with him on the show Saturday Cooks! claimed to 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.”
Gino’s camp said he had ‘the ultimate respect for Mary Berry’ after he was accused of making a crude remark about the former Bake Off judge (
Image:
BBC/Rumpus Media)
The woman also claims that D’Acampo made a crude remark about Great British Bake Off star Mary Berry.
A statement responding to the claims given to the Mirror last night from Gino’s team reads: “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”
Gino had been a regular on This Morning alongside former presenting duo Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield (
Image:
PA)
The complaint is from alleged incidents in 2007-2008, and were brought to ITV’s attention in December 2024.
Responding 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 2024
The 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.”
Gino D’Acampo with his long-term wife Jessica Stellina Morrison (
Image:
GETTY)
Re-runs of old shows =eaturing Gino have been pulled from the ITV schedule following allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against the TV chef.
D’Acampo has “firmly denied” the allegations in a statement to the broadcaster, saying they were “simply not in my nature” and describing them as “deeply upsetting”. Following the accusations, repeats of game show Family Fortunes fronted by D’Acampo will not be re-broadcast – including an episode of the show at 7pm on ITV2 and another episode on Monday at the same time.
Two episodes of food travel programme Gino’s Italy: Secrets Of The South, airing from 6pm to 7pm on Sunday, on ITVbe will also be removed from the upcoming schedules.
Instead, ITVBe will broadcast TV home show Abbey Clancy: Celebrity Homes on Sunday, instead of Secrets Of The South – while Graham Norton-hosted game show Wheel Of Fortune will run during previous Family Fortunes slots on Friday and Monday.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) called the claims “deeply concerning”. Head of Bectu Philippa Childs called the accusations against D’Acampo “very serious, as is the significant time period they span” in a statement. “That at least one production company was reportedly aware of crew’s concerns about his behaviour but continued to work with him should be of particular concern, and it is imperative that ITV investigates this,” she added.
Ms Childs also said “in a sector where power imbalances can be particularly extreme, it’s critical that people feel empowered to come forward with concerns, without fear that their careers will be adversely impacted”, and called for a “radical step-change” in the industry.
D’Acampo’s legal team shared a statement from him to ITV News, saying: “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 am a father, husband and have worked with well over 1,500 people on around 80 productions in my career, which I have been so proud of. I take such matters extremely seriously and the suggestion that I have acted in an improper way against is deeply upsetting.”
His legal team said he “categorically denies these allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour” and added “to his knowledge no such allegations have been made against him in relation to his time on Gino’s Italian Express”, and said he considers the allegations “to be a fabricated work of fiction”.
An ITV spokesperson said its production companies “have the primary responsibility for the duty of care of everyone they work with, both on and off screen, when making shows”.
The spokesperson also said the alleged behaviour is “inappropriate and unacceptable” and “most of them were not reported to ITV at the time. Where issues have been raised with ITV action has been taken,” they added.
MultiStory Media, which produced the ITV show Gino’s Italian Express, said it would be “inappropriate to go into the detail of individual concerns” but that it was “reviewing the concerns which have been raised, what was known at the time and what action was taken”.
It added that it will “look at any new concerns that have come to light”, and have not worked with D’Acampo for six years.
The claims by ITV News include alleged sexualised comments towards a woman while working on a magazine shoot with D’Acampo in 2011, two women accusing him of making sexual remarks while working on ITV travel show Gordon, Gino And Fred’s Road Trip in 2018, and a separate woman alleging she witnessed him threatening a young colleague in 2019 during a TV production.
The report also said executives at Objective Media Group – which co-produced Gordon, Gino And Fred’s Road Trip – were aware of the concerns in 2018, with an email seen by the broadcaster, sent last year, detailing “unacceptable and distressing” behaviour by D’Acampo
Objective Media Group said it “takes the welfare and wellbeing of all its production staff and teams incredibly seriously” and includes “behavioural clauses in talent contracts” and provides “behavioural training for on-screen talent”.
In a statement to ITV News, Studio Ramsay, which produced the show Gino’s Italian Family Adventure and co-produced Gordon, Gino And Fred’s Road Trip, said it takes “all allegations of inappropriate behaviour and workplace misconduct seriously, promptly investigate, and take appropriate remedial action when warranted”.
D’Acampo, who began his TV career in the early 2000s as a judge on ITV cookery competition Too Many Cooks, has been a regular on This Morning and other ITV shows. He presented a reboot of ITV gameshow Family Fortunes from 2020 to 2023. It originally ran on ITV from 1980 to 2002 and was fronted by stars including Bob Monkhouse, Max Bygraves and Les Dennis.
