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Two of Gino D’Acampo’s ITV shows have reportedly been pulled from schedules after the celebrity chef was accused of “sexually inappropriate” behaviour towards women working with him on television.
The 48-year-old, who has denied the claims, is alleged to have made sexualised comments and gestures to female employees behind the scenes of his popular programmes. ITV News reports dozens of former staff and freelancers have detailed alleged experiences they described as “unacceptable”, “distressing” and “horrendous” while working with him over a period of more than 12 years.
D’Acampo – a regular on This Morning – has hosted numerous programmes on ITV including the ongoing series Gino’s Italian Escape and Gino’s Italy: Secrets of the South, as well as the long-running game show Family Fortunes.
The Daily Mail reports that at least two of those series will now not air in their scheduled slots amid the accusations against the Italian.
Gino’s Italy: Secrets of the South, was due to be shown on Sunday evening between 6pm and 7pm on ITVBe but has now been replaced by Abbey Clancy: Celebrity Homes.
Family Fortunes, which D’Acampo has hosted since 2020, has also been cut from the schedules. It was due to be shown on ITV2 on at 7pm on Friday and Monday but has now been replaced by Wheel of Fortune with Graham Norton. A new series of the game show was due to be broadcast earlier this year but has reportedly been cancelled by ITV following the allegations.
The Independent has contacted ITV and D’Acampo’s representatives for comment.
There are currently no repeats of D’Acampo’s shows scheduled in ITV’s linear programming lineup, although some are still available to stream through ITVX.
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***”.
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She told ITV News she remembered “a ripple of laughs” but said nobody objected to the comment, adding that 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, and did not accept that it happened. “Mr D’Acampo is horrified to be accused of ‘power play’ and an ‘aggressive act’,” they stated. “He emphatically and unequivocally denies these allegations.”
