Gino D’Acampo’s former co-star, Melanie Sykes, has given her take on the scandal surrounding the chef’s alleged behaviour after he was accused of making inappropriate comments

TV chef Gino D’Acampo’s alleged inappropriate behaviour was excused because he’s Italian, according to his former co-star, Melanie Sykes.

The celebrity chef, 48, has been accused of bullying and making sexually inappropriate comments by dozens of people, who have worked with him over a 12-year period, which Gino vehemently denies. Mel, 55, who worked with Gino on ITV’s Let’s Do Lunch between 2011 and 2014, has addressed the allegations surrounding the chef on her YouTube channel.

Claiming Gino, who was born in Torre del Greco in Italy, was rumoured to have gone to ‘etiquette training because he’s Italian’, she said: “Years ago there were some rumblings about the fact that the presenter that everybody is talking about at the moment went to some kind of etiquette, media training, because he’s Italian and the translation and he’s not quite getting it.”

Melanie Sykes worked with Gino D’Acampo on ITV’s Let’s Do Lunch between 2011 and 2014

She claims the Gino’s alleged behaviour was excused because of his nationality ( 
Image:
Getty Images for Together For Short Lives)
Claiming the response to Gino’s alleged “bad behaviour” was “an insult to Italians”, Mel, who was married to Italian, Daniel Caltagirone, continued: “It’s an insult to Italians. And a stupid way of dealing with it, a very narrow-minded, dumb*** way of responding to bad behaviour from a human being in the workspace.”

She went on: “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.” Explaining that she got meetings through her agent, and felt like she had a “system to work through to get what I needed”, she said: “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.”

Gino is best known for appearing on shows including This Morning, and also fronted Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip alongside Fred and Gordon Ramsay since 2018, which follows the trio visiting various countries and cities and exploring local culture and cuisine.

Following the allegations about his behaviour following an investigation by ITN News, the dad-of-three vehemently denied all claims of inappropriate behaviour and has previously stated: “I would not do anything that I thought would upset or distress anyone. These allegations have never been raised with me before in over 80 productions.

“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.”

Meanwhile, ITV said: “All of the concerns and complaints raised by those who have spoken to ITN 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 Mirror has contacted ITV and Gino’s rep for comment on this story.