Gino D’Acampo has reacted to claims he drew a sexual picture of a female producer during a live show.
The unnamed producer has claimed the chef, 48, asked to do a portrait of her during filming of the ITV cooking show, Saturday Cooks!
She was left “shocked and humiliated” when he allegedly presented her with a sketch of a naked woman with her legs open in the “unsettling encounter”, The Sun reported.
The woman also claimed the This Morning star made a sexual comment about leather boots she wore to a party as well as a crude remark about the TV cook Mary Berry, 89.
The producer said the incident happened when they worked together in 2007 and 2008 and filed a complaint with ITV in December, claiming there is a “toxic culture of sexism and misogyny” in the workplace.
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D’Acampo denied the allegations, with his spokesperson telling The Standard: “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.”
The spokesperson went on: “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.”
Bosses are investigating D’Acampo’s alleged behaviour, which they branded “inappropriate and unacceptable,” according to The Sun.
The producer told the publication: “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.
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“I thought it was going to be a harmless caricature. But when he showed me the finished drawing I felt shocked and humiliated.”
An ITV spokesperson told The Standard: “The behaviour detailed is inappropriate and unacceptable. We are committed to investigating complaints in an appropriate manner and according to our robust protocols.
“ITV is completely committed to creating an environment where everyone is treated with respect and feels able to give of their best. 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.”
The channel added that they have set up a complaints handling unit last year to manage complaints about onscreen presenters and have “reiterated expectations” about conduct through their Conduct and Standards Guidelines for OnScreen Personalities issued in 2024.
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D’Acampo is currently facing dozens of accusations of sexually inappropriate and “distressing” behaviour on TV sets over the last 12 years, which he denies.
Earlier this month, he was accused of “horrendous” misconduct on various TV shows in an ITV News investigation.
He allegedly made “disgusting” sexual comments about whether he would sleep with his ITV co-star Holly Willoughby or her close friend, presenter Fearne Cotton.
The Road Trip star also reportedly told a female colleague he would “like to turn me over and f*** me up the a*** against the kitchen counter” in one alleged incident in 2011.
D’Acampo has “firmly denied” the allegations and described them as “deeply upsetting”.
“I have never been made aware of these matters previously and the allegations are firmly denied,” he said in a statement.
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“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.”
Jeremy Clarkson recently defended D’Acampo, as well as under-fire stars Wynne Evans and Gregg Wallace in a rant against “cancel culture”.
“None of them is accused of doing something illegal. They just said something or did something which someone found offensive. And that’s that. It doesn’t even have to be a current misdemeanour,” he wrote in The Sun.
“It could be a tweet you sent when you were 17. Or something you said to your brother when you were four.
“And think about it. Can you say, hand on heart, that you have never said or done anything which might be deemed, in the court of social media, to be out of order?”
The former Top Gear host, 64, argued that “cancelled” celebrities have had “no trial,” and “no chance to mount a defence,” leaving them on the “scrapheap”.
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