Gino D’Acampo accused of sexual misconduct in ITV News investigation

Gino D’Acampo is facing numerous allegations of “inappropriate and intimidating behaviour” uncovered by an ITV News investigation.

The outlet claims dozens of people reported “unacceptable”, “distressing” and “horrendous” experiences working with D’Acampo over a period of over 12 years. Many of them, as freelancers, said that were too afraid to to make complaints in case it risked their future employment.

One woman, referred to as Hannah, said that D’Acampo told her he would “like to turn me over and fuck me up the arse against the kitchen counter” when they were working on a magazine shoot in 2011. The whole crew were allegedly witness to this and there was allegedly “a ripple of laughs”, while the people stood beside her “looked nervously into their cups of tea”.

“I definitely saw it as some kind of power play. The very act of what he said was aggressive,” she said, adding it made her feel “very, very, very small.”

“I felt like Gino, in that moment, was very entitled and he felt very safe,” she continued. “He did not think that was an inappropriate thing to say to me.”

A statement provided to ITV News by Gino D’Acampo’s legal team, said: “This allegation from almost 15 years ago has never, until now via a media request for comment, been raised or put to Mr D’Acampo.

“He does not recall it, nor accept that this happened. Mr D’Acampo is horrified to be accused of “power play” and an “aggressive act”. He emphatically and unequivocally denies these allegations”.

Another woman, referred to as Natalie, said she was subject to an “aggressive” incident with D’Acampo when she was briefing him on a location shoot several years later.

“He opened the door in his boxer shorts, nothing else. And jumped on the bed and was sort of – leg up,” she said.

“We had to sort of sit there facing him and he made, you know, reference to his dick, basically saying, ‘Oh, don’t worry, it’s only small’, and sort of flicking it.”

When asked how it made her feel, she said: “Disgusted. I think he feels he’s in a position of power and he can say and do what he wants. I see it all as quite aggressive, really.” Natalie even considered quitting her job. “I didn’t want to do it anymore. Didn’t want to do the production, didn’t want to be anywhere near him.”

In response to Natalie’s claims, Gino 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.”

Numerous complaints were made by people who had worked on Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Roadtrip in 2018 regarding sexual comments D’Acampo had made on set.

One woman claimed that D’Acampo had arrived on set and announced “I really feel like a shag this morning!” Another alleged he had said about a young female colleague: “Shouldn’t we be talking about her tits, they’re perfect, they’re like a mouthful.”

A third alleged that he said, “When are we all going to get drunk and have sex together,” to a young colleague.

The show’s production company, Objective Media Group, were reportedly made aware of his alleged behaviour. ITV News saw an email in December 2024 following up on a meeting that had happened in 2018.

The email detailed alleged “unacceptable and distressing” behaviour by D’Acampo, and included comments he purportedly made such as describing a woman as a “bitter middle aged woman who needed to get laid” and saying he was “so hungry I could eat somebody’s tits”.

The 2024 email was checking that alleged the bad behaviour hadn’t continued. The Objective Media Group said that D’Acampo was “spoken to about the differences between on screen character material and behaviour off screen with members of the team”.

It also said that “issues arose on Emission Impossible” – a production five years later in 2023 – “a complete and thorough process” was followed with the stars of the show.

ITV said that they weren’t aware of the original concerns in 2018 and they said: “We can categorically confirm that this kind of behaviour is not tolerated by ITV.”

Responding to the allegations, Gino D’Acampo’s legal team told ITV News: “These allegations from six years ago are said to have been made in an email from December 2024 to Objective Media Group which Mr D’Acampo has not seen.

“The first time that Mr D’Acampo became aware of these allegations was via ITN’s request for comment and, even then, no context has been provided for any of these statements.”

“No-one has ever made these complaints to Mr D’Acampo. Mr D’Acampo does not recall making any of these comments, nor does he accept that they were made. They include language that he would not use, such as the word ‘middle aged woman'”.

In response to this, Objective Media Group’s spokesperson said: “As we made clear in our earlier statement, Gino D’Acampo was spoken to regarding his off-screen behaviour. Bespoke training was then provided and completed”.

The allegations follow similar ones made against Gregg Wallace in late 2024. The allegations included a pattern of inappropriate sexual comments and actions made by Wallace to 13 people who worked with him over a period of 17 years, with the corporation passing the allegations onto Wallace’s representatives shortly before they were made public.

it was announced that the presenter was stepping down from MasterChef after a series of complaints were made to the BBC. He was later replaced on the show by Grace Dent.

Wallace’s lawyers said it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature and he later blamed the allegations, leading to widespread criticism, on “middle class women of a certain age”.

For more help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

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