TV presenter Melanie Sykes has commented on the allegations faced by her former daytime co-host Gino D'Acampo. Earlier this month, ITV News reported dozens of allegations against the TV chef, detailing 'unacceptable', 'distressing' and 'horrendous' behaviour over a 12-year period. He has denied all wrongdoing.
Sykes hosted the ITV series Let's Do Lunch with Gino and Mel between 2011 and 2014. 'I remember once when Gino said to me he can just go up to the powers that be on knock on the door and go in, he doesn't need a meeting. He was quite pleased with himself that he could do that,' the presenter said on her YouTube channel.
'I'm watching what's happening with all these misogynists on telly,' she added. 'I support anybody who has experienced things that are, I think the term is beyond the pale, at work.'
Sykes encouraged people who are questioning why the accusers have only recently come forward to remember that it is so 'left field' when something happens to you at work because you assume it is a safe space.
She then urged TV bosses to take a look at the industry at large, especially in light of the recent allegations faced by TV chef Gregg Wallace, who has been accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour by a number of women. He denies all the allegations.
'If you're spending all your time cleaning up people's sh**, just clean the house. Clean out the house and start again. That's all I'm saying,' she added. '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.'
Sykes said she has spoken to people at the highest level about her own experiences, of which she has chosen not to go into detail, and said 'everybody knows' and 'nothing is done about it'.
'If you're going to support somebody's bad behaviour, you create monsters,' she added. 'The industry creates monsters and then the industry goes "oh, I didn't know".'
In response to the allegations, D'Acampo said: '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 take such matters extremely seriously and the suggestion that I have acted in an improper way against is deeply upsetting.'
In December, Sykes again called out the TV industry for failing to stamp out poor behaviour from high profile stars. 'I know that people think, "Oh well, you know we can't get rid of him really because it's such a successful show", and it's sort of fear about changing the format in case viewers don't watch.'
She also spoke out against Wallace in her 2023 autobiography, Illuminated. She recalled a time when Wallace asked her whether models eat during an episode of Celebrity MasterChef. Sykes deemed the comment 'unprofessional' and said it stemmed from 'ignorance and disrespect with an extra helping of arrogance'.
'The MasterChef experience continued to be an eye-opener and some unprofessional behaviour on set was jaw-dropping,' she wrote. Sykes said Wallace then told her appearing on the show would help her career, despite the fact she has been a presenter since the 1990s.
'I didn't know what to say, so I smiled and said "Yes", but I was really thinking, "Yes, you have finally helped me decide to end my television career once and for all"'. Adding, 'I was done.'
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).