It was a surprise social media appearance for Gino D’Acampo. To the tune of The Kinks’ hit All Day And All Of The Night, the embattled chef opened his latest recipe book and declared he was going to ‘cook fish’ in an Instagram video on Wednesday.

There were no more words as he showed his fans how to make honey-glazed cod with lemon and garlic – a ‘perfect recipe for Valentine’s Day’ as he wrote in the caption.

There was a shot of him messing around with some freshly squeezed lemons, and mock puffing as he wiped down his counter. He even added a cute clip of his sausage dog running on a treadmill.

But, otherwise, the Italian’s ‘cheeky chappy’ persona was nowhere to be seen.

This, I am told, marks the beginning of the furious 48-year-old’s fightback following a barrage of allegations of sexually inappropriate and intimidating behaviour.

After being ditched by ITV – which has broadcast his shows for more than a decade – it is now up to him to address his fans directly. And, it seems, he doesn’t plan on staying quiet for long. ‘He simply refuses to be cancelled,’ a friend tells me.

Celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo is facing a barrage of allegations of sexually inappropriate and intimidating behaviour

D’Acampo pictured kissing presenter Ruth Langsford in 2011 on ITV’s This Morning

In fact, D’Acampo is so incensed by the scandal that he has hired a top London crisis communications firm to help him rebuild his career and reveal his side of the story.

Revelations that begin, perhaps, with his former co-star and fellow cook, Gordon Ramsay.

The pair were firm friends during their long-running Road Trip show with French maitre d’ Fred Sirieix, until D’Acampo walked away in 2023 due to ‘contract complications’.

But in recent days it has been reported that Ramsay had raised concerns about D’Acampo’s behaviour during filming, contributing to his departure after four series.

This has left D’Acampo incandescent with rage, as friends claim he has been the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by Ramsay, 58, and the British chef’s production company, which made the show.

‘It’s quite clear that there has been briefing from a certain studio,’ a source close to D’Acampo tells me.

‘There has been a lot coming out about his time with Gordon Ramsay and it is very anti-Gino. One minute they are working together and the best of friends. Then he leaves the Road Trip series and he is basically finished within a couple of years.’

But it is not just Ramsay whom D’Acampo feels betrayed by.

In fact, those close to him claim it was ITV – the network that made him famous with shows such as This Morning and Family Fortunes – that encouraged him to be the cheeky, flirty character viewers loved.

‘Gino was told to behave as he did, in that naughty boy manner,’ says a friend. ‘This is what he can’t get his head around, and he will be making that clear when he thinks it’s time to speak out.

‘He would be on Family Fortunes making cheeky jokes. There were incidents on This Morning in front of the cameras – such as when he kissed presenter Ruth [Langsford] in 2011 – which ITV and its viewers loved.

Gordon Ramsey and D’Acampo were firm friends during their long-running Road Trip show until D’Acampo walked away in 2023 due to ‘contract complications’

D’Acampo, who has been married to his wife Jessica Stellina Morrison since 2002, has ‘firmly denied’ all the allegations against him

‘So, yes, he feels pretty hard done by. You have to wonder, ITV surely profited from all of this and now they are running away from it by getting rid of him.’

My source adds that this financial incentive may explain why the network – which was engulfed in scandal just two years ago over presenter Phillip Schofield’s affair with a much younger colleague – backed D’Acampo for so long.

Another friend of the father-of-three adds: ‘It appears to be a typical case of ITV realising that they wanted him to be a certain way – and then it blew up in their faces.’

Indeed, it has been quite the fall from grace for the chef. Handsome and flirty, he became a sought-after star on ITV after first appearing on This Morning in 2009.

But last week an investigation by ITV News spoke to dozens of people who described his behaviour over a period of more than 13 years as ‘distressing’, ‘unacceptable’ and even ‘horrendous’.

One production company was allegedly aware of repeated complaints from staff members about D’Acampo’s conduct – yet continued to work with him on further TV projects.

One woman, using the pseudonym Hannah, claimed that during a magazine shoot in 2011 he told her he would ‘like to turn [her] over and f*** [her] up the a*** against the kitchen counter’ in front of the entire crew. She recalled ‘a ripple of laughs’, while members of the team ‘looked nervously into their cups of tea’.

Hannah added that the incident left her feeling ‘horror’ and ‘shock’ – but she admitted that she was not surprised no one intervened.

Indeed, I first raised the alarm in March 2023 when I approached ITV over allegations D’Acampo had thrust his groin at a female producer and asked another about her sex life while filming Road Trip.

It was also alleged that he would ‘get his c*** out’ often and was ‘super difficult’ to work with – prompting several employees to complain to ITV.

I later learned in December last year that channel bosses had summoned D’Acampo’s then-manager for a meeting to discuss his behaviour.

But the network continued to work with him until last week, when it canned a series of Family Fortunes in the wake of the allegations. In a statement, a spokesman from the broadcaster said: ‘All of the concerns and complaints raised by those who have spoken to ITN [the producer of ITV News] 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.’

D’Acampo, who has been married to his wife Jessica Stellina Morrison since 2002, has ‘firmly denied’ all the allegations.

Describing them as ‘deeply upsetting’, he said in a statement: ‘I would not do anything that I thought would upset or distress anyone. This is simply not in my nature.’

While few have much sympathy for D’Acampo, his friends have urged me to note that there have been no formal police complaints against him.

‘If you look at what has been claimed, there isn’t anything criminal,’ says a friend. ‘Yet he is being treated like someone who has broken the law.

‘Gino is adamant that he did nothing serious and a lot of it was pretty low-level shenanigans that go on in the television industry. He wants his career back.’

Perhaps. But I fear it will take more than a fish recipe or two to win over his fans – or TV executives.