Richard Osman has given his take on the Gino D'Acampo scandal, with the Pointless presenter revealing why the TV chef's shows have finally been removed from the schedules. Gino, 48, was accused last week of "distressing" and "sexually inappropriate" behaviour in an ITV News investigation, with dozens of people coming forward with allegations of "unacceptable" and "horrendous" behaviour over the course of 12 years.
In the latest episode of his podcast with journalist Marina Hyde, The Rest is Entertainment, Richard spoke about the allegations with his co-star as they discussed why it has taken years for these allegations to come to light about the former This Morning star. Richard - who has produced Deal or No Deal and Whose Line Is It Anyway before presenting - spoke on the podcast about ITV pulling Gino's shows from the schedules.
"You could look at it on one level and some of the papers have done and certainly a lot of the commentators have done and say, 'Oh my God, you can't say anything anymore, this is a huge overreaction, yada yada yada,'" he said. "People do not lose their job just because they said a couple of things a couple of times. It's a pattern of behaviour, it's upset a number of people over a number of years.". He added that the repetitive nature of the inappropriate behaviour will have led to staff speaking out. "We've said before on this show, if you're in trouble as a presenter but actually your crew loves you and people who work with you go, 'That's just what they do and he's a really decent guy,' then you don't get fired.
"There have to be a whole series of things that happen, it has to go on long enough and for it to be tiresome enough - which is the word we never use.". Earlier in the show, Marina gave her take on why Gino's alleged behaviour may have gone unnoticed for years. "It's interesting that nobody confronts in that situation and there's lots of different reasons. There's a sort of reason that it's just Gino being Gino and there is very much a persona that he has been encouraged to play up to.".
She added that another reason is that the shows he is involved in are not expensive to make and so taking time out of the schedule to reprimand Gino would likely derail a production by "an hour or two". She said: "There are these constant value judgements being made by people. 'How bad is it?'". The Rest is Entertainment releases new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays on various podcast streaming services.
