Gino D’Acampo: If people don’t like me, they can always change channel

It’s safe to say Gino D’Acampo is not the shy and retiring type.

The 44-year-old is now equally as well known for his loud and vivacious personality as he is being a celebrity chef – who often loses it on live TV when people make disrespectful comments about his food (remember his now immortal line when Holly Willoughby likened an authentic Italian dish to a carbonara? “If my grandmother had wheels, she would have been a bike").

But when he’s not wiggling his bum on the set of This Morning or trading jibes with Gordon Ramsey and Fred Sirieux on their legendary Road Trips, the Italian chef can now be found hosting Family Fortunes, the iconic vintage game show which has been revived by ITV.

“I was as surprised as you were when I was announced!” he laughs, speaking to Standard Online.

“I was like, are you for real? Is this a joke? I took some time to think about it, and then something clicked when I was filming. I don’t think Kevin [Lygo, head of ITV] wanted a presenter. He wanted someone a little bit wilder! A little bit less polished, like me.”

D’Acampo may be a bit of a strange pick for a show which was previously fronted by Bob Monkhouse, Les Dennis and Vernon Kay, but it’s clear he’s taken to the programme like a duck to water.

It’s because D’Acampo is himself, and doesn’t try too hard to replicate the success of the show’s previous hosts, that the entire Family Fortunes format feels refreshed.

“I went in the studio to play the games. The presenting bit was just something that happened,” he admits. “I was more interesting in seeing people winning money and making sure everyone was happy.

“I don’t feel pressure, not really. I can only do what I can do. Could I have done it any better? No, I don’t think I could. I could have been better as a presenter, maybe but then I wouldn’t have been myself.”

And the proudly passionate D’Acampo hasn't felt the need to tone down any of his innuendos – accidental or otherwise.

“My Italian-ness is not something I can switch on and off!” he laughs. “That’s who I am? That’s what I do. That’s the way I talk and feel.

“Most of the time, I’m just there to enjoy myself. I don’t really care. I don’t really care what people think. I don’t think…oh, now is the time to tone it down. I don’t really care!”

Speaking candidly about those who may not find him to taste, D’Acampo continues: “I’m there to do something that I like to do! If they like it, they like it, if they don’t they have a hell of a lot of other channels to choose.

“Remember, when I do something, the first thing that I do, is that I do it for myself in a way that I don’t do a show nowadays because of money. I don’t do a show because someone tells me to. If I do a show now its because I really want to do it.

“So when you really want to do something, you understand you don’t really care about anything or anyone. You just do it the way you want to do it. My whole career has always been like that. That’s the way I talk and move. It is what it is. I’m never told to turn it down because I don’t know how to do it.

“I’m just me and I cant pretend be anyone else. It is what it is.”

Watch the all-new Family Fortunes hosted by Gino D’Acampo on Sunday at 8pm on ITV

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