CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: ITV should offer therapy for viewers who had to watch Gino DiCampo’s latest antics

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: ITV should offer therapy for viewers who had to watch Gino DiCampo’s latest antics

Gino & Fred: Emission Impossible (ITV1) 

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The fault lies squarely with ITV. Presenter Gino D’Acampo has been accused of lewd behaviour and using inappropriate language on set — but so what?

That’s exactly what telly bosses demand of him. They want swearing, nudity, Euro stereotypes and smut. Gino obliges, because that’s his schtick, his persona. It makes no sense to lambast him for it afterwards.

You might almost wonder if he’s fallen out with someone behind the scenes, because the allegations — which Gino vehemently denies — smack of a vendetta.

‘Sources’ at ITV claim the star was ordered to complete a training course in political correctness after filming ended on the tawdry travelogue Gino & Fred: Emission Impossible. He was accused of making off-colour jokes, and staff were allegedly offered counselling to help them get over the trauma of filming the show.

If that’s true, ITV ought to pay for every viewer to have therapy too. We’re the ones who had to watch a full minute of footage before the closing credits, featuring Gino sitting playing a guitar, completely starkers with his legs splayed and his bits pixelated.

Presenter Gino D’Acampo in Gino & Fred: Emission Impossible. ‘Sources’ at ITV claim the star was ordered to complete a training course in political correctness after filming ended on the show

Gino and Fred Sirieix on a bike. There was plenty of homo-erotic badinage between the two

Gino and Fred Sirieix on a bike. There was plenty of homo-erotic badinage between the two 

Gino and Fred together in a gym. If this marks an end to witless, low-budget treks around the Med where the presenters get their kit off at every opportunity, I¿ll give three cheers

Gino and Fred together in a gym. If this marks an end to witless, low-budget treks around the Med where the presenters get their kit off at every opportunity, I’ll give three cheers

Wearing nothing but a pair of Union Jack budgie-smugglers, travelling companion Fred Sirieix grinned and declared, ‘I wanna get naked too.’

In another scene, Gino flirted with an anti-pollution campaigner, promising to take political action: ‘I’m gonna send you a video of me spanking the Prime Minister.’ Nearby on the beach, Fred was in his red-white-and-blue mini-trunks again, offering the camera plenty of shots of his backside as he bent to pick up litter.

There was plenty of homo-erotic badinage between the two, as they slurped fresh oysters and speculated on how long it would be, if they were marooned on a desert island together, before they had sex.

And every other gag played up national stereotypes. Driving along the Dubrovnik coast, Fred remarked that Marco Polo was not Venetian but Croatian. Ultra-Italian Gino pretended to be so shocked, he almost crashed the car.

It’s inevitable that kind of puerile, bawdy humour is going to carry on after the cameras stop rolling. The production company, Betty TV, was literally asking for it — the subtitle of this concluding episode was Naked Travellers.

That excuse does not apply, of course, to disgraced MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace, who supposedly cavorted in the studio wearing only a sock over his meat and two veg.

And I’m not suggesting the Gino and Fred show has any merit at all. It was weary, hackneyed, repetitive and badly edited. In one segment, Gino was parading around a tourist hotspot with a handkerchief on a pole, like a cruise ship guide. Whatever that gag was meant to be about, it must have been cut. A lame explanation was inserted in voiceover, something about Gino being afraid of getting lost.

If this marks an end to witless, low-budget treks around the Med where the presenters get their kit off at every opportunity, I’ll give three cheers.

But don’t expect me to believe ITV are shocked at Gino’s antics.

Stacey Solomon’s Crafty Christmas, 9pm, BBC1

Stacey Solomon stars in a new tinsel-fuelled special of Stacey Solomon’s Crafty Christmas

Stacey Solomon stars in a new tinsel-fuelled special of Stacey Solomon’s Crafty Christmas

The ever-resourceful presenter is back with a new tinsel-fuelled special, as she shows us how to make ingenious homemade gifts and decorations that will bring festive joy without breaking the bank. 

Meanwhile, she’s roped in husband Joe and their children, her sister Jemma and co-presenter Dilly Carter to create

a winter wonderland at her grandma Gwen’s retirement home, to give all the residents a colourful Christmas to remember. 

And when she gets the party started, there’s a reminder of how Stacey originally rose to fame (on the 2009 series of The X Factor) when she sings a song – there won’t be a dry eye in the house.

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