Gino D’Acampo: I feared I was going to die in racetrack accident

Gino D’Acampo feared he was going to die when he crashed a desert buggy on his new TV series.

The 43-year-old was racing fellow celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and First Dates star Fred Sirieix in Mexico when he crashed.

D’Acampo told how he “lost control” of the vehicle, was covered in petrol and “couldn’t move” after hitting their campervan, which was parked beside the track.

“I saw the RV coming very close, and I thought, ‘OK, that’s it’,’” D’Acampo told Radio Times magazine.

“I was going 70 or 80 miles an hour, and when I hit it I thought, ‘This is over now. I’m going to die’.

“The thing that scared me the most is that my fuel-tank burst and I had petrol all over me.”

D’Acampo was not able to resume filming for another 24 hours while Ramsay, who smashed his vehicle into the wall of the racetrack, came away from the incident with whiplash.

The Gordon, Gino And Fred: American Road Trip star also hit out at celebrities with no experience in the food industry who write recipe books.

“People should respect the industry more,” D’Acampo said.

“Nowadays, everyone writes a cookbook. Models, singers, whatever, everybody thinks that they can do it and cook on TV. What they don’t understand is that if you want to do it well, you need to put in the hours.”

Ramsay also spoke about his fallout with fellow TV chef Jamie Oliver, saying they had since had a barbecue together.

He said of Oliver’s restaurant chain going into administration: “It’s sad, especially when it’s a chef that the nation loved and adored.

“He’s such a nice guy. He came out and was brutally honest about it. The economy dictated that failure and the message is that you need to keep an eye on your business. It’s tough. It’s never easy seeing anyone fail.”

The full interview is in Radio Times magazine, out now. Gordon, Gino And Fred: American Road Trip airs on April 2 at 9pm on ITV.