Sykes: Gino devours the audience

Mel Sykes has confessed she finds it hilarious when eccentric chef Gino D'Acampo pounces on the audience during their show Let's Do Lunch With Gino And Mel.

The 41-year-old TV presenter laughed: "I don't know a woman that doesn't love him, including me. He'd go into the audience and literally snog people. I had a friend in the audience last year and he literally had her - she was beetroot! I thought it was hilarious.

"But yeah, he's a terrible flirt. But we all love him for it."

Mel also admitted she loves the thrill that anything can happen with the ITV1 daytime show being live.

She said: "To be honest, the biggest thrill is that it's live and therefore whenever something goes slightly squiffy you have to roll with it, and I enjoy that.

"I love that even though we have a format and food to prepare, it has a very relaxed essence to it and that's because I'm relaxed and Gino's relaxed. And I love finding out about the guests in ways that you don't normally get on a chat show; because it's all about food and their food related history, it brings up stories from their childhood which they don't talk about normally. It's special on lots of levels."