Come Dine With Me contestant Marcello Marino has been receiving death threats after his show appearance aired on TV.
The 41-year-old hairdresser has been slated for throwing insults at fellow Come Dine With Me contestants, including telling Donna that she looked like “she’d never had a bath” and Lydia that she “looked a state”.
The male contestants were not spared from Marcello’s insults either.
Anthony was told: “Your hair looks a bit greasy – a nice wig would suit you”, while Chris was told he looked like ‘Bob the Builder’ and asked: “What happened to your hair then? You’ve got a terrible haircut”.
After the show aired on TV, Marcello was inundated with hate calls and emails.
Marcello said: “I can’t believe how upset people who watched me got. Some of them sound like they want to kill me, it’s unbelievable.
“I didn’t realise how rude I was. That’s not really me, I’m a nice guy really.
He explained his behaviour by saying that he had played the bad guy character for the cameras.
“It wasn’t me at all. I’m straightforward and I tell people what I think, but in a nice way. It’s all staged and my role was to play the bad guy.
“It’s unbelievable that people get so upset over a TV show.”
After having received over 1000 hate messages his girlfriend convinced him to contact the police.
“I called the police just in case something comes of all these threats. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.
“The police came round to the salon and went through some of the letters. They asked me if I wanted to take action, but I told them I just wanted the whole thing to die down, so they told me to call 999 if I get any more serious threats.”
More than three million viewers saw the five episodes of Come Dine With Me starring Marcello, which aired on Channel 4 in the week beginning January 17.
According to the Daily Mail, Marcello has received more than 100 letters, 300 abusive emails and ‘countless’ angry Facebook messages.
At least three of these hate messages contain death threats.
