Former MasterChef judge George Calombaris is wasting no time on his redemption tour. After entering I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! as an intruder on Sunday night, the restaurateur opened up about his wage scandal and subsequent fall from grace in Monday night’s episode.
Calombaris’ hospitality company, MAdE Establishment Group, admitted in 2019 to underpaying $7.83 million in wages and superannuation to more than 500 current and former employees, which was eventually back-paid. MAdE was also required to make a $200,000 “contrition” payment to the Australian Government, and the Greek-Australian chef issued a lengthy statement on Instagram apologising for the scandal.
Calombaris has since shut down the majority of his venues after his company went into voluntary administration, and he has largely left the public eye — aside from a one-episode appearance on The Masked Singer, as you do. He also hosted a Channel 10 cooking show, Hungry, alongside Sarah Todd in 2022, but the series was a ratings flop, and he faced criticism for his attempted comeback.
George Calombaris opens up about the scandal on I’m A Celebrity
Calombaris spoke openly about the scandal with his I’m A Celebrity campmates Dyson Heppell, Barry Williams and Luke Bateman — with Bateman admitting in his confessional that he was well aware of the incident and had judged him harshly for it at the time.
“2018 was probably the most horrific year of my life, and I do hate talking about it because I don’t want to make it sound like I’m feeling sorry for myself,” Calombaris said.
He claimed that he and his business partners did a full audit of the company and discovered that 49 per cent of his 550 team members had been underpaid, while the other 51 per cent had been overpaid. He asserted that they were “upfront and honest” with Fair Work about the issue and paid back all of their staff, but the scandal severely damaged both his reputation and his sense of self.
“It was carnage. It was the worst time of my life. Because within a day, 30 per cent of my revenue dropped,” he continued. “I’d gone from the love child to the hated child.
“It was the most weirdest feeling, you’ve suddenly gone from your phone buzzing all day long, emails, MasterChef, restaurants, blah blah blah — to nothing. And you just went, what do I do now?
“The first couple of months were horrible. I was binge drinking, and then just one day, my best man found me in a bush down the road, literally, and slapped it out of me, and I’ll never forget that moment. I just went, ‘enough’s enough, I’m gonna pull my head in’.”
I’m A Celebrity fans divided
Calombaris went on to say that he’s “so goddamn grateful” that he had the right people around at the time to save him, and he has since made his family a priority.
“That was seven years ago now. I’ve come out of it stronger, more grateful. I might be small, but I never stop. I will never stop,” he said.
Fans had a mixed reaction on social media to Calombaris sharing his side of the story, with some people calling him out for using the reality show to get some positive publicity.
“If this is meant to revive George’s TV career… Let’s just say, I’m not so sure,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter), while another joked, “George could please a lot of us by just disappearing again”.
However, others applauded him for being so candid and said the public shouldn’t “punish the guy forever”.
“To err is human!!! Nobody’s perfect, he’s owned it and rectified it! Go well George!” one fan commented on Instagram.
Calombaris certainly isn’t the only contestant dividing viewers this season, with Deni Hines’ IDGAF attitude rubbing people the wrong way. Hosts Robert Irwin and Julia Morris have teased that one celeb will quit the reality show in Tuesday night’s episode, so it looks like the drama is only just getting started.
The post George Calombaris Opened Up About His Wage Scandal On I’m A Celeb & Fans Aren’t Happy appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
