In a move which has all the hallmarks of a PR stunt, the television chef John Burton Race learnt by phone in Australia, that his soon-to-be –ex-wife had closed down his Michelin starred restaurant while he recovered after his eviction from the Australian jungle in I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here!

While he starred in the ITV series his wife, Kim, 42, announced the closure of the £1.2 million restaurant in Devon and sacked the 20 staff. But Kim did ot tell potential diners. One local couple who had pre-paid for their wedding celebration were close to tears at the news.

The workers were given their P45s on Monday night and a notice was put on the door stating: “It is with deep regret that as of Tuesday 27th November 2007 the New Angel restaurant and rooms will cease trading. Please direct all inquiries to John Burton Race.”

It gave the number of his mobile telephone, which he answered in his Queensland hotel room yesterday. At first Mr Burton Race, 50, could not believe what he was hearing. As soon as he realised it was not a joke he clammed up.
Related Links

He said: “None of that is right. I didn’t know the restaurant was closed or that there was a note in the window. The decision to close the restaurant was not made by me. I have got nothing more to say.” Mr Burton Race left Kim, his wife of 11 years, a mother of six, for Suzie Ward, 40, and their three-year-old son in March.

Mrs Burton Race told staff on Friday that the restaurant was closing and they were being given their P45s. One worker said: “Mrs Burton Race came in to tell us she was closing the restaurant and we had two days left of trading. The last service was Sunday and after lunchtime we were told to clear out the fridges and throw away stock.

“About 20 staff who work there have lost their jobs, and those of us who live in staff accommodation [have lost] our homes too.

“We were told that if we didn’t talk about it then we would be more likely to get jobs in the area. John will be fuming. The restaurant is everything to him.”

One waiter, who has worked at the New Angel for six months, said: “We tried to call John in Australia but the TV production told us we could not contact him. I am annoyed because I have just lost my job overnight and I do not understand why.”

Another former employee said: “It is rubbish. We were told on Sunday that the restaurant would close just like that. They can’t do it. It is too short notice.”

Litter bags were piled in the entrance of the restaurant and delivery men had dumped supplies including cooking oil and paper towels outside because they could not get in.

Mrs Burton Race refused to comment.

Previously, she had said that the restaurant would be sold to fund the divorce settlement. The chef has already agreed to the sale of the marital home, a £1.5 million Georgian rectory in the village of Ashprington, near Totnes.

The New Angel, which opened in 2004 and won its Michelin star eight months later, has been valued at £1,250,000 and its six-bedroom guest house, which is being sold separately, is priced at £850,000.

Mr Burton Race took his family to France for the Channel 4 series French Leave, which followed their attempts to start a new life in an unfamiliar country.
Related Links

* Passion: the main ingredient

* New owners ruin Christmas at Quo Vadis

Later, after they moved back to Britain, he starred in a new series called The Return of the Chef which followed his efforts to set up his restaurant in Devon.

He described his time in the I’m a Celebrity camp as a magical experience despite heat, hunger and personality clashes with the other contestants. He added: “It has been the most memorable time I have ever had in my life.” Well, perhaps, until now.

Cooks in the soup

Rick Stein’s wife, Jill, encountered the chef’s mistress, Sarah Burns, in her husband’s seafood restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall. She slapped her rival around the face, to the cheers of diners, and then divorced him

Tom Aikens’s career took off when he was sacked from the Mayfair restaurant Pied à Terre for allegedly “branding” a dozy trainee on the hand with a hot knife

Fanny Cradock, the original TV chef, never presented a show again after she upset viewers by criticising the cooking of a housewife. She stormed off a Parkinson show when she found that Danny La Rue, her fellow guest, was a man dressed as a woman Keith Floyd has been divorced four times and bankrupt twice

Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein have both been threatened by self-styled Cornish terrorists for opening restaurants in the county that only wealthy visitors can afford to eat at

Marco Pierre White’s wife, Mati, dumped his hunting trophies on the pavement outside their Knightsbridge home

Source: Times Database