Celebrity chef Jason Atherton left with two black eyes after taking on thugs ‘harassing his daughter, 17’ in bar
CELEBRITY chef Jason Atherton was reportedly beaten up while defending his teenage daughter from sex pests.
The host of the BBC‘s The Chefs’ Brigade was left with two black eyes after a shocking bar brawl in the Philippines.
Police are now probing claims the bar’s security staff and manageress held Atherton down while he was clubbed with a bottle.
Days later the Michelin-starred chef, 51, was pictured back at work with two black eyes.
Trouble erupted just after midnight on Christmas Eve after Atherton dined at the F Cafe and Bar in Cebu City with his wife and daughter.
The girl, 17, was pestered by a group of men as she waited for the bathroom, according to state governor Gwen Garcia.
Atherton asked them to apologise – sparking an outburst of violence.
Shocking footage shows fists flying and someone on the floor being stamped on.
Governor Garcia criticised the bar in a Facebook post accompanied by a picture of her with the bruised chef.
She said: “This gracious, gifted man certainly did not deserve the shameful treatment he got, right here, in Cebu.
“These guys were harassing his daughter while she was waiting in line for the restroom.
“Jason asked them to apologise, as any father who loves his daughter would.
“Instead, they all ganged up on him, including F Bar’s people.”
She claimed the bouncers “held him down so Jason couldn’t fight back”.
And she added: “The lady manager joined in the melee, even providing a bottle to beat him further, the whole time condemning him and all foreigners as troublemakers.”
The bar denied its staff joined in the attack – and claimed CCTV showed Atherton started it.
It said in a statement: “Everything was fine and peaceful at the bar that night when its security personnel noticed a commotion inside coming from certain customers that included Chef Atherton.
“A melee ensued and the natural reaction of security was to go between the parties to ensure that nobody got hurt and to pacify them.
“The manager, who just had an eye operation, also went to ensure that security was on top of the situation.”
It added: “While we try to ensure that everybody feels good in our establishments, we have no control over the actions of others.
“We deeply regret what happened to Chef Atherton and the other parties involved in the fracas.”
Atherton was raised on a caravan park in Skegness, Lincs, and went on to be one of Britain’s most lauded chefs.
After running Gordon Ramsay‘s Maze restaurant, he won a Michelin star six months after opening his own Pollen Street Social in London in 2011.
He now has further restaurants in London, Shanghai, Dubai, Mykonos and St Moritz, and appears on TV shows including the BBC’s Great British Menu and Masterchef Australia.
He is married to Filipina wife Irha, mother of his three daughters.
