by Martin Jefferies

Ramsgate hairdresser Marcello Marino has had vicious phone calls and letters...after appearing on a cooking show!

The Italian said he is now afraid to leave his home after appearing on Come Dine With Me last week.

Marcello was one of five local people to star in the Channel 4 TV show last week.

He was seen to dish out insults to his fellow contestants - but set the record straight by insisting he is not the bad guy he was made out to be.

The 41-year-old, who lives above his salon in West Cliff Road, said: "It's all staged and my role was to play the bad guy.

"But it wasn't me at all. I'm straightforward and I tell people what I think, but in a nice way.

"I'm not rude to people, especially when I meet them for the first time, and I felt quite uncomfortable looking around people's homes and going through their drawers.

"I've had lots of hate mail and angry phone calls and apparently 8,000 people complained to Channel 4, so I didn't want to go out because I thought people would kill me!

"I couldn't believe how seriously people took it, and was quite worried, but when I went shopping at the weekend the reaction was brilliant. Lots of people said the show wouldn't have been the same without me."

However, he admitted: "I enjoyed it and I had fun, but if I did it again I'd definitely be a gentleman!"

Marcello met fellow contestants Anthony Wait, Lydia Jones and winner Chris Newbold at The Lanthorne pub in St Peter's at the weekend and insists the group are now "really good friends".

Only Donna Grieves - who emigrated to Australia shortly after filming finished - was absent.

Marcello served up an Italian and Spanish menu in Tuesday's show, but his Lasagne la Mia Mamma failed to inspire and Marcello admits the cooking did not go quite according to plan.

He said: "I can make a brilliant lasagne, although they didn't show that on TV, of course.

"The reason it went so soggy was that I forgot to squeeze the milk out of the bread I used to make the meatballs. I wanted the evening to be perfect, but it's so stressful having a camera in front of you the whole time."

Come Dine With Me guests compete for a £1,000 top prize and judge each other on the quality of the food and the atmosphere around the dinner table.