“Arrogant, annoying and malicious, they are among the mildest insults I have received on the club's social pages, on my personal accounts and even on the phone… some have even written vile things under my son's photo.” For Ekla Vasconi , one of the protagonists of the last episode of the Sky show “4 Ristoranti”, hosted by chef Alessandro Borghese, the nightmare began after the broadcast of the episode dedicated to the contemporary cuisine of Mantua. “I have received hundreds of hateful messages, there are even some who have threatened to come to the club to put me through hell,” says Vasconi. A social pillory so great that the online review platform TripAdvisor was forced to block comments on the profile of “Il Rigoletto”, the brand that the woman has owned for six and a half years with her husband Andrea Martini. This was all because of the drastic and cutting judgments she expressed towards the other contestants, to whom she also gave very poor grades (even “zero”) during the episode. Nothing that hasn't happened countless times during the show.
“There was a lot of stress during the recording and I realize that in some moments I was snappy and expressed my opinion unfiltered, I could have said it more gently, but you have to remember that it's still entertainment.” And definitely “I didn’t offend anyone,” explains Vasconi. “Also, over the course of the four days, I wasn’t always as meticulous as I appeared to be. I think it was decided to make a cut that would make me look like that in order to gain an audience. And in any case, dozens of hours of footage synthesized in a few minutes can lead to distortions and misperception of things,” he adds. “Among other things, I felt very supported and guided in my attitude by the program team, both in the judgments and in the comments,” she explains. “But no one prepared me for what might happen after it aired. How things could escalate. To all this hate. I haven’t been able to sleep for days and I’m wondering when this situation will pass.”
The other participants of the program were the first to show their solidarity: the Tom Tam started from Sciko Saccani, owner of “Giallo Zucca”, and was picked up by Giuseppe Maddalena of “Materia Prima”, winner of the episode, and Leonardo Cuzzi, of the “Osteria al Gallo”. The three of them met over coffee the day before yesterday to express their solidarity and condemn the attacks on their colleague, calling them “exaggerated and wrong” and emphasizing that it was just a game and that it was between the two There is no bitterness towards competitors. “I didn’t feel like going to this meeting, but I thank them from the bottom of my heart,” says the restaurateur. “What if I went back? I'll be honest, I would still do 4 Ristoranti, I'm a fan and customer bookings increased after the episode, but I would take a less drastic and more playful tone. “What I regret most now,” he adds, is that production didn’t contact me to find out about my mental state. It wasn't easy to work these days, I had moments of great discouragement. But the customers who know me know that I am a kind-hearted person, completely different from the one who appeared on television, and they support and comfort me. Like my husband, who continues to give me the strength not to collapse.”
February 17, 2024, 7:33 a.m. – Updated February 17, 2024, 7:47 a.m
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