James Acaster
Acaster has also been nominated a record four times for the Edinburgh Comedy Award from 2012 to 2015, but never won. He did scoop the breakthrough award and the best show award at the Chortle Awards 2015 for Recognise.
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232 viewers complain over James Acaster's Saturday Kitchen 'rampage'
Comedian trashed the set..
More than 200 people have complained about James Acaster pretending to trash the Saturday Kitchen set in a comedy rampage.
The BBC’s editorial complaint unit has revealed that 232 viewers felt strongly enough to contact the broadcaster over the comedian’s December 6 outburst..
The stand-up wreaked havoc after the public voted against his preferred dish during the show’s regular Food Heaven or Food Hell segment.
He overturned a Christmas wreath on the table, punched a stuffed polar bear in the face and grappled with a Christmas tree, sending ornaments flying.
Acaster was on the show with his Off Menu co-host Ed Gamble. The outburst in the final minutes of the live broadcast came after viewers picked Gamble's tapas over Acaster's unconventional panettone tiramisu-Christmas pudding creation.
Presenter Matt Tebbutt and the other guests, chefs Andi Oliver, Tasha Marikkar and Ben Lippett and sommelier Helen McGinn, were amused by the antics.
However, 232 viewers complained that the ‘guest’s behaviour [was] felt to be inappropriate’.
It was the second most-contentious thing the BBC broadcast in the first two weeks of December, behind the episode of Question Time featuring migrants in the audience which attracted 1,379 complaints of bias – both for and against the Reform UK party.
The complaints unit has not yet responded to those who complained about Acaster’s behaviour.
James Acaster's live meltdown. You're welcome. #SaturdayKitchen pic.twitter.com/tzwCX6qCHt
— Paul Burley (@PaulBurleyFFS) December 6, 2025
Published: 19 Dec 2025
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