Escape to the Chateau stars Dick and Angel Strawbridge have broken their silence over claims they "bullied" crew members on the set of their Channel 4 show.
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Earlier this year, allegations against the couple made by employees of Spark Media, the independent production company that filmed the first four series of the renovation show, came to light.
Numerous former Escape to the Chateau staff alleged the couple were "aggressive and abusive", according to The Times.
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An ex-employee claimed to the newspaper: "I haven't experienced anything as pernicious and spiteful as Dick and Angel and working with them took a very heavy toll on staff.
"It was almost like being in an abusive relationship, waiting for what small thing one of them would blow up at and turn into a massive deal."
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Now in a new interview, the couple have vehemently denied the claims, with Angel telling The Telegraph: "If you asked every single person on our team, they would all say that Dick is completely chivalrous. He will always be that person opening doors, helping people, and if anyone upsets me, he will be the first person to take control of the situation. He is very protective."
Dick and Angel have spoken out against the bullying allegations
She added. "These anonymous people – we don't know who they are – we probably only met once. One of them, the main one we think, we only met for a couple of hours.
"The people who were here for any length of time were family; the kids knew them and we really opened up our world to them, so you can imagine that it felt very sad to read a lot of that stuff."
Elsewhere in the interview, Dick spoke of his military past and his long-held, high professional standards, which has undoubtedly been an asset to their dream of renovating their 45-room chateau which they bought in 2015.
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He said: "I am 61 years of age and at no time in my life, in my military career and in my other careers, [have I ever] accepted behaviour that doesn’t meet my standards and my values. How you behave is what makes you who you are."
Escape to the Chateau boasts over 2.5 million regular viewers in the UK and is a hit with viewers in the US where it airs on lifestyle channel TLC. New episodes of spinoff series, Escape to the Chateau: Make Do and Mend, in which the couple help families solve DIY and design dilemmas, are coming to Channel 4 this month.
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