TV chef Ainsley Harriott has been snubbed by the Chelsea Flower Show after his sister fell into a pond and he threatened to sue the organisers, it has been claimed.
The Mail on Sunday understands Mr Harriott has not been invited to attend the flower show’s star-studded VIP day, when celebrities and the media get a preview before it opens to the public, since 2022, when his sister Jacqueline fell backwards into a pond and was fully submerged.
In dramatic scenes, Mr Harriott, 69, and other visitors pulled her from the water after the accident at the BBC Studios Our Green Planet And RHS Bee Garden.
She was seen coughing up ‘a lot of water’ before paramedics took her to hospital, where she made a full recovery.
A furious Mr Harriott, the star of Ready Steady Cook, later said his family was considering legal action against show organiser the Royal Horticultural Society, saying: ‘They should have roped it [the pond] off. It was about 6ft deep – quite a drop once you hit the water.’
The MoS understands that despite deciding not to pursue a legal claim, Mr Harriott has not been invited to attend the VIP day since his public criticism.
‘It is very, very sad,’ Mr Harriott, who has previously spoken of his love of gardening, said.
‘I would have loved to have gone [to last year’s VIP day] but I must have upset them because after what I said the invitations just stopped.’
TV chef Ainsley Harriet attended the Chelsea Flower Show preview with his sister Jacquelin in 2022
In dramatic scenes, Mr Harriott, 69, and other visitors pulled her from the water after the accident at the BBC Studios Our Green Planet And RHS Bee Garden
She was seen coughing up ‘a lot of water’ before paramedics took her to hospital, where she made a full recovery
Mr Harriott has attended the flower show at least eight times.
On three occasions he was accompanied by Jacqueline, a retired cookery teacher.
He added: ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. It didn’t come to anything in the end, but you know what families are like.
‘When she fell back… I love her to death. I was upset. The RHS means a lot to me – my mum was part of the society.’
Matt Peskett, an RHS volunteer who saw the accident in 2022, later said: ‘There were 30 or 40 celebs out and they were all drinking champagne.
‘And then all of a sudden one of the guests stepped backwards and fell in. They fully fell in, not just a foot.’
Another witness said: ‘I think she nearly drowned. She was pulled out by Ainsley Harriott and some other celebrities before they laid her down on the floor. She was coughing up lots of water.’
This year’s event is due to be a particularly glittering occasion, with the star of the show set to be a garden co-designed by King Charles and Sir David Beckham.
The former England captain and the gardener Alan Titchmarsh met the King last month to discuss plans for the King’s Foundation Curious Garden.
Mr Harriott’s agent confirmed he had not been invited ‘last year or this year’.
After being approached by the MoS on Friday, the RHS said it wanted new supporters to have an opportunity to attend but, in an apparent U-turn, said Mr Harriott would be welcome.
A spokesman said: ‘We are sad that Ainsley feels this way and wish he’d spoken directly to us.
‘He is very welcome to attend if he wishes and we’d hugely welcome his support for our wider charitable work as well.’
In 2024 Mr Harriott hosted a series for ITV featuring a cooking competition in three National Trust kitchen gardens.
Another of his shows, Ainsley’s Fantastic Flavours, will return on ITV later this year.
