[Red Moon]

JUNGLE CHEF'S WIFE DEFENDS CLOSURE

The estranged wife of celebrity chef John Burton Race has spoken out about their troubled relationship and the pain she felt when he left her for his mistress.

Kim Burton Race has revealed the chef proprietor of Dartmouth's New Angel restaurant drank heavily and was often abusive, once firing a shotgun during an argument with her daughter's boyfriend.

She said he took the youngest of their six children to meet his clandestine lover, Suzi Ward, and the child he fathered with her, while he was still living with his wife and six children.

Mr Burton Race is currently in Australia, where he was filming for ITV's reality show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here until he was voted out by viewers. In his absence, Mrs Burton Race says she was forced to close his award-winning restaurant in which she is still a partner, because of the debts she found.

She told the Mail on Sunday: "Seeing him on TV was too painful - it brought back all the anger and hurt I felt when I discovered his affair and he left us.

"I couldn't believe that he had gone off to the jungle after leaving our family and the business in such a mess.

"It was further proof that he is capable of thinking only of himself."

Mrs Burton Race said she had ignored rumours that her husband was leading a double life until she found a tell-tale text message on his phone in March.

He admitted he had been having an affair for three years and had fathered a child by his mistress, but said he did not want to discuss the matter further.

"At that point, I descended into a black rage," said Mrs Burton Race. "I felt the most unbelievable anger and I became very violent, I'm afraid. I kicked, punched and scratched him.

"I tore the T-shirt off his back and screamed at him. Then he admitted he was going to live with her."

She added: "Since he has gone, our home life is calmer, but the children and I feel totally betrayed."

The family rose to fame in 2002, when Channel 4 documented their move to the Aude region of France. With two children together and four from Mrs Burton Race's first marriage, which the chef adopted, life was lively in front of the cameras. But there was a darker side which was kept within the family, claims Mrs Burton Race.

She said the chef's erratic behaviour, coupled with heavy drinking, made him difficult to live with.

"I became so accustomed to his mood swings, during which he'd scream and shout abuse at whoever crossed his path, that they seemed normal," she said.

The family moved to Dartmouth in 2003 and, shortly afterwards, Mr Burton Race began his affair, with his son born in 2005.

Mrs Burton Race said the New Angel was meant to be a "real family business".

But she said: "John was leading another life with someone else. It makes me so angry that he used us to present himself as a caring family man when the reverse is true. He was living a lie on the TV screen."

Around the time his love-child was born, Mrs Burton Race recalled coming home with her husband one night to find daughter Eve in the kitchen with her boyfriend, who Mr Burton Race "loathed".

She said: "John had been drinking heavily and began ranting and raving. He was swearing and vowing to kill this boy. I thought he was joking but he staggered into the utility room, unlocked the shotgun cabinet and began loading it.

"Eve ushered her boyfriend out of the kitchen while Olivia and I tried to wrestle the gun off John. He was in a really black rage. Olivia was pushed to the floor and we were both hit in the face with the gun butt.

"Then he pulled the trigger and fired into the floor. I was terrified. Eve and her boyfriend fled the house and phoned the police. I begged John to stop."

Mrs Burton Race said her husband calmed down and went to the nearby village of Strete, where he now lives with Ms Ward. Mrs Burton Race said she covered for him when police arrived.

"I shouldn't have done that, but I was very, very scared. John could have blown our heads off."

At the time, Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed that officers attended a "disturbance" allegedly involving a shotgun, but that no one was arrested.

Mrs Burton Race said: "I do feel foolish now for believing all his lies, but being in love with someone is about trust."

Since leaving I'm A Celebrity, Burton Race has stated that Kim's closure of The New Angel on November 27 was a result of spite, saying: "She wants revenge. It's a classic case of a woman scorned."

But Mrs Burton Race said her decision was based on the realities of the business, which had been failing for some time.

"Our bank manager agreed to pay one last week of wages, but the decision to close had been made for me," she said. "This is nothing to do with my relationship with John - it's about doing the right thing in business."

She said she decided to speak out because she felt the chef had attempted to portray her as the cause of their business and personal problems.

"I've tried to get on with it, keep the children together and maintain my dignity," she said. "But I've had enough of him rubbing my nose in the mess he's left. There's only so much you can take."

Before his affair was exposed, he had been planning a new show with his wife in which they revealed favourite family recipes. "It was to be called Real Family, Real Food," Mrs Burton Race revealed.

"Unfortunately, the title turned out to be only half-true."

The WMN tried to contact Mr Burton Race last night but he was unavailable for comment.

Source: The is Cornawall

[Sunny_01]

I really feel sorry for Johns wife, she has been cheated on and then left to mop up the financial mess he left behind to go to the jungle.

[Jackie]

I didnt like him in the jungle he was nasty,his wife wanna count her blessings that shes got rid of him.