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Celebrity chef declares bankruptcy

Tom Palmer,Press Association
Thursday 28 May 2009 15:19 BST
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The celebrity chef John Burton Race has declared himself bankrupt, it was confirmed today.

The chef made the application two months after his ex-wife Kim was herself made bankrupt following an application to the High Court from a creditor who was owed £15,000.

The couple ran the Michelin starred New Angel restaurant in Dartmouth, Devon but she shut the failing business in 2007 while he was in Australia filming the reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get me Out of Here.

Burton Race was forced to sell the restaurant, which was bought by his friend, LastMinute.com millionaire Clive Jacobs, who currently employs him as head chef.

The Insolvency Service said Burton Race declared himself bankrupt in March, meaning his assets are frozen and creditors will have to apply to an insolvency practitioner to be paid.

His agent today declined to comment on the news.

Burton Race has appeared on a number of television programmes including Britain's Best Dish.

In 2004 he moved to Devon with his wife and their adventures in setting up a restaurant were documented by Channel 4 in Return of the Chef.

Three years later the 52-year-old walked out on Mrs Burton Race, her four daughters from a previous marriage and the two young children they had together, to live with mistress Suzi Ward and the son he had fathered with her.

The child was two-years-old when the affair came to light.

Mrs Burton Race told the Western Morning News neither she nor the children had any contact with her former husband and reports of a £3.6 million divorce settlement were "ridiculous".

She said: "I'm glad to be rebuilding a life for myself and my children, and away from the whole sorry mess."

She added: "I lost my home, and suggestions that I got more than £3 million are just ridiculous - hence I now live in rented accommodation."

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