Ramsay celebs walk-out

Two of Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen contestants today quit, throwing the reality programme into chaos.

Sprinter Dwain Chambers and DJ Tommy Vance walked out after rows with the hot-tempered chef.

Two more celebrities - former Coronation Street actress Amanda Barrie and Gimme Gimme Gimme star James Dreyfus - are also threatening to quit and there is even talk of a mass walkout by all the remaining contestants.

The departures of Chambers, 26, and Vance, 63, come as figures show that last night three million fewer viewers watched the ITV1 production than the day before.

On Monday the show had an impressive 8.3million viewers, just over a third of the audience and 1.3 million up on its Sunday debut. Last night's drop will worry bosses, who have handed over a large slice of ITV1 and ITV2's prime time schedules to the heavilyhyped show. The programme is on ITV1 every night for two weeks.

Of the two departures, an insider said: "The show became too much for Dwain.

"He has been talking about walking for the past two days and it was inevitable he would go at some point.

"He threatened yesterday, but stayed on overnight. He opened his heart to Jennifer Ellison in their living quarters last night, saying he feared he wouldn't be staying for two weeks.

"He told her, 'I hope tomorrow ain't as bad, as I can't put up with it for two weeks'. He walked out at 10am and has left the premises." Vance, called in as a replacement when Roger Cook was injured, followed shortly afterwards.

The source added: "Tommy said he hadn't realised how tough the show would be and he didn't need the hassle.

"He joined on Monday night, so he had only been on the show for 36 hours. Amanda is still in at the moment but she has been all over the place for a couple of days, in fits of tears.

"James has also been very tearful, but Gordon had a pep talk with him last night and gave his ego a bit of a massage and he feels a lot better."