George Calombaris reveals fallout of $7.8m wages scandal: 'It was carnage'

Former MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris has addressed the $7.8 million wages scandal that resulted in his fall from grace.

Calombaris rose to fame during his 11-season stint on the reality TV show before a scandal involving wages paid to employees of his Melbourne-based hospitality group.

Now, Calombaris, 47, has given his side of the story during an episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Australia, which he is a contestant on.

Calombaris was riding high, not just as a TV star but as the main owner of MAdE Establishment Group, which once owned 22 hospitality businesses, before the wages scandal was made public in 2017.

During last night's episode of I'm A Celebrity..., he spoke about the incident.

"We did a full audit of the business and we found out of our 550 team members, we underpaid 49 per cent of them and overpaid 51 per cent of them," he said.

Calombaris said a decision was made in the boardroom to self-report the matter to the workplace regulator Fair Work Australia.

READ MORE: Mel C weighs into Brooklyn Beckham feud

READ MORE: Actress facing criminal charges over daring bra stunt

READ MORE: A-list godparents face a dilemma as Beckham feud rages on

"They're like, 'Look, George, we have to go to ... Fair Work [Australia] and tell them, be upfront and honest ... [say] 'This is what's happened. We found the problem. We are going to rectify it and pay everyone back that has been underpaid'.

"So we went to Fair Work and [said] 'This is how we're fixing it'."

Calombaris said Fair Work was happy with the arrangement.

"We owned up, we paid back and that is something that I know and the people around me know."

However, he said once the story "blew up in the media", everything changed.

"It was carnage," he said.

"It was the worst time of my life, because within a day 30 per cent of my revenue dropped."

As a result of the negative press, Calombaris said his phone just "stopped ringing".

"It was the weirdest feeling, you've suddenly gone from your phone buzzing all day long, emails, MasterChef, restaurants, blah, blah, blah, to nothing," he said.

As a result, he said he turned to alcohol to cope before a friend stepped in. 

"I was binge drinking and then one day, my best man found me in a bush down the road, literally, and slapped it out of me," he said.

"I'll never forget that moment. I just went, 'Enough is enough. I'm gonna pull my head in'."

During a confessional, Calombaris said, "I'm not perfect. I've made plenty of mistakes in my life.

"But I will, you know, I'll take full responsibility."

In 2019, Fair Work Australia said MADE Establishment Pty Ltd had back-paid workers more than $7.8 million in wages and superannuation after entering into a Court-Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

It said Fair Work inspectors investigated the company following a self-disclosure of underpayments at Melbourne restaurants Press Club and Gazi as well as Hellenic Republic restaurants in Kew, Williamstown and Brunswick.

It also extended its investigation to other restaurants operated by Jimmy Grants Pty Ltd, a company which shares common shareholders and directors with the MADE group.

"MADE Establishment back-paid $7,832,953 to 515 current or former employees of Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic for work between 2011 and 2017," it said.

"A further $16,371 has been back-paid to nine employees of Jimmy Grants."

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.

At the time, Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said MADE Establishment was the subject of a Court-Enforceable Undertaking including stringent measures to ensure current and future employees across their restaurant group were correctly paid.

MADE Establishment also made a $200,000 contribution payment to the Commonwealth Government's Consolidated Revenue Fund, and was ordered to fund external auditors to check pay and conditions for workers across the entire group until 2022.

Calombaris was a founding shareholder of MADE Establishment, and served as a director from 2008 to 2018.

The group was placed into voluntary administration in 2020.

In 2017, Calombaris was charged with assaulting a man at Allianz Stadium during the 2017 A-League Grand Final who heckled him over the wages scandal.

The charge was later dismissed.

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.