The incident left the victim badly injured. Photo / File
The incident left the victim badly injured. Photo / File
A young chef has been left with shocking injuries thanks to a cruel prank carried out by one of his colleagues.
Nathan Davies, a chef at luxury hotel Calcot & Spa in England, claims he was left with serious burns on his buttocks after an unnamed fellow chef poured hot butter down his pants in June, reports news.com.au.
The act was supposedly intended to be a practical joke, which Mr Davies said "went a bit too far", leaving him "scalded and hospitalised".
However, he also hinted at a wider culture of bullying within the workplace.
Nathan Davies worked at Calcot & Spa for two years before the incident occurred. Photo / Instagram
Mr Davies, who has worked for the establishment for two years, also claims he was ordered to return to work against medical advice, which caused his wound to become infected.
"Everyone should be careful working in kitchens and not take abuse or anything similar to what I've experienced in case it ends up like this," he told The Sun.
"Also, if you're made to work as I was, even with the doctor saying you're not to, it's only (going) to get infected like mine.
"Hopefully this raises awareness for how dangerous being in a kitchen can be."
Calcot & Spa addressed the "extremely upsetting recent employee incident" in a Facebook statement posted yesterday.
The business confirmed "the member of staff responsible" had been suspended, investigated and sacked "as soon as the allegations were corroborated".
"We were as shocked as everyone else by the incident that has occurred to a member of our staff and appropriate action was taken without hesitation," the statement reads.
"Regarding all accusations of a wider culture of bullying in our kitchens, this is strenuously denied, and our ongoing investigations with the team lead us to believe that this is an isolated incident.
"As yet, we have found no evidence of this wider culture, but our inquiries continue today, and if we find anything that can be corroborated, we will act immediately as we have done so previously."
There has been widespread speculation on social media that executive chef Richard Davies — no relation to Nathan Davies and a protege of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay — was involved in the incident, a claim strenuously denied by him and Calcot & Spa.
That assumption was made by many members of the public after the injured chef shared screenshots of text messages between himself and the man responsible — which many assumed was Richard Davies.
Nathan Davies shared screenshots of a text message exchange. Photo / Facebook
He also responded to the scandal on Twitter but sparked further outrage by criticising the younger man for sharing the messages.
"First and foremost I am deeply sorry, embarrassed and mortified that this happened in one of my kitchens and for what Nathan has had to mentally and physically endure as a result," he wrote.
"I have never seen anything like this in my 25 years in the industry and was appalled by the horrific act and this is certainly not something that I or the rest of the team support, condone or represents how we run our business."
But the statement then took a turn when he said he was "really shocked and puzzled" about why Nathan had taken "this vindictive route against me".
Twitter users soon attacked him for seemingly attempting to "victim shame".
"Shameful to use this opportunity to publicly apologise to try and victim shame and gain sympathy for yourself," one Twitter user wrote, while another added: "Absolutely disgraceful response. Clearly you don't understand your responsibilities. You and your employers should be hanging your heads in shame."
