A radio host called Gordon Ramsay's 19-year-old daughter a 'chubby little thing,' causing a flood of support for Tilly Ramsay online

• Tilly Ramsay, Gordon's 19-year-old daughter, spoke out against the LBC host Steve Allen.
• Allen called her a "chubby little thing" and said he imagined it was "her dad's cooking."

Tilly Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay's daughter, said she would "not tolerate" a radio host who called her "chubby" on his show.

"She's a chubby little thing, isn't she? Have you noticed?" Steve Allen, the 67-year-old host of the early show on the talk-radio station Leading Britain's Conversation (LBC), said on air Wednesday.

"Probably her dad's cooking, I should imagine," he added, referencing her celebrity-chef father.

Matilda "Tilly" Ramsay is a 19-year-old TikTok star with over 9.6 million followers who first became known for presenting on the BBC cooking show "Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch," which aired from 2015 to 2019, with the rest of her family. She is starring in the newest season of the British dance competition series "Strictly Come Dancing."

Before commenting on her appearance, Allen also said Ramsay "can't bloody well dance. I'm bored with her already."

Ramsay responded on Instagram Wednesday to Allen's derogatory comments. She shared a short clip featuring Allen's remarks and posted a letter to the radio broadcaster.

"I try not to read and listen to comments and negativity however recently being called out on a national radio station by a 67-year-old man is a step too far," Ramsay wrote at the start of the letter. The post had amassed over 384,000 likes and 20,000 comments as of Thursday afternoon on Instagram, where she has 1.1 million followers.

"I understand that being in the public eye comes with it's own repercussions and I've been aware of this from a young age," she added. "However I won't tolerate people that think it's okay to publicly comment and scrutinise anyone's weight and appearance."

Ramsay's response went viral as several stars spoke out against Allen's comments.

The BBC London weather presenter Kate Kinsella shared a screenshot of Ramsay's post on Twitter Thursday morning, which garnered over 3,000 likes and 200 retweets.

"At 47 i still struggle to 'accept myself' thanks to years of comments like the ones she's mentioned," Kinsella wrote in the tweet, thanking Ramsay for "standing up & calling it out so eloquently... and honestly."

-kate kinsella (@Kate_Kinsella) October 21, 2021

Other celebrities like the English actor and comedian Jason Manford came to Ramsay's defense. Manford, who has almost 400,000 Twitter followers, tweeted on Wednesday that Allen was a "bitter old prick" who criticized Ramsay's body to "stay relevant again."

-Jason Manford (@JasonManford) October 20, 2021

Cristo Foufas, a presenter for TalkRadio who previously worked at LBC, said in a tweet Wednesday that Allen "regularly spoke about how fat I was on air, even at the height of my eating disorder."

-Cristo (@cristo_radio) October 20, 2021

Dr. Alex George, an officially appointed youth-mental-health ambassador for Britain, shared on Instagram Wednesday a screenshot of a letter he said he sent to LBC criticizing Allen's remarks and requesting a response from the radio station.

"I am absolutely horrified by these remarks," he wrote. "It is widely recognised just how damaging such comments about someone's weight are and the effect they can have on an individual's mental health."

Body-shaming can cause psychological distress and directly relates to depressive symptoms, with overweight youth at a significantly elevated risk, researchers found in a 2018 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Ramsay shared George's post on her Instagram story Wednesday and wrote "thank you so much."

Ramsay's father has not commented on the incident. Ramsay has not commented on the situation since that last story.

Gordon Ramsay, Tilly Ramsay, LBC, and Allen did not respond to requests for comment.