ROCCO RADIO IS COOKED (sponsor rankled over celeb chef's anti-fur remarks)

NY POST ^ | December 25, 2005 | JOHN MAINELLI

[Liz]

Former reality-TV chef Rocco DiSpirito — whose WOR radio show was set to replace Bob Grant in prestigious afternoon drive time next month — has suddenly left the station altogether.....

Unbeknownst to listeners, DiSpirito's final midday show was Friday. "When we started working on the new show, it became apparent that we had two very different ideas of how to move forward," DiSpirito told The Post......

DiSpirito, 39, says he wanted to do a "broad lifestyle and entertainment-style show," rather than just talk about food and recipes, which he had been doing at 11 a.m. since joining WOR (710 AM) in October of last year.

A station source says DiSpirito's sudden departure may also have had something to do with wisecracks he made about the wearing of fur while discussing a promotion involving a longtime WOR advertiser — New Jersey's Flemington Furs.

DiSpirito, a spokesman for the National Humane Society, downplayed the notion of fur firestorm. "The owner and I talked about the comments that upset him, and he was very simpatico," he said. "I'm going to visit his place in New Jersey and cook something for him."

[Bean Counter]

Rocco is a rube. That POS wouldn't stand up ten minutes in a real kitchen.

[CaliGirlGodHelpMe]

" I watched it the resturant seemed incapable of delivering a single meal as ordered."

The utter lack of professionalism, combined with the arrogance and self-assurance of these people, made me wonder where they scraped them up from - example: when the three chefs decided to "stick it to" Rocco and not show up, claiming that one of them was in the hospital. Well, that might have been a clever joke if it hadn't been on NATIONAL TELEVISION!! I doubt if any of them could get a job at Quiznos now.

[Hildy]

Rocco DeSpirito could have had it all...he just began believing his own press. The show THE RESTAURANT was one of the best reality shows on TV...it ended because it ended in real life...he was a jerk...and it showed. It was like watching a car accident, you couldn't look away, although you wanted to.

[marlon]

Yeah I could only watch it a couple of times, first becasue I really don't watch TV much outside of Fox News and the Food network and second because it was an insult to resturants to think this was how it's supposed to be. I wouldn't have hired any of these self-absorbed a..h.... to work in a Taco Bell much less a supposed "it" resturant.

[Saintquinn]

Rocco's WOR show really sucked!!!!Every time he started that repulsive ,phony laugh I wanted to puke and ran to immediately change the station.After about his first 10 days I made sure the station was changed BEFORE he came on.He was so arrogant that he didnt let the guest on until the last 15 minutes of the show and then wouldnt let them talk and constantly interrupted them.The crap with propping his mother (who seemed to be an old imbecile with a thick Italian accent)was totally contrived to make himself fit the funny Italian momma's boy stereotype.Bring back Arthur Schwartz.................