Sunday Brunch host Simon Rimmer has recalled feeling “terrified” after his daughter’s drink was spiked.
The TV chef, 58, said his 24-year-old daughter Flo was targeted around five years ago while out for lunch with friends.
Appearing on Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4, he recounted how he took her to hospital, describing it as a “horrible time”.
"You feel terrified". With news that nearly 200 women were 'spiked' on a night out in the last two months in the UK, @simonrim recalls a personal experience when his daughter fell ill after her drink was spiked. #GirlsNightIn #StephsPackedLunch pic.twitter.com/KufoTpUleh
— Steph's Packed Lunch (@PackedLunchC4) October 27, 2021
Rimmer, best known for his on-screen partnership with Tim Lovejoy, was taking part in a discussion about a campaign to boycott nightclubs in response to a rise in spiking cases.
He said: “Flo’s 24 now but about five or six years ago she had her drink spiked. She had been out for lunch with some friends and she’d had about three glasses of wine.
“She came home and was in a right state. We were saying to her, ‘How much have you had to drink?’
“And she said, ‘I’ve literally had three glasses of wine, I’m really scared, I don’t know what’s happening’.”
Rimmer added: “We took her to A&E and, I’ll be honest with you, they sort of thought, ‘You’re just over-anxious parents, your daughter’s had too much to drink’.
“But it wasn’t, the behaviour was completely different. It really, really shook her up, it was a horrible, horrible time.”
Rimmer said he felt “terrified” during the experience.
He described his daughter as “very open, she’s pretty sensible – she likes a party, like most young people do, but you feel that fear that really hasn’t gone away”.
The TV star said he agreed with the boycott but was unsure what the solution is.
Hundreds of cases including drink spiking and injections have been reported in recent months.
Detectives are also investigating six reports of women being injected on nights out in Brighton during the past week.
