A CHEF at a village pub has suffered abuse after he turned informer on two contestants on TV show Hunted.

Laurence Handyside, 49, from The Barge Inn at Honeystreet, near Pewsey, was playing it coy this week when he was asked if it it was him who had dobbed in Hamish Thoburn and teammate Mikaela Skinner in return for a £250 reward but footage reveals him making the phone call.

When asked if it was him he said: "I couldn't possibly comment." But added: "We have received a few calls from people about them being caught here but it is just a TV show.

"They came here for a meal and stayed upstairs for the night and were caught the next morning. They arrived around fiveish and sat down for something to eat. One of the bar staff was going to drive them both to Devizes but when we got into the car park in the morning and they were packing up the hunters were waiting for them, they didn't even see the hunters because the car park was quite busy at the time. It was quite a good experience having them come to the pub."

Tom Stark, manager of The Barge, said: “I wasn’t actually in the show, they came back to do a few editing shots and I was behind the bar for them. We have had a lot of angry responses on Twitter and I have even had a few phone calls, some things I cannot repeat, but I keep on telling those people that I wasn't even here that day."

The TV show, which pits contestants against MI5 levels of man hunting, is led by Peter Bleksley, a former undercover policeman who has first-hand experience of life on the run. This year 14 ordinary Brits volunteered hoping to disappear from the grid and walk away with £100,000, spending 28 days keeping away from public exposure.

There was also a backlash for staff at The Barge at Seend Cleeve, near Devizes, after people thought it was them that were responsible for the couple being caught.

One member of the bar staff said: "We have had a lot of abuse so it would be good to let people know it wasn't us."

Put under the pressures of real life hunting conditions, the contestants must try to stay under the radar and evade capture in order to win the jackpot prize. Anyone who assists the hunters in catching their prey are awarded £250. Anyone wishing to watch the episode of Hunted can find it on 4 On Demand on the www.channel4.com website.