IT'S straight from the frying pan into the fire for Shameless star Jody Latham after he was given the chop from celebrity cooking show Hell's Kitchen.

For Jody's departure from chef duties on the ITV show on Sunday night meant he could head straight to the kitchens of his brand new bar and restaurant venture.

Jody is the co-owner of the new venue in the Lancashire village of Barrowford, which he has called Jacks after his seven-year-old son.

And though he was at the centre of explosive arguments with fellow contestants including Anthea Turner and her husband Grant Bovey on the TV show, he tells me he actually loved every minute.

But he reckons he could never have won the show - because he was the victim of a "north-south divide" attitude.

He tells me: "I've only just recovered from all the hard work on the show, I had a rougher time than most.

"The fact is I got discriminated against by a north-south divide. They saw me as the biggest threat and I think they worked as a group to get me out. I entertained people and gave them a good show.

"There are lots of people saying it's just not been as exciting now I'm not in it, it's not Hell's Kitchen anymore, it's Heaven's Kitchen.

"I got what I wanted out of it, and that was to win the confidence of the public, and I did have a laugh. And, secretly, I quite enjoyed getting people's backs up a bit!"

Getting expert advice from chef Marco Pierre White has also come in handy now that Jody has his own 40-cover restaurant to run.

"I found out a lot about food and that's what I went in there for," he says. But he won't be watching any more of the series, although he will say who he wants to win.

He says: "I'm tipping Danielle Bux to win. She's the only really genuine person in there and she's a beautiful girl. She is the only one I'll be inviting up to my bar when this is all over - I'd love her and her fiance Gary [Lineker] to come."

Jody will have his hands full over the coming weeks - for as well as the new bar/restaurant, which opened for business yesterday, he is soon to start filming on the biopic of Collyhurst boxer Michael Gomez.