Hell's Kitchen champion Terry Miller was left nursing cuts and bruises after charity bash at a top hotel.

The Geordie caterer turned reality TV celebrity chef came off worst when he stepped in to stop to a fight.

Terry, 46, had attended the breast cancer awareness charity fund raiser at the four-star Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park with his wife, Linda, and other members of his family.

But when trouble broke out, his wife said he was asked to intervene and was clobbered for his efforts. Northumbria police were called to the hotel when the punch-up erupted in the early hours of Sunday.

No-one was arrested as no-one wanted to press for charges.

The chef, who runs his family catering business on Tyneside and is about to open his new restaurant, did not want to talk about the fracas. But his wife Linda said: "I didn't see what happened or who started it as I was on the dance floor.

"It was a charity do an we had a table. Terry told me he was at the bar talking to a barmaid when he a woman came up to him and asked him to intervene in a fight which had broken out elsewhere.

"He went to be the peacemaker, but he ended up getting punched and he came off worse than anyone else.

"He's very upset about what happened. He's bruised and has lost his voice."

Linda said she was disappointed something like this could have happened at a charity function.

"Terry and I have been married for a 23 years and we've run bars and restaurants and this has never happened.

"He's done a lot of charity work and he's never charged for his appearances. There are some jealous people around.

"When I reached him he had been injured and the police had arrived."

A Northumbria police spokesman confirmed officers had been called to the hotel over a fight, but no-one was arrested.

Linda added: "He's so fed up by what has happened, had it not been that he was so far down the line with the restaurant, he would have packed it in."

Terry, who grew up in Newcastle and now lives in Darras Hall, stormed to victory in the hit ITV reality show, winning £250,000 to start his own restaurant.

His wife Linda, step-daughter Julie Graham, 35, and son Graeme Miller, 22, rushed to congratulate Terry after three weeks spent filming the kitchen drama.

He is near to opening Rockafella, named after his signature dish, after being helped by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes.

At present he runs Kingston Park-based Millers Catering with his family.

A hotel spokesman declined to comment on the bust-up between two customers.