TV chef Jamie Oliver has received a slap on the wrist for swearing on his Channel 4 show.

Five viewers complained about the outburst during an episode of Jamie's Kitchen.

The show featured Oliver's latest project - the setting up of a non-profit making restaurant in east London where he trained 15 underpriveleged youngsters to become chefs.

The Independent Television Commission ruled that the programme, which was broadcast immediately after the watershed, had breached TV guidelines.

Oliver trained with top chef Antonio Carluccio

"The ITC took the view that this particular expression is deeply offensive to Christians and requires a high degree of justification, which it did not feel was present on this occasion," the report stated.

Channel 4 said it had been imperative to show a "frank and candid portrait of Jamie Oliver" and to let viewers see "the reality and pressures of the challenge facing him".

A warning had been given at the start of the programme, a spokesman added.

Oliver's television shows, a lucrative deal advertising Sainsbury's produce, book deals and other tie-ins have earned the chef millions.

He started out as an apprentice to some of the top chefs in the UK, including Antonio Carluccio at the Neal Street Restaurant and then under Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at the River Caf�.

It was there that he was spotted by a television producer, which led to the Naked Chef series.