Gregg Wallace live: BBC says MasterChef will air tonight as ex host blames women jibe on feeling ‘under siege’
In a video posted on Instagram, the presenter said he was ‘under a huge amount of stress’
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Your support makes all the difference.Gregg Wallace has apologised for saying allegations of inappropriate behaviour were made by “middle-class women of a certain age”, claiming he felt “under siege”.
Mr Wallace said in a video posted on Instagram that he was “not in a good place” and he is “under a lot of stress”.
“I wasn’t in a good headspace when I posted it, I’ve been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion, I felt very alone, under siege yesterday when I posted it,” he said, adding that he will “take some time out”.
Downing Street condemned Wallace’s remarks as “inappropriate and misogynistic”.
The BBC is resisting calls to pause broadcasts of MasterChef as it investigates allegations by 13 individuals of sexually inappropriate comments made by Wallace, who stepped down from the programme on Thursday.
The current series of MasterChef: The Professionals, with Gregg Wallace as a judge, will continue to be aired as planned. “MasterChef is life-changing for the chefs that take part and the show is about more than one individual,” a BBC spokesman said.
“Any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated,” the broadcaster reiterated.
Watch: Gregg Wallace denounces Masterchef complaints from ‘middle-class women’
Gregg Wallace dropped by autism charity
Presenter Gregg Wallace has been dropped from an autism charity in the wake of allegations that he made inappropriate comments to colleagues.
He was announced as an ambassador to Ambitious about Autism after his son Sid, four, was diagnosed with the condition.
On Friday, an Ambitious about Autism spokesperson said: “In light of recent allegations, we are no longer working with Gregg Wallace.
“We have let him know our decision and thanked him for his support of our work over the last two years.”
Kirstie Allsopp claims Masterchef host made ‘unprofessional’ comments about ‘sex act’ during filming
Kirstie Allsopp has claimed that Gregg Wallace made an “unprofessional” remark about a “sex act” while they were filming a pilot.
In a post shared on Twitter/X, the Location, Location, Location presenter said that the former MasterChef host, who has stepped down from his role on the BBC cooking show while allegations of historical misconduct are investigated, made a lewd comment within one hour of meeting her, and said the remark left her feeling “embarrassed”.
“Within 1hr of meeting Gregg Wallace he told me of a sex act that he & his partner at the time enjoyed “every morning”, she’d just left the room, we were filming a pilot,” she wrote on social media. “Did he get off on how embarrassed I was? It was totally unprofessional, I’m a #MiddleClassWomanOfaCertainAge”
Her post alluded to comments made earlier today by Wallace, who said that accusations against him have come from “middle class women of a certain age”.
Wallace’s lawyers said it is “entirely false” that the TV presenter engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
The Independent has contacted representatives for Wallace and Allsopp for further comment.
Will upcoming MasterChef episodes featuring Gregg Wallace air as normal?
Upcoming episodes of MasterChef are expected to air on the BBC as planned after Gregg Wallace stepped down from his role as a host of the cooking show.
Future episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals are still slated to air on the broadcaster, while two Christmas specials are planned for the festive season.
A BBC spokesperson told The Independent: “Right now the plan is, if it’s already been recorded, it will go out.”
John Torode’s brutal Gregg Wallace comments dredged up in wake of allegations against Masterchef co-host
John Torode’s rare comments about Gregg Wallace are being dredged up in the wake of the allegations against his co-host.
On Thursday (28 November), it was revealed that Wallace had stepped down as host of the BBC cookery series amid an investigation into alleged inappropriate comments made across a 17-year period.
Since news broke of the scandal, several stars to have appeared on Celebrity MasterChef, including former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark and Geordie Shore’s Charlotte Crosby, have hit out at the host for alleged remarks they heard when they were filming episodes – and Katy Brand addressed being subjected to a “crass” comment made by the former host.
Speaking about the allegations, Wallace shared a video stating: “I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.”
One person who has remained silent on the subject is Torode, who has hosted MasterChef, and its celebrity spin-off, alongside Wallace since it was revamped in 2005.
In 2017, Torode made headlines after claiming that he had “never been friends” with Wallace.
He said in an interview with The Mirror: “It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses. If we go away to somewhere like South Africa, we do things separately. If we do go out for a drink, I’ll invariably be at one end of a big old table and he’ll be at the other.”
Inside Gregg Wallace’s rocky love life as he exits MasterChef amid misconduct claims
Gregg Wallace will step away from presenting MasterChef while new complaints made by individuals about historical allegations of misconduct are investigated.
The presenter, 60, known for his colourful on-camera quips was previously accused of making sexually inappropriate comments to a female BBC colleague in 2018, and was forced to quit Inside the Factory over “inappropriate” remarks allegedly made to female staff last year, which he denies.
Wallace, who – among other complaints – has been accused by former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark of making jokes of a “sexualised nature” when she was competing on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011, has previously said he resents any insinuation he was “flirting” with someone who is not his wife Anna, 37.
“I say this for my wife Anna, who I’ve been true to and madly in love with since the day I met her,” he told his Instagram followers in October. “I don’t want anybody to misunderstand this and make it look like I was flirting with somebody. Nobody accused me of that and I never have.”
Wallace met his fourth wife, real name Anne-Marie Sterpini, when she tweeted him a question about rhubarb in 2013. “I just looked at Anna’s photo and thought ‘wow. She’s pretty,” the former greengrocer told Hello! of the encounter.
After a flurry of messages on X/Twitter, Wallace gave Anna his number and they met in London for dinner. The couple got engaged in December 2014 and married at Hever Castle, Kent, with Wallace’s fellow MasterChef judge John Torode as best man. Five years later, they welcomed a baby boy called Sid, who has autism and is non-verbal.
Sid is not Wallace’s only child. The former MasterChef host welcomed Tom, now 29, and Libby, now 26, with his second wife Denise Lovall, whom he married in 1999. Lovall, who died in 2017 after a battle with alcoholism, divorced Wallace in 2004 having discovered he allegedly had an affair with one of his employees.
Wallace also met his third wife, Heidi Brown, on X/Twitter in 2009.
Sean Lock’s damning Gregg Wallace verdict resurfaces after allegations against MasterChef host
Sean Lock’s brutal assessment of Gregg Wallace has resurfaced after the MasterChef host’s allegations of inappropriate remarks.
On Thursday (28 November), it was revealed that Wallace had stepped down as host of the BBC cookery series amid an investigation into alleged inappropriate comments made across a 17-year period.
Former Celebrity MasterChef contestants, including former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark and Geordie Shore’s Charlotte Crosby, have since hit out at the host for alleged remarks they heard when they were filming episodes.
Now, a video of Lock, who died in 2021 at the age of 58, discussing Wallace is doing the rounds on social media in the wake of the news.
Lock, who was known for sharing his razor sharp critiques on many subjects spoke about Wallace during a segment on Channel 4 panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown that saw him tasked with choosing which celebrities should be deemed “national treasures”.
The comic went on to claim that he liked Wallace “because he’s got no sense of irony or humour”.
From troubled childhood to troubling reputation, this TV stalwart is facing self-destruction
“Gregg Wallace was always an unlikely TV star,” writes The Independent’s TV critic Nick Hilton. “Prematurely bald, stout, and the proud wearer of thick glasses, he seemed destined for an unglamorous life amid the vegetable stalls of the capital, rather than on TV screens across the country.
“And yet, the presenter, who has stepped back from his role as a judge on MasterChef after a series of historic sexual misconduct allegations came to light, has made himself part of the furniture at the BBC. And that makes his rapid fall from grace even more troubling for the corporation, though Wallace’s lawyers say it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.”
Read Nick Hilton’s full analysis here:
The greengrocer-turned-presenter is stepping back from ‘MasterChef’ while allegations of historical misconduct are investigated. Nick Hilton looks back on his career as an unlikely TV star, which followed a tough start in life
Full letter to BBC allegedly sent in 2022 about inappropriate behaviour
In the latest allegations, Wallace was accused of making lewd comments and asking for the personal phone numbers of female production staff in a letter a producer and director claimed to have sent to the BBC in 2022.
The letter, posted to Instagram by Dawn Elrick on her Shit Men In TV Have Said To Me account, collected a number of anonymous reports from people who alleged they “have experienced sexism and sexual harassment within the TV industry”.
In the letter Elrick claimed to have sent to the BBC in 2022, she wrote: “I have noticed a pattern of behaviour from one person whose name has been mentioned half a dozen times.
“In connection with lude (sic) comments being made to female production members, female production being made to feel uncomfortable about being asked for their personal numbers, being made to talk to the talent whilst the talent is topless and general unease in his company.
“Gregg Wallace is the name attached to these experiences.
“Additionally, it has been reported to us that these behaviours are not reserved for production staff.”
At the end, the letter claimed the actions “clearly fail to meet” the corporation’s sexual harassment and bullying standards and asked the BBC “what measures will be taken to make sure that this key talent is aware that these behaviours are unacceptable”.
Elrick added: “We do not need to stress how difficult/stressful/upsetting it is for women in production to be placed in a position where high-profile talent use their clout to make deeply uncomfortable remarks.
“Although these are not, as stressed above, not official complaints, it is the number that have come forward about this one person that has prompted this letter.
“We tend to err on the side of believing these stories as there is absolutely no gain to be made from making them up.”