Allegations against Gregg Wallace are merely the “tip of the iceberg” in what was a “really quite toxic environment” at MasterChef, a former contestant has claimed.
The presenter left the BBC programme on Thursday (28 November) after claims were made by 13 people that he made a number of inappropriate sexual comments.
In a video posted on his Instagram page, the 60-year-old said: “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.”
Following a widespread backlash to those remarks, a former MasterChef contestant alleged that he had been so horrified by the widespread “abuse” of contestants on the show that he considered quitting on his first day – but was too scared to speak out after signing a non-disclosure agreement.
“There was a systemic problem that was larger than just him, in my view. Gregg … would occasionally crack jokes that in different ways felt inappropriate but he wasn’t the only one,” the anonymous former contestant told Sky News.
A BBC spokesperson said “any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated”.
BBC executive raised concerns over Wallace’s ‘unacceptable’ behaviour in 2017, report claims
BBC executive Kate Phillips raised concerns in 2017 that Gregg Wallace’s behaviour was “unacceptable and cannot continue” after former Celebrity MasterChef contestant Aasmah Mir complained about inappropriate comments during filming, the Sunday Times has reported.
In an email forwarded to Ms Phillips in November 2017, Ms Mir wrote: “Should anything happen in the future, I don’t want to feel guilty when people say, ‘Why wasn’t anything said before?’, or for producers or editors to claim they didn’t know.”
The newspaper claimed Wallace then received another warning the following year after a complaint was raised about his behaviour on the quiz show Impossible Celebrities.
Take MasterChef off air while Gregg Wallace is investigated, Labour MP demands
A senior Labour MP has demanded that the BBC take MasterChef off air as the scandal around allegations against the celebrity chef presenter Gregg Wallace continues to escalate.
Rupa Huq, the MP for Ealing Central and Acton, told Radio 4’s Today programme that continuing to run the show while Wallace is being investigated “sends the wrong message” and risks damaging the broadcaster’s reputation worldwide.
Ms Huq said: “I understand [Master Chef] is scheduled for 9pm today and it is all over the Christmas schedules but it seems to be not going away from the news. It’s number two on your bulletin.
“I think possibly there is an argument for pausing while this investigation takes its course and maybe not airing it tonight. I mean it could be massively triggering for the women involved – in fact any woman involved in any type of similar incidents.”
“We need the investigation to do its work, but at the same time if it is being dangled on our screens where all this is going on I just think at the moment, maybe pause it.”
Our political editor David Maddox has more details:
Watch: Ex-MasterChef star Aggie Mackenzie claims Gregg Wallace told ‘smutty’ jokes
Gregg Wallace allegations just ‘tip of the iceberg’, former MasterChef contestant says
Allegations against Gregg Wallace are merely the “tip of the iceberg” in what was a “really quite toxic environment” at MasterChef, a former contestant has claimed.
In remarks to Sky News, the anonymous former contestant alleged that he had been so horrified by the widespread “abuse” of contestants on the show that he considered quitting on his first day – but was too scared to speak out after signing a non-disclosure agreement.
“There was a systemic problem that was larger than just him, in my view. Gregg … would occasionally crack jokes that in different ways felt inappropriate but he wasn’t the only one,” the former contestant told Sky News.
He added: “I think it’s good that these things are coming out and I’m glad that people are speaking up, it’s brilliant. But I do think it’s the tip of the iceberg. I think if you were to really unravel and look at what was going on in that culture at large you’d see a lot more, you know, abuse.”
“It certainly wasn’t everyone, but there was certainly people from all levels of the organisation,” the ex-contesant said, adding: “It was all men … I don’t think I ever witnessed any of the women taking part in it.”
Full story: BBC in turmoil over Gregg Wallace allegations as presenter faces backlash for blaming ‘middle-class women’
Wallace stepped back from the cooking show on Thursday as a string of allegations emerged concerning the 60-year-old’s behaviour, including that he had made inappropriate sexual jokes, asked for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressed in front of women.
Over the weekend, reports emerged that the BBC had been made aware of complaints as far back as 2017, while it was claimed that a letter had been sent to the broadcaster in 2022 stating that women had been made to feel “uncomfortable” in his presence.
Read the full story:
Premium: I’m surprised Gregg Wallace didn’t call his female accusers ‘Karens’
There’s a good reason why the disgraced former MasterChef host is angry with ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ – we’ve spent a lifetime putting up with men’s bad behaviour, and age brings the confidence to stand up to it, says Alice Smellie:
Gregg not contracted for future series, production company confirms
The company that produces MasterChef, has confirmed Gregg Wallace is not contracted for future series as an investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour is carried out.
Production company Banijay UK told The Independent that Wallace is contracted on a series by series basis and is not set to be a part of future series while the investigation is ongoing.
Comedians and journalists respond to Wallace’s ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ claims
A number of public figures have taken to social media today in the wake of Gregg Wallace’s claims that all of those who had made complaints against him were “‘middle-class women of a certain age”.
Radio presenter Julie Hartley-Brewer posted a meme accompanied by: “Spare a thought for Gregg Wallace’s PR agent waking up this morning,”
Meanwhile, comedian David Baddiel wrote: “It’s not often that the internet gets behind middle-class middle-aged women these days, but thanks to Gregg Wallace for making it happen.”
Kirstie Allsopp ‘so embarrassed’ by Gregg Wallace sex remark
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has said she was “so embarrassed” she thought she “might cry” after Gregg Wallace allegedly made a comment to her about his sex life.
Allsopp, 53, said the encounter took place several years ago in a performers’ lounge while she was filming a pilot for a TV quiz show alongside Wallace and his partner.
She told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend: “I’d been chatting to her, she left the room and he (Wallace) made a reference to something they did in bed.
“You know that feeling when you’re so embarrassed that you think you might cry. You just feel kind of internally scarlet. I had that feeling and I always remembered it.”
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: