Gregg Wallace live: BBC under pressure to pause MasterChef as ex-star calls allegations ‘tip of the iceberg’
Labour MP Rupa Huq calls for pause to broadcasts of MasterChef as host accused by 13 people over a 17-year period of making inappropriate comments
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Your support makes all the difference.The BBC has come under pressure to pause broadcasts of MasterChef as it investigates allegations of sexually inappropriate comments by presenter Gregg Wallace.
The presenter left the BBC programme on Thursday (28 November) after historic claims were made by 13 people, which he has since characterised as “coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef”.
Amid a backlash to those remarks, Labour MP Rupa Huq warned 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: “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.”
It came as a former MasterChef contestant warned that allegations against Wallace are merely the “tip of the iceberg” in what was a “really quite toxic environment”. He told Sky News: “There was a systemic problem that was larger than just him, in my view.”
A BBC spokesperson said “any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated”.
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.”
Wallace says accusations come from ‘middle-class women of a certain age’
MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has said accusations about him making sexual comments towards staff and guests have come from “middle-class women of a certain age”.
Speaking in a video posted on his Instagram page, the 60-year-old said: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years, amateur, celebrity and professional MasterChef, and I think, in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life.
“Apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time.
“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.
“In 20 years, over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks, or sexual innuendo? Can you imagine?”
Watch: Ex-BBC chief says stars ‘got away with all sorts’ amid Gregg Wallace probe
Further accusations made against MasterChef star Gregg Wallace
Further accusations have been made against TV presenter Gregg Wallace in the wake of him stepping away from hosting hit BBC show MasterChef while a review into complaints is carried out.
On Thursday, the cooking programme’s production company Banijay UK said the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to “historical allegations of misconduct” while working with Wallace.
He is “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process”, the company also said.
There were reports on Friday evening in news outlets such as The Sun newspaper about other alleged behaviour by Wallace.
Banijay UK confirmed on Saturday it had appointed law firm Lewis Silkin to lead an investigation into Wallace’s alleged behaviour.
Further accusations made against MasterChef star Gregg Wallace
The TV presenter’s lawyers said it is ‘entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature’.