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”.
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 about middle class women 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 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.
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.
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.”
However, Torode was best man during Wallace’s wedding to Anne-Maire Sterpini in 2016 and, despite his attempts to seemingly distance himself from his co-host, Wallace said on an episode of Lorraine that same year: “I film with John six or seven months of the year, so we are very close to each other physically, and emotionally we are very close to each other.
“What’s great about having a partnership is that if one of you is a bit off, a bit down, the other one naturally steps up, so I rely on John a lot.”
Watch: Sean Lock's assessment of Masterchef host Gregg Wallace
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 slams Wallace’s claim all complainants are ‘middle-class women of a certain age'
Kirstie Allsopp said she was angered by a video the 60-year-old MasterChef presenter posted on Instagram, in which he claimed the complaints against him were coming from a “handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.
The Location, Location, Location presenter added: “That is unacceptable. Because he is essentially saying this is a class issue and middle-class women don’t understand the type of things he says because he’s working-class. Well I’m sorry, but he’s doing a incredible disservice to men.
“What’s he saying? That working-class men do this kind of thing, embarrass their wives and girlfriends and sisters and mothers? That’s unacceptable, of course that’s not the case.
“I absolutely understand about banter. I’m a mother of sons – two stepsons, two sons. But there’s a huge difference between robust chat and the kind of comment Gregg Wallace made to me.”
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.”
Masterchef producer claims ‘nothing was done’ after complaints made
The Sunday Times reported that BBC executive Kate Phillips raised concerns Wallace’s behaviour was “unacceptable and cannot continue”.
The intervention came after broadcaster and former Celebrity MasterChef contestant Aasmah Mir, complained about inappropriate comments during filming.
The newspaper claimed he received another warning the following year after a complaint was raised about his behaviour on the quiz show Impossible Celebrities.
The Sunday Telegraph reported producer Georgia Harding, who worked on MasterChef between 2014 and 2015 and later Eat Well For Less, claimed she raised concerns about “inappropriate” behaviour from him while working on the show.
She alleged the presenter undressed in front of colleagues and “made inappropriate sexual jokes” in front of the crew and people appearing on the shows, and said “nothing was done” about concerns raised, claiming there was “an acceptance” of his behaviour and “nothing was done”.
Harding also said he stood “too close” to contestants on set and “spoke about sex a lot and would get changed on set even though he had a changing room”.
An anonymous woman who appeared on Eat Well For Less also claimed that Wallace stood “too close” to her, made “inappropriate” sexual comments, and said Wallace asked why guests were not laughing at his jokes, and told them they should because he was the “talent”.
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.