Gregg Wallace has stepped away from Masterchef, following allegations he made inappropriate sexual comments over the years. Among those who have come forward to make allegations about his behaviour are TV presenter and journalist Kirsty Wark, who has accused Wallace of making ‘sexualised’ jokes during the filming of Masterchef in 2011, and Ulrika Jonsson, has also accused Wallace of making a ‘rape joke’ while filming a 2017 episode of Celebrity MasterChef.
Wallace's lawyers told the BBC it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature. Masterchef's production company Banijay UK has launched an investigation and said Wallace is co-operating.
Wallace has been a judge and co-presenter on Masterchef since 2005. He has featured on various BBC shows over the years, including Saturday Kitchen, Eat Well For Less, Supermarket Secrets, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals, as well as taking part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.
Wallace took to Instagram to thank people for ‘showing their support’ following the allegations. ‘I would like to thank all the people getting in touch, reaching out and showing their support,’ he said in the video. ‘That’s good of you, thank you very much.’
What are the allegations against Gregg Wallace?
Kirsty Wark is one of 13 people who accused Wallace of inappropriate sexual comments during filming, spanning different shows over 17 years.
Wark has alleged Wallace told stories of a ‘sexualised nature’ in front of contestants and crew on two occasions while filming Celebrity MasterChef contestant in 2011. She said she feels strongly that the comments were ‘really, really in the wrong place.’
‘There were two occasions in particular where he used sexualised language in front of a number of people and it wasn't as if anyone engaged with this. It was completely one-way traffic,’ she told the BBC.
Wallace has also been accused of ‘talking openly about his sex life, taking his top off in front of a female worker saying he wanted to ‘give her a fashion show,’ and telling a junior female colleague he was not wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans, according to the BBC.
BBC News reported that a former MasterChef worker said Wallace showed her topless pictures of himself and asked for massages, and a former worker on Channel 5's Gregg Wallace's Big Weekends, said he was fascinated by the fact she dated women and asked for the logistics of how it worked.
The BBC also reported that a former worker on MasterChef in 2019 says Wallace talked about his sex life; a female worker on the BBC Good Food Show in 2010 says Wallace stared at her chest; and a male worker on MasterChef in 2005-06 says Wallace regularly said sexually explicit things on set.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Ulrika Jonsson said that when she took part in Celebrity MasterChef, Wallace had made a ‘rape joke’, which left another female contestant ‘really distressed.’ She alleged ‘They then went off to speak to Gregg. After a while he came up…and he apologised. He could hardly get his words out... He was apologising, and he had tears in his eyes...I felt like, don’t make that joke in the first place.'
Sir Rod Stewart has also responded to the discourse around Wallace, sharing an Instagram post accusing Wallace of having ‘humiliated’ his wife Penny Lancaster when she took part in Celebrity MasterChef in 2021, branding him a ‘tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully.’
In the post, Stewart wrote ‘So Gregg Wallace gets fired from Masterchef. Good riddance Wallace. You humiliated my wife when she was on the celebrity version of the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you? You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart.’
In response to Stewart’s post, Geordie Shore alum Charlotte Crossby said Wallace was ‘extremely unpleasant’ to her on Celebrity MasterChef.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them. We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated. Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.’