Television presenter Gregg Wallace will step down from his role on MasterChef following allegations of misconduct, the production company announced on Thursday. At least thirteen people who worked with Wallace for seventeen years have come forward accusing him of inappropriate sexual comments. BBC said in a report. One of them is broadcaster Kirsty Wark, who took part in Celebrity MasterChef in 2011. She told the BBC that Wallace told “sexualized” jokes while filming the show.
Wallace's lawyers have denied all allegations, but MasterChef's production company has launched an investigation and says the presenter is cooperating.
Ms Wark said her overall experience filming the show was “joyful”, but added: “The fly in the ointment at times was Gregg Wallace.”
“I was actually angrier than anything because I thought it was so inappropriate. And in a way I thought it was more about power than anything, that he felt he could do that,” Ms Wark said.
BBC During the investigation, they discovered that Wallace talked openly about his sex life, including taking off his top in front of a female colleague and telling a junior female colleague that he was not wearing boxer shorts under his jeans.
Rod Stewart, whose wife, Penny Lancaster, appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021, responded to Wallace's hiatus from the show, calling him a “fat, bald, ill-mannered bully”.
“So Greg Wallace gets fired from Master Chef. Good riddance Wallace… You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but that bit was cut out, wasn't it? You're a fat, bald, sick-mannered bully, Karma got you got a hold of it,” Stewart said in the post.
Wallace, meanwhile, posted a video to Instagram on Thursday thanking people for their support.
“I would like to thank all the people who have reached out, reached out and shown their support. It's good of you – thank you very much,” he said.
