'SLIMY & DISGUSTING'
Gregg Wallace ‘exposed himself to woman in MasterChef dressing room & touched another’s bum, boasting: You liked that’
It comes as the BBC has finally pulled its MasterChef Christmas specials
GREGG Wallace is facing fresh allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour, including claims he groped two women and exposed his penis to another.
The presenter, 60, last week stepped away from BBC show MasterChef after an investigation was launched into an initial 13 historical claims spanning across 17 years.
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Wallace's lawyers have strongly denied he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
He is yet to respond to the latest allegations, revealed today by .
The broadcaster also finally announced it is pulling its MasterChef Christmas specials after a major backlash from viewers.
There was widespread outrage last night when it opted to screen the latest episode of MasterChef: The Professionals amid the scandal.
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It comes as a former MasterChef staffer — who worked on the show from 2007 to 2010 — yesterday told The Sun she knew of at least six production members who raised concerns about Wallace’s conduct.
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One fresh accuser says she worked on the BBC show Eat Well For Less in 2015, describing an incident in which Wallace allegedly "touched [her] inappropriately" when they were filming in a supermarket.
"He brushed past me at the checkout, and touched my bum with his waist and penis and laughed and said 'oooh, you liked that didn’t you'," she said.
She said she felt at the time she had to "get on" with her work but "wasn't okay about it", describing it as "slimy, disgusting".
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She says she reported it to a senior colleague but nothing was done.
Another accuser said she worked on MasterChef in 2015, and claims she was called into Wallace's dressing room to fix his bow tie to find his trousers were "partially lowered" and his "pubic hair was on show".
Gregg Wallace apologises over ‘middle-class women’ rant & says he’ll ‘take time out’ during ‘sexual comments’ probe
She said part of his penis was also visible and he wasn't wearing any underwear.
The woman said Wallace "stared" at her in a way she felt was a "power play".
She immediately mentioned the alleged incident to colleagues in production and it was escalated.
However, she claims when production company Shine gave her the option to take it further she declined, so as not to be "seen as making a fuss".
Gregg Wallace - MasterChef scandal in Brief
GREGG Wallace has stepped down from his MasterChef hosting role after a probe into alleged inappropriate behaviour. But what's the situation?
Regular MasterChef host Gregg Wallace is currently the subject of a probe after an investigation was launched into his alleged misconduct over a number of years.
Gregg has been accused of making sexual remarks to 13 colleagues including Beeb anchor Kirsty Wark - accusations he denies.
The 60-year-old has now stepped away from the BBC show while historical misconduct allegations against him are investigated.
Yet the former greengrocer spoke out on social media to blast the "women of a certain age" who he claimed were behind the allegations.
The cooking show’s production company, Banijay UK, has said law firm Lewis Silkin would lead the investigation into Wallace’s alleged misconduct.
A third fresh allegation has come from a woman who says she encountered Wallace while working at an event in 2022.
At the end of the engagement, she claims Wallace asked her to walk with him to the car park.
"As we walked down, he started putting his arm around me, saying 'go on, hold my hand, don’t you want to stand next to me'," she said.
She went on to say he then gathered other members of the group to have a group hug and while doing so "put his hand on my bottom and groped me".
INVESTIGATION
MasterChef production company Banijay UK said it has launched an investigation and that Wallace is cooperating.
The BBC said it will “always listen if people want to make us aware of something directly”.
Among those to accuse the presenter of conducting himself inappropriately are former Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, who claimed he told stories and jokes of a "sexualised nature" while filming Celebrity MasterChef.
These included allegations Wallace walked into the studio naked apart from a "sock over his penis", mimed a sex act as a worker knelt to clean his trousers, and made a "rape joke".
Wallace posted a video on Instagram describing his accusers as "middle-class women of a certain age" - before later apologising for the remark.
A BBC spokesperson said: "As we have said, MasterChef is an amazing competition which is life-changing for the chefs taking part and the current series of MasterChef: The Professionals is continuing as planned.
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"The celebrity Christmas specials are obviously a different type of show and in the current circumstances we have decided not to broadcast them."
The broadcaster previously justified airing the semi-final of MasterChef: The Professionals on BBC One because it was “life-changing” for the competitors.
Gregg Wallace’s TV chef colleagues blast behaviour
THE MasterCheft host, 60, has been told to "shut up and listen" by fellow stars.
Wallace hit back on Instagram and claimed complaints against him have come from "middle class women of a certain age".
It comes as at least 13 people have officially complained about Wallace’s conduct while working with him over a 17-year period across five shows, from 2005 to 2022.
The presenter stepped away from MasterChef in light of the allegations.
Wallace has denied any behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Since uploading his bizarre rant on social media, TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said: "I think the intervention is is not wise. I don't know Gregg well, I've met him a couple of times.
"He's very likeable. He's a very professional screen presence.
"I have a very talented chef on Masterchef right at the moment, and she's doing incredibly well, and I've been really enjoying watching her and enjoying Gregg's presenting.
"I think it's likely that Gregg has what we might call a bawdy sense of humour. Clearly, that's offended people.
"I think one of the issues is that down the years people have not felt able to tell him when he might want to rein it in a bit, and clearly he's crossed some lines."
He continued: "In terms of how he's going about defending himself.
"I understand the instinct when you feel you're backed into a corner, but I don't think it's smart to come out talking like that when at the moment he should probably be listening more questions for the BBC."
Kirstie Allsopp
Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie Allsopp also slammed Wallace in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, in which he relived a meeting with the grocer-turned-TV star
She said: "Within 1hr of meeting Gregg Walllace 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.
"Did he get off on how embarrassed I was? It was totally unprofessional, I’m a #MiddleClassWomanOfaCertainAge."
She added later on Radio 4 that his video rant about the complainants’ class was “unacceptable”.
Kirstie said: “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.”
Ulrika Jonsson
Talking to Times Radio, the Sun writer recalled the moment she was "absolutely horrified" after learning Wallace "had said this rape joke while judging another contestants thing".
"She was in welling up, tearing up. And there was a, you know, commotion for a while. And then the producers obviously went to speak to him," she added.
"So everybody knows, and I think that's the guilty thing."
The former MasterChef contestant blasted the BBC and claimed they "just wrote it off".
"I don't think that is acceptable. It's just not," she added
Ulrika also said she was "flabbergasted..shocked and appalled" by Wallaces Instagram story defending himself.
"I never understand this with people in a position of power. And he is in a position of power. He's a celebrity, and he's a presenter," she said.
But the writer said he "refuses to let go" and reflect on his alleged behaviours.
"I don't think he's capable of changing, because I think that's the way he is," she continued.
JK Rowling
Harry Potter author JK Rowling posted: “If only his colleagues had all been young working-class women, ideally with little job security, none of this would have happened.”
Julia Hartley-Brewer
Talk host Julia Hartley-Brewer added: “Spare a thought for Gregg Wallace’s PR agent waking up this morning,’ with a meme of Chandler from Friends shouting, ‘What did you just do?’”
Aggie MacKenzie
TV presenter Aggie MacKenzie, 69, said yesterday that Wallace’s jokes were “always smutty, they were endless” when she competed on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.
She added: “It was as if Gregg was some sort of dinosaur who just can’t read the room, and seemed to be allowed to carry on in this way. He has no insight or understanding of how he behaves.”
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