Gregg Wallace 'thanks' supporters after ‘lesbian jokes’ and ‘inappropriate’ comment accusations

Gregg Wallace has spoken out after being accused of making “lesbian jokes” and “highly inappropriate” comments in the latest of a string of complaints made against him by former colleagues.

The Peckham born TV presenter has had to step away from hosting hit BBC cooking show MasterChef while historical misconduct complaints are investigated by the show’s production company, Banijay UK.

In an Instagram post on Thursday evening, Wallace thanked his followers, writing: “I would like to thank all the people getting in touch, reaching out and showing their support.

“It’s good of you, thank you very much.”

Following the announcement, a number of complaints about the presenter, who is best known for co-presenting MasterChef alongside John Torode since 2005, have emerged.

A woman who worked on Gregg Wallace’s Big Weekends in 2019, which aired on Channel 5, told the BBC he was “fascinated” that she dated women and asked her the “logistics” of how it worked.

She also said he reportedly talked about sex, domination and spanking, which she said was “highly inappropriate”.

Another woman who worked on the show, said Wallace allegedly showed her photos of a woman in her underwear while they were travelling in a car together.

She also recalled that he allegedly started showing her and another male colleague his outfits for the next day in his hotel room in Italy after they had finished filming, and that he took off his top and said “let me give you a fashion show”.

Her colleague then left the room and she told BBC News: “It’s weird to be alone in a room with a topless stranger.”

A Channel 5 spokesperson said: “We take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously. We have asked the production company to look into these historical claims.

“The health and wellbeing of everyone involved in our productions is very important to us and we want all of our productions to be safe and secure places for people to work.”

Production company Rumpus Media, which produces Big Weekends, added: “We do not tolerate inappropriate behaviour on our productions. Our comprehensive duty of care processes were in place during production of these series and any matters raised would have been investigated in accordance with these.”

Another woman, reportedly worked with the TV presenter on BBC’s Eat Well For Less TV show in 2019 and recalled him making comments on how his wife was only two years older than her.

She also told BBC News that after he went to his car to sort his parking ticket, he allegedly replied: “You can come to my car, but can you handle the fact everyone will think you just got off with a celebrity?”

Her colleague, also recalled Wallace allegedly leaving a bathroom topless in front of them during a shoot and asking them to take his coffee order.

She told BBC News that his “behaviour isn’t acceptable”, adding: “To not only continue to put women in these scenarios but to continue publicly platforming him is a disgrace to our industry standards.”

On Thursday, BBC News reported that the 60-year-old faces allegations from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period including former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark.

Wark told the BBC that on two occasions Wallace relayed stories and jokes of a “sexualised nature” in front of contestants and crew and that she felt they were “really, really in the wrong place”.

The outlet said it had been told of other allegations, including the presenter “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”.

The TV star’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”, BBC News reported.

A statement from Banijay UK, which is the production company behind MasterChef, confirmed BBC had received complaints "in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows."

A spokesperson said: “Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate."

The company confirmed that Gregg Wallace would be stepping away from MasterChef and is fully co-operating with the review.

They added “Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately.”

“If anyone would like to talk to us or raise any issues or concerns, then they can contact speakup@banijayuk.com in confidence.”

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.”

Wallace was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2022 for his services to food and charity.

Before his TV career Wallace was a green grocer and sold fruit and vegetables at Covent Garden market and went on to open a restaurant in Putney.

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