Gregg Wallace has claimed that he was “touched and groped” on a regular basis while filming MasterChef.
Earlier this month, a report was published into allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Wallace during his time working on the hit cookery series, with more than half of the 83 allegations against him upheld. They included allegations of making inappropriate sexual jokes and asking for the phone numbers of female production staff.
Now Wallace has said that he himself experienced various forms of harassment during the filming of MasterChef, but did not make a formal complaint – while insisting that there are “huge problems” with the way complaints are handled at the BBC.
“Being on MasterChef was brilliant but I had so many bad experiences,” he told The Sun. “Had I wanted to raise any complaints, I’d have had the decency to speak to that person directly. Privately, not publicly. My God, can you imagine the complaints I could have made?”
He continued: “Have you got any idea of the sexual references made to me on a daily basis? How many times I’ve been touched by women wanting a selfie? How many times I’ve been groped? How many times suggestive comments have been made to me? How many female contestants have said inappropriate things on MasterChef?
“It wouldn’t even cross my mind though. Now, I’m not suggesting that groping is right, but it was happening to me on a regular basis. It was just extraordinary.”
Wallace further claimed that his own experiences undermined the “idea” that television presenters are “godlike” and “just throwing their weight around and bullying people”.
The Independent has reached out to the BBC and MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK for comment.
In July, Wallace said he was “deeply sorry” about the findings of the report – conducted by Banijay UK – but denied the allegations.
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Wallace has also defended his former co-presenter John Torode, who was also dropped from the long-running cookery show after an allegation of racist language was substantiated during the investigation into Wallace’s behaviour. Torode said he had “no recollection” of the alleged remark.
In an interview published yesterday (26 July), Wallace said that he and Torode “never really did get on that well” but that they “made bloody good telly together for 20 years”.
He also expressed his hurt over remarks by Rod Stewart about him, after the singer called him a “tubby bully” while claiming that Wallace had bullied his wife Penny Lancaster on a celebrity edition of MasterChef. Wallace has denied the allegation.
