Wholesome, warm, funny – not to mention mouth-watering – the BBC’s flagship cookery show MasterChef has delighted viewers for nearly 20 years, with Gregg Wallace and John Torode as its charismatic and often brutally honest co-hosts.
So fans will be left with a bitter taste after Wallace, the laddish one-time greengrocer, sensationally stood down yesterday as programme chiefs launched an investigation into allegations of ‘inappropriate’ on-set behaviour. I’m told that executives at the Beeb are still reeling from the news that 13 people, including the highly respected Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, 69, have complained about Wallace’s conduct while working with him over a 17-year period across five shows from 2005 to 2022.
Wark says that in 2011, when she was on Celebrity MasterChef, Wallace told ‘sexualised’ jokes. According to the BBC, Wallace’s lawyers insist it is entirely false to claim he has engaged in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
Among the many other shocking allegations are those from a former member of the production team that Wallace thrust his body towards her as she knelt down in front of him to clean a mark off his trousers, mimicking a sex act. Worse still, the complainant also alleges that Wallace walked into the MasterChef studio ‘completely naked except for [a] sock pulled over his penis’ before doing a ‘silly dance’.
Wallace was ‘very touchy-feely’ and made ‘disgusting sex-related jokes’, say his accusers and was heard 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 wasn’t wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans.
MasterChef host Gregg Wallace, pictured yesterday, has sensationally stood down as programme chiefs launch an investigation into allegations of ‘inappropriate’ on-set behaviour
In a statement yesterday, production company Banijay – which also makes Big Brother and Peaky Blinders – said it was carrying out an external review. Wallace is co-operating with it, according to the company.
But something else makes yesterday’s revelations all the more astonishing. When I approached the production company just under three weeks ago to put separate allegations to them about Wallace being ‘inappropriate’ on set and ‘behaving like a dinosaur’ – after I was tipped off that a number of employees, past and present, were preparing to make complaints about his behaviour behind the scenes – Banijay dismissed them.
It said: ‘MasterChef is a show which crew, past and present, return to again and again and hold in high regard for its positive and supportive working environment. We have clear expectations regarding behaviour which both cast and crew are regularly reminded of. Any incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not fully met are escalated and dealt with thoroughly and appropriately. There are multiple ways of reporting behavioural concerns which are clearly promoted and should anyone wish to raise concerns we would encourage them to contact us.’
Meanwhile, Wallace instructed celebrity lawyers Harbottle & Lewis, who charge £400 per hour, to write to the Mail in an attempt to stop us running the claims. The BBC contacted Banijay this week after a group of employees clubbed together and refused to back down. At that point, Banijay decided to act and ensured that Wallace stood aside while it carried out its investigation.
The claims, according to sources, are first-person testimonies and impossible to ignore.
Banijay is the organisation that bought Endemol Shine in 2020, which was found, in an independent review after the sale, to have ‘not properly escalated or adequately addressed’ informal concerns made about Russell Brand while he hosted Big Brother spin-off programmes between 2004 and 2008. That review found that Endemol Shine’s managers were alerted to sordid allegations that Brand asked staff to get audience members’ phone numbers and that his behaviour made female crew members feel uncomfortable or intimidated.
When I approached MasterChef’s production company Banijay three weeks ago to put separate allegations to them about Wallace, right, being ‘inappropriate’ on set, they were dismissed
Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark says that when she was on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011 Wallace told ‘sexualised’ jokes
The scandal surrounding MasterChef will come as a shock to fans of the show which, following its launch in 2005, is now broadcast in 50 countries and boasts several different formats, including for amateur chefs, celebrities and professionals. ‘There have been so many times when people have said they were going to speak up about not wanting to work with [Gregg],’ said one insider. ‘But he’s the big star, the face of the show, and it’s a scary thing to stick your neck out.
‘Now, though, we have come to the point when it simply has to be done. To the outside world, MasterChef is this lovely, clean-cut, cuddly show, despite the tasks being very stressful to the contestants at times.
‘But for those behind the cameras it can be very unenjoyable. You have Gregg, who’s just turned 60, and then some much younger employees, some of whom will be more than 30 years younger, so there are difficulties.’
That said, Wallace – a notoriously plain-speaking, Peckham-born former greengrocer and barrowboy – should be used to dealing with younger women.
His fourth wife Anne-Marie is 21 years his junior and met Wallace in 2013 after she queried one of his television recipes on Twitter. She asked him if rhubarb really went with duck, as she saw him demonstrate on a cooking show.
The pair have a son together, Sid, four, who is non-verbal autistic. Wallace put himself at the heart of a social media storm this year when he wrote, in a column about how he spends a typical Saturday, that having a child ‘isn’t something that I would have chosen at my age’.
In the same breath, he described how he spends hours at the gym most mornings (‘I’m now 12 stone [having lost five stone] and I have less than 18 per cent body fat and a six-pack’, he wrote) two hours playing computer war games alone (‘I’m an amateur historian’) – and could find just 90 minutes after lunch to spend with his son.
Three months ago it was revealed that Wallace was the subject of a BBC investigation in 2018 after allegedly taking his top off and boasting about his sexual prowess in front of a female BBC employee (Picture taken from the TV chef’s Instagam)
But Wallace’s life has never been straightforward. He has spoken at length about his dysfunctional childhood: When he was 14 and his parents divorced after years of drunken rows and affairs, he discovered his real father was actually his mother’s lover.
His first wife, Christine, walked out after just six weeks of marriage in 1991. Wallace has since admitted he knew it was a mistake before they tied the knot.
Wallace also has two children, Tom and Libby, from his second, six-year marriage to Denise, a former pastry chef, which ended in 2004 after Gregg allegedly had an affair with one of his employees. While the children stayed with Denise following their split, Wallace battled for full custody when her alcoholism worsened. She died in 2017 from the condition.
He met his third wife Heidi – 17 years his junior – on Twitter and married her in 2010. They separated after only 15 months of marriage.
Following their split, Wallace ballooned to 17st. He then slimmed down thanks to a rigorous diet and exercise plan and, in 2021, told the Mail he only dated women who made him feel ‘like riding in my Jag with the roof down’ when he walked into restaurants with them. Since then, he has rebranded himself as a fitness guru and TikTok star – but behind the scenes, he has been facing an onslaught of claims about his ‘difficult’ character. Three months ago, it was revealed that he was the subject of a BBC investigation in 2018 following complaints about his behaviour on the BBC game show Impossible Celebrities.
He was said to have taken his top off and boasted about his sexual prowess in front of a female BBC employee. Insiders told The Sun that concerns were raised at the time, which had ‘mortified’ the production team and he was hauled into a meeting. Yet, following an investigation, it was decided Wallace could continue working with the corporation.
A source told The Sun: ‘There are questions to be asked about the decision to allow Gregg to continue on MasterChef despite these previous incidents.’
Responding to the allegations, Wallace made a statement on Instagram this year: ‘With reference to what’s in the newspapers, these allegations were investigated by the BBC six years ago. My comments were found to be not sexual. I repeat, not sexual. Thank you everybody for your time.’
Wallace’s second, six-year marriage to Denise, a former pastry chef, ended in 2004 after he allegedly had an affair with one of his employees
His fourth wife Anne-Marie is 21 years his junior and met Wallace in 2013 after she queried one of his television recipes on Twitter
He was also the subject of claims last year surrounding his BBC show Inside The Factory. He stepped down from his presenting role following allegations he had been ‘rude towards staff and continued to talk in a derogatory manner, especially to women’. The incident was said to have happened during an episode filmed at the Nestle factory in York.
A complaint was made to production company Voltage TV and he was told to ‘moderate’ his comments. Wallace was said to be ‘appalled’ he had ’caused such offence’ and the incident reportedly played a part in his decision to quit the show after seven series.
He later confirmed that, while there was an ‘argument’ at the factory, it was ‘not offensive’.
Wallace’s behaviour away from the cameras has caused headaches, too. In 2013, he started a drunken brawl with a magazine publisher who was accused of making inappropriate comments to his wife Anne-Marie during a five-course champagne reception. The men were said to have grappled on the floor in front of shocked guests. Speaking of the incident, Wallace said: ‘This guy touched Anne-Marie’s bum and made some inappropriate comments. I’m not the sort of bloke who lets something like that go.’
A show insider said: ‘Gregg can be difficult, he says inappropriate things, tells outrageous jokes and is basically a bit of a blunt instrument who makes comments that are not exactly going to be well received by those who are younger and maybe more woke. It can feel toxic to some.’
Yet despite his burgeoning rap sheet, bosses have so far stood by Wallace. He is, after all, say insiders at Banijay, ‘very, very popular with the viewers’.
‘Obviously he keeps getting lots of work, so the top bosses like what he does and see that he is popular with the viewers,’ said one TV insider. ‘It seems they’d rather try to manage his outbursts than force him to change.’ Yet change is what he may have to do. Even members of his own team seem to have grown tired of his behaviour and dealing with the fallout.
Furthermore, his well-honed rapport with MasterChef co-star John Torode disappears when the cameras aren’t rolling.
Torode, who is married to former Brookside and Holby City actress Lisa Faulkner, winner of Celebrity MasterChef in 2010, previously admitted he’d had to ‘walk away’ from his turbulent relationship with Wallace. He has said they do not socialise away from the show, have never visited each other’s houses and even sit ‘at opposite ends of the table’ if socialising with crew members.
One woman on Wallace’s team is said to be close to walking out, despite being part of his management for more than a decade.
‘It’s so often easy to say you’re done with Gregg – he can be an absolute nightmare,’ said a source close to the star.
‘You get to the point where you just think ‘enough is enough’.
‘But then he is, underneath it all, quite a charmer and you go back smiling and just wait for the next time things come to a head.’
It remains to be seen whether Wallace will be able to charm his way out of this latest scandal.
