Amanda Holden makes feelings on John Torode's racism allegation clear
Amanda Holden has publicly shown her support to MasterChef host John Torode after he was accused of using a racist remark on set. The BBC presenter, 59, was dragged into former co-star Gregg Wallace's investigation yesterday.
Wallace has been removed from his job on the hit cooking show after a nearly year-long probe into alleged misconduct claims. Some 50 people made fresh misconduct claims against the TV presenter, according to BBC News, though Wallace denied all allegations.
It has emerged two standalone allegations were made against other people, one of which was the use of racist language made by Torode. Speaking on the claims, Torode said: "Following publication of the Executive Summary of the investigation into Gregg Wallace while working on MasterChef, I am aware of speculation that I am one of the two other individuals against whom an allegation has been upheld.
"For the sake of transparency, I confirm that I am the individual who is alleged to have used racial language on one occasion. The allegation is that I did so sometime in 2018 or 2019, in a social situation, and that the person I was speaking with did not believe that it was intended in a malicious way and that I apologised immediately afterwards."
He added: "I have absolutely no recollection of any of this, and I do not believe that it happened. However, I want to be clear that I've always had the view that any racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment. I'm shocked and saddened by the allegation as I would never wish to cause anyone any offence."
Torode posted his statement on his Instagram account, where he chose to keep the comments off to avoid replies. However, Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda appeared to show her support for the presenter as she was one of the 5,000 people to like the post. Other famous faces who shared their support were Strictly Come Dancing's Nancy Xu and This Morning's resident cleaning expert Lynsey.
It came just hours after Wallace's statement, in which he said he was "deeply sorry for any distress caused". He added he "never set out to harm or humiliate" in the wake of the report, which said one allegation of "unwelcome physical contact" was upheld.
In all, 45 out of 83 allegations against Wallace were substantiated, the report by MasterChef production company Banijay UK and led by law firm Lewis Silkin found.
The report found that the "majority of the allegations against Wallace (94%) related to behaviour which is said to have occurred between 2005 and 2018", with only one allegation substantiated after 2018.
MasterChef returned to our screens in 2005 - after a four-year break - under the guise of MasterChef Goes Large and has since been branded as MasterChef. Two Christmas specials scheduled to air in the festive period last year were pulled by the BBC amid the investigation.
The BBC said in a statement that it has informed Wallace that the broadcaster has "no plans to work with him in the future" and welcomes the publication of the investigation's findings.
'The investigation details a substantial number of allegations of inappropriate conduct spanning 19 years. This behaviour falls below the values of the BBC and the expectations we have for anyone who works with or for us," the BBC said.
'Although the full extent of these issues were not known at the relevant time, opportunities were missed to address this behaviour – both by the production companies running MasterChef and the BBC. We accept more could and should have been done sooner.
"We want to thank all those who took part in the investigation, including those who first raised concerns directly with the BBC in November last year. We apologise to everyone who has been impacted by Mr Wallace's behaviour."
The BBC added: 'Lewis Silkin's findings include two further allegations which were upheld, relating to other individuals. The BBC takes these findings very seriously and we have asked Banijay UK to take action to address these issues, which is underway. This will be completed as a priority.
'The BBC will not be commenting further at this stage, but we are clear we expect the highest standards of respect at work to be upheld on the production."
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