
Sacked MasterChef star Gregg Wallace faces 50 more sex misconduct allegations - as he issues blistering rant about the BBC
It comes as the BBC has received 50 new claims over the TV presenter, including allegations he pulled his trousers down in front of one worker on the show and groped another.
An inquiry into the allegations is expected back imminently after being conducted by an independent law firm on behalf of the show's production company Banijay.
Wallace denies the claims and has condemned the corporation in a scathing social media post saying he had been cleared of 'the most serious and sensational accusations'.
The fresh claims come from people who say they encountered him across a range of shows with the majority alleging he made inappropriate sexual comments towards them, BBC News reports.
Out of the 50 allegations, 11 women have accused him of inappropriate sexual behaviour, such as groping and touching.
One woman described Wallace's behaviour 'disgusting and predatory' saying he pulled his trousers down in front of her in a dressing room.
While another said she was left feeling 'absolutely horrified' when he groped her.
One participant on the BBC's Saturday Kitchen claims during filming in 2002, Wallace put his hand under the table and onto her groin, before asking her: 'Do you like that?'
Another claim come from a university student who said when she met him at a nightclub, he put his hand under her skirt and pinched her bottom when taking a photo with him.
One woman says that at an industry ball in 2014 he groped her under her dress, while a junior worker says in 2012 he dropped his trousers without wearing underwear in front of her.
Several men claim they witnessed Wallace making inappropriate sexual comments.
Among the recent claims, a 19-year-old MasterChef worker said in 2022 she tried to raise concerns to the BBC about Wallace's comments about her body.
A former policeman said that in 2023 he also tried to complain about Wallace's sexually inappropriate language.
The BBC reports that most of the women who have come forward are young freelances who felt they were unable to complain without negative career repercussions.
Writing on Instagram, Wallace said he had taken the decision to go public before the Silkins report was published as 'I cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged to protect others'.
The 60-year-old had stepped down from MasterChef while complaints from 13 women about historical allegations of misconduct were investigated.
Wallace, who has worked for the BBC for 21 years, said 'the most damaging claims (including allegations from public figures which have not been upheld) were found to be baseless'.
He said he had recognised 'that some of my humour and language, at times, was inappropriate'.
'I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges and all,' Wallace said.
'For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand. Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.'
A source reportedly said Wallace had been cleared of the most high profile allegations that had been brought by Penny Lancaster and Kirsty Wark.
'But the BBC has made it clear there is no way back for him. He is devastated,' they said.
The former greengrocer, who was recently diagnosed with autism, accused the BBC of doing nothing to 'investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over twenty years'.
And he vowed 'I will not go quietly' as he said the full 200 page report will not be published with the BBC instead going to release an executive summary.
'What really concerns me about the short summary is others who have been found guilty of serious allegations have been erased from the published version of events. I, and I'm sure the public, would like to know why?,' he said.
A source told The Sun that Wallace was 'both furious and devastated' by the BBC's decision to axe him.
The report is to be officially published on Thursday, but Wallace's legal team have claimed to have seen the report.
A BBC spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Banijay UK instructed the law firm Lewis Silkin to run an investigation into allegations against Gregg Wallace.
'We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings are published.'
In response to the latest allegations, a spokesperson for Wallace told the BBC: 'Gregg continues to co-operate fully with the ongoing Banijay UK review and as previously stated, denies engaging in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.'
Wallace was initially bullish in the face of the allegations, taking to Instagram to say they mostly came from 'middle class women of a certain age'.
He went on to ask: 'Can you imagine how many women on MasterChef have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo?'
Since then, several high-profile names - including TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson as well as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer - had condemned his remarks in public statements.
The former greengrocer later apologised for the controversial comments which caused a PR storm.
The under-fire presenter said of his middle class women slur: 'I wasn't in a good headspace when I posted it. I've been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion.'
He told the Mail in April had he how he stopped socialising with young people after first being disciplined by the BBC in 2018, because he was 'scared they would complain about him.'
He was disciplined for inappropriate behaviour while working on a quiz show when he told a young runner on the final day of filming that he'd 'really enjoyed working with her, she was brilliantly clever, strikingly attractive and was going to do well'.
Wallace said: 'They said that was improper because it was a personal remark and sent me on a course on how to communicate with younger people, which just confused me even more.
'I thought, 'F***, I don't have to do very much to get into a lot of trouble here.'
Wallace stopped socialising with young people. When on location, he'd order room service rather than join them for dinner or a drink.
'It was at that point that I realised, in 2018, that I didn't have to do a lot to get into a lot of trouble.
Talking about the aftermath in a new interview, he explained: 'My behaviours completely and utterly changed from 2018 and that's why there are no complaints in this big investigation after 2018. It changed me completely and I never got into trouble again.
'But the way I did it was to become a social recluse. I refused to do anything social at work, wouldn't go to the pub with anyone, to the point where when we went out on location everybody else would go out for dinner and I would stay in my hotel room.
'I wouldn't socialise. I stopped any social conversations with younger people that I didn't know very well.'
Wallace recalled: 'There's some really good young people at work and they'd say 'Gregg we're all going for a drink are you gonna come?'
'And I'd say no I won't come. You guys make me nervous. The sensibilities of a sixty year old man are different to 25-year-olds and you live in a complaint culture that never existed.
'If I go out with you and I drink and offer an opinion, political or social, I'm scared you're going to complain about me. The anxiety levels were just extraordinary.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Mother of Baby P would pose a 'high risk' if she was ever around children once freed, parole board warns
Baby P's monster mother could pose a high risk if she were freed and allowed near children, experts fear. Tracey Connelly's toddler son died at home in Tottenham, north London, on August 3, 2007, and she pleaded guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child in 2008. The 43-year-old launched a fresh bid for freedom earlier this year after she was sent back to jail for breaching licence conditions. But in a judgement ordering that a two-day parole hearing is heard in public, the Parole Board said it will assess whether her risk of violence remains low, The Mirror reports. 'But risk would be high and potentially imminent if she were to have access to children while other risk factors are present', the judgement said. 'Miss Connelly, in interview, has stated that she will not be seeking unconditional release due to the support she would lose'. Documents also claim she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and was subjected to 'bullying and aggression' after her recall to prison. Her solicitor had fought for the upcoming parole hearing to be held in private. The report states: 'He submits that a public hearing will only exacerbate these issues and will have a significant and detrimental effect upon Ms Connelly's ability to five effective and accurate evidence at the hearing'. The disgraced mother was hauled back to jail in September for breaching her jail conditions and was promised an oral parole hearing. She was handed an indefinite sentence with a minimum term of five years in 2009, after covering up her 17-month-old son Peter's injuries caused by her twister lover. Connelly has struggled to stay out of trouble since her initial release in 2013, having repeatedly breached licence conditions. The vile mum was first recalled to prison in 20155 after selling naked photos of herself online to depraved male admirers - and was released again in July 2022. It was revealed back in April that she may be free again by the end of the year. A date has not yet been set for her parole hearing, but it is believed it will take place around late summer - in August or September. The parole board could decide to release her there and then, depending on the circumstances surrounding how she was recalled and her behaviour since. They may also direct a hearing to take place, where a panel will decide after assessing various pieces of material, evidence and information. Connelly previously claimed that cops over-reacted when they recalled her to prison for a second time, saying the breaches of her licence conditions were minimal. Her lawyers have also insisted she is no longer a danger to the public. Connelly's lover Steven Barker was jailed in 2009 for a minimum of 12 years while his brother, Jason Owen, received a six-year jail sentence for allowing the toddler to die. When Connolly was first released, she was made subject to 20 licence conditions, including having to wear an electronic tag and disclose all her relationships, having her internet use monitored or obeying curfew. She was also banned from going to certain places to 'avoid contact with victims and to protect children'. The Parole Board said that she had been cleared due to a low risk of reoffending and that probation officers and prison officials supported the plan. It will now be a matter for the Board to decide if the latest breach of her conditions was so serious that she should not be released. A Parole Board spokesperson said back in April: 'It's been directed to an oral hearing now but no hearing date has been set yet.'


Sky News
26 minutes ago
- Sky News
One year ago, a furious mob rioted in Rotherham. Locals fear another outbreak of violence
A year has passed, but Paris and Josh still cannot quite believe what they witnessed last August. They live 200m from a hotel on the edge of a quiet residential street. "It looked like a modern-day lynching," Paris says. It's the only way she can describe the sickening scene that unfolded as a furious mob tried to attack asylum seekers being housed in the Holiday Inn Express north of Rotherham. 1:40 After seeing masked men setting fires and storming into the hotel, Paris says she was afraid they were going to see "either someone getting thrown out a window, or someone getting dragged outside". Josh remembers looking out of his bedroom window and thinking: "What is England coming to? What is going on?" "It was like they were going to a festival," Paris says. "They had ski masks on and bags full of alcohol, people were taking the kids, like they had the kids on their shoulders." To protect their car, Josh drove it off his driveway to another street nearby. They then retreated inside and watched six or seven hours of chaos unfold. It was one of the most serious outbursts of rioting during a week last August when disorder spread through towns and cities. Days after the knife attack which left three school girls dead in Southport, years of deep-rooted frustration about immigration boiled over. Twelve months on, the Holiday Inn Express next to Josh and Paris' home has reopened as a regular hotel, but the tension that has been seen around other migrant hotels recently hasn't disappeared. "I still see in groups (online) all this hate being spilled," Josh says. "I think it probably could happen again," Paris adds. "That's the faith I have in the country, really." The courts have handed out lengthy prison sentences to those involved in the disorder, leading to rows about whether they match the crimes people committed. The mayor of South Yorkshire says tensions over immigration remain unresolved and told Sky News he believes migrants, hotel workers or police officers could have been killed last August. "Had they [rioters] been more effective at doing some of the things they were trying to do, we would have seen people dying on the day," Oliver Coppard says. "What it speaks to, in my mind, is the poverty that we see in some of our communities, which feeds a sense of grievance." Mr Coppard - who has responsibility for policing in South Yorkshire - added: "Ultimately what we need in this country is a better approach to cohesion, to community integration so people are supported to live full lives within our communities and a proper and legal approach to asylum. "Those things are incredibly toxic and politics is not doing a good job I think of dealing with those issues." Protests around other migrant hotels in recent weeks show that the grievances of last summer still hang in the air. In Rotherham market we meet 23-year-old scaffolder Josh. "I don't think it has been solved," he says. When I asked him how that makes people feel, he replies: "Angry because it makes people want to riot again." He says he has no issue with people who move to the UK legally to work, but adds it is "unfair" when people arrive on small boats and receive hotel accommodation while their asylum cases are processed. Gabriel, 38, who was born in Rotherham, says he feels people look at him differently since last summer's disorder. "I couldn't see anybody smiling at me like they used to before the riot, they are putting every minority in the same box which is wrong," he says. "There is still a bit of aftermath, anger, rage, upset - in everybody's eyes. "That tension alone is worse than the actual incident because before, I think, it was hidden but now it is out there." A woman who didn't want to be named says: "The backlash is going to happen with the government against the people - the people against the government, it is not right. "The way I see it, we all have to live together ... we bleed the same blood, we breathe the same air." That spirit of conciliation and tolerance is less common than it once was - it is a hallmark of a failed immigration system that has left deep-rooted frustration in communities across the UK.


Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
'Pull new Masterchef series to stop Gregg Wallace accusers being triggered', Broadcast union urges BBC
The BBC is facing growing pressure to pull the new unaired series of Masterchef to stop accusers being 'triggered'. Philippa Childs, head of broadcast union Bectu, has warned the BBC that if it airs the upcoming series of the cooking show, those who complained about Gregg Wallace and John Torode 'will legitimately feel distressed'. It comes as a contestant for the upcoming season claimed she was 'eyed up and ogled' and said she was edited out after asking for the series not to be broadcast. Last week, the BBC confirmed that 'after careful consideration' it will air the new series, adding that there was 'widespread support' from the contestants. It is understood that the BBC have told the MasterChef production company Banijay that the show should reduce Wallace and Torode's screen time to a minimum in light of the report's findings. However, Ms Childs has urged the broadcaster BBC to 'reconsider', adding that it should not 'reward bad behaviour with prime-time coverage'. 'Whilst the BBC claims that it has consulted with contestants there appears to have been no consultation with complainants; freelancers who have taken the very difficult step of speaking out and who will legitimately feel distressed as the show appears on their screens several times a week over the next two months,' she told the BBC. She added that the decision to air the series would 'undoubtedly' cause those who have had their complaint upheld to be 'triggered'. Philippa Childs, head of broadcast union Bectu, has warned the BBC that accusers of Gregg Wallace and John Torode 'will legitimately feel distressed' if the show is aired One former MasterChef worker who claimed Wallace groped her said the airing of the programme would show 'a blatant disregard for the people who have come forward'. While another employee, who claimed Wallace pulled his trousers down in front of her, said the decision was 'profoundly disrespectful'. She added: 'It ultimately sends a message that such behaviour can be overlooked.' Sarah Shafi, a contestant who took part in the latest series of MasterChef, said she believed the upcoming broadcast of MasterChef should be axed out of respect for the complainants. She told the Guardian that 'prominent figures have been abusing their power', adding that there has been an 'enabling environment' that allowed 'individual powerful men' to act inappropriately. Ms Shafi also revealed on Newsnight on Thursday that she was left 'flabbergasted' after being edited out of the hit cooking competition by the BBC following a heated conversation where she felt pressured to agree to the cut. In response to Sarah's complaint, the BBC said that Banijay had 'consulted with all the contestants before that decision was made' and received 'widespread support' to go ahead with broadcasting the show. 'We are sorry that this contestant does not support the decision and we are grateful she raised this with both the BBC and Banijay,' it added. A Banijay UK spokesperson said in a statement: 'We are sorry that Sarah does not support the decision to air this series of MasterChef. We carefully considered her concerns about broadcasting the series and discussed them with the BBC. 'However, having consulted with all contributors in the series ahead of the decision being made, the resounding feeling from those taking part was support for airing the series.' The BBC said it had taken the decision to broadcast the unaired series 'after careful consideration and consultation with the contestants'. In a statement, the corporation said: 'MasterChef is an amazing competition which is life-changing for the amateur chefs taking part. The focus of it has always been their skill and their journey.' The BBC also said it had not yet made a decision on the completed celebrity series and Christmas special, filmed with Torode and food critic Grace Dent. In its statement, the BBC said: 'This has not been an easy decision in the circumstances and we appreciate not everyone will agree with it. 'In showing the series, which was filmed last year, it in no way diminishes our view of the seriousness of the upheld findings against both presenters. We have been very clear on the standards of behaviour that we expect of those who work at the BBC or on shows made for the BBC. 'However, we believe that broadcasting this series is the right thing to do for these cooks who have given so much to the process. We want them to be properly recognised and give the audience the choice to watch the series.' An independent legal review, into behaviour on MasterChef, conducted by the law firm Lewis Silkin began in November and upheld 45 of 83 complaints made against Wallace. In total, 41 people complained. The review that concluded last month said that the 'majority of the substantiated allegations against Wallace related to inappropriate sexual language and humour'. It added that 'a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated', with 'one incident of unwelcome physical contact' also substantiated. In an interview with the Sun, Wallace tearfully apologised to anyone he had hurt and while he didn't deny being guilty of some of the claims, he believed things had been 'perceived incorrectly'. He said that he understood some of his actions may have offended people and 'weren't socially acceptable' but denied being a 'wrong-un'. Wallace insisted he is 'not trying to play the victim' and claimed his autism diagnosis was partly responsible for some of his alleged behaviour as it means he struggles 'to read people' and can be perceived as 'odd' at times. Torode was the subject of an allegation about using racist language that was upheld as part of a review carried out by law firm Lewis Silkin into the alleged behaviour of co-presenter Wallace. Torode said he had 'no recollection of the incident' and was 'shocked and saddened' by the allegation. The BBC and Banijay have been approached by the Daily Mail for further comment. Gregg Wallace is alleged to have made inappropriate sexual comments towards 13 women who worked with him on a variety of television programmes in a 17-year period. BBC News contacted the star's representatives on Tuesday outlining the full range of allegations. Gregg is alleged to have told 'sexualised' stories and jokes while on the MasterChef set, and openly spoken about his sex life in front of colleagues. He is also alleged to have taken his top off in front of a female colleague saying he wanted to 'give her a fashion show', and to have told another junior worker he wasn't wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans. Further to this, BBC News reported claims Gregg: Showed topless photos of himself to a MasterChef worker and asked for massages Told a female worker on Channel 5's Gregg Wallace's Big Weekends he was fascinated by the fact she dated women and spoke about sex and spanking Showed another worker on the 5 show photos of a woman in her underwear Stared at a female colleague's chest at the BBC Good Food Show in 2010 Openly spoke about his sex life, including how often he was having sex and his ability as a lover, on the show Impossible Celebrities Allegedly told an Eat Well for Less colleague: 'You can come to my car but can you handle the fact everyone will think you got off with a celebrity?' After receiving the letter, Gregg said he would step back from presenting MasterChef