BBC MasterChef's Gregg Wallace suffered 'heart attack' as fresh groping claims emerge
Disgraced MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace has been fired following an additional 50 complaints lodged against him, though he's staunchly determined to clear his name.
The 60-year-old attacked BBC News for "peddling gossip" after they reported receiving a surge of new allegations ranging from sexual comments to uninvited touching and exposing himself. While Wallace conceded that his humour on the show was "inappropriate", an insider said that his tirade against "middle-class women of a certain age" in a social media video was deemed grounds for dismissal.
Nevertheless, he sees himself as wronged and slammed the fresh accusations as "baseless and sensationalised", vowing: "I will not go quietly. I will not be cancelled for convenience."
These developments arose shortly after the television host was rushed away to hospital with a feared heart attack. After suffering two days of intense chest pains, Wallace was released from a medical facility in Ashford, Kent.
A confidante told the Sun: "The stress of this betrayal brought on the suspected heart attack. It's been hell." Reports suggest that just two days post-hospital, Wallace was informed that he was being sacked.
Banijay, the production company behind MasterChef, is poised to unveil the conclusions from a half-year examination into allegations against Greg Wallace as early as tomorrow or by Friday. The probe, spearheaded by law firm Lewis Silkin, began following accusations of improper sexual behaviour on the set of the BBC culinary programme last year.
At that time, Wallace's legal representatives asserted: "It is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature."
An individual with knowledge of Banijay's inner workings suggested the BBC may have already looked into many of the recent claims throughout their investigation. An informant privy to the 200-page dossier commented that perhaps Wallace's gravest error was his December 2024 video addressing the initial complaints, wherein he remarked: "The complaints [are] from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age."
This act itself was cited as grounds for dismissal, they said.
In response, yesterday saw Wallace issue a comprehensive five-page explanation across social platforms. In it, Wallace conceded: "I recognise my humour and language, at times, was inappropriate. For that, I apologise."
He continued to defend himself stating: "I have now been cleared by the Silkin report of the most serious and sensational accusations. The most damaging claims, including allegations from public figures which have not been upheld, were found to be baseless after a full and forensic six-month investigation."
Wallace announced his decision to break his silence before the report's release, stressing: "I cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged."
Wallace has made serious allegations against BBC News, claiming they have aired "legally unsafe accusations" that Silkin previously deemed incredible. He believes that publishing these stories before the report's release is a tactic to undermine the process. In response to suggestions that the BBC had "fired" him, a spokesperson clarified that this was not feasible as they were not his employer.
Wallace, who is a father to young Sid with autism, feels he deserved better support.
He elaborated: "I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges and all. For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand.
"Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem. My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of MasterChef.
"Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over 20 years. That failure is now being quietly buried."
He concluded: "I was tried by media and hung out to dry before the facts were established. The full story of this incredible injustice must be told."
A source close to Wallace has claimed he's been unfairly scapegoated, stating: "This is about protecting a format, one of the most valuable formats that Banijay and the BBC has. And what they should be doing is having a clean start and not just chucking one bloke under the bus.
"Gregg has employed a lawyer and he's going for blood. The report talks about him being odd – the guy has got autism and it was never addressed. It's been a trial by social media and a big pile-on.
"All these things, when they're looked at by a lawyer, are not true. Bullying Penny Lancaster? Not true. Vanessa Feltz? No evidence. It's about him having a terrible sense of humour and telling rude jokes."
The friend revealed that Wallace, a father of three, is struggling, cautioning: "This guy is fragile. When everything has been taken away like this, it's quite overwhelming."
A MasterChef insider reported that discussions regarding Wallace's future on the show have not yet occurred. Recent claims against Wallace include two women alleging he exposed himself to them, a student accusing him of putting his hand up her skirt in 2013, and another woman asserting he groped her the year before.
The extent to which the 50 allegations have been probed by the review lawyers, who focused solely on MasterChef-related accusations, remains uncertain. The BBC has stated: "We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings published."
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