Gregg Wallace's autism means he can't wear underwear, say friends

Times

09-07-2025

Friends of Gregg Wallace have doubled down on claims that his autism is partly to blame for inappropriate behaviour on the set of MasterChef.
Wallace has 'autistic hypersensitivity' which results in him having an 'oddity of filters and boundaries', it has been said.
Another effect is said to be an exaggerated sensory experience, which has led to Wallace's 'inability to wear underwear because of his autistic hypersensitivity to labels and tight clothing'.
A 'litany' of complaints is expected to be upheld against the 60-year-old in a report which could be published as soon as Thursday.
However, sources close to Wallace said the complaints primarily related to inappropriate language and were almost entirely dated to before 2018, at which point he realised that he had been behaving badly.
A friend said: 'He stopped going out with the team and stopped telling jokes because he realised he didn't know what was right and what crossed the line.'
Before the report's publication, Wallace accused programme-makers of failing to act on their suspicions about his condition.
'Nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over twenty years,' he said. 'That failure is now being quietly buried.'
Lewis Silkin, the law firm behind the investigation, has written to complainants to inform them that the process was complete ahead of its anticipated publication this week. It said: '[MasterChef producer] Banijay UK is intending to issue a public statement regarding the findings of the investigation.'
Patrick Holland, chief executive officer of Banijay UK, speaking at a dinner on Tuesday in London attended by press, producers and presenters, including Victoria Coren Mitchell and Kate Humble, said the investigation had been comprehensive.
'It's been a huge, in-depth piece of work, taking at least seven months, and has spoken to many, many witnesses,' he added.
One incident included in the report is understood to have taken place at a MasterChef wrap party in 2013 when the presenter allegedly gave a woman's bottom a 'full-handed squeeze'.
Other incidents are said to include an occasion when he covered his genitals with a sock before opening his dressing room door and shouting 'hooray', as well as sexualised jokes.
Another allegation, according to BBC News, is an incident in 2012 when Wallace was claimed to have dropped his trousers in front of a female junior worker while not wearing underwear.
Wallace has apologised for some of the claims about his use of inappropriate 'humour and language'. But he has insisted that the most damaging claims against him are 'baseless' and that he has been unfairly targeted by the BBC.
'I will not go quietly. I will not be cancelled for convenience,' he said. 'The BBC is no longer providing balanced and impartial public service journalism. It is peddling baseless and sensationalised gossip masquerading as properly corroborated stories.'
• Complaints by women left me suicidal, says Gregg Wallace
Holland, who joined Banijay UK in May 2022 from the BBC, said the culture of television had changed dramatically in the 20 years since Wallace began his career.
'Whilst we can never be complacent, there are now a myriad of ways for those who experience bad behaviour in the workplace to speak out, whether anonymously, via a hotline, or to dedicated welfare officers,' he said.
'We need to do all we can to ensure that everyone in production, in their most junior roles, feels confident to call out bad behaviour.'
After the publication of the review, the BBC is expected to make a decision over whether to air this year's series of MasterChef in which Wallace appears prominently as a judge up until the finale.