Gregg Wallace has responded to mounting allegations against him in a defiant video posted online, saying the accusations come from “middle-class women of a certain age”.
Wallace has stepped back from presenting the BBC cooking show MasterChef after accusations he made sexual comments towards staff and celebrity guests on a range of programmes over 17 years.
He said he has worked with more than 4,000 contestants over the years “of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life”.
“Apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time,” Wallace said in the video posted on Instagram.
“I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.”
In a second video, he said: “In 20 years, over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks, or sexual innuendo, can you imagine?”
The TV star’s lawyers said: “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”, BBC News reported.
On Saturday Banijay UK, the production company which makes the programme, called for anyone wishing to report allegations of misconduct to contact Lewis Silkin, a legal firm appointed to lead an investigation.
A spokesperson said: “All information will be handled sensitively, and names of those providing evidence to the team will be kept confidential.”
Wallace has been a presenter on the programme since 2005, as well as its spin-offs Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals.
Banijay previously said he has “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process” after the BBC received complaints over “historical allegations of misconduct”.
This week Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark told the BBC she saw Wallace “use sexualised language in front of a number of people” when she appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.
Singer Sir Rod Stewart criticised Wallace on Instagram and claimed he “humiliated” his wife Penny Lancaster in 2021.
The presenter is yet to directly address any of those allegations.
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Gregg Wallace thanks supporters
On Friday, the charity Ambitious About Autism said it had dropped him as an ambassador citing the “recent allegations”.
Wallace has three children and his youngest, five-year-old Sid, is non-verbal and autistic.
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In October, Wallace responded to reports that a previous BBC review had found he could continue working at the corporation following reports of an alleged incident in 2018 when he appeared on Impossible Celebrities.
Wallace said on Instagram that those claims had been investigated “promptly” at the time and said he had not said “anything sexual” while appearing on the game show.
In a video posted on Thursday, he said: “I would like to thank all the people getting in touch, reaching out and showing their support. It’s good of you, thank you very much.”
