Gregg Wallace, co-presenter of the fact competitors sequence MasterChef UK and its celeb {and professional} spinoffs, is happening the defensive amid allegations that he has behaved inappropriate on set.
In a sequence of Instagram Tales movies on Sunday, December 1, Wallace mentioned that “a handful of middle-class ladies of a sure age” are behind the allegations. He additionally urged feminine MasterChef contestants made “sexual remarks or sexual innuendo” whereas filming the present.
“Now I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years — newbie, celeb, {and professional} MasterChef— and I feel, in that point, I’ve labored with over 4,000 contestants of all completely different ages, all completely different backgrounds, all walks of life,” Wallace mentioned in a single clip. “And apparently now — I’m studying within the paper — there’s been 13 complaints in that point. Now, within the newspaper, I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class ladies of a sure age, simply from Movie star MasterChef. This isn’t proper.”
In one other add, Wallace mentioned, “In 20 years — over 20 years — of tv, are you able to think about what number of ladies, feminine contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo? Are you able to think about?”
And after posting feedback from social media supporters, Wallace shared extra ideas. “Look, this necessary to me,” he mentioned in that third video. “20 years of doing Movie star MasterChef, newbie, skilled, Eat Nicely for Much less, Contained in the Manufacturing facility, have you learnt what number of employees — all different types of employees, you think about the folks I’ve labored with — have you learnt what number of employees complained about me in that point? … Completely none. Zero. Critically.”
Wallace stepped apart from his MasterChef presenting duties final week after BBC Information contacted his representatives concerning a sequence of allegations that he made inappropriate sexual feedback at work. The complaints got here from 13 folks from a 5 of TV reveals from 2005 to 2022, BBC Information added.
BBC Newsnight host and former Movie star MasterChef contestant Kristy Wark, for instance, mentioned Wallace informed “sexualized” jokes whereas filming the present.
“I used to be really extra offended than anything, as a result of I assumed it was so inappropriate,” Wark added. “And in a way what I assumed was it was about energy greater than anything, that he felt he may.”
Former colleagues and coworkers of Wallace’s informed BBC Information he confirmed shirtless photos of himself, requested for massages, requested questions on a coworker’s courting life, talked about his intercourse life, stared at a feminine employee’s chest, and mentioned sexually express issues on set.
Wallace’s attorneys denied the accusations, saying it’s completely false that Wallace behaves in a sexually harassing nature. Banijay UK, the manufacturing firm behind MasterChef, has launched an investigation and mentioned that Wallace is cooperating.
Responding to his Instagram feedback, actor and Movie star MasterChef winner Emma Kennedy informed BBC Information that “it doesn’t matter what the age of any girl is.”
Kennedy added: “In the event you behave inappropriately, you behave inappropriately. It’s a narrative as previous because the tides that individuals who have been accused of inappropriate conduct flip the tables on these pointing it out and try to change the narrative.”
And TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp informed BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend that Wallace’s Instagram feedback had been “unacceptable” and that he “is actually saying this can be a class challenge and middle-class ladies don’t perceive the kind of issues he says as a result of he’s working-class.”
BBC Information additionally notes that the complaints got here from folks “throughout a spread of ages.”