'SHUT UP & LISTEN'
Gregg Wallace slammed over bizarre rant blaming ‘middle-class women of certain age’ for MasterChef complaints about him
Watch the debate on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
GREGG Wallace has been told to "shut up and listen" by fellow TV stars after his bizarre rant against his alleged misconduct accusers.
The MasterChef presenter took to Instagram to claim those who have complained about him are "middle class women of a certain age" in a clumsy attempt to defend himself.
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It comes after the TV chef was accused of making sexual remarks to 13 colleagues including former Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark - accusations he denies.
Wallace, 60, has stepped away from the BBC show while the claims - which span 17 years - are investigated.
His Instagram comments were discussed by a panel with Victoria Derbyshire, who was filling in for the regular host on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, earlier this morning.
When quizzed about the post, TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said: "I think the intervention is is not wise. I don't know Gregg well, I've met him a couple of times.
"He's very likeable. He's a very professional screen presence.
"I have a very talented chef on Masterchef right at the moment, and she's doing incredibly well, and I've been really enjoying watching her and enjoying Gregg's presenting.
"I think it's likely that Gregg has what we might call a bawdy sense of humour. Clearly, that's offended people.
"I think one of the issues is that down the years people have not felt able to tell him when he might want to rein it in a bit, and clearly he's crossed some lines."
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He continued: "In terms of how he's going about defending himself.
"I understand the instinct when you feel you're backed into a corner, but I don't think it's smart to come out talking like that when at the moment he should probably be listening more questions for the BBC."
Lord Craig Mackinlay then waded in on the debate, with the former MP saying: "I don't know him. He was well on the way of becoming a national treasure with the type of programmes he's doing. Is he, bawdy? Is he a bit laddish?
Gregg Wallace slams 'middle-class women' for making complaints about him
"I think the barrier has moved over the years, and perhaps he is overstretched into lewd behaviour, sexual behaviour, but that is for the investigation to look into, and I agree with you.
"Probably at the moment he's best to shut up and see where it goes."
Wallace has also faced scrutiny from other TV stars after the allegations were revealed and his subsequent statement.
Location, Location, Location presenter Kirsty Allsopp also slammed Wallace in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, in which he relived a meeting with the grocer-turned-TV star
She said: "Within 1hr of meeting Gregg Walllace he told me of a sex act that he & his partner at the time enjoyed 'every morning', she’d just left the room, we were filming a pilot.
"Did he get off on how embarrassed I was? It was totally unprofessional, I’m a #MiddleClassWomanOfaCertainAge."
Former MP Anna Soubry was among those to pan the star for his comments, writing on X: "‘It’s yer ‘ormones luv’ Gregg 2gs Wallace proving he’s not an odious misogynist."
Former Scottish Conservative leader, Dame Ruth Davidson has also hit out at Wallace.
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In a post on X, she commented: "I mean, this is going to be taught in future years as a stellar example of how **not** to do defensive comms. My God."
In his Instagram Stories videos, Wallace had said: "I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years. Amateur, Celebrity and Professional MasterChef.
"And in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life.
"And apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time.
"In the newspaper 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."
'ALWAYS KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS'
It comes after Times Radio presenter and 2017 Celebrity MasterChef contestant Aasmah Mir posted a cryptic message after the news broke earlier this week, saying: "Always keep your receipts."
The Sunday Times have now reported that BBC executive Kate Phillips raised concerns that Wallace’s behaviour was “unacceptable and cannot continue”.
The intervention came after broadcaster and former Celebrity MasterChef contestant Aasmah, complained about inappropriate comments during filming.
Yesterday, Aasmah wrote on Twitter: "In 2017, I took part in Celebrity Masterchef. I put my first dish down in front of the judges and the cameras paused to reset.
"In front of everyone, Gregg Wallace told me to tell a colleague at the BBC “that she was a sexy b****.” No-one said anything. And yes, I did complain."
Celebrity MasterChef winner Emma Kennedy also claimed she first reported Gregg Wallace’s behaviour 12 years ago.
The author revealed she complained in 2012 after witnessing his inappropriate conduct towards a woman working alongside the show.
Emma Kennedy claimed she had seen co-host Wallace grope a camera assistant during a photoshoot for the finalists 12 years ago.
MasterChef host Wallace is the subject of a probe after an investigation was launched into his alleged misconduct over a number of years.
Gregg Wallace's career to date
Gregg Wallace has been a familiar face on TV for years now thanks to his role as a judge on MasterChef - but let's take a closer look at his career so far...
- Gregg Wallace left school at 15 and started his career working on a fruit and veg stall in London.
- In 1989, he started George Allan's Greengrocers, a company that grew to a turnover of £7.5 million.
- Gregg's experience in the world of fruit and veg lead to him co-hosting Veg Talk on BBC Radio 4 with Charlie Hicks for seven years.
- He then became the first host of Saturday Kitchen in 2002, a role he held for a year before being replaced by Antony Worrall Thompson in 2003.
- At the same time, Gregg presented a number of food-related TV specials, including Veg Out for the Discovery Channel.
- Gregg landed his most notable TV role as a co-presenter and judge on BBC's competitive cooking show MasterChef in 2005. He stars alongside John Torode.
- In 2010 Gregg pursued another life-long dream of opening a restaurant. He opened the establishment Wallace & Co. in Putney.
- Then, in 2012, he opened Gregg's Bar & Grill in a joint venture with the Bermondsey Square Hotel.
- Gregg then scored a hosting gig with the BBC, presenting the documentary Supermarket Secrets in August 2013.
- Unfortunately, times were tough for Gregg, and in the same month, it was reported that one of his companies, West Veg Limited, had folded, owing more than £500,000.
- In 2014, both of his restaurants folded, with Wallace & Co owing suppliers £150,000.
- However, his TV career continued to thrive, and in 2015 became the regularly host of the award-winning documentary food series Eat Well for Less? Gregg helmed the show for eight years before stepping away.
- He also competed on Strictly Come Dancing.
- Gregg then made Telly history again when he revived the BBC's historical game show Time Commanders.
- More recently, the celebrity chef has presented a number of travel programmes such as Big Weekends with Gregg Wallace, South Africa with Gregg Wallace, and the food mockumentary, Gregg Wallace: The British Miracle Meat.
MasterChef production company, Banijay UK, yesterday said law firm Lewis Silkin would lead the investigation into Wallace’s alleged misconduct.
The BBC said it would be inappropriate to comment on anything that could form part of Banijay’s investigation.
Wallace’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.
One witness claimed the former green grocer, 60, walked into the studio naked apart from a "sock over his penis" then did a dance.
They also said he mimed a sex act as a worker knelt to clean his trousers.
The Sun revealed one former contestant even alleged the MasterChef judge groped her while she was cooking on the set of the show as the cameras rolled.
Another woman claims Wallace told her in a busy pub that she aroused him, made more lewd comments and squeezed her bum while a former staffer claimed he made offensive Asian remarks on set in 2017.
The Sun first reported Wallace’s behaviour last month.
On Thursday he stepped down while allegations of misconduct are investigated, while singer Sir Rod Stewart accused him of humiliating his wife Penny on the show.
In response to reports in the Times and Telegraph, a BBC source said: “While we are not going to comment on individuals or any internal HR processes, particularly when there is an ongoing process in place being run by Banijay who have the direct contractual relationship with Gregg Wallace.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“It would be wrong to report the BBC has done nothing if or when matters have been raised with us – not least because it is already being widely reported there were interventions in both 2017 and 2018 where action was taken.
“We continue to urge caution about pre-judging any of this, particularly the involvement of BBC staff members and any inference they have not acted appropriately.”
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