These days, it seems the Beeb is better at being the news than making it. Now the co-host of BBC MasterChef, Greg Wallace, is on the Sun’s front page, after it emerged that broadcasting bosses had investigated the TV star over alleged inappropriate sexual comments made to a female member of staff.
It transpires that in 2018, BBC chiefs met with Wallace after complaints were logged by a team left ‘mortified’ by his behaviour while working on the game show Impossible Celebrities. Wallace was accused of ‘taking his top off’ in front of a female production worker, after ‘boasting about his sex life’, according to a source – who also stated that ‘Gregg appeared to think it was all just banter’. Good heavens.
The revelations have prompted the MasterChef presenter to defend himself on social media. Posting a video Instagram story this morning, the TV personality insisted:
The allegations were investigated by the BBC six years ago, and my comments were found to be not sexual. I repeat not sexual. Something else that I feel very strongly about – strong enough to be on [Instagram] – nobody six years ago or since has accused me of flirting with anybody or hitting on anybody. And that’s important to me and I say this for my wife Anna, who I’ve been true to and madly in love with since the day I met her. I don’t want anybody to misunderstand this and make it look like I was flirting with somebody. Nobody accused me of that and I never have.
The details of the investigation came to light after the Beeb began a review of the corporation’s workplace culture, which will look into ‘preventing abuse of power’. The deep dive follows the recent Huw Edwards scandal, in which the former News at Ten presenter pleaded guilty in July to making indecent images of children and was handed a suspended sentence last month. After it emerged that Edwards had been earned a whopping £480,000 during March 2023 and April 2024 – despite not working for most of this time – the Beeb requested he return more than £200,000 of his salary which was paid after his arrest in November. What a mess, eh?
‘I am fully committed to tackling inappropriate or abusive behaviour,’ BBC chairman Samir Shah announced at the start of the new company-wide deep dive. ‘For most of us it is a joy to work for the BBC and that should be the case for everyone. Nobody working in the BBC should ever feel fear or worry while working here.’ Will the review unearth more uncomfortable revelations before it concludes? Watch this space…