Gregg Wallace is said to be ‘furious’ with John Torode – his MasterChef co-host of almost 20 years – after he failed to publicly support him over allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour.
The under-fire presenter, 60, has unfollowed John and his wife Lisa Faulkner on Instagram, making his anger quite plain.
Torode has not uttered a word on Wallace’s MasterChef exit, despite them working together since 2005.
A source told The Sun: ‘Gregg is absolutely furious and is convinced he has done nothing wrong.
‘Seeing John keeping quiet amid all of this has irked him hugely. Gregg and John have been colleagues for almost two decades and while they aren’t the closest of friends, Gregg feels John could say something.
‘He has deleted them from his Instagram account now and unfollowed both of them.’
It came as Sir Keir Starmer said Wallace was ‘completely inappropriate and misogynistic’ for blaming ‘middle class women of a certain’ age for his MasterChef ruination amid growing pressure on the BBC to take the show off air.
Gregg has now apologised for ‘any offence that I caused’ and ‘any upset I caused to a lot of people’. He blamed his middle-class women slur on being ‘under siege’ and not being ‘in a good head space’ on Sunday.
After spending nearly two decades presenting Britain’s best-loved cooking show together, the legacy of famed duo Gregg Wallace and John Torode appears to have come crashing down in just a matter of months.
One source told MailOnline over the weekend that John may fear that the current furore may reflect badly on him.
In October John’s wife Lisa Faulkner said of her time on MasterChef: ‘Greg just told rude joke after rude joke. You’re just sitting there and if you’re on the front bench just chopping away thinking, “I’ve got ten minutes left”, and he’s saying, ‘So this girl walked into a bar…’
‘And I’m going, “Please I don’t want to hear this joke”.’
Gregg Wallace is said to be fuming at his MasterChef co-host John Torode after he failed to publicly support him
John Torode headed out for a cycle on Tuesday. He has not commented on Gregg’s fall from grace
As Gregg fights for his TV career, it also emerged today:
- Gregg Wallace has apologised for ‘any offence that I caused’ after posting a video saying complaints about his behaviour came from ‘a handful of middle-class women of a certain age’.
- Sir Keir Starmer believes Gregg Wallace was ‘completely inappropriate and misogynistic’ in the video;
- BBC One should pull MasterChef off air until the probe into Wallace is completed, a senior Labour MP has said;
- The BBC allowed Wallace to remain on air despite at least four complaints being made against him. Bosses are under pressure to explain why they did not act sooner;
- More celebrities speak of how his sex-related comments embarrassed them. One cab driver claims he almost threw star out of his taxi after he got in and asked: ‘Can I ask you what your sex life between you and your wife is like?’
BBC presenter Gregg, 60, stepped down from MasterChef after it was revealed that 13 people, including Newsnight host Kirsty Wark, accused him of ‘wrong’ and inappropriate ‘sexualised’ behaviour during filming.
He stands accused of making ‘inappropriate sexual jokes’, asking for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressing in front of and standing ‘too close’ to women working on his shows. He allegedly walked naked on set with only a sock on his penis.
The grocer turned broadcaster, 60, posted a series of incendiary videos online yesterday where he hit back at critics by saying: ‘Can you imagine how many women on MasterChef, female contestants, have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo?’
Wallace had said: ‘I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years, amateur, celebrity and professional MasterChef, and I think, in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants 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. 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’.
His posts have been branded ‘shocking’ and laced with ‘thinly veiled misogyny’ – and did not touch on the sexual allegations made by numerous MasterChef celebrities, producers and contestants on the show he left last week. There are allegations related to four other shows he worked on.
One insider told MailOnline today: ‘Gregg has gone rogue and ignored all advice’. Another expert said: ‘He needs to shut up’.
Speaking this afternoon the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Clearly the comments that we’ve seen from the individual over the weekend were completely inappropriate, misogynistic’.
It came amid growing pressure on the BBC to take MasterChef off the air. The show, which is in the middle of its Professionals series, still features Wallace. There are also two Christmas specials with him as host due for broadcast this festive period.
Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton and a member of Parliament’s culture, media and sport committee, said: ‘He’s being dangled on our screens while this is going on, I just think at the moment maybe pause it.’
MailOnline today revealed that Gregg Wallace is ignoring ‘all advice’ and only ‘listening to his own ego’ after his Instagram video rant yesterday.
As Gregg takes his leave from the cooking show, many fans have been left wondering who will replace him in MasterChef.
Though the pair always appeared to have strong chemistry onscreen, admissions from both parties may suggest that John, 59, won’t be feeling too hard done by once his former co-star leaves the show.
Amid rows, weddings, and onscreen spats, John and Gregg appear to have endured a tumultuous friendship behind the scenes of their 19-year tenure of the show.
Though John was Gregg’s best man for his fourth wedding to Anne Marie in 2016, the duo have in the past admitted they had a spat so awful that filming for MasterChef had to be called off, while John has said they’ve ‘never really’ been friends.
And their relationship will surely have been made even more difficult after John’s wife Lisa Faulkner claimed Gregg made ‘rude joke after rude joke’ while MasterChef was being filmed.
Amid rows, weddings, and onscreen spats, John Torode (right) and Gregg Wallace (left) appear have endured a tumultuous relationship over the years (pictured in 2017)
Since allegations made against Gregg, his TV aide has failed to address the ongoing dispute and axing of his cohost from the show
After over 10 years working, filming and eating together, John shocked the nation when in 2017, he revealed that, despite their onscreen rapport, he was ‘not actually friends’ with his co-star.
Having attended Gregg’s fourth wedding to Anne Marie, 37, as his best man just a year earlier in 2016, just a year later John said they’d ‘never actually been friends’.
During filming, the pair appeared to enjoy a close bond, sharing jokes, laughing and joining forces to make decisions on contestants.
But speaking to The Mirror he said: ‘It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses…’
Even when travelling abroad for work, the two have always kept their distance, avoiding each other at mealtimes.
He continued: ‘If we go away to somewhere like South Africa, we do things separately… If we do go out for a drink, I’ll invariably be at one end of a big old table and he’ll be at the other.’
And when the two do come together, things don’t always play out as smoothly as they appear on camera, as John previously admitted to booze-fuelled spats with his co-host in the past.
‘Once, we had a bit too much to drink and filming got called off,’ admitted John.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival earlier this year, John jibed that have sampled bountiful dishes together but that the two had never spent the time together to have developed each other’s own culinary skills
After over 10 years working, filming and eating together, John shocked the nation when in 2017, he revealed that despite their onscreen rapport, he was ‘not actually friends’ with his co-star
Gregg previously insisted to Lorraine Kelly that the duo were close. Pictured on This Morning together earlier this year
And when the two do come together, things don’t always play out as smoothly as they appear on camera, as John previously admitted to booze fuelled spats with his cohost in the past. Gregg and John are pictured at MasterChef Live in 2009
‘We ended up having a massive fight about one of the contestants, and he got really stubborn – it was ridiculous. We’ve had a couple of standoffs over the years, about contestants, and I’ve just had to walk away from him.’
But only a year earlier in 2016, John was best man at Gregg’s wedding to Anne-Marie, suggesting the pair enjoyed a closer bond than they care to admit.
Later in 2018, a joint interview with The Mirror painted the view of a picture perfect friendship, with the two sharing in a number of personal jokes and offering support in times of need.
During the interview, the pair were asked what the most thoughtful thing had done for each other was, to which Gregg said his co-host has supported him with his mental health.
‘I was suffering from anxiety recently and John sat me down for a good chat to assure me things never turn out as badly as I imagine they will. That was so sweet,’ he said.
Referring to him as ‘The Wallace’, John described Gregg as having ‘kindness and big heart’, adding that he appreciated even the ‘little things’ from his onscreen pal, such as sending texts while the other was on holiday.
When asked if the other had any annoying habits, both answered jovially, as though old time pals.
John answered: ‘The worst thing about Gregg are the appalling, cheesy jokes he’s constantly cracking. The MasterChef set just gets sillier and sillier, we act like a bunch of naughty school kids.’
The pair gave the impression of a long and close friendship, with each reciting each other’s habits, such as Greg’s early morning rises to workout and enjoy a hotel breakfast, and John’s blasé attitude to flying.
In 2017, The pair gave the impression of a long and close friendship, with each reciting each other’s habits, such as Greg’s early morning rises to workout and enjoy a hotel breakfast, and John’s blasé attitude to flying
However, a more recent admission revealed that the cookery duo ‘don’t socialise’ outside of the show, throwing further speculation onto the question of the pair’s friendship
And when the two do come together, things don’t always play out as smoothly as they appear on camera, as John previously admitted to booze fuelled spats with his cohost in the past
Last year, the two shared further insight into their relationship, saying they had learned to make the relationship work for them – even if it wasn’t conventional.
Gregg told The Radio Times: ‘As far as I know, nobody’s written a bestselling pamphlet on how to be a successful TV couple, which is what we are.
‘People are amazed we can be close and not be round at each other’s houses. We’ve found a way for it to work for us.’
While they may not be in each other’s pockets away from the show, they insist they do have fun while filming.
On who’s funnier, John, said: ‘I mean, his jokes are s***, but every now and then he does come out with something very funny. It makes work joyous.’
Gregg added: ‘I just constantly crack jokes. When John does it can be hilarious, because he’s normally in serious chef and judge mode. But I’m funnier.’
Gregg has also previously insisted to Lorraine Kelly that the duo were close – despite John’s claims that they’ve never really been friends.
During an appearance on the show in April earlier this year he told the ITV presenter: ‘I film with John six or seven months of the year, so we are very close to each other physically, and emotionally we are very close to each other.
The pair have always put on a united show on screen, but behind the scenes, things have seemed much more fractious (pictured in 2022)
‘What’s great about having a partnership is that if one of you is a bit off, a bit down, the other one naturally steps up, so I rely on John a lot.’
Gregg said: ‘People say that John and I don’t get on… We’ve been working together face-to-face for 20 years. We knew each other for 10 years before that – John bought fruit and veg off me – and he was best man at my wedding… He wasn’t best man at every wedding, but he was at the last one!
‘You make your mind up what’s going on there between me and Mr Torode.’
Meanwhile, his cohost said that one of the ‘joys’ of working together was that their differing ‘identities and opinions’ have ‘morphed’ together over the years, painting a much bright picture of an intimate friendship.
But then in the summer, the picture painted by John was a somewhat different.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival earlier this year, John contradictorily jibed that they have sampled bountiful dishes together but that the two had never spent the time together to have developed each other’s own culinary skills.
John – who previously enjoyed a career of his own in the kitchen working as a sous chef for the Conran Group under Terence Conran and opening his own restaurant – was asked during the festival if he had ever offered any cooking tips to his co-host – to which he said the pair had never spent the time together to.
He said: ‘Well we don’t really socialise Gregg and I, so not under my guidance, the man has tasted as many plates of food as I have in twenty-one years and I think it must be reaching over 20,000 plates of food we’ve eaten over that time.
‘He’s got a pretty good palate, whether he cooks or not, I’m not quite sure,’ The Express reported.
In October Wallace vehemently denied that he had made inappropriate sexual comments towards women. Torode and Wallace are pictured with Terry Wogan in 2009
Since the allegations made against Gregg, his TV aide has failed to address the ongoing dispute and axing of his cohost from the show.
Hours after the news broke that Gregg was stepping down from his position on the show, the TV presenter posted to his Instagram story, sharing a selfie after a spin class at his local David Lloyd club.
Meanwhile – though failing to comment on the situation – at the time of the announcement this afternoon, Gregg took the time on to Instagram where he shared his recipe for prawn tacos with pineapple salsa.
Since the allegations were made, Gregg has ‘committed to fully cooperating throughout the process’, the show’s production company Banijay UK said.
Already recorded episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals, which is currently on BBC One and featuring Wallace, will transmit as planned into December.
In October Wallace vehemently denied that he had made inappropriate sexual comments towards women, declaring that he would never ‘flirt with’ or ‘hit on’ another woman and: ‘I didn’t say anything sexual’.
In a statement, Banijay UK said: ‘The BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows.
‘Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate.
‘While this review is underway, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully cooperating throughout the process.’
In October, Wallace admitted he was feeling stressed amid allegations he made inappropriate sexual comments towards women – and his fellow judge John Torode’s wife alleged he ‘repeatedly told rude jokes’ on set.
Wallace took to Instagram with a live video as he offered tips on healthy eating while also alluding to new allegations made against him.
He told viewers he was ‘a little bit distracted at the moment’, but said he ‘wanted to check in and say hello’.
His social media riposte came as it emerged his MasterChef co-host John Torode’s wife Lisa Faulkner would think, ‘I don’t want to hear this’, as he apparently delivered punchlines to crew of the BBC’s flagship cookery show.
Faulkner, 52, appeared on the series in 2010 where she went on to win the Celebrity MasterChef trophy