The BBC has confirmed it will air the Masterchef: The Professionals semi-final tonight, despite growing calls to pull the broadcast following the Gregg Wallace scandal.
Executives at the corporation held crisis meetings today as the claims about Wallace threatened to undermine its Christmas schedule, which includes two MasterChef specials.
The BBC have decided to go ahead and broadcast the rest of Masterchef: The Professionals, which will conclude on December 12, and the two Christmas editions, while they await the conclusion of the investigation into Wallace by production company Banijay.
It is understood that the BBC and Banijay have been scouring the forthcoming episodes of MasterChef that have yet to air for any sexually inappropriate comments by Wallace.
With four episodes yet to air, Masterchef: The Professionals is a key part of the BBC’s festive schedule. Masterchef itself also supports a lucrative merchandising operation, with knives and cookware featured in the series sold as Christmas gifts.
It comes as the presenter, 60, today said sorry for claiming ‘middle class women of a certain age’ caused the scandal that is currently engulfing him.
Wallace is facing claims from at least 13 women who have accused him of inappropriate behaviour, including roaming around on set naked with a sock on his penis, inappropriate jokes and groping crew members.
In response to speculation about the fate of tonight’s MasterChef semi-final, a BBC spokesman told the Mail: ‘MasterChef is life-changing for the chefs that take part and the show is about more than one individual.’
The celebrity chef apologised for ‘any offence I caused’ after his controversial comments on Instagram on the weekend
The BBC have decided to go ahead and broadcast the rest of Masterchef: The Professionals, which will conclude on December 12
Wallace’s Wife Anne-Marie Sterpini was seen looking downcast as she was pictured in Kent today
In a fresh video on social media posted this afternoon, the under-fire presenter said of his middle class women slur: ‘I wasn’t in a good headspace when I posted it. I’ve been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion.
‘I felt very alone [and] under siege yesterday when I posted it. It’s obvious to me I need to take some time out now while this investigation is underway.
‘I hope you understand and I do hope that you can accept my apology.’
Wallace’s lawyers say ‘it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature’.
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.
And in a further sign of Wallace’s fury, he has today unfollowed co-host John Torode and his wife on social media.
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.
Torode has not uttered a word on Wallace’s MasterChef exit, despite working together since 2005.
But previous comments in which he admitted he had never been a ‘friend’ of Wallace’s, as well as claims about them moving to opposite sides of the room when the cameras cut, show that all was not well in their partnership.
As Gregg fights for his TV career, it also emerged today:
- Sir Keir Starmer believes Gregg Wallace was ‘completely inappropriate and misogynistic’ for blaming ‘middle class women of a certain’ age for his MasterChef ruination;
- BBC One should pull MasterChef off air until the probe into Gregg 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.
Wallace stepped down from MasterChef last week 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.
Former Celebrity MasterChef contestants say they raised concerns about Wallace’s alleged behaviour as far back as 12 years ago, with actress Emma Kennedy – who won the series in 2012 – alleging she had witnessed Wallace ‘grope’ a camera assistant during a photo shoot that year.
The grocer turned broadcaster appeared to make things worse yesterday when he posted a series of incendiary videos online 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.
Gregg Wallace posted on Instagram on Sunday hitting back at the allegations made against him – claiming they were all from ‘middle-class women of a certain age’
Gregg Wallace (right) has been co-host of BBC1 show MasterChef alongside John Torode (left)
Actress Emma Kennedy (pictured), who won Celebrity MasterChef in 2012, has alleged that she witnessed Wallace ‘grope’ a camera assistant during a photo shoot that same year
‘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’.
But his posts caused outrage and were 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.
One insider told MailOnline today: ‘Gregg has gone rogue and ignored all advice’. Another expert said: ‘He needs to shut up’.
Ulrika Jonsson, who competed on Celebrity MasterChef in 2017, saying she was ‘seething’ after seeing the comments – while Kirstie Allsopp described his response as ‘unacceptable‘.
And Mark Borkowski, one of the UK’s leading PR gurus and crisis managers, told MailOnline today that Wallace was ‘only listening to his own ego’ instead of advice, adding: ‘The first law of PR in a crisis is never let your emotions rule your Instagram.’
There are also allegations related to four other shows Wallace worked on.
There are 13 people, including Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, who have formally complained about Wallace’s behaviour over a 17-year period across five shows, between 2005 and 2022.
The Sunday Times yesterday reported that BBC executive Kate Phillips raised concerns Wallace’s behaviour was ‘unacceptable and cannot continue’ after broadcaster and former Celebrity MasterChef contestant Aasmah Mir complained about inappropriate comments during filming.
Co-host of Masterchef The Professionals Monica Galetti (right) appeared to throw her support behind the beleaguered chef last week
BBC News said it had been told of other allegations, including the presenter ‘talking openly about his sex life among others
Gregg Wallace and his wife Anne-Marie pictured at the London Palladium in July
The newspaper claimed Wallace received another warning the following year after a complaint was raised about his behaviour on the quiz show Impossible Celebrities.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph reported that producer Georgia Harding, who worked on MasterChef between 2014 and 2015 and later Eat Well For Less, claimed she raised concerns about ‘inappropriate’ behaviour from him while working on the show.
She alleged the presenter undressed in front of colleagues and ‘made inappropriate sexual jokes’ in front of the crew and people appearing on the shows, and said ‘nothing was done’ about concerns raised, claiming there was ‘an acceptance’ of his behaviour.
Wallace has also been accused of being ‘obsessed’ with a female colleague who was dating a woman, and repeatedly asked how questions about the ‘logistics’.
Meanwhile more claims about Wallace’s alleged behaviour continue to appear.
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp claimed Wallace made an inappropriate sexual joke to her while she was on Masterchef.
She wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Within 1hr of meeting Gregg Wallace 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.’
And previously aired clips from shows Wallace has appeared on, including Masterchef and Strictly Come Dancing – where he was a contestant in 2014 – are resurfacing in light of the recent allegations.
In a resurfaced clip from his Strictly stint Gregg, then 50, left Aliona, 30, visibly uncomfortable following his wardrobe malfunction.
After tearing his trousers he confessed, giggling: ‘I don’t wear underwear’ while gesturing to his crotch, leaving his stunned partner to asked: ‘Are you for real?’.
Beaming he explained, while shaking his hips : ‘It’s easy to move with [no underwear] I’ve never worn underwear. I wear socks.’
Aliona then told the camera: ‘I’m just way too distressed about the situation’ before begging him to ‘put it away’ as he seemingly teased her, with viewers only seeing the grocer from the waist up.
Meanwhile Charlotte Crosby branded Gregg ‘extremely unpleasant’ on Instagram as she joined celebrities slamming the BBC star.
Gregg Wallace, 60, left Strictly partner Aliona Vilani ‘distressed’ during show rehearsals as he touched his crotch after ripping his trousers and declared he ‘never wears underwear’
Aliona then told the camera: ‘I’m just way too distressed about the situation’ before begging him to ‘put it away’ as he seemingly teased her, with the camera only showing the grocer from the waist up
Charlotte Crosby branded Gregg ‘extremely unpleasant’ on Instagram as she joined celebrities slamming the BBC star
She wrote: ‘He [Gregg] was extremely unpleasant to me when I was on MasterChef’.
Actress Katy Brand has also broken her silence about the ‘awkward’ moment Gregg told her he would ‘munch the living daylights out of her little tart’ on Celebrity MasterChef.
A shocking video from the 2013 series of the programme shows Wallace making the apparent innuendo about the comedian’s egg tart.
The grocer turned broadcaster tells Brand: ‘I find this quite pleasant. Left to my own devices, I’d probably munch the living daylights out of your little tart.’
Reacting to the resurfaced video of Wallace’s tart comment, Brand called the encounter ‘awkward’ and recalled her immediate ‘shock and disbelief’ at the ‘crass and idiotic joke’.
‘I took it as an innuendo-laden remark at the time, and I still see it that way now,’ she said.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has held talks with BBC bosses in the wake of the Wallace row, Downing Street said.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘The Culture Secretary spoke with the BBC leadership at the end of last week on this matter and wider workplace culture issues to seek assurances that there are robust processes in place to deal with complaints.
‘Clearly the comments we have seen from the individual over the weekend were completely inappropriate and misogynistic.
‘More broadly the BBC is conducting an independent review into workplace culture which must deliver clear and timely recommendations. It’s essential that staff and the wider public have confidence that the BBC takes these issues seriously.’
Asked whether MasterChef should be pulled off air, the spokesman added the decision was for the BBC and the show’s production company, and reiterated that Downing Street believes it is ‘right’ that a thorough investigation is conducted.
The production company Banijay UK confirmed it had appointed law firm Lewis Silkin to lead an investigation into Wallace’s alleged behaviour.