Louise Minchin has waded in on the conversation surrounding Gregg Wallace and his comments about “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.
This week, the TV host stepped down from MasterChef after “13 complaints” from “over 4,000 contestants” were made against him. Wallace has strongly denied behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
In an Instagram video on Monday, the 60 year old suggested that the allegations came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.
He further added: “This isn’t right. In 20 years, over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants, have made sexual remarks? Or sexual innuendo. Can you imagine?”
The comments sparked widespread uproar and Wallace quickly made an apology. However, many high-profile celebrities such as Kirstie Allsopp and Kaye Adams were not impressed by his words, with Louise Minchin also joining the conversation.
Taking to social media, Louise posted a screenshot of an article she had written for The i Paper, penning: “Some thoughts from a ‘middle-class woman of a certain age’ about why it’s often only when we get to that age that we can speak up and why we should.”
The headline reads ‘I’d had enough of letting men getting away with it’, and explains that it was only until she hit her forties did she feel safe for calling out men’s bad behaviour.
In the intro, she wrote: “You don’t have to be a “middle-class woman of a certain age” to know when someone’s behaviour is inappropriate, offensive and unacceptable.
“But the truth is that even in the supposedly enlightened age of 2024, it helps if you are a “middle-class woman of a certain age” to feel empowered enough to call it out.”
She added: “At the time, I didn’t report the incidents because firstly, I didn’t know where or how to report them and, I secondly because felt scared to. I asked myself all sorts of questions like; would I be believed?
“Was it really that bad? Would it make any difference? My overriding feeling at that stage in my career in my late twenties and early thirties was the niggling fear that if I started telling tales, calling people out, it might have repercussions for me not them. Even in hindsight I think I was right.”
In recent news, ‘MasterChef’ presenter John Torode has described the allegations of harassment against his co-host Gregg Wallace “truly upsetting”.
Speaking out about the situation on his Instagram account, John said: “The thought of anyone who has appeared on our show not having a brilliant experience is awful to hear.”
Torode – who has presented the BBC One competitive cooking show since 2005 – stated he will not comment further until the BBC completes its investigation.