Watch: Former BBC journalist Aasmah Mir shares complaints about Gregg Wallace as she says ‘certain people are indulged for decades’
What did you miss?
Former BBC Radio 4 journalist Aasmah Mir has claimed “certain people are indulged for decades” as she shared her complaints about Gregg Wallace‘s behaviour when she took part in Celebrity MasterChef in 2017.
Mir, who now works for Times Radio, told Good Morning Britain about how uncomfortable she felt over comments the MasterChef host had made to her and other female contestants on the 2017 series and said that her complaints were “logged” at the time, but expressed surprise that he had gone on to face similar accusations for years afterwards.
She opened up on some of the comments that she witnessed and heard about on the series and said it had left her questioning whether she was “going mad”.
What, how and why?
Aasmah Mir is one of the many women who has spoken out about her experiences of working with Gregg Wallace, sharing comments she says he made towards her and other female contestants on Celebrity MasterChef in 2017.
Now, the former BBC Radio 4 journalist has claimed that “certain people are indulged for decades” as she spoke to Good Morning Britain about having complained about Wallace at the time.
Mir, who now works for Times Radio, said that she had emailed production company Endemol Shine with complaints about Wallace and said that they had told her they never received the email. She also said she had emailed her complaint to the BBC’s head of entertainment, who replied “very quickly”.
Read more: Gregg Wallace
She said of the BBC response: “I got a reply back saying we know about these two incidents, they’ve been investigated, they’ve been logged, he’s been spoken to. This pattern of behaviour cannot continue. This was 2017. How many allegations have there been since then?
“Mine are not allegations, mine were logged, and they happened. But the other allegations which are the subject of investigation, there’s been so many of them. He was taken off another programme, the factory programme, because apparently there were problems.
“When Kirsty Wark spoke out the other day – look, she’s a very brave woman, she doesn’t need my help, but I thought well I have this story as well. People always say, why are you all coming out now, what’s in it for you? There’s literally nothing in this for me whatsoever. I’m a journalist, I work on the radio every morning, I know how this stuff works.
“But the problem is not so much Gregg Wallace, it’s the system. And the system is that certain people are indulged for decades and it’s 2024 and we’re just getting to grips with it now and I think that’s unacceptable.”
A BBC spokesperson explained that the incidents had been reported to production company Banijay who are responsible for MasterChef, and that the BBC had replied to her immediately.
A statement from a BBC spokesperson said: “In recent days there has been concerning allegations made via the media about the alleged conduct of Gregg Wallace, many of which relate to shows made for the BBC.
“These media stories are running alongside an independent investigation, which was instigated after formal complaints were made direct to the BBC and were referred to Banijay UK for further investigation. We would like to thank those who have had the courage to speak out. It can be hard to come forward, but we want to assure everyone who does that we will treat anything raised with us with the greatest possible care.
“Banijay UK launched the review because they have the direct contractual relationship with Gregg Wallace. He is not employed by the BBC. When issues have been raised with the BBC we have taken action, referring issues to the relevant production company and challenging his behaviour directly as has been widely reported.
“We hope Banijay UK’s independent investigation can be concluded rigorously and as swiftly as possible. We want the review to follow due process and ensure fairness to all involved.
“We will provide whatever assistance we can to the investigation. We are already running our own review into workplace culture. It is vital that we have an industry that is not only committed to the highest standards of behaviour and conduct, but that is reflected in people’s experiences. We have always been clear that should people want to raise issues with the BBC, they will be taken very seriously.”
Wallace’s lawyers have previously strongly denied “he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”, according to BBC News.
What did Aasmah Mir say about her time on Celebrity MasterChef?
During Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain, Mir detailed the incidents she had complained about from her time as a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef.
She said: “I put my first dish down…my hands were shaking, they paused to reset. In front of everybody, the judges, the crew, the other contestants…Gregg Wallace said to me, ‘oh, do you work at Radio 4?’ I thought, how nice, he’s doing that presenter thing, he’s relaxing you. I said, ‘yes I do work at Radio 4.’ ‘Do you know X?’ ‘Yes I do.’ He said, ‘tell her from me’ I thought he was going to say hi, ‘tell her from me she’s a sexy bitch’.
“There was a silence and then I laughed awkwardly, I just remember thinking this is mad. I wish I hadn’t laughed, but I did. No one said anything and then they just went right, let’s start again, and they tasted my dish. I just remember thinking, am I going mad? I’m not using the excuse, but when you’ve just had a baby you do think everything is a bit mad.
“I remember thinking did I imagine that? What happened there? So I went back and I muddled through for a couple of days and then I was eliminated. It was in my head for many months and I thought I can’t complain about this because it’s going to look like sour grapes because I was first out, so I kept quiet.”
Mir added: “Then I heard from another contestant that there had been other things that had gone on. That Gregg Wallace had gone up to one of the contestants who didn’t like handling fish. Of course they’d given her some fish to gut, because it’s TV. He went up to her and said, ‘watching you trying to gut a fish is like watching a rapist doing foreplay.'”
The journalist continued that she had later run into another contestant from the series who told her about the incident: “One of the contestants said she was so upset that she walked away and the production crew did come up to her because she walked away. I should have walked away, probably. Gregg Wallace was made to apologise to her for that, which he did. But he shouldn’t have said it in the first place.
“When she told me that, I thought I need to do something about this because I’m a journalist, I know how this works. Someone is going to say down the years, why did you not complain at the time. It’s classic, I get loads of that online anyway.”
Good Morning Britain airs on ITV1 at 6am on weekdays.