A senior Labour MP has demanded that the BBC take MasterChef off air as the scandal around allegations against the celebrity chef presenter Gregg Wallace continues to escalate.
Rupa Huq, the MP for Ealing Central and Acton, told Radio 4’s Today Programme that continuing to run the show while Wallace is being investigated “sends the wrong message” and risks damaging the broadcaster’s reputation worldwide.
Wallace faces allegations of making inappropriate sexual comments from 13 people over a 17-year period. Contestants on the show have described “a toxic environment”.
Over the weekend he released a video denying the allegations and blaming “middle class women of a certain age.”
Ms Huq said: “I understand [Master Chef] is scheduled for 9pm today and it is all over the Christmas schedules but it seems to be not going away from the news. It’s number two on your bulletin.
“I think possibly there is an argument for pausing while this investigation takes its course and maybe not airing it tonight.
“I mean it could be massively triggering for the women involved – in fact any woman involved in any type of similar incidents.”
She went on: “I know you are saying he has stopped presenting, but to the casual viewer there isn’t going to be any difference if he is on TV tonight. It looks like he has got away with it and I think the BBC should send a strong signal [about] this sort of behaviour.
“We need the investigation to do its work, but at the same time if it is being dangled on our screens where all this is going on I just think at the moment, maybe pause it.”
She suggested that while the BBC is supporting the production company in carrying out its own investigation, the corporation needs to hold an investigation of its own, listing a number of scandals from its past most notably news presenter Huw Edwards.
“It looks like this kind of stuff keeps happening,” she said.
“Apparently there were complaints before. We have to ask when these investigations happened before we have to ask what was the consequence? Were the conclusions taken seriously? Did someone have their fingers in their ears? It does beg a lot of questions.
“I just don’t think this is what people pay the licence fee for they expect higher standards. I don’t think the BBC should hide behind the production company either.”
Ms Huq added: “The BBC says it has high standards and that should apply to everyone in its structures as well. The BBC itself has to have robust processes.”
She noted how her cousins in Bangladesh tell her they listen to the BBC when they want to hear the truth as an example of its worldwide reputation but added: “So if you do let this programme go ut you do send a signal that this is ok. If it was taken off air for now it would send a strong message that this sort of behaviour is not acceptable.”