Gregg Wallace has defended himself against allegations about him, insisting “they’re not all true”.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Wallace – who stepped away from presenting MasterChef last November in the wake of the claims against him – said he felt “under attack” and that he had contemplated suicide.
A BBC News investigation revealed allegations of inappropriate sexual comments by 13 people who had worked with Wallace across a range of shows, over a 17-year-period.
Since then, further claims of “groping” and “touching” have emerged, all of which Wallace has strenuously denied.
MasterChef’s production company, Banijay, has launched an inquiry into the historical allegations.
In his first interview since the claims emerged, Wallace said that he had received “a tidal wave of abuse” on social media after posting a video on Instagram hitting out at his accusers.
In the video, which he subsequently apologised for, he said the claims against him had come from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.
“News channels were updating hourly with new allegations,” he said.
“You’re watching yourself get personally ripped apart, criticised, accused of all sorts of stuff over and over again. You’re thinking, “This isn’t true. It isn’t true. What’s coming next?”
Wallace said he couldn’t sleep at the time, adding: “The feeling of being under attack, of isolation, of abandonment was overwhelming. Nobody from the BBC contacted me once these stories started breaking – absolutely nobody at all.”
The BBC and Banijay declined to comment.
Wallace said that at the time, his mother called him to ask why people were “picking on him”.
He said he responded: “I’ve said something really stupid. They’re investigating my behaviour, but more and more people are coming forward with complaints about me. Mum, they’re not all true. I haven’t done these things.”
Wallace revealed that his mother recently died, adding that it was “terribly sad” that she had spent the last few days of her life reading “horrible things” about him.
One of the women who spoke to BBC News as part of its investigation was broadcaster Kirsty Wark who appeared on Celebrity MasterChef.
Wark accused Wallace of telling “sexualised jokes” during the filming of the show, and said that it left people feeling “uncomfortable”.
But Wallace says he was never aware he had offended her until it came to light last year, saying: “I thought we got on.”
Other high-profile media personalities, including Vanessa Feltz and Kirstie Allsopp, also spoke up at the time.
Wallace said that Feltz’s complaint “knocked him for six”, and also pushed back against Allsopp’s comments about his language, saying: “I wouldn’t have said that.”
‘Absolutely not true’
Writing on Instagram in November, singer Sir Rod Stewart described Wallace as an “ill-mannered bully”, and said the presenter “humiliated” his wife Penny Lancaster when she was on Masterchef in 2021.
Addressing that claim, Wallace said it was a “shame” as he liked Sir Rod. He acknowledged there had been a “falling out” between himself and Lancaster, but said it was over “whether an orchid should stay on a bowl of soup or not”.
He also addressed other allegations that emerged towards the end of last year, including one that he’d walked around on set naked with a sock on his penis.
He admitted to putting a “sock over my private bits” and opening his dressing room door shouting “hooray”, but claimed he did this to three friends who were in the studio after filming had finished, rather than while it was taking place.
He admitted that some of the inappropriate jokes were “probably true”, saying: “Some of what’s been said sounds like the sort of comments I’d have made.”
But he insisted he never groped any workers, calling those claims “absolutely not true”.
He also said that many of those who work with him had been supportive, including John Torode, his co-presenter on MasterChef.
Torode has not responded to a request for comment.
When Banijay launched an inquiry, Wallace said his “world tumbled in”.
“It’s very difficult to explain the pressure unless you’ve been through it. I thought about suicide all the time: “Is my insurance up to date? Will [Wallace’s wife] Anna get some money? She doesn’t deserve this. It would be better if I wasn’t here.”
He told the newspaper Banijay had arranged for a crisis mentor to support him.
Wallace said he was recently diagnosed with autism, saying: “I want to make it absolutely clear I’m not blaming my behaviour on my diagnosis, but it does explain a hell of a lot to me.”
He added that he accepts he was “very slow to wake up” to a changing work environment.
“It wasn’t until seven years ago that I had a massive wake-up call and realised the loud, energetic greengrocer persona I was on the telly was, maybe, becoming redundant. So I changed.”
“I honestly never meant to upset anyone. I thought I was going in every day and just delivering what was wanted. I didn’t realise I was causing any problems.”
Wallace has been one of Britain’s most high profile presenters for more than two decades.
BBC News, which is editorially independent from the wider organisation, started investigating Wallace last summer, after becoming aware of allegations. The claims were made across five shows, from 2005 to 2022.
Most of the allegations came from production workers. Many were young female freelancers.
Allegations heard include Wallace talking openly about his sex life, taking his top off in front of a female worker saying he wanted to “give her a fashion show”, and telling a junior female colleague he wasn’t wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans.
BBC News has also heard from a former MasterChef worker who says he showed her topless pictures of himself and asked for massages, and a former worker on Channel 5’s Gregg Wallace’s Big Weekends, who says he was fascinated by the fact she dated women and asked for the logistics of how it worked.
Another female worker on MasterChef in 2019 says Wallace talked about his sex life; a female worker on the BBC Good Food Show in 2010 says Wallace stared at her chest; and a male worker on MasterChef in 2005-06 says Wallace regularly said sexually explicit things on set.
After BBC News’s initial investigation, more women came forward with claims.
One woman says he touched her bottom at an event and another says he pressed his crotch against her while filming on a different show.
His lawyers have strongly denied he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
Wallace has repeatedly declined interview requests from BBC News.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC’s Action Line.
