Lisa Faulkner has said Gregg Wallace would tell ‘rude joke after rude joke’ on MasterChef – as he denied claims he made inappropriate sexual comments towards women.
The wife of Gregg’s co-host John Torode admitted she would think, ‘I don’t want to hear this’, as he delivered punchlines to crew of the BBC’s flagship show.
Faulkner, 52, appeared on the cookery show in 2010 where she went on to win the Celebrity MasterChef trophy.
The Brookside and Holby City star told the Cheltenham Literature Festival last weekend how she would overhear the former greengrocer’s jokes as she was chopping away, reported The Sun.
She said: ‘Gregg was telling – I’m probably not allowed to say this…Gregg just told rude joke after rude joke to the crew.
‘You’re just sitting there and if you’re on the front bench just chopping away thinking, “I’ve got ten minutes left”, and he’s saying, “So this girl walked into a bar…”
‘And I’m going, “Please, I don’t want to hear this joke”.’
Her husband John, 59, who was on stage with her to promote their new book, told her: ‘It’s changed quite a lot really…’
It comes after Gregg, 59, yesterday denied claims he boasted about his sex life to a younger female BBC employee and took his top off in front of her while filming a game show – saying he would never ‘flirt with’ or ‘hit on’ another woman.
Bosses at the corporation are said to have hauled the MasterChef co-host into a meeting in 2018 following allegations of ‘inappropriate sexual comments’ and told him to ‘change his behaviour’.
An insider claims Gregg brushed it off as ‘just banter’, having been reported for making ‘consistent inappropriate comments’ to the member of the production team while working on game show Impossible Celebrities.
But taking to Instagram, Wallace hit back at the allegations in an emotional video saying he was ‘madly in love’ with his wife Anna.
He said: ‘The story that’s hitting the newspapers this morning was investigated promptly when it happened six years ago by the BBC.
‘And the outcome of that was that I hadn’t said anything sexual. I’ll need to repeat this again. I didn’t say anything sexual.
‘Despite what the newspapers are suggesting nobody six years ago accused me of flirting with anybody or hitting on anybody.
‘And the reason I say this is because of my wife Anna. I have always been true to my wife Anna and have never flirted or hit on anybody in the 12 years [since] I met her and fell in love with her.
‘And it’s important that, so that people don’t misunderstand that, that I am true to my wife.’
The allegations have only now emerged amid the BBC this week launching a probe into workplace culture as bosses aim to crack down on the ‘abuse of power’.
The insider who made the claims against Wallace, which his team says are ‘inaccurate’, raised questions as to why four-times wed Wallace has been allowed to continue to present the BBC’s flagship cookery show MasterChef.
They told the Sun: ‘He is said to have been boasting about his sex life with his partner at the time.
At one point, Gregg was also accused of taking his top off in front of the woman which felt inappropriate. Gregg appeared to think it was all just banter and is also said to have made some comments in front of the live audience.’
The team working on the show were said to have gone to BBC bosses to complain after being left ‘mortified’ by Wallace’s alleged behaviour.
A spokesman for the BBC told The Sun: ‘Whilst we do not comment on individuals, if issues are raised they are dealt with swiftly and appropriately at the time.
‘We do not tolerate any form of inappropriate behaviour and have robust processes in place.’
It was previously reported by the Times back in May last year that he had allegedly offended female staff members at the Nestlé UK factory in York with comments about their weight during a ‘friendly’ conversation.
Wallace then denied that he left the BBC show Inside The Factory in March that year due to inappropriate comments made towards female staff.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain in August 2023, the called the claims ‘inaccurate’.
The newspaper had quoted a source as saying: ‘He was rude towards staff and continued to talk in a derogatory manner, especially to women.’
The comments were reportedly non-sexual but deemed ‘inappropriate’ and a complaint was lodged with Voltage TV, the production company responsible for developing the show.
When asked on GMB by Richard Madeley about his departure from the programme, Wallace responded by saying: ‘There was an argument inside the factory, the reporting isn’t accurate.
‘There was an issue and I thought this is the perfect time to come out.’
‘Offending people? No, no – if you look at the headlines, you can’t see a story that matches those headlines.’
Gregg also revealed that he also wanted to leave to help care for his three-year-old son Sid, who is autistic.
Explaining his home situation, he said: ‘I’ve got a little boy called Sid who at the moment is non-verbal, he is still in nappies, he’s got learning difficulties. Mum needed help there.’
He revealed that the demanding nature of the filming around the different factories across the country meant that it made sense to give it up.
Wallace added: ‘It’s completely inaccurate, I didn’t challenge it. There was an issue, I don’t want to discuss the issue but it wasn’t what the papers said it was.
‘There was nothing offensive to anybody that’s just people guessing. It was a decent time to come out, I think.’