Gregg Wallace is facing fresh allegations of misconduct from 50 people who came forward following the launch of an inquiry into his behaviour on set.
The 60–year–old greengrocer turned MasterChef star has been unceremoniously sacked from the show ahead of the publication of a report into allegations of misconduct, conducted by law firm Lewis Silkin on behalf of production firm Banijay.
At 3pm on Tuesday, Wallace put out a lengthy statement on Instagram in which he blasted the broadcaster – and claimed the report, which has not been published, had deemed the most serious allegations against him to be ‘baseless’.
Around an hour later, BBC News published a bombshell report claiming it had been contacted by 50 more people with fresh claims – including one worker who was told after she raised concerns: ‘You’re over 16, you’re not being ‘Jimmy Saviled”.
Other allegations include a 2002 claim that Wallace put his hand on a woman’s groin at dinner ahead of filming of Saturday Kitchen and asked her: ‘Do you like that?’
Several women have made allegations that Wallace groped them after putting his hand up their dress or skirt – including a university student who said he acted improperly as he took a photo with her in 2013.
And a junior worker has claimed that Wallace dropped his trousers in front of her in 2012 – and was not wearing any underwear.
Wallace, who has been married to fourth wife Anne–Marie Sterpini since 2016, has vehemently denied the latest allegations, and has reportedly claimed to friends the stress of the probe gave him a suspected heart attack.
The BBC is also facing fresh questions over how much it knew about Wallace’s alleged misconduct and when, as the mountain of claims continues to grow.
Out of the 50 new accusers, 11 claim to have been the subject of inappropriate sexual behaviour such as groping and touching. The vast majority of other claims relate to inappropriate sexual comments.
Wallace has appeared to suggest the newest accusations, many of which are reported to have been made by young female freelancers, are ‘legally unsafe’, and claims some of them were previously investigated and not upheld by the BBC.
He has also accused the BBC of allowing its News arm to publish ‘uncorroborated tittle tattle’ to ‘get ahead’ of the Silkin report.
BBC sources have furiously insisted to that its News arm remains editorially independent of other parts of the broadcaster, and that it has not had sight of the document.
Some of those accusing Wallace last night said they did not feel able to speak up for fear of negatively impacting their careers in TV.
A spokesperson told BBC News last night that the star ‘continues to cooperate fully with the ongoing Banijay UK review and as previously stated, denies engaging in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature’.
One women, named Alice, who says she worked on MasterChef between 2011 and 2023 when she was in her 20s, claimed Wallace pushed her onto a sofa and pulled down his trousers to reveal he was not wearing any underwear.
But when she reported the incident to a senior member of staff at Shine – the MasterChef production firm now owned by Banijay – they reportedly replied: ‘You’re over 16, you’re not being ‘Jimmy Saviled’.’
She told BBC News she felt let down and that as a ‘lowly’ member of staff she should just ‘be grateful and get on with it’. Alice has since made submissions to the Banijay inquiry.
She is one of two women to claim Wallace exposed himself during professional work.
The second, called Anna, claimed he did so as he was changing clothes during a photoshoot in 2012 – and was not wearing any underwear, similar to Alice’s claim.
Anna further claimed Wallace was very ‘touchy–feely’ and would grab her hips as she adjusted his clothes during the shoot.
She chose to speak up after being infuriated by Wallace’s initially dismissive response to early allegations, when he said he was being accused by ‘middle–class women of a certain age’, for which he later apologised.
Other claims include: a woman who said she was groped by Wallace at a MasterChef wrap party; another who says he pushed into her hotel room and stripped off during a book tour before falling asleep, waking, and touching her bottom, saying: ‘Nice a***’.
A number of men have told BBC News that they witnessed Wallace making inappropriate sexual comments, including a former policeman; and a 19-year-old woman said she tried to complain about comments he made about her body in 2023.
The Sun reported on Tuesday that Wallace had been sacked from MasterChef ahead of the report’s publication. He has been replaced by food critic Grace Dent.
He also quit Inside the Factory in 2023, claiming he was doing so to spend more time with his son. However, The Times reported that he left the programme after upsetting female staff at a Nestle factory with comments about their weight.
Top Gear star and comedian Paddy McGuinness has since taken over presenting duties on the show.
Questions have been raised as to how much the BBC knew of Wallace’s alleged misconduct before the claims emerged at the end of 2024.
Kate Phillips, then controller for entertainment commissioning overseeing MasterChef, is reported to have warned Wallace in 2017 that his behaviour had been ‘unacceptable and cannot continue’, according to emails seen by The Sunday Times.
Following alleged inappropriate conduct during filming of Impossible Celebrities a year later, she is said to have told him in a further letter than aspects of his behaviour had been ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unprofessional’.
An hour before the BBC published the latest bombshell allegations, Wallace had taken to Instagram to claim he had seen a pre–publication version of the Lewis Silkin report commissioned by Banijay into his alleged misconduct.
The production firm had ordered the legal probe in November 2024 after a number of women who had worked with Wallace, including celebrities, accused him of inappropriate sexual behaviour.
They included Kirsty Wark and Ulrika Jonsson, who said Wallace told sexualised jokes and made gags about rape on the set of Celebrity MasterChef, and the singer Rod Stewart, who said he had ‘humiliated’ wife Penny Lancaster on the show.
Radio host Aasmah Mir, who appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in 2017, claimed Wallace had told her to call a BBC colleage a ‘sexy b****’, and said Jonsson had told her she handled fish ‘like a rapist doing foreplay’.
On the production side, a woman who dated other women claimed he was ‘fascinated’ by her sex life and made ‘constant’ lesbian jokes, while others alleged that he talked about spanking and threesomes in front of film crews.
The Silkin inquiry report is due to be published to relevant parties on Thursday – but Wallace says he has seen it and that it absolves him of the ‘most damaging’ claims.
‘I have taken the decision to speak out ahead of the publication of the Silkins report –a decision I do not take lightly,’ he wrote on Instagram.
But after 21 years of loyal service to the BBC, I cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged to protect others.
‘I have now been cleared by the Silkins report of the most serious and sensational accusations made against me.
‘The most damaging claims (including allegations from public figures which have not been upheld) were found to be baseless after a full and forensic six–month investigation.’
The presenter accused BBC News of publishing ‘legally unsafe’ new accusations, some of which he said had already been investigated and not upheld by either the BBC or Silkin as it made inquiries.
He further accused the broadcaster of ‘peddling baseless and sensationalised gossip masquerading as properly corroborated stories’ and ‘tittle tattle’.
And he appeared to confirm that he had been formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, after friends previously suggested that his ‘neurodiversity’ could be to blame for some of his behaviour.
A source told the Telegraph last year that some of his traits ‘seem(ed) to fit’ with an autism diagnosis, adding: ‘He tells inappropriate jokes, but it’s never been malicious. He just doesn’t understand that sometimes the jokes he tells aren’t funny.’
But Wallace, whose son is autistic and non–verbal, was dropped by charity Ambitious about Autism as allegations surfaced.
Disability charity Blind Ambition later criticised him for ‘misrepresenting’ autism as a precursor to inappropriate behaviour.
The presenter, who was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022, says he ‘will not go quietly’ after being given the sack.
He continued in his statement: ‘To be clear, the Silkin’s Report exonerates me of all the serious allegations which made headlines last year and finds me primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018.
‘I recognise that some of my humour and language, at times, was inappropriate. For that, I apologise without reservation. But I was never the caricature now being sold for clicks.
‘I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges and all.
‘For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand. Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.
‘My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of Master Chef.
‘Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over twenty years. That failure is now being quietly buried.’
The Silkin report is said to run to over 200 pages – but will not be made public. Instead, Wallace claims, the BBC will publish an executive summary.
He has hinted that the report has ‘erased’ a summary of other individuals, who he did not name, that were found ‘guilty of serious allegations’.
Wallace concluded: ‘I will not go quietly. I will not be cancelled for convenience. I was tried by media and hung out to dry well before the facts were established.
‘The full story of this incredible injustice must be told and it is very much a matter of public interest.’
A BBC spokesperson told today: ‘Banijay UK instructed the law firm Lewis Silkin to run an investigation into allegations against Gregg Wallace.
‘We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings are published.’
Banijay told BBC News yesterday it was still open to contact from anyone with concerns to raise.
It said in a statement: ‘While the external investigation is ongoing, we won’t be commenting on individual allegations.
‘We encourage anyone wishing to raise issues or concerns to contact us in confidence.’
A spokesperson for Lewis Silkin told today that it would not be commenting, directing all inquiries to Banijay UK.
has contacted BBC News, Banijay UK and Gregg Wallace for further comment.
‘I have taken the decision to speak out ahead of the publication of the Silkins report – a decision I do not take lightly.
‘But after 21 years of loyal service to the BBC, I cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged to protect others.
‘I have now been cleared by the Silkins report of the most serious and sensational accusations made against me.
‘The most damaging claims (including allegations from public figures which have not been upheld) were found to be baseless after a full and forensic six–month investigation.
‘My decision to go public now is also driven by the fact the BBC News division are intending to platform legally unsafe accusations, including claims which have already been investigated and not upheld by the BBC and found not credible by Silkins.
‘The BBC is no longer providing balanced and impartial public service journalism. It is peddling baseless and sensationalised gossip masquerading as properly corroborated stories.
‘The BBC is choosing to allow BBC News to run with this uncorroborated tittle tattle in an attempt to ‘get ahead of the Silkin’s summary report and derail what has been an extremely thorough process.
‘This feels to me like BBC News is chasing slanderous click–bait rather than delivering impartial journalism.
‘To be clear, the Silkin’s Report exonerates me of all the serious allegations which made headlines last year and finds me primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018.
‘I recognise that some of my humour and language, at times, was inappropriate. For that, I apologise without reservation. But I was never the caricature now being sold for clicks.
‘I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges and all.
‘For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand. Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.
‘My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of Master Chef.
‘Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over twenty years. That failure is now being quietly buried.
‘Unfortunately, the full report (over 200 pages) will never be seen. Later this week, the BBC will publish a short Executive Summary.
‘What really concerns me about the short summary is others who have been found guilty of serious allegations have been erased from the published version of events. I, and I’m sure the public, would like to know why?
‘I will not go quietly. I will not be cancelled for convenience. I was tried by media and hung out to dry well before the facts were established.
The full story of this incredible injustice must be told and it is very much a matter of public interest.’