MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace is at the centre of an investigation into alleged sexual comments and inappropriate behaviour, described as “deeply concerning” by Downing Street
Ulrika Jonsson has revealed she was told Gregg Wallace joked about rape, as more women shared claims of uncomfortable experiences with the MasterChef presenter.
TV star Ulrika, 57, said Wallace, 60, made the alleged remark to a fellow contestant who was “really distressed”. Two other Celebrity MasterChef guests, How Clean is your House’s Aggie MacKenzie and reality star Charlotte Crosby, made similar claims yesterday.
It comes after Wallace stepped away from MasterChef as a probe was launched into complaints made against him over a 17-year period. Ulrika, who was in the 2017 series, says she saw the woman walking off-set so she asked her what had happened. She says the woman told her Wallace had made a “rape joke”.
Ulrika made the allegations in an Instagram post, saying: “His lawyers say that all the claims are ‘entirely false’, which I guess makes liars of us all.” In another post, Ulrika claimed that several crew members on the show knew what was going on and had allegedly seen Wallace’s behaviour. “Plenty of crew on set who would not dare to speak up for fear of losing their jobs,” she wrote.
Jokes
Aggie, 69, who was on the 2011 series of Celebrity MasterChef, said Wallace “behaved like a sort of Sid James
character” who made “stupid, unfunny jokes that people kind of had to tolerate”.
“He [was] very old school in his humour,” she told Times Radio.
Geordie Shore star Charlotte, 34, said Wallace was “extremely unpleasant” to her while she was on the BBC show. Wallace has denied allegations of inappropriate sexual comments.
In fresh claims about the former greengrocer, it has been reported that while working on Gregg Wallace’s Big Weekends in 2019 he would regularly talk about sex, domination and spanking to female colleagues. One accused him of making “lesbian jokes constantly”, the BBC reports.
Downing Street has also commented on the allegations against the star, describing them as “deeply concerning”. A No10 spokesman said it is “right” that a thorough investigation into the claims is conducted but that “this, of course, is one for the BBC”.
On Tuesday BBC News sent a letter to Wallace’s representatives outlining the allegations. It was signed by 13 people who claimed they had witnessed his behaviour, including former BBC Newsnight host Kirsty Wark. The Scottish journalist said Wallace told jokes of a “sexualised nature” in front of contestants and crew she felt were “really, really in the wrong place”.
Other allegations have mostly been made anonymously by sources who have not launched official complaints. Two people have made claims against Wallace about historical misconduct, which are being investigated by the production company behind MasterChef, Banijay UK, which has handed over the task to an external organisation.
Other reported allegations include that he was talking about his sex life, was “very touchy-feely” and that he told a junior female colleague he was “not wearing any boxer shorts” under his trousers. Another was how he wandered around the TV studio “completely naked except for [a] sock pulled over his penis”.
Even Sir Rod Stewart waded into the argument, accusing Wallace of mistreating his wife Penny on Celebrity MasterChef.
A Banijay spokesman said: “This week the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working on one of our programmes with presenter Gregg Wallace.
“Whilst the complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review. While this review is under way, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully co-operating throughout the process.”
A BBC spokesman added: “We take any issues raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.”
Yesterday married dad-of-three Wallace posted a picture of food critic William Sitwell’s column in The Telegraph in support of the host, with the headline reading “My mate Gregg has a mouth like Bernard Manning – but he’s a top bloke”. The previous day Wallace thanked his supporters on social media.
Filming on series 21 of MasterChef is nearing completion and will be screened next year. Wallace will not appear in the final episodes, which will either feature co-host John Torode alone or use a guest judge.
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