A watchdog chairwoman has claimed Gregg Wallace hid his ‘uglier side’ from the public thanks to his ‘cheeky chappy’ persona on MasterChef before his axe amid misconduct claims
Gregg Wallace has been accused of playing up to a “cheeky chappy” persona while the public were unaware of his “uglier side”. The presenter was sacked from his TV roles yesterday following a lengthy investigation into misconduct claims, in which he denies any wrongdoing.
He was removed from his MasterChef hosting duty when a number of historical complaints came to light. Since then, 50 more people have come forward with fresh claims against Wallace.
Wallace has denied all claims made against him and said the investigation cleared him of the “most serious and sensational accusations”.
The report is yet to be made public, but Wallace said he recognised some of his humour and language was inappropriate “at times” and apologised for this.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, who heads the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, which aims to improve behaviour in the creative industries has said his alleged misconduct “should’ve never been acceptable”.
The watchdog chairwoman told BBC’s Newsnight: “The thing about this is that it should’ve never been acceptable behaviour, and people did complain about it.
“Being a cheeky chappy and the guy that the public were attracted to as being their frank-speaking, playful man that they saw on the telly, he was not speaking on the television the way that he was speaking to the people around him.”
Baroness Kennedy said the public might have enjoyed watching Wallace playing the “cheeky chappy” but that they had not seen his “uglier side”. She added: “Now I know that Gregg was saying that he is someone with neurodiversity problems, that he’s autistic, and that may explain some of his deeply inappropriate behaviour, but he’s not inhibited, he’s disinhibited in what he does, but that’s also a role for management.
“If you employ someone, and then you discover that they actually don’t know how to contain themselves and how to behave, then you have to basically be taking them on one side and nipping it in the bud at an early stage. That was not done.
“I think that’s part of a reflection of the way in which television has changed in the last 20 years.” Baroness Kennedy said “it’s not so much that suddenly we’ve become politically correct” but the issue was about behaviour that was never acceptable.
Production firm Banijay previously said Wallace was “committed to fully co-operating” with the external review, while his lawyers had previously strongly denied “he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.
A BBC spokesperson told The Mirror: “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.”
In a lengthy statement on Instagram, Wallace wrote: “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.”
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