Gregg Wallace has spoken about his sacking from MasterChef after inappropriate behaviour whereas working for the BBC – however insisted he’s “not a groper, a sex pest or a flasher”.
Wallace, 60, has apologised after a report, commissioned by the cooking present’s manufacturing firm Banijay UK, discovered 45 out of 83 allegations had been substantiated.
In an interview with The Solar, he stated: “I know I have said things that offended people… I understand that now – and to anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry.
“I do not count on anybody to have any sympathy with me however I do not assume I’m a mistaken ‘un.”
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MasterChef co-host John Torode additionally had an allegation that he used an “extremely offensive racist term” upheld, as a part of the identical investigation.
Torode, who insisted he had “absolutely no recollection” of the alleged incident, has not had his contract for the present renewed.
Wallace has now defended Torode, saying: “I’ve recognized John for 30 years and he’s not a racist.
“There is no way that man is a racist. No way. And my sympathies go out to John because I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve been through.”
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Gregg Wallace has defended his former MasterChef co-host John Torode (left). File pic: PA
At one level, Wallace grew to become tearful in the course of the interview when describing the impression of the investigation on his household.
“I have seen myself written about in the same sentence as Jimmy Savile and Huw Edwards, paedophiles and sex offenders. That is just so, so horrific.”
In respect to the particular allegation of undesirable touching, Wallace denied groping a girl and stated that, whereas he was making an attempt to flirt together with her, he did consider the contact it was consensual.
“She gave me her phone number. I considered that to be intimacy. It was 15 years ago. Me, drunk, at a party, with my hand on a girl’s bum,” he stated.
He additionally accepted he had briefly appeared with a sock on his non-public components in entrance of 4 colleagues in MasterChef studio. However he stated his is just not a flasher, and other people had been both “amused or bemused” however not distressed.
On the broader allegations about utilizing inappropriate language, Wallace accepted the criticism and advised that a few of his conduct could possibly be defined by his autism and his background.
“I know I am odd. I know I struggle to read people. I know people find me weird. Autism is a… registered disability. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
He additionally blamed his former profession: “I’m a greengrocer from Peckham. I thrived in Covent Garden’s fruit and veg market. In that environment that is jovial and crude. It is learned behaviour.”
On Wednesday, the BBC confirmed a collection of MasterChef filmed final 12 months, earlier than allegations in opposition to presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode had been upheld, will nonetheless be broadcast.
