Former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has vowed he’ll “not go quietly”, amid reviews that he has been dropped by the BBC.
It comes after the TV host confronted an investigation, commissioned by MasterChef’s manufacturing firm Banijay UK, into alleged inappropriate behaviour whereas working for the BBC.
In November, the 60-year-old stepped again from presenting the cooking present after accusations that he made sexual feedback in the direction of employees and celeb company on a spread of programmes over 17 years.
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Gregg Wallace acquired an MBE for companies to meals and charity in 2023. Pic: PA
In a press release, launched forward of the publication of the abstract of a report into the claims, the 60-year-old mentioned he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made towards him.
Nonetheless, he mentioned the report, carried out by regulation agency Lewis Silkin, had discovered him “primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018”.
In a press release, revealed on Instagram, Wallace wrote: “I have taken the decision to speak out ahead of the publication of the Silkins report (sic) – a decision I do not take lightly.
“However after 21 years of loyal service to the BBC, I can not sit in silence whereas my popularity is additional broken to guard others.
“I have now been cleared by the Silkins report of the most serious and sensational accusations made against me.
“Essentially the most damaging claims (together with from public figures which haven’t been upheld) have been discovered to be baseless after a full and forensic six-month investigation.
“To be clear, the Silkins 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.”
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Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
Wallace mentioned he recognised that “some of my humour and language” was at instances “inappropriate” and that he apologised “without reservation”.
“But I was never the caricature now being sold for clicks,” Wallace, who additionally referred to his current prognosis of autism, added.
“I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges, and all.
“For over twenty years, that authenticity was a part of the model. Now, in a sanitised world, that very same persona is seen as an issue.”
Shortly after the allegations first emerged, Wallace recorded a video where he dismissed his accusers as “middle-class ladies of a sure age”.
His remarks were met with huge criticism – including from Downing Street, where a spokesperson for the prime minister described them as “utterly inappropriate and misogynistic”.
Wallace responded by posting a follow-up clip where he apologised and said he “wasn’t in an excellent area” when he posted the feedback.
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Wallace and his accomplice Anne-Marie Sterpini in 2014
Wallace was changed within the twentieth season of MasterChef, which aired this Spring, by restaurant critic and former I am A Superstar contestant Grace Dent.
Beforehand recorded episodes of MasterChef that includes Wallace, together with two celeb Christmas specials, a Superstar MasterChef Christmas Cook dinner Off and a MasterChef Strictly Festive Extravaganza, that includes Strictly Come Dancing skilled dancers, have been pulled from the BBC’s 2024 festive schedule in response to the accusations towards him.
The previous presenter has just lately been selling his well being and way of life web site, which pulls collectively a workforce of consultants, together with nutritionists and medical doctors, alongside together with his spouse Anna as recipe curator.
Wallace’s attorneys have beforehand referred to as allegations that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature “entirely false”.
A spokesperson for the BBC mentioned: “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.”
