Gregg Wallace insists ‘I’m no sex pest’ as he apologises over BBC MasterChef scandal
Gregg Wallace broke down in tears during an explosive new interview following his axing from BBC MasterChef, after 45 complaints of inappropriate behavior were upheld.
Wallace insisted that he’s done with the BBC and TV altogether, before making the sensational claim that he was groped by women wanting photo opportunities during his time on MasterChef.
The 60-year-old former greengrocer spoke in his first interview since his sacking by the BBC, claiming he’s been lumped into the same category as sex offenders Jimmy Saville and Huw Edwards.
Speaking with The Sun, he said: “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.
“People think I’ve been taking my trousers down and exposing myself — I am not a flasher. People think I’m a sex pest, I am not. I am not sexist or a misogynist, or any of it. There never were any accusations of sexual harassment.”
“I know I have said things that offended people, that weren’t socially acceptable and perhaps they felt too intimidated or nervous to say anything at the time. I understand that now, and to anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry.
“I don’t expect anyone to have any sympathy with me but I don’t think I am a wrong ’un.”
Regarding the scandal, 45 out of 83 complaints against the host were upheld, including an allegation that he groped someone, and that he walked around the MasterChef studio with just a sock on his private parts.
“Yes, that’s one of the three upheld”, he said in response to the sock story. “Can I clarify what that is though? That was 18 years ago. The studio is shut, there’s no contestants.
“I was getting changed to go to a black tie event, a charity event. I put my bow tie on and my shirt. It’s only them [four friends from the MasterChef show, including Monica Galetti] outside the door. I put the sock on, opened the door, went, ‘Wahey!’ and shut the door again.
“The people interviewed were either amused or bemused. Nobody was distressed.”
In response to the claims he groped a woman, he said it was his attempt at flirting: “It was 15 years ago. Me, drunk, at a party, with my hand on a girl’s bum.
“This girl told me about an affair she was having with a married man who was part of the Conservative government. I can’t remember who it was. She gave me her phone number. I considered that to be intimacy. I was single at the time . . . well, I was dating, but I wasn’t married.
“Now, even in the report, it says, ‘Gregg believes this contact to be consensual’. So, listen, drag me out into the marketplace and stone me now.”
Wallace also went on to sensationally allege he had been groped during his time on MasterChef: ” Have you got any idea of the sexual references made to me on a daily basis?”.
“The whole complaints procedure needs to be readdressed – there are huge problems with it as things stand. Being on MasterChef was brilliant but I had so many bad experiences on that show too.
“Had I wanted to raise any complaints, I’d have had the decency to speak to that person directly. Privately, not publicly. My God, can you imagine the complaints I could have made? Have you got any idea of the sexual references made to me on a daily basis?
“How many times I’ve been touched by women wanting a selfie? How many times I’ve been groped? How many times suggestive comments have been made to me? How many female contestants have said inappropriate things on MasterChef?”
Gregg added that complaining about the alleged touching wouldn’t have “crossed his mind”, noting that it “wasn’t right”, but claimed it was happening to the TV chef on a “regular basis”.
The former broadcaster has said he’s washed his hands of both the BBC and the TV industry after his axing, claiming he has been left hurt by his treatment, and that his biggest regret was “ever stepping foot in a television studio.”
“It wasn’t worth it”, he said, “If I’d have known what was coming up, if I’d have known that what I was doing that made everybody laugh, and was giving me all that success that I was being rewarded for. If I’d have known what that was going to unleash these demons upon me in later life, no way would I have gone anywhere near.
“My biggest regret is that I ever went anywhere near a television studio.”
Wallace proceeded to elaborate on the pressure he was under, which led him to claim it was “middle-class women of a certain age” making accusations against him in a video uploaded to Instagram last winter.
“That’s a phrase that’s going to haunt you forever?”, interviewer Clemmie Moodie probed.
Wallace responded: “Yeah, that’s okay, listen – people think right now I’ve been flashing young women at work and exposing myself. The last thing I care about is the Prime Minister thinking I’m a misogynist! Mate, that’s a massive let-off. It’s a massive let-off for what I’m going through.”
A spokesman for Prime Minister, Kier Starmer, previously said that Mr Wallace’s comments were “completely inappropriate and misogynistic.”
Despite denying he’s flashed women in the past, in December 2024, Wallace’s former ghost writer Shannon Kyle spoke with NewsNight and alleged Wallace had sexually harassed her on numerous occasions, including dropping his towel in front of her at his home, and made several sexually lewd comments about his genitals, all of which the former MasterChef host denies.
“That comment – I will try and explain to me what was happening to me at the time,” he said.
“I lost my job. Newspaper headlines were changing hourly. I had journalists outside my gate. I’ve got my wife and my mother-in-law, who lives here, in tears. No body from BBC has contacted me at all.
“The phone is constantly ringing with numbers that I don’t recognize, and I’m taking a tidal wave of abuse across all social media platforms.
“I hadn’t slept for four days. I can’t describe the amount of pressure you are suddenly under”, he said getting chocked up. “And so I can’t properly explain my reasoning at the time, but again looking at it from a neurodivergent [unintelligible], the people I was seeing, were middle aged women of a certain age”.
British TV presenter, Kirstie Allsopp, took to X in response to the video to slam Wallace for the statement, also claiming he had made innapropriate comments towards her.
“Within 1hr of meeting Gregg Wallace he told me of a sex act that he and his partner at the time enjoyed ‘every morning’, she’d just left the room, we were filming a pilot. Did he get off on how embarrassed I was? It was totally unprofessional. #MiddleClassWomanOfaCertainAge”
Sir Rod Stewart also took aim at the disgraced star, after he shared a post to Instagram claiming the presenter ‘humiliated’ his wife, Penny Lancaster, when she was on the show in 2021.
When allegations emerged, he penned: “So Gregg Wallace gets fired from Masterchef. Good riddance Wallace. You humiliated my wife when she was on the celebrity version of the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you?
He added: “You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart.”
In the interview with The Sun, Wallace admitted the remarks hurt: “I’m actually a Rod Stewart fan. I’ve been to see him twice. So that hurt me. Somebody like that carries a lot of weight. But there was no bullying and no harassing.”
Despite the axing of both Torode and Wallace, the BBC will still air the recent season of MasterChef. Despite being happy it’s airing for the sake of the contestants, Wallace said he will not be watching the show.
The BBC haven’t confirmed who will replace the former hosts, but rumours are circulating that Grace Dent, Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti could be in the running.