BBC MasterChef host Gregg Wallace faces new accusations after 'stepping away'

Gregg Wallace has been accused of making 'lesbian jokes' and 'highly inappropriate' comments in the latest of a string of complaints made against the TV presenter by people who claim they previously worked with him.

The new accusations, reported by BBC News, follow Thursday’s announcement that Wallace will step away from hosting hit BBC cooking show MasterChef while historical misconduct complaints are externally reviewed by the show’s production company, Banijay UK.

A woman who worked on Gregg Wallace’s Big Weekends in 2019, which aired on Channel 5, and who BBC News has called Anna, told the outlet he was “fascinated” that she dated women and asked her the “logistics” of how it worked. She also said he reportedly talked about sex, domination and spanking, which she said was “highly inappropriate”.

READ MORE: 'Self-serving coward's' first account to police after death of young mum in his bed caught on body cam footage

Another woman who worked on the show, who BBC News has called Amanda, said Wallace allegedly showed her photos of a woman in her underwear while they were travelling in a car together. She also recalled that he allegedly started showing her and another male colleague his outfits for the next day in his hotel room in Italy after they had finished filming, and that he took off his top and said “let me give you a fashion show”.

Her colleague then left the room and she told BBC News: “It’s weird to be alone in a room with a topless stranger.”

A Channel 5 spokesperson said: “We take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously. We have asked the production company to look into these historical claims. The health and wellbeing of everyone involved in our productions is very important to us and we want all of our productions to be safe and secure places for people to work.”

Production company Rumpus Media, which produces Big Weekends, added: “We do not tolerate inappropriate behaviour on our productions. Our comprehensive duty of care processes were in place during production of these series and any matters raised would have been investigated in accordance with these.”

Another woman, who BBC News has named Georgina, reportedly worked with the TV presenter on BBC’s Eat Well For Less TV show in 2019 and recalled him making comments on how his wife was only two years older than her.

She also told the outlet that after he went to his car to sort his parking ticket, he allegedly replied: “You can come to my car, but can you handle the fact everyone will think you just got off with a celebrity?”

Model Ulrika Jonsson also told The Telegraph that when she competed on Celebrity MasterChef in 2017, Wallace allegedly had to apologise after making a “rape joke”, which caused another female contestant to become “really distressed”.

Jonsson did not hear the joke but said that when another contestant walked off the set, she was told what had occurred.

On Thursday, BBC News reported that the 60-year-old faces allegations from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period including former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark. The TV star’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”, BBC News reported. A statement from Banijay UK on Thursday said Wallace is “committed to fully co-operating” with an external review.

In an Instagram post on Thursday evening, Wallace thanked his followers, writing: “I would like to thank all the people getting in touch, reaching out and showing their support. It’s good of you, thank you very much.”

A statement from Banijay UK on Thursday said: “This week the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows. Whilst these 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 to fully and impartially investigate.

“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 said: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them. We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated."