Gregg Wallace to sue BBC over alleged autism discrimination
'I was never the caricature now being sold for clicks.’
Gregg Wallace is reportedly preparing to take legal action against the BBC and the production team behind MasterChef, claiming he was discriminated against due to his autism following his dismissal from the long-running series.
The TV presenter and former greengrocer, 59, is at the centre of a formal investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct during his time on the show.
Yesterday, it was revealed that 50 more people had approached the corporation with claims about the TV presenter.
Last year the 60-year-old confirmed he was stepping away from MasterChef amid an external review into historical allegations of misconduct.
He faced accusations of making ‘inappropriate sexual jokes’ and lewd comments on set, asking for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressing in front of and standing ‘too close’ to women working on his shows.
While Wallace strongly denies any serious misconduct – including accusations of groping – he admits that his behaviour may have been misinterpreted and attributes much of it to social misunderstandings stemming from his autism, which he was only formally diagnosed with recently.
The TV presenter was recently formally diagnosed with autism (Picture: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images) He has been officially fired by the BBC (Picture: BBC/Shine TV)Insiders suggest that Wallace is arguing his sense of humour and communication style was misunderstood in a neurotypical working environment.
‘Gregg is guilty of bad jokes and rough humour,’ a source told The Telegraph. ‘But so many people on the show talked openly about suspecting that he had autism for years before he got his diagnosis.’
Wallace, who has been a staple of the BBC’s food programming for nearly two decades, claims that his dismissal amounts to workplace discrimination, and sources close to the presenter say he is seeking legal redress under disability rights protections.
The BBC has not yet publicly commented on the potential lawsuit or the findings of the internal review, which are expected to outline a pattern of behaviour deemed inappropriate by production staff over several years.
