Where did it all go wrong for MasterChef after BBC show’s scandals?
Here's how the last nine months have gone.
Over the course of nine months, the present and future of MasterChef has changed dramatically.
Ever since reports emerged last autumn of misconduct allegations against presenter Gregg Wallace, the hit BBC show has been rocked by scandal and uncertainty.
From historic claims to the TV star’s ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ comment, a lost has happened over the past few months.
Just a week ago, things took another turn when it was revealed his longtime co-star John Torode’s contract isn’t being renewed, with new presenters set to step in.
Here’s how we got to where we are today…
October 2024 – Misconduct claims against Gregg Wallace first emerge Issues had been raised about Gregg Wallace’s behaviour on other sprogrammes (Picture: BBC/Shine TV)Last autumn, Gregg Wallace was accused of making ‘inappropriate sexual comments’ while working on BBC game show Impossible Celebrities in 2018.
He was also accused of being rude and insulting to women on another programme in 2023.
At the time, he said on social media that the claims had been investigated by the BBC six years earlier, and that ‘the outcome of that was that [he] hadn’t said anything sexual’.
November 2024 – Gregg Wallace steps away from MasterChef amid allegations The media star had denied allegations against him (Picture: BBC/Shine TV)The following month, further allegations emerged around various incidents on the MasterChef set, including claims he appeared almost ‘completely naked’.
At the time, he was announced he would be stepping away from the show as producer Banijay started an investigation into historical allegations of misconduct.
This included one former production member who made a formal complaint about an incident from other a decade ago, claiming he held her head and thrust his body towards her, mimicking a sex act, while she knelt to clean a mark his trousers.
He faced allegations from 13 people across a variety of shows (Picture: Channel 5)He was also accused of sexual harassment on MasterChef, and allegations he was ‘fascinated’ by an unnamed woman on a separate travel show who happened to be a lesbian.
The allegations were made by 13 people who worked with him over a variety of shows over 17 years.
The BBC said that they take any complaints ‘seriously’ and that they ‘have robust processes in place’ for such situations, while Wallace’s lawyers claimed it is ‘entirely false’ that he engages in a ‘behaviour of a sexually harassing nature’.
Around the same time, in response to the reports, Sir Rod Stewart slammed Gregg and accused him of ‘humiliating’ his wife Penny Lancaster on the celebrity edition of MasterChef.
December 2024 – Gregg Wallace makes statement against ‘middle-class women of a certain age’To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
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Previous Page Next PageIn December 2024, Gregg Wallace made his now-infamous statement hitting back at ‘middle-class women of a certain age’.
He said: ‘I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years, amateur, celebrity and professional MasterChef, and in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, different backgrounds, all walks of life.
‘Apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time.
‘In the newspaper, I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.’
