Gregg Wallace latest: Kirstie Allsopp slams ‘sex act’ remark amid backlash over blaming ‘women of certain age’

Politicians have spoken out about concerns surrounding Gregg Wallace’s misconduct allegations.

The Conservative chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Caroline Dinenage, vowed to raise concerns to BBC bosses when possible.

She told The Telegraph: “BBC bosses appear in front of us on a regular basis and at the next opportunity I’m sure members will want to raise the issue of the BBC complaints process and whether it’s protecting the staff who work there or on its behalf.”

Labour MP and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee member Paul Waugh echoed these concerns; “Both BBC staff and the wider public will want to know whether the Corporation’s processes are fit for purpose. And I hope the director-general will have some answers when he’s next before the Committee.”

There’s a good reason why the disgraced former MasterChef host is angry with ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ – we’ve spent a lifetime putting up with men’s bad behaviour, and age brings the confidence to stand up to it, says Alice Smellie:

TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson, who claimed Gregg Wallace made a “rape joke” during the filming of Celebrity MasterChef, has said she was “seething” after seeing him single out “middle-class women of a certain age”.

Jonsson is one of several women who have accused Wallace of inappropriate behaviour as she claimed he was forced to apologise for the joke he made during filming for an episode of the cooking competition.

In response to Wallace’s comments made on social media this morning, the presenter told The Telegraph: “When he made reference to women of a certain age I was just seething… I was just absolutely wild.

“My first reaction was just, ‘Keep digging, Gregg. Keep digging’ because this shows the arrogance of a man who has zero introspection or self-awareness.

“When we refer to women ‘of a certain age’, they tend to be women my age, over 50, which is ironic because we are some of the hardiest women out there. When I was starting out, we had to put up with all sorts of sexist, misogynistic comments, and we put up with them.

‘‘It’s the height of arrogance for him to say, ‘Oh it’s this small bunch, it’s this small cohort of people who are different’. No, Gregg, actually, it’s not about being different. It’s about being respectable and having some ability to not just read the room, but to read the world.”

Amid accusations of inappropriate behaviour, Gregg Wallace has taken to social media to share supportive messages he has received in recent days.

The MasterChef host, who has stepped down in light of recent allegations, has posted screenshots of several messages from former contestants to his Instagram story on Sunday.

Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has advised Gregg Wallace to “rein it in” as the MasterChef host takes to social media to respond to claims of inappropriate behaviour against him.

In response to Wallace’s earlier claim that all complainants against him were “middle-class women of a certain age”, Fearnley-Whittingstall said the comments were “not wise”.

He told the BBC that he doesn’t know the fallen star well, but having met him a few times, called him “likeable and professional”.

He said: “I don’t think it’s smart to come out talking like that when at the moment he should probably be listening.”

The presenter, 60, known for his colourful on-camera quips was previously accused of making sexually inappropriate comments to a female BBC colleague in 2018, and was forced to quit Inside the Factory over “inappropriate” remarks allegedly made to female staff last year, which he denies.

Wallace, who – among other complaints – has been accused by former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark of making jokes of a “sexualised nature” when she was competing on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011, has previously said he resents any insinuation he was “flirting” with someone who is not his wife Anna, 37.

Read the full report here:

The company that produces MasterChef, has confirmed Gregg Wallace is not contracted for future series as an investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour is carried out.

Production company Banijay UK told The Independent that Wallace is contracted on a series by series basis and is not set to be a part of future series while the investigation is ongoing.

Upcoming episodes of MasterChef are expected to air on the BBC as planned after Gregg Wallace stepped down from his role as a host of the cooking show.

Future episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals are still slated to air on the broadcaster, while two Christmas specials are planned for the festive season.

A BBC spokesperson told The Independent: “Right now the plan is, if it’s already been recorded, it will go out.”

John Torode’s rare comments about Gregg Wallace are being dredged up in the wake of the allegations against his co-host.

In 2017, Torode made headlines after claiming that he had “never been friends” with Wallace.

He said in an interview with The Mirror: “It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses. If we go away to somewhere like South Africa, we do things separately. If we do go out for a drink, I’ll invariably be at one end of a big old table and he’ll be at the other.”

However, Torode was best man during Wallace’s wedding to Anne-Maire Sterpini in 2016 and, despite his attempts to seemingly distance himself from his co-host, Wallace said on an episode of Lorraine that same year: “I film with John six or seven months of the year, so we are very close to each other physically, and emotionally we are very close to each other.

“What’s great about having a partnership is that if one of you is a bit off, a bit down, the other one naturally steps up, so I rely on John a lot.”