Gregg Wallace ‘fascinated by my sex life and made lesbian jokes’
BBC/ShineTV presenter Greg Wallace has been accused of “constantly making lesbian jokes” by a woman who works with him on a travel show.
The woman, who we’ll call Anna, said he was “fascinated” by the fact that she was dating women and asked her how the “logistics” of dating worked. She is one of a number of programmers who have made allegations about the TV presenter to BBC News.
On Thursday, the production company of “MasterChef” said Wallace would exit the show amid an investigation into allegations of historical misconduct.
Wallace’s attorneys say the suggestion that he engaged in conduct of a sexually harassing nature is simply false. Masterchef’s production company, Banijay UK, has launched an investigation and said Wallace is cooperating.
Other allegations heard by the BBC included Wallace talking about spankings and threesomes in front of staff.
“I want to thank everyone who has reached out to me and reached out and shown their support,” Wallace said in a video posted on Instagram Thursday night.
“That’s so kind of you – thank you so much.”
WARNING – This article contains distressing content
Anna worked on Greg Wallace’s Big Weekend in 2019. She told us that Wallace often talked about sex, domination and spanking.
“(It was) very inappropriate,” she said.
She said he also frequently made comments about her sexual orientation, including when he met her partner.
“I dated women and Greg Wallace was obsessed with it,” she said.
She added that he asked her if she was “sure” she didn’t want to date a man.
“I refuse to work with him again”
Another woman, whom we’ll call Georgina, joined Wallace in 2019 on the BBC TV show Eat Well For Less.
She said he often said inappropriate things to her, including saying his wife was only two years older than her.
“It makes me uncomfortable,” she said. “What should I say in response to that?”
Another time, she said she had to go to Wallace’s car to help him with a parking ticket.
She asked him if that was okay, and he allegedly replied: “You can come to my car, but can you accept the fact that everyone is going to think you just slept with a famous person?”
Georgina and her colleague (who we’ll call Lisa) also said that on one occasion during filming, he emerged from the bathroom topless in front of them and asked them to order coffee for him.
“(Wallace’s) behavior was unacceptable,” Lisa said.
“Not only continuing to put women in these scenarios, but continuing to publicly give him a platform is a disgrace to the standards of our industry.”
Georgina said she refused to perform with him thereafter.
“He said he was going to give me a fashion show.”
Another young female worker, known to the BBC as Amanda, highlighted two experiences with Wallace while filming the Channel 5 program Greg Wallace’s Big Weekend in 2019.
The first time, she said, was when they were traveling together in a car. She said he pulled out his phone and showed her a photo of a woman in her underwear.
The second time, she said they had just finished filming in Italy and she took him back to his hotel room.
She said he started showing them outfits for the next day, then took off his top and said “let me show you a fashion show.”
A male co-worker was initially in the room, but she said he then left, leaving her and Wallace alone.
She said she still remembered the tattoo on her chest at Millwall and found the hotel room experience extremely uncomfortable.
“It felt weird being alone in a room with a shirtless stranger.”
BBC News, which is editorially independent from the wider organization, began investigating Wallace this summer after becoming aware of the allegations. The accounts we heard are from 13 people on 5 shows between 2005 and 2022.
One of them was broadcaster Kirsty Wark, a contestant on Celebrity Chef 2011, who said he told some “sexy” jokes during filming.
On Tuesday, we sent a letter to Wallace’s representatives outlining the allegations we heard.
Two days later, news broke that Wallace would be quitting MasterChef pending an investigation.
Since then, more and more people have come forward to make accusations against the host.
Singer Sir Rod Stewart wrote on Instagram on Thursday that Wallace was a “disrespectful bully” and said the host “humiliated” his wife when she appeared on MasterChef in 2021 .
BBC News has asked Wallace’s representatives to comment on Sir Rod’s post.
Other claims made to BBC News include:
- In 2019, a female “MasterChef” staff member said Wallace talked about sex and asked her new boyfriend if his butt was good.
- A female staff member on a BBC food show in 2010 said Wallace stared at her breasts
- A female staff member on Eat Well For Less in 2019 said Wallace told her he was not wearing boxer shorts underneath his jeans
- A male staff member on “MasterChef” in 2005-06 said Wallace often said sexually explicit material on the set. He said Wallace once said a dish tasted like his aunt’s vagina, and another time he asked a female runner if she put her fingers up her boyfriend’s butt
- A male staff member who worked on Big Weekend and other travel shows between 2019 and 2022 said Wallace talked about threesomes with prostitutes and said he “enjoyed being spanked” several times a day
Getty ImagesOne of Britain’s largest unions said it was aware of the allegations about Wallace’s behavior.
“I would say I’m surprised by the reports, but… I guess my reaction is that it’s a matter of when, not if these stories start to emerge,” Bectu chief Philippa Childs told BBC News.
She said it was difficult for freelancers to lodge a complaint due to the volatile nature of the industry.
“They’re always concerned about where the next job is going to come from or if they’re going to be able to establish themselves in the industry,” she said.
“So there’s a tendency not to report, to feel it’s not safe to report, to feel that even if they did report, the production company or the broadcaster wouldn’t take them seriously and wouldn’t take action because of the power that the person on the screen might have.”
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey said Wallace was “the latest in a long line of presenters who have behaved badly”.
She said she was “particularly concerned” that the issues had been raised and investigated “yet this behavior was allowed to continue”.
“(Television hosting) is not a unique skill and I think we have to stop looking at hosts as special cases, they are just one person in a larger team that puts a show on and they are no longer or not as special as others ,” she said.
“Somehow we have a culture, I guess because it started in show business, of pandering to those who are in front of the camera and making them behave in ways that others on the team are not allowed to do. “
But others defended Wallace. Television producer Alice Harper told The Times: “I know Greg very well and have managed a team, many of whom were young women, and I have never seen Greg do anything inappropriate,”
He was constantly telling jokes on set to put people at ease…I had to teach him some things that were not appropriate to joke about. I had to pull him aside a few times and he accepted this and became more careful. “
Journalist William Sitwell, who has known Wallace for about 25 years, said in a Daily Telegraph column that Wallace “always had a genuine concern for the welfare of those around him.”
“He builds relationships with the contestants, there is a palpable warmth and, off camera, his interest is not in what they cook but in what they do and who they are.”
Sitwell added that Wallace “made jokes like he was running the Bernard Manning Comedy Studio. Some were silly, some were outrageous. Of course, that was the point of the joke. ”
Powerful people “get away with it”
The allegations come at a difficult time for the BBC.
October, BBC announces details The US government has launched a review to prevent abuses of power after former top news presenter Huw Edwards was found guilty of crimes involving child abuse images.
In November, BBC chairman Samir Shah said in a speech that “people still think powerful people ‘get away with it'”.
One MasterChef staffer we spoke to (we’ll call her Claire) believes that how the industry responds to the accusations is the root of the problem.
“We should be doing a better job of dealing with this, we should be doing a better job of shutting things down and not letting celebrity or fame or power embolden people to think they can do this and treat people really badly.”
Banijay UK, the producers of MasterChef, announced the investigation on Thursday, saying in a statement: “This week, the BBC received a complaint from an individual in relation to an interview with host Gregg Wallace on our There have been historical allegations of inappropriate behavior while working together on a show.”
Wallace, 60, “is committed to cooperating fully throughout this process,” the statement added.
If you are affected by any of the issues in this article, you can get help and support at: BBC Action Line
Banij’s statement concluded by encouraging anyone with any questions or concerns to come forward.
A BBC spokesman said: “We take any concerns raised with us seriously and have robust processes in place to deal with them.”
last month, The BBC also announced Undertake an independent review of its workplace culture.
A spokesman for Channel 5, which broadcasts Big Weekend, said: “We take any allegations of this nature very seriously.
“We have asked the production company to investigate these historical claims. The health and well-being 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.”
Rumpus, the production company behind Big Weekend, said: “We will not tolerate misconduct in our productions.
“We have comprehensive duty of care processes in place during the production of these series and any concerns raised will be investigated in accordance with these processes.”
