Culture reporters, BBC News
BBCFormer MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has said he is “so sorry” to anyone he hurt, but insisted that he is “not a groper, a sex pest or a flasher”.
In a new interview with The Sun, the TV presenter also defended his sacked co-host John Torode, saying he is “not a racist”.
Wallace was sacked earlier this month after a report upheld 45 allegations about his behaviour on the programme, including one of unwelcome physical contact and three of being in a state of undress.
Torode was also axed after a claim against him using “an extremely offensive racist term” was upheld. He has said he has “no recollection” of the incident.
The inquiry, conducted by an independent law firm, was ordered by MasterChef’s production company Banijay in the wake of a BBC News investigation last year, which first revealed claims of misconduct against Wallace.
Since then, more than 50 people have come forward to BBC News with claims against him.
They include allegations he groped one MasterChef worker at a wrap party and pulled his trousers down in front of another.
The majority of substantiated claims against Wallace related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, but also culturally insensitive or racist comments.
In his first interview since being sacked, the presenter acknowledged that he had said things that “offended people, that weren’t socially acceptable and perhaps they felt too intimidated or nervous to say anything at the time.
“I understand that now – and to anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry.”
He indicated his background was to blame for those comments, as a former greengrocer from Peckham working in an environment that was “jovial and crude”.
But he added: “I’m not a groper. People think I’ve been taking my trousers down and exposing myself – I am not a flasher.
“People think I’m a sex pest. I am not.”
Wallace said that one of the upheld claims against him related to a widely reported incident in which he had allegedly walked around MasterChef’s set naked with a sock on his penis.
Addressing that incident, he said that there were no contestants on set, and just four of his friends from the show outside his dressing room door.
“I was getting changed to go to a black tie event, a charity event. I put my bow tie on and my shirt. It’s only them outside the door. I put the sock on, opened the door, went, ‘Wahey!’ and shut the door again.
“The people interviewed were either amused or bemused. Nobody was distressed,” he claimed.
Autism defence
Ahead of the report’s publication earlier this month, Wallace posted a now-deleted statement on Instagram in which he appeared to link the misconduct allegations he was facing to his recent autism diagnosis.
That led to a backlash from charities and groups working with disabled people. One charity told BBC News that autism is “not a free pass for bad behaviour”, while other groups warned that such remarks risked stigmatising the autistic community.
In his interview on Friday night, Wallace spoke again about his diagnosis, saying: “I know I struggle to read people. I know people find me weird. Autism is a disability, a registered disability.”
He also repeated a claim that he “never [wears] pants”, saying: “It’s not sexualised. It’s hypersensitivity – that happens with autism.”
Last week, Wallace’s co-host Torode was sacked after an allegation of using a severely offensive racist term was upheld.
BBC News has since revealed that the alleged incident took place on the set of MasterChef in 2018.
Torode has said any racist language is “wholly unacceptable”.
Addressing the claim against his co-host, Wallace said: “I’ve known John for 30 years and he is not a racist.
“And as evidence of that, I’ll show you the incredible diversity of the people that he has championed, MasterChef winners, over the years. There is no way that man is a racist. No way. And my sympathies go out to John because I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve been through.”
But he added that he had unfollowed Torode and his wife Lisa Faulkner on social media, saying: “We never really did get on that well.
“We’re two very, very different characters.”
Earlier this week, the BBC announced that a new series of MasterChef, which was recorded before Wallace and Torode were sacked, will still be broadcast as planned, on BBC One and iPlayer.
Some of the women who came forward with claims against Wallace have said they did not think the new series should be shown.
One former MasterChef worker, who claims he groped her, told BBC News the decision to go ahead showed “a blatant disregard for the people who have come forward”.
The BBC said it had taken the decision “after careful consideration and consultation with the contestants”.
It added it has not yet taken a decision on what to do with the completed celebrity series and Christmas special.
