U.K.MasterChefHost Gregg Wallace to Step Down amid Misconduct Allegations

Mar. 15, 2025

Gregg Wallace on Feb. 28, 2023.Photo:Andrew Matthews - Pool/Getty

Andrew Matthews - Pool/Getty

Gregg Wallace, the host of the U.K.’s version ofMasterChef, is stepping away from the program while its production company and broadcaster investigate allegations of sexual misconduct.

According to BBC News and other outlets, Wallace’s lawyers stated that “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.” Multiple outlets also reported that Banijay UK has launched an investigation and said in a statement that Wallace, who has co-hostedMasterChefsince 2005, is “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process” of the investigation.

Gregg Wallace on March 20, 2024.Dave Benett/Getty

Dave Benett/Getty

Scottish television presenter and journalist Kirsty Wark told BBC News as part of its investigation that Wallace told “sexualized” jokes during filming when she was a Celebrity MasterChef contestant back in 2011.

“There were two occasions in particular where he used sexualized language in front of a number of people, and it wasn’t as if anyone engaged with this,” she said in a video shared as part of BBC News' article. “It was completely one-way traffic, but I think people were uncomfortable, and [it was] something I didn’t really expect to happen.”

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BBC News — which noted in its article that it remains editorially independent from the U.K.’s larger public broadcasting corporation — additionally reported that the BBC once warned Wallace after two women complained about his behavior in 2018 on the series Impossible Celebrities. The women alleged that Wallace “talked openly about his sex life to staff on the show” and made them feel uncomfortable. As the outlet reported, Wallace apologized at that time and the women who complained were offered counseling.

Gregg Wallace on July 12, 2023.David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

The outlet reported that it began investigating Wallace last summer after learning of allegations that span across five series Wallace worked on between 2005 and 2022.

source: people.com