Gregg Wallace breaks silence as he thanks supporters after stepping away from MasterChef

Posting a video on Instagram, the 60-year-old thanked people “for showing their support” following his departure from the BBC cooking show amid allegations of inappropriate sexual comments.

He said: “I would like to thank all the people, getting in touch, reaching out, and showing their support. That’s good of you. Thank you very much.”

Wallace has judged the popular BBC cooking competition show alongside chef John Torode since 2005. He is set to step back from the show after 13 people, including Newsnight host Kirsty Wark, accused him of inappropriate, "sexualised" behaviour during filming.

His response comes just hours after legendary singer Sir Rod Stewart called him “tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully” and accused him of “humiliating” his wife Penny Lancaster during her 2021 appearance on MasterChef.

Posting to Instagram, Stewart wrote: "So Gregg Wallace gets fired from MasterChef. Good riddance Wallace... You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out, didn't you? You're a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart."

Banijay UK, the production company behind MasterChef, announced an "immediate, external review" into "historical allegations of misconduct" against Wallace. While the complainants did not raise the allegations directly with the show's producers or Banijay UK, the company stated it is committed to "fully and impartially investigate."

The exact nature of the allegations have not been revealed by the BBC but Wallace has found himself in hot water before. In October, it was revealed that Wallace had been probed by the BBC over alleged “inappropriate” comments made towards a female staffer at the broadcaster.

The Sun reported that the Masterchef judge allegedly took his top off and bragged about his bedroom activities to the staff member while filming Impossible Celebrities in 2018. Wallace spoke out after the reports emerged, taking to social media to say that his “comments were found to be not sexual” adding: "I don't want anybody to misunderstand this and make it look like I was flirting with somebody. Nobody accused me of that and I never have."

Previous to this, the former Inside The Factory host was at the centre of allegations first reported by The Times, in which he is said to have spoken “in a derogatory manner” toward female staff members while filming the BBC 2 documentary show. It was also alleged that he had been “rude towards staff” of the Nestle factory the show was filming in at the time.

From here onwards, Wallace was reportedly told to “moderate” his behaviour, with the host quitting the show shortly after. He said: “I don’t want to discuss the issue but it wasn’t what the papers said it was. There was nothing offensive to anybody, that’s just people guessing. It was a decent time to come out.”

Wallace is married to Anne-Marie Sterpini. At 21 years his junior, Sterpini gave birth to the couple’s first child in 2019, with Wallace expressing his concern in the press about becoming an “old parent”.