Rod Stewart calls Gregg Wallace 'tubby bully' in furious rant amid MasterChef misconduct allegations

Just hours after he stepped down from the BBC show following historical misconduct allegations, the seasoned singer blasted the TV host, branding him “tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully” and accused him of “humiliating his wife, Penny Lancaster during her 2021 appearance on MasterChef.

Wallace, 60, has judged the popular BBC cooking competition show alongside chef John Torode since 2005. He is set to step back from the show after after 13 people, including Newsnight host Kirsty Wark, accused him of inappropriate, "sexualised" behaviour during filming.

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."

Wallace has faced allegations of misconduct, including claims that he took his top off in front of a female worker, saying he wanted to "give her a fashion show," and discussing his sex life with others. On one occasion, he reportedly told a junior female colleague that he wasn't wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans.

The show’s production company Banijay UK said in a statement: “This week the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows. Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate.

“While this review is under way, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully co-operating throughout the process. Banijay UK’s duty of care to staff is always a priority and our expectations regarding behaviour are made clear to both cast and crew on all productions, with multiple ways of raising concerns, including anonymously, clearly promoted on set.

“Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately. The BBC also commented on the situation, with a spokesperson adding: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.

“We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated. Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.”

While the exact nature of the allegations have not been revealed by the BBC, 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”.