Rod Stewart is taking aim at Gregg Wallace, accusing the former U.K. “Celebrity MasterChef” host of “humiliating” his wife Penny Lancaster, who was on the BBC show in 2021 and was eliminated during the quarter-finals.
“Good Riddance Wallace … You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that part cut out didn’t you?,” the British pop and rock singer and song writer wrote in an Instagram post. “You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got you.”
Stewart’s comments follow news that producer Banijay U.K. is investigating “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 U.K., we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate,” the company said in a statement. “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.”
The investigation comes after BBC News reported that the 60-year-old was accused by 13 different people of making inappropriate sexual comments to co-workers over a period of 17 years.
His accusers include Kirsty Wark, who was a Celebrity MasterChef contest in 2011 and said he told “sexualized” jokes while filming on two separate occasions. Other allegations against Wallace reported by the outlet include talking openly about his sex life, taking his top off in front of a female co-worker saying he wanted to “give her a fashion show” and telling a junior female colleague he wasn’t wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans.
Additionally, BBC News said a former MasterChef worker told them that Wallacce showed her topless pictures of himself and asked for messages, while a former employees on Big Weekends said Wallace was fascinated by the fact she dated women and asked for the logistics of how it worked.
In addition to “MasterChef,” “Celebrity MasterChef” and “Professional MasterChef,” Wallace’s TV credits include being the original presenter of “Saturday Kitchen” in 2002, “Eat Well for Less,” “Inside the Factory,” “Turn Back Time,” “Harvest Supermarket Secrets,” and “Who Do You Think You Are?”
“I would like to thank all the people getting in touch, reaching out and showing their support,” Wallace said in a video posted to Instagram. “It’s good of you, thank you very much.”
According to BBC, Wallace’s lawyers have said the accusations of against him are entirely false. A spokesperson for Wallace did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
The latest allegations against a host of a BBC show come after former BBC presenter Huw Edwards plead guilty to three counts of obtaining, keeping and sharing indecent images of children in July.
“We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
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