AS MasterChef host Gregg Wallace steps down from the BBC over allegations of misconduct, there is nothing but the sound of silence from his former co-stars, chef’s Marcus Wareing and John Torode.
The 60-year-old left the BBC programme on Thursday this week amid claims by 13 people of inappropriate sexual comments made over a 17 year period.
But while Wallace took to Instagram last night to thank his fans for their support, John Torode with whom he has co-hosted Masterchef and Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing who worked with Gregg on the spin-off show, both seemed to stage a social media silence.
Despite nineteen years of working together and being one of the TV’s most recognisable double acts, Aussie chef John Torode previously admitted that outside the TV studios, the pair not actually friends.
In a resurfaced interview from 2017 ahead of the 13th series of Masterchef, John told the the Mirror that they’d ‘never been friends.’
He said: “It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses… He’s so OCD, he wouldn’t know what to do.
He’d build it up in his mind for three days, and probably make himself quite sick, then he’d have an argument with his wife and not turn up. If I went to his house, he would feel like he wasn’t in control.”
Indeed Gregg’s co- stars on the Masterchef the Professionals- top chef’s Marcus Wareing and Moncia Galetti, have also refrained from publicly supporting their beleaguered colleague.
Among the complainants are some high profile stars including ex-Newsnight host Kirsty Wark, 69, who was a contestant on the sixth series of Celebrity Masterchef spin-off in 2011.
She claims that Wallace made crude jokes of a sexual nature in the presence of contestants and crew.
She said: “I think people were uncomfortable. We were a captive audience, people looked embarrassed and just got on with their work. I was more angry than anything else because I thought it was so inappropriate.
Former TV prime time telly host, Ulrika Jonsson, has also accused Wallace of making a “rape joke” during the filming of Celebrity Masterchef in 2017, which left some contestants distressed.
Fresh from starring on the show earlier this year, Geordie Shore’s Charlotte Crosby also described Wallace as “extremely unpleasant”.
Another high profile blow came from Sir Rod Stewart who accused the host of ‘humiliating; his wife Penny Lancaster when she starred on the celebrity version of the show in 2021.
In the damning post on Instagram, Sir Rod slammed Gregg as being a “tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully.”
The ex-market trader is also alleged to have talked openly about this sex life, once telling a junior female colleague that he wasn’t wearing any underwear under his jeans, according to the BBC’s internal investigation.
Now that the London born TV host has officially stood down, a spokesperson for the BBC assured that serious action is being taken.
“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.”
