An investigation into Gregg Wallace’s “inappropriate behaviour” on MasterChef has found that more than half of the allegations against him have been substantiated, including one of “unwanted physical contact”.
MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK shared a summary of its report into historical allegations of misconduct against the 60-year-old presenter, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin over seven months.
The report also said the number of sustained allegations made Wallace’s return to MasterChef “untenable”.
Last week it emerged Wallace had been sacked as MasterChef presenter, with reports of more than 50 fresh allegations made against him.
The investigation heard evidence from 78 witnesses, including 41 complainants. The investigations team spoke to Wallace three times for the report, for a total of 14 hours of interview.
There were 83 allegations against Wallace, and 45 of them were upheld. All were related to MasterChef.
The upheld allegations were:
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• Twelve claims he made inappropriate jokes and innuendo;
• Sixteen reports he made sexually explicit comments;
• Two allegations that he made sexualised comments to or about someone;
• Four complaints that he made culturally insensitive or racist comments;
• Three claims that he was in a state of undress;
• Seven allegations of bullying;
• One allegation of unwanted touching.
Nearly all the allegations against Wallace were related to behaviour which is said to have occurred between 2005 and 2018, with just one substantiated allegation taking place post-2018.
Ahead of the publication of the summary, Wallace had said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
He also said his neurodiversity had “now formally (been) diagnosed as autism”, saying in the social media post that it was “suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of MasterChef”.
Additionally, the report summary found that there were also 10 standalone allegations about other people between 2012 and 2018/2019, two of which were substantiated. These were unrelated to Wallace, and those people were not named in the summary.
The investigation found that complaints had previously been raised with the production company between 2005 and 2024.
While the report flagged inadequate reporting procedures prior to 2016, when Endemol merged with Shine ahead of Banijay acquiring Endemol Shine in 2020, it said there were significant improvements to HR processes and training after 2016.
While the investigation said some formal action was taken by the BBC in 2017, it also noted the corporation held no information regarding concerns raised over Wallace centrally, resulting in issues being addressed as a first offence.
Sky News has tried to contact Gregg Wallace today.
Responding to the findings of the report, the BBC said the corporation had “no plans to work with [Wallace] in future,” saying his behaviour “falls below the values of the BBC”.
The BBC said “opportunities were missed” to address Wallace’s behaviour, adding, “We accept more could and should have been done sooner”.
Concerning the allegations against other individuals flagged in the report, the BBC said they had asked Banijay UK to take action to address these issues, and said it would “be completed as a priority”.
The corporation have yet to decide if the unseen MasterChef series that was filmed with Wallace last year will still be aired.
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Banijay UK CEO Patrick Holland called the report “uncomfortable reading”, but said its findings provided “valuable insight” for production teams moving forward.
In a nod to Wallace’s recent autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, Mr Holland said Wallace’s neurodiversity was “relevant to certain behaviours identified in the report,” admitting “the production could have done more to identify, manage and communicate patterns of inappropriate behaviour”.
Wallace was the original presenter of the BBC show Saturday Kitchen in 2002 and has also featured on Eat Well For Less?, Inside The Factory, Turn Back Time, Harvest and Supermarket Secrets.
He was most known, however, for presenting MasterChef, MasterChef: The Professionals, and Celebrity MasterChef.
