The BBC was reportedly warned on multiple occasions about Gregg Wallace’s alleged sexist behaviour over seven years before the latest allegations emerged.
The MasterChef presenter faces various allegations of making "inappropriate sexual jokes", asking for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressing in front of and standing "too close" to women working on his shows.
The TV star reportedly continued presenting MasterChef despite an HR probe on another show in 2018 after he allegedly discussed his sex life in front of two women, making them feel uncomfortable.
Wallace apologised over that incident, with a HR investigation finding “many aspects” of his behaviour were “both unacceptable and unprofessional", the BBC reported.
Among several incidents to have emerged were claims by Celebrity MasterChef 2012 winner Emma Kennedy that she had reported Wallace’s behaviour to a member of the production team but did not know if an investigation was carried out.
Georgia Harding, a MasterChef producer from 2014-15, also said she reported his alleged inappropriate behaviour, but nothing was done.
And radio broadcaster Aasmah Mir later complained to Kate Phillips, now head of unscripted TV for the BBC, about Wallace’s allegedly inappropriate comments after appearing on a celebrity version of the show in 2017.
The Sun reports that the BBC was warned about Wallace’s behaviour at least five times over seven years.
Wallace has strenuously denied any impropriety, and has stepped aside while an investigation is carried out.
But he is facing strong criticism for alleging that the accusations of inappropriate behaviour against him came from "a handful of middle-class women of a certain age".
In a post on Instagram on Sunday, 60-year-old Wallace said: "I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn't right.”
In another video, Wallace claimed "absolutely none" of the people he had worked with on his shows had made a complaint about him.
Ulrika Jonsson, who competed on Celebrity MasterChef in 2017, said she was "seething" while Kirstie Allsopp described his response as "unacceptable".
Jonsson, who competed on Celebrity MasterChef in 2017 and claimed Wallace had been forced to apologise for one comment, told the Telegraph: "When he made reference to women of a certain age I was just seething... I was just absolutely wild."
Allsopp, who alleged Wallace once made a comment to her about his sex life which left her "so embarrassed" she thought she "might cry", said she was angered by the video.
"That is unacceptable. Because he is essentially saying this is a class issue and middle-class women don't understand the type of things he says because he's working-class. Well I'm sorry, but he's doing an incredible disservice to men," she told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.
"What's he saying? That working-class men do this kind of thing, embarrass their wives and girlfriends and sisters and mothers? That's unacceptable, of course, that's not the case."
Actress Emma Kennedy, who won Celebrity MasterChef in 2012, told BBC News "it doesn't matter what the age of any woman is".
A BBC source told the PA news agency: "While we are not going to comment on individuals or any internal HR processes, particularly when there is an ongoing process in place being run by Banijay who have the direct contractual relationship with Gregg Wallace.
"It would be wrong to report the BBC has done nothing if or when matters have been raised with us - not least because it is already being widely reported there were interventions in both 2017 and 2018 where action was taken.
"We continue to urge caution about pre-judging any of this, particularly the involvement of BBC staff members and any inference they have not acted appropriately."
Masterchef's production company Banijay UK has appointed law firm Lewis Silkin to lead an investigation into Wallace's alleged behaviour, and said he is co-operating.
