Gregg Wallace, the TV presenter currently under fire for allegations of sexually “inappropriate” behaviour on set, has a history of controversies that have made headlines. The current situation has become so serious that No 10 has made a statement.
At least 13 people have made complaints about the star’s actions over a 17-year period, including former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark. The 60-year-old celebrity greengrocer has stepped back as the presenter of MasterChef while misconduct complaints are investigated.
More women have since come forward with fresh allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour, following the BBC deciding to pull two MasterChef celebrity Christmas specials from its schedule.
Wark alledges that Wallace told jokes of a “sexualised nature” while she was competing in Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.
TV broadcaster Vanessa Feltz described an alleged incident in a lift at the BBC involving Wallace on her YouTube channel. “My friend did not know Gregg Wallace. Had never met him before, and in the lift was a young girl who worked on another show,” she remembered. “So the three of them were going up in the lift together and completely unprompted Gregg Wallace described a sex act that he had performed on his then-wife that morning.
Fellow TV personality Kirsty Allsopp claimed that Wallace made sexualised comments to her that left her “so embarrassed” she thought she “might cry”. Speaking to BBC Radio 4, she said the conversation happened in the performers lounge during filming a pilot for a TV quiz show.
Former TV presenter Melanie Sparks has said that Wallace’s “jaw-dropping” behaviour on set prompted her to leave her television career entirely. She said she raised an informal complaint about him while working together on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021.
Lawyers for Wallace told BBC News “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature".
Here are some of the celebrity’s most notable controversies:
Gregg’s perfect weekend
Wallace raised eyebrows in February this year when he described his ideal Saturday routine for a feature in the The Telegraph. He said that he asked staff to open his local gym early so he could enjoy a private swim, made his PA meet him for breakfast at chain restaurant Harvester, and reported spending more time playing the video game Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia than he did with his four-year-old son, who has autism.
Wallace, who has two adult children, told the Telegraph that “another child isn’t something that I would have chosen at my age”.
Gregg with a G
A heated exchange with a charity fundraiser on X, formerly Twitter, regularly resurfaces that doesn’t paint Wallace in the most sympathetic light. Nick Holder requested a boost for a 180-mile cycle ride raising money for MacMillan Cancer Support.
Presumably annoyed that Holder had misspelled his name as Greg, Wallace simply replied “Gregg?” prompting Holder to respond “No worries mate, it’s only people with cancer. You worry about your extra G.”
His Millwall tattoo
Allegations against Wallace reported by the BBC involve him removing his top in the presence of female members of staff. The TV star is no stranger to getting his kit off, posing for photos posted to social media to document the effects of his exercise routine.
The topless photos reveal that Wallace has a tattoo on his chest in support of Millwall FC, a south London football club with a historic association with football hooliganism and gang violence.
"I was brought up in Peckham and went to Millwall regularly. Some of my friends from school grew up to be hooligans,” Wallace told Zoo magazine in 2008. “I got arrested for assault when I was 20… but my Millwall days are long behind me,” he said, adding that “getting nicked was like a social pastime!”
Not-so national treasure
A resurfaced clip from 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown details how other celebrities may have viewed Wallace for a while. The late comedian Sean Lock quipped that Wallace should not be considered a “national treasure”. “"I’ve met him—that’s why,” said Lock, adding that Wallace had "no sense of irony or humour."
Wallace was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours list for his services to charity and food. The charity Ambitious about Autism has cut ties with Wallace as an ambassador since the allegations have come to light.
“Middle-class women of a certain age”
Wallace caused outrage this week by his initial response the the news of his misconduct investigation. Taking to Instagram, he blamed the allegations on a specific set of women.
"Apparently now, I'm reading in the paper, there's been 13 complaints in that time," he 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."
The comments fuelled growing anger against the star. Downing Street released a statement describing Wallace’s response as “inappropriate and misogynistic”.
Wallace has since attempted to walk back his statement, posting another video where he said the comments were made while he was in a bad place. “I've been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion, I felt very alone, under siege yesterday when I posted it,” he said.
