Gregg Wallace made an alleged remark to Melanie Sykes on Celebrity MasterChef that forced her to quit television “once and for all”.
The TV presenter appeared on the cookery competition in 2021, making it to the semi-final. However, Sykes ended up making an informal complaint about Wallace, who has “stepped away” from the show over allegations of inappropriate comments.
Since news broke of the scandal, several stars to have appeared on Celebrity MasterChef, including former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark and Geordie Shore’s Charlotte Crosby, have hit out at the host for alleged remarks they heard when they were filming episodes – and Katy Brand addressed being subjected to a “crass” comment made by the former host.
Sykes spoke out against her time on Celebrity MasterChef in her autobiography Illuminated, which was published in 2023 – one year before the investigation into Wallace was announced last month.
In the book, Sykes claimed that Wallace asked her as she walked onto set whether models eat, which she deemed “unprofessional”.
The TV personality, who once hosted a daytime show with Des O’Connor, said the remark stemmed from “ignorance and disrespect with an extra helping of arrogance”.
Sykes wrote in her book: ‘‘The MasterChef experience continued to be an eye-opener and some unprofessional behaviour on set was jaw-dropping.”
But it was a conversation with Wallace at the end of filming that made her decide to quit the TV industry “once and for all”.
Writing in Illuminated, Sykes, who has been on screens since the 1990s, said that Wallace told her appearing on Celebrity MasterChef would help her career.
“I didn’t know what to say, so I smiled and said ‘Yes,’ but I was really thinking, ‘Yes, you have finally helped me decide to end my television career once and for all,’” Sykes wrote, adding: “I was done.”
After finishing her filming commitments with series Shop Well for Less, Sykes made good on her vow and relocated to Lancashire.
In a YouTube clip shared on Monday (1 December), Sykes said that she didn’t really like Wallace being around and suggested he had bad energy.
She also criticised the TV industry for failing to stamp out poor behaviour by high-profile stars.
“I know that people think, ‘Oh well, you know we can’t get rid of him really because it’s such a successful show’, and it’s sort of fear about changing the format in case viewers don’t watch,” she said.
Sykes revealed that she “complained” about Wallace, adding: “I said I didn’t want to make a formal complaint because, honestly, I’d spend my whole time in litigation if I did that, and I think that’s one of the reasons why people don’t go for it.
The BBC said of the allegations against Wallace: “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.
“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.”
