Dame Prue Leith has said Gregg Wallace is too insensitive to know how offensive he is being but that he shouldn’t be sacked amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
The Great British Bake Off judge told Times Radio she could not see that Wallace had broken the law as claims over the MasterChef judge’s behaviour pile up, including an allegation by his ghostwriter that he dropped his towel in front of her – which he denies.
“I’m a great believer in due process ... I would say Gregg Wallace, he should just stay off social media because he's just digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole, because he's too insensitive to understand ... how offensive it is. But that's his problem, that he's insensitive. He hasn't that I can see disobeyed the law,” Dame Prue said.
“I don't believe people should be cancelled or sacked, I mean, I can see why you would ask someone to step aside while they investigate things, which I suppose is what they're doing. But I think the tragedy in this is that, I bet you, Gregg has no idea what he's done wrong.”
Wallace faced a widespread backlash last weekend following comments that appeared to blame the allegations on “middle-class women of a certain age”. He later apologised, saying he would “take some time out”.
He stepped away from his role on MasterChef last Thursday, after almost 20 years on screen.
The production company behind the show, Banijay UK, launched an investigation into claims from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period.
His lawyers have strongly denied “he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.
Initially, the BBC resisted calls to remove Wallace from its programming. However, on Tuesday, it confirmed that two MasterChef Christmas specials featuring Wallace would be pulled. The current series of MasterChef: The Professionals will continue as scheduled.
Dame Prue said there was “no such thing as an irreplaceable talent”.
“So it's really stupid of the talent to become arrogant and think that they're too good to sack, because nobody's too good to sack,” she said, adding that television producers had been “weak”.
“I do think that they've been weak, but I don't want to say that he should be sacked, because I don't know what the crime is,” she said.
In a report this week on the BBC’s Newsnight, Shannon Kyle, who wrote Wallace’s 2012 memoir Life On A Plate, detailed a string of incidents that allegedly occurred during the time they worked together.
The most disturbing incident, she said, occurred when Wallace answered his front door wearing only a towel, which he then dropped in front of her as she entered his home to work on the book.
A statement from Wallace’s lawyers said: “Our client has denied that he has engaged in any such behaviour, and he specifically denies any sexual misconduct with Ms Kyle.”
