Masterchef’s Gregg Wallace was banned by the BBC pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct behind the scenes – but now he’s back on screens.
BBC Masterchef host Gregg Wallace returned to TV this weekend, for the first time since the scandal surrounding his alleged misconduct broke.
The footage, which was rerun from a documentary filmed two years earlier, surprised some viewers who had tuned into Channel 5 on Saturday. Gregg had appeared in interviews alongside actress Laila Morse, Countryfile’s Adam Henson and BBC metereologist Tomasz Schafernaker as they discussed the infamous Big Freeze of 2018.
Temperatures plummeted to -10C for a ten day period as Siberian weather patterns descended on Britain, but hearts were as icy as the “brutal” weather over on X, as viewers wasted no time in expressing their disapproval of Gregg.
One wrote: “Gregg Wallace on Beast from the East? Bold move. His reputation’s already been through a storm.” Another chimed in to exclaim: “Obviously C5 don’t give a f*** about what he’s done.”
Gregg has always denied all the allegations against him, but said he was stepping back from the show while an investigation was carried out on his conduct. The repeat TV show screened on C5 between 5pm and 6:15pm on Saturday January 11, and followed a decision by the BBC not to show him again on their own channels until the matter is concluded.
One follower wrote: “So angry w/ sympathy for #GreggWallace,” pointing out that the allegations are of “a pattern of misogyny/sexual harassment of women in a workplace”.
“Gregg went way too far before but this. His career is over,” another stated.
However, some made comparisons between the reaction to Gregg Wallace and to the grooming gangs scandal, which Labour has been urged to begin an enquiry into.
One X user wrote: “The left blew their stack over #GreggWallace making some edgy remarks to women on his shows, but mention the mass rape of 250,000 young white girls…….and you’re a racist, far right extremist.”
Gregg Wallace in his former role as Masterchef host (Image: BBC)
Meanwhile, Gregg’s departure from the BBC spells an end to an almost 20 year career on MasterChef, after first joining the show to co-star with John Torode back in 2005.
A BBC News investigation led to the decision to part ways with Gregg after numerous people made allegations of inappropriate sexualised behaviour, as well as “creepy” texts.
At first, Gregg published an unremorseful social media post claiming he was being demonised by “middle class women of a certain age”, but he has since apologised for his comments.
It was subsequently announced that food critic and ex-I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! star Grace Dent would be taking over his hosting role.
