{"id":20003,"date":"2024-12-01T11:26:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T11:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=20003"},"modified":"2024-12-01T11:26:35","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T11:26:35","slug":"gregg-wallace-says-accusers-are-handful-of-middle-class-women-of-a-certain-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=20003","title":{"rendered":"Gregg Wallace says accusers are 'handful of middle-class women of a certain age'"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gregg Wallace made a video statement on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Gregg Wallace has hit back at allegations of historic misconduct, saying they have come from a “handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.<\/p>\n

The MasterChef presenter said in a video on Instagram<\/a> on Sunday morning there had been “13 complaints” from “over 4,000 contestants” he had worked with in 20 years on the BBC One show.<\/p>\n

He stepped aside earlier this week after a BBC News investigation revealed a string of allegations of inappropriate sexual comments and inappropriate behaviour against him.<\/p>\n

The investigation heard from 13 people across a range of ages, who worked across five different shows, including broadcaster Kirsty Wark who appeared on Celebrity MasterChef.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years – amateur, professional and Celebrity MasterChef – and I think in that time I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life,” Wallace told his more than 200,000 followers.<\/p>\n

“And apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time.<\/p>\n

“Now, in the newspaper 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.”<\/p>\n

He finished his statement by saying: “In over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo – can you imagine?”<\/p>\n

Wallace\u2019s lawyers have strongly denied he engages in sexually harassing behaviour, while the BBC said it will \u201calways listen if people want to make us aware of something directly\u201d.<\/p>\n

It comes as the BBC faces fresh questions over its handling of allegations against the 60-year-old, and the fact he continued to present the cooking show, <\/b>after emails emerged showing it was warned about him in 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Radio host Aasmah Mir said she complained to the corporation that year about inappropriate comments Wallace had allegedly made during filming of the programme.<\/p>\n

In an internal email, BBC executive Kate Phillips, who now heads up unscripted programmes for the corporation, said that his behaviour on set was \u201cunacceptable and cannot continue,” the Sunday Times reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

She added that she would make sure that she was “informed straight away” should further allegations be made against him.<\/p>\n

Mir later sent an email that was copied to Phillips, saying: “This must not happen again to another woman.”<\/p>\n

Some of the allegations against Wallace in the BBC News investigation relate to events after 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Kirsty Wark: Gregg Wallace used sexualised language and \u2018people were uncomfortable\u2019<\/figcaption><\/p>\n
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Separately, the Observer says a letter containing multiple claims of inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace was sent to the BBC in 2022, but did not result in further investigation at the time.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK said Wallace would step away from presenting the show while allegations of historical misconduct were investigated.<\/p>\n

The 60-year-old is “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process”, Banijay added.<\/p>\n

It came after BBC News sent a letter to Wallace’s representatives, setting out allegations we have heard from 13 people, across a 17-year period.<\/p>\n

One of them was Ms Wark, a Celebrity MasterChef contestant in 2011, who said he told “sexualised” jokes during filming.<\/p>\n

Since then, more people have come forward with allegations about the presenter.<\/p>\n

On Saturday evening, Wallace said in an Instagram post: “We are all different.”<\/p>\n

His lawyers have said it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.<\/p>\n

The BBC said it has \u201crobust processes\u201d in place to deal with issues if they are raised.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Saturday, MasterChef producers announced they have appointed a “rigorous” law firm to lead an investigation into Wallace’s alleged misconduct.<\/p>\n

On the appointment of London law firm Lewis Silkin, a Banijay UK spokesperson said it was a “highly experienced specialist investigations team which has overseen a broad range of high-profile workplace investigations”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Instagram Gregg Wallace made a video statement on Instagram Gregg Wallace has hit back at allegations of historic misconduct, saying they have come from a “handful of middle-class women of a certain age”. The MasterChef presenter said in a video on Instagram on Sunday morning there had been “13 complaints” from “over 4,000 contestants” he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}