Anger as BBC allowed Gregg Wallace on air despite four complaints

The BBC allowed Gregg Wallace to remain on air despite at least four complaints being made against him.

The MasterChef host has been the subject of a growing slew of allegations about inappropriate behaviour on set.

Last night BBC bosses were under mounting pressure to explain why they did not act sooner. And the presenter yesterday faced a further backlash after dismissing his accusers as a ‘handful of middle-class women of a certain age’.

A former culture secretary said the controversy was a test for the whole BBC system and said the apparent lack of curiosity was depressing.

MPs are now set to raise the matter with the BBC’s director general Tim Davie and chairman Samir Shah.

It came as Wallace, 60, yesterday went on an extraordinary Instagram rant against his ‘middle-class’ accusers. He said he had been on MasterChef for 20 years and worked with 4,000 contestants, but ‘apparently’ there had been only 13 complaints.

His comments sparked a furious reaction from critics who accused him of ‘thinly veiled misogyny’.

Broadcaster Kirstie Allsopp yesterday came forward to accuse Wallace of having made a comment to her about his sex life.

Meanwhile a former MasterChef contestant claimed the allegations were the ‘tip of the iceberg’. The unnamed whistleblower, speaking to Sky News, claimed there was a ‘systemic’ culture problem on the show, adding: ‘I was horrified. I’d never seen anything like it, genuinely. I was really quite shocked at that really toxic environment.’

They said Wallace ‘would occasionally crack jokes that in different ways felt inappropriate, but he wasn’t the only one’. Wallace stepped aside from MasterChef last week after claims were made of inappropriate behaviour and sexual remarks.

This included allegations of ‘inappropriate sexual jokes’, undressing in front of women and standing too close to them.

Celebrity MasterChef winner Emma Kennedy told The Sunday Times she may have seen him inappropriately touch a camera assistant during a shoot for the 2012 final. She said: ‘The photographer had a young female assistant and she bent over in front of me. Gregg went over and went “Corr!” with his hands over her a**e.’

It emerged yesterday that the BBC had previously received complaints about the star’s behaviour on at least four different occasions between 2017 and 2022.

It is thought that at least another four complaints were raised with staff working for the producers of MasterChef, which is owned by the company Banijay.

Among the allegations that emerged over the weekend was that Celebrity MasterChef contestant Aasmah Mir had warned the BBC about inappropriate comments by Wallace in 2017.

According to The Sunday Times, BBC executive Kate Phillips responded by raising concerns that Wallace’s behaviour was ‘unacceptable and cannot continue’.

The following year he was warned about his behaviour on the quiz show Impossible Celebrities amid allegations of ‘inappropriate sexual comments’.

A letter was also sent to the BBC in 2022 laying out a number of allegations which is said to have referred to a ‘pattern of behaviour’ that failed to meet ‘sexual harassment and bullying standards’.

In the letter, sent by producer and director Dawn Elrick, he was accused of making lewd comments and asking for the personal phone numbers of female production staff.

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She said the BBC had recommended that each individual would have to make their own direct complaint to the corporation and did not receive further contact.

Last night she told the Mail: ‘TV has a sexism, racism and classism issue, but there is no consistent HR a lot of time –those you can directly complain to have a vested interest to not rock the boat.  

'If nothing else, the BBC should have paid attention to the letter, because this is what freelancers have been talking about for years.’ 

It is also claimed that in the same year, Nestle contacted the BBC about the star’s behaviour after he filmed at one of its factories for Inside The Factory. Staff were said to have been upset by his jokes about their weight.

One senior BBC source said it was ‘wrong’ to suggest the corporation had ‘done nothing’ about these complaints, adding it has been reported there were ‘interventions’ in 2017 and 2018. They added that the claims by Nestle were also probed and Wallace then left the show.

Last night there were reports of the BBC facing a mutiny from its staff over bosses being aware of the allegations for several years.

Insiders told the Daily Telegraph the BBC seeks to ‘manage risk’ rather than deal with problems, which leads to ‘monumental f***-ups’.

Nicky Morgan, the culture secretary between 2019 and 2020, told the Mail this latest case ‘is a test for the whole BBC system.' She added: 'The lack of curiosity and follow-up to the complaints made is both depressing and unsurprising.’

Tory Caroline Dinenage, the chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, said: ‘The committee will, I expect, be looking for some kind of reassurance that the right systems and processes are in place that would ensure staff are properly protected and allegations are always properly investigated.’

A BBC spokesman said: ‘We take any issues 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... will not be tolerated.’

Wallace’s lawyers said: ‘It is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature’. Spokesmen for Wallace and Banijay declined to comment.