New allegations have been made against MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace after multiple women came forward to accuse him of making inappropriate sexual comments.
Wallace has stepped away from his role on the show as MasterChef production company Banijay UK launched an investigation, as last week the BBC announced that 13 women including Kirsty Wark had spoken out.
60-year-old Wallace released a video hitting out at 'middle-class women of a certain age', then put out another video apologising for any offence caused by those comments and saying he would 'take some time out now while this investigation is under way'.
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Further allegations have been made against him, as he was accused of groping multiple women and there was an allegation that he once walked into the MasterChef studio naked except for a sock covering his genitals.
Wallace's legal representatives have said 'it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature'.
The Sun reports that a former MasterChef contestant claimed he thrust his crotch towards her face while she was crouching down at an oven.
Emma Phillips-Jennings was on the show in 2009 and said she had been discussing her family with Wallace when she made a comment about how her mum 'hadn’t even seen raw meat until she met my father'.
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She said: " As soon as I said that, Gregg then said, ‘Yeeeaaaah, and he then showed her his meat’. He then thrust his groin towards me three times as I crouched down at the oven."
She said that 'no one said anything to him or pulled him up about it'.
Now the BBC reports that it has received new allegations made against Wallace, including a woman saying he touched her bottom at an event and another saying he pressed his crotch against her while filming a programme.
It reports that the allegations were put to representatives for Wallace on Saturday (30 November) and that yesterday (3 December) the BBC announced this year's Christmas specials of MasterChef would not be shown.
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The broadcaster had decided to show the remaining episodes of the current series of MasterChef, but the Christmas specials will not be shown.
One of the women making allegations against Wallace said she worked on Eat Well For Less in 2015, and while they were filming in a supermarket he touched her 'inappropriately'.
She said: "He brushed past me at the checkout, and touched my bum with his waist and penis and laughed and said 'oooh you liked that didn’t you'."
She described the encounter as 'slimy, uncomfortable' and said that at the time she felt as though she had to 'get on' with her work, adding that she did raise the matter with a senior colleague.
Another woman who worked on MasterChef in 2015 said she was called into Wallace's dressing room to help fix his bow tie and claimed his trousers were 'partially lowered', exposing part of his pubic hair.
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A woman who said she encountered Wallace at an event in 2022 said that he asked her to take him to the car park and allegedly said to her 'go on, hold my hand, don’t you want to stand next to me' as he put his arm around her.
She then said they got into a lift where Wallace got people in a group hug where she alleges he 'put his hand on my bottom and groped me'.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: "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.
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“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on anything that could form part of Banijay’s ongoing investigation or otherwise influence it."
LADbible has contacted Banijay UK and Gregg Wallace's representatives for further comment
Topics: Gregg Wallace, BBC, TV
Joe Harker