MasterChef presenter John Torode has spoken out following a series of serious allegations made against his colleague Gregg Wallace.
Wallace has faced accusations from multiple women about alleged inappropriate behaviour, leading to him stepping away from the show due to an investigation into historical accusations of misconduct.
13 women made allegations against Gregg Wallace, with the MasterChef presenter responding first by hitting out at 'middle-class women of a certain age' and then apologising for any offence he caused with those remarks.
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Since then more allegations have been made, with Kirstie Allsopp saying he made a 'sex act comment' to her when she was on Celebrity MasterChef.
A MasterChef contestant alleged that Wallace thrust his groin towards her head while she was crouched down at an oven on the show, and multiple other women claimed he had acted inappropriately towards them including allegations of groping.
Wallace's legal representatives have said 'it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature'.
In a statement posted on Instagram, John Torode said he found the reports about Wallace's alleged behaviour 'truly upsetting' and said the 'thought of anyone who has appeared on our show not having a brilliant experience is awful to hear'.
He said: "Since last Friday I have been away filming MasterChef overseas. I love my job, and I love MasterChef. I love being part of it and will continue to be part of it.
“During the last few days, I’ve been trying to make the best cookery programme, so being busy making the show and caring for our contestants has allowed me little time to think about anything else, but that has been hard.
“But as I hope everyone appreciates there is an investigation underway, which I fully support, so I cannot make any further comment at this stage and I hope that you all understand and respect my silence on the matter moving forward.”
Remaining episodes of the current series of MasterChef will continue to be shown on TV, but the BBC announced it would not be broadcasting the Christmas specials of the show.
A BBC spokesperson said: "As we have said, MasterChef is an amazing competition which is life-changing for the chefs taking part and the current series of MasterChef: The Professionals is continuing as planned.
“The celebrity Christmas specials are obviously a different type of show and in the current circumstances we have decided not to broadcast them.”
Repeats of Inside the Factory, another BBC show which features Wallace, have also been taken out of the TV schedule.
While episodes featuring him will still be shown, Wallace has stepped back from his role on MasterChef and producers Banijay UK said it would launch an 'immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate'.
Topics: Gregg Wallace, BBC
Joe Harker