TV presenter warned not to ‘say women made it up’

Gregg Wallace has been warned by one of the country’s most senior barristers not to say the women coming forward with claims against him are making things up.

The comments from Baroness Helena Kennedy, who chairs a watchdog aimed at improving standards of behaviour in the creative industries, come after 50 more people contacted BBC News with claims about the TV presenter, which he denies.

An inquiry into allegations of misconduct against him, conducted by an independent law firm on behalf of MasterChef’s production company Banijay, is expected to report back imminently.

BBC News has not seen that report, but Wallace insisted it had cleared him of “the most serious and sensational allegations”.

His comments came as it emerged that he had been sacked as MasterChef presenter as a result of the inquiry into alleged misconduct.

In April, Wallace said he needed “space to heal” after stating in an interview that allegations against him of inappropriate sexual comments were “not all true”. He told the Daily Mail he had felt “under attack” and had contemplated suicide.

Defending himself on Tuesday, Wallace said he had been hired “as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges and all”.

In an interview with Newsnight, Baroness Kennedy, who chairs the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, said the public might have enjoyed watching the cheeky chappy but they had not seen his “uglier side”.

She said if she had one bit of advice for the presenter, it would be not to dismiss the women’s claims.

“There may be an opportunity for you to make a comeback at some point but don’t say that all of these women have made this stuff up and don’t say that it’s all invented,” she said.

Baroness Kennedy also criticised managers across the TV industry for not dealing early on with concerns relating to the MasterChef presenter.

She said that if managers employed people who did not know how to behave, they had a responsibility to take them to one side, and nip issues in the bud as soon as possible.

“That was not done,” she added.

As the face of BBC One cooking show MasterChef, Gregg Wallace, 60, was one of the most high-profile presenters on British television for 20 years.

Baroness Kennedy’s comments come as Gregg Wallace faced a separate warning from the head of broadcast union Bectu not to “gaslight” women who have come forward with claims against him.

Philippa Childs also said that more people have come forward to her organisation with “further revelations” about the TV presenter.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today, Ms Childs said Wallace’s reaction on Instagram had “caused a reaction from freelancers”.

“[It’s] not even those who are necessarily directly involved, but a fear that once again something is going to be brushed under the carpet, he’s claiming he’s been exonerated from some of the more serious claims,” she said.

“And even that act, of putting it out in the public domain, has really gaslighted people who have legitimate complaints unfortunately.”

Ms Childs said that she “wasn’t surprised” to hear of the further 50 allegations reported by BBC News, saying: “Certainly we’ve had people approach us with further revelations as well.”

But she added that for many freelancers, there is a “fear” about coming forward due to feeling vulnerable in their careers.

“So it’s a real problem for the industry to tackle and it really must tackle it going forward.”

Wallace stepped aside from MasterChef in November after our initial investigation at the end of last year, when 13 people accused him of making inappropriate sexual comments.

The new claims come from people who say they encountered him across a range of shows and settings.

The majority say he made inappropriate sexual comments, while 11 women accuse him of inappropriate sexual behaviour, such as groping and touching.

One woman, who we’re calling Alice, says Wallace took his trousers down in front of her in a dressing room, in what she described as “disgusting and predatory” behaviour.

Another says she was left feeling “absolutely horrified” and “quite sick” when he groped her.

Other people who contacted us with new claims about the presenter include:

• A participant on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen – a show at the time that was produced in-house by the BBC – who says that, during a dinner ahead of filming in 2002, Wallace put his hand under the table and onto her groin, saying: “Do you like that?”
• A university student who says she met him in a nightclub with friends in 2013. She says after she asked to take a photo with him, he reached under her skirt and grabbed and pinched her bottom
• A woman who says, at an industry ball in 2014, he put his hand up her dress and groped her
• Another junior worker, in addition to Alice, who says in 2012 he dropped his trousers in front of her and wasn’t wearing underwear
• A number of men who say they witnessed Wallace making inappropriate sexual comments
• More recent claims, including a 19-year-old MasterChef worker who says she tried to complain about Wallace’s comments about her body in 2022, and a former policeman who says he tried to raise concerns about Wallace’s sexually inappropriate language to the BBC in 2023

The allegations raise fresh questions for the BBC and the other companies he worked for about their safeguarding practices and duty of care.

On Tuesday, Wallace wrote a lengthy Instagram post in which he said the “most damaging claims” against him “were found to be baseless after a full and forensic six month investigation”.

He added: “I will not go quietly. I will not be cancelled for convenience. I was tried by media and hung out to dry well before the facts were established.”

He accused the BBC of “peddling baseless and sensationalised gossip masquerading as properly corroborated stories”.

Banijay UK said: “While the external investigation is ongoing, we won’t be commenting on individual allegations. We encourage anyone wishing to raise issues or concerns to contact us in confidence.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Banijay UK instructed the law firm Lewis Silkin to run an investigation into allegations against Gregg Wallace.

“We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings are published.”

If you are affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.