Scots TV host Aggie Mackenzie who formerly appeared on Celebrity MasterChef has slammed Gregg Wallace for his reaction to recent allegations, suggesting it shows he lacks “no insight or understanding of how he behaves”.
The MasterChef host, 60 is currently facing a slew of allegations regarding “inappropriate sexual jokes” and other behavioural complaints. He recently stated that these claims have been made by “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.
Wallace is at the centre of accusations from 13 individuals tied to various programmes over a 17-year span, the BBC reported on Thursday. Following the report, several others have come forward with their own stories.
Allegations include those from ex-Newsnight anchor Kirsty Wark, who told BBC News about incidents where Wallace made “sexualised nature” comments and jokes among participants and crew during her stint on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.
Echoing Wark’s feelings, Scottish TV host Aggie MacKenzie, who appeared on the same series, stated on Good Morning Britain: “Yes I agree with everything Kirsty says, those jokes weren’t actually directed at me, but the jokes were always smutty, they were endless.”
MacKenzie went on to describe Wallace as a man out of time, akin to “some sort of dinosaur who just can’t read the room, and seemed to be allowed to carry on in this way.”
She went further on addressing his response to the allegations, saying: “This illustrates how he just has no insight or understanding of how he behaves. He just doesn’t get it. He’s been allowed to carry on in his own sweet way for many, many years.”
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Labour MP Dr Rupa Huq, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, suggested on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that pausing the current series of MasterChef: The Professionals would “send a strong message that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable”.
She proposed: “There is an argument for pausing while this investigation takes its course, and maybe not airing it tonight”, referring to the show scheduled to air on Monday evening.
She added: “I mean, it could be massively triggering for the women involved. In fact, any woman involved in any type of similar incident.”
Two MasterChef specials are also lined up for the BBC Christmas schedule, including a celebrity Cook Off and a Strictly Festive Extravaganza. Responding to the allegations in an Instagram post on Sunday, Wallace said: “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.”
In another video, Wallace claimed that “absolutely none” of the people he had worked with on his shows had lodged a complaint against him.
Wallace’s lawyers have stated that “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”. Ulrika Jonsson, who alleged that Wallace was forced to apologise for an inappropriate comment that upset another contestant when she competed on Celebrity MasterChef in 2017, told The Telegraph she was “seething” at Wallace’s statement.
In response to claims that numerous complaints had been lodged with the BBC, a spokesperson for the corporation stated they wouldn’t comment on individual cases or internal HR processes.
However, they added it would be “wrong to report the BBC has done nothing if or when matters have been raised with us – not least because it is already being widely reported there were interventions in both 2017 and 2018 where action was taken”.
Staff members also brought up allegations about Wallace’s behaviour on Channel 5’s Gregg Wallace’s Big Weekends to BBC News. Rumpus Media, the producer, said it would be investigating claims of “inappropriate behaviour”.
This follows the announcement that Wallace will take a break from the BBC cooking show while past misconduct complaints are externally reviewed by MasterChef producer Banijay UK. The production company confirmed it has appointed law firm Lewis Silkin to lead an investigation into the alleged behaviour of Wallace.
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