Masterchef’s Marcus Wareing candidly expressed his views on his collaboration with Gregg Wallace, who has recently stepped back from the hit culinary show.
Wareing, who stars in MasterChef: The Professionals alongside Monica Galetti, has kept quiet following the announcement of Wallace’s departure.
Wallace, 60, is now embroiled in new harassment allegations, including claims he touched a woman’s bottom at an event and pressed his crotch against another during filming for a different programme.
These accusations follow a BBC News report last week that detailed inappropriate behaviour allegations from 13 individuals across various shows spanning 17 years, the Mirror reports.
Banijay UK, the production company behind MasterChef, stated that Wallace is “committed to fully co-operating” with the ongoing external review, while his legal representatives have firmly refuted any suggestions that he “he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”. Although Marcus, 54, has not directly addressed the allegations against his colleague, he previously shared insights into working with the now-disgraced host.
Ahead of the 15th series of MasterChef: The Professionals last year, Marcus revealed tensions among the trio, confessing “it f***s it all up” when Wallace gets involved in decision-making. He remarked: “If it was just me and Monica, then we’re good at predicting the winner, but because Gregg is in the mix, it f***s it all up a bit.”
Marcus spoke candidly about how working relationships evolve over time, sharing his approach to collaboration by saying, “We have times where we do disagree but everyone’s entitled to their point of view.”
He revealed that he used to be quite tenacious with his perspective, but now adopts a more laid-back attitude: “There are three votes and in the early days I’d be fighting like a cat in a bag but now it’s like, ‘whatever’.”
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While Monica has not directly addressed the recent allegations, her action of liking Wallace’s Instagram post seemed to signal support. At the same time, John Torode has kept silent on the matter.
However, back in 2017, he made it known to The Sunday Mirror that their relationship was strictly professional: “It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses… He’s so OCD, he wouldn’t know what to do.”
In an effort to clear the air, Wallace took to Instagram on Sunday to vent his frustration about the accusations, inadvertently causing additional backlash. On Instagram, he emphatically stated: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years, amateur, celebrity and professional MasterChef, and I think in that time I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life.”
He also highlighted a discrepancy in the reports, remarking: “Apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time. In the newspaper, 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 20 years, over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks, or sexual innuendo? Can you imagine? ” After facing backlash for his remarks in a now-deleted video, which drew further ire from those disputing his mention of “middle aged women”, Wallace expressed regret for his words.
On Monday, he issued an apology saying: “I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday and any upset I may have caused to a lot of people.
“I wasn’t in a good headspace when I posted it, I’ve been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion, I felt very alone, under siege yesterday, when I posted it. It’s obvious to me I need to take some time out, now, while this investigation is under way. I hope you understand and I do hope you will accept this apology.”
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