Shamed MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace once went to war with Hearts over Scottish Cup final tickets – accusing the club of “not helping.”
The TV presenter, 60 is set to step away from his long-running role on the BBC show after complaints from individuals about historical allegations of misconduct and is “committed to fully cooperating throughout the process”, a statement from the show’s production company Banijay UK said on November 28. That sparked a post on Instagram from Celtic mad music legend Rod Stewart, who labelled Wallace “a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully” over his behaviour towards Stewart’s wife, Penny Lancaster, on Celebrity MasterChef.
However back in 2012 the Londoner, who is a fan of Millwall, became a cult figure amongst Hearts fans on their journey to the 2012 Scottish Cup final – which they memorably won 5-1 against arch rivals Hibs – and was even invited to the Hampden Park showpiece by Jambos fans. Wallace’s trademark smug smile had been adopted as a meme on online forums by fans of the Gorgie club – but when they didn’t respond to his requests for cup final tickets, the TV star took to Twitter, now known as X, to demand answers.
On April 19, four days after Hearts’ dramatic 2-1 semi-final victory against Celtic, Wallace posted: “Can you Hearts fans get someone at the club to return the calls of my PA @HeidiPWallace so we can arrange the trip.”
After getting nowhere in his quest for entry, he tried again – this time calling out the club for not responding, posting: “Hearts fans. Can you get Claire at Hearts to respond to @HeidiPWallace if she doesn’t I can’t come and I want to. The club are not helping.” Despite the posts, and plenty of hope online from Hearts supporters however, Wallace didn’t appear on the day – missing one of the greatest results in the club’s history in the process.
The complaints weren’t Wallace’s only Tweets about the Jambos from the time either; he also posted “go Hearts” in a response to one fan, and Tweeted another to ask “Why do Hearts fans like me?”