Kirstie Allsopp slams Gregg Wallace for ‘sex act’ remark

Allsopp claims Wallace made the 'sex act' comments within an hour of them meeting

Last week, MasterChef's production company Banijay UK announced that Wallace would be stepping away from MasterChef after almost 20 years whilst an investigation is carried out into allegations of historic misconduct.

This was followed by a report from BBC News which has detailed claims from 13 people about Wallace’s conduct from 2005 to 2022.

He has also faced accusations of 'racist language' towards an Asian contestant on MasterChef.

As more people came forward with allegations over the weekend, Wallace took to social media on Sunday to single out "a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.

The 59-year-old said in a video on Instagram: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years – amateur, professional and Celebrity 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.

“And apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time.

“Now, 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.”

He added: “In 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?”

Following the comments from Wallace, TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp took to social media to accuse Wallace of talking to her about a "sex act that he and his partner at the time enjoyed 'every morning.'"

In a post on X, Allsopp wrote: "Within 1hr of meeting Gregg Walllace he told me of a sex act that he & his partner at the time enjoyed 'every morning', she’d just left the room, we were filming a pilot. Did he get off on how embarrassed I was?"

She finished off the post by labelling his behaviour "totally unprofessional," before referencing his earlier comments by writing: "I’m a #MiddleClassWomanOfaCertainAge."

She explained in a follow up post that there were a number of reasons she didn't say anything at the time, including embarrassment, and "waiting for a male colleague to call him out."

Allsopp wrote: "Why say nothing? Because you feel, in no particular order, embarrassed, a prude, shocked, waiting for a male colleague to call him out, not wanting to 'rock the boat', thinking it’s better to plough on with the day, assuming you misheard/misunderstood or just don’t get the joke."

Other figures to have come forward with allegations about Wallace's behaviour include Ulrika Jonnson, Kirsty Wark and Aasmah Mir.

In a statement addressing the accusations and complaints, the BBC said: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them. We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.

“Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on anything that could form part of Banijay’s ongoing investigation or otherwise influence it.”