MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace has said he’s feeling stressed following allegations of inappropriate sexual comments toward women, and after his fellow Masterchef star’s wife claimed he “repeatedly told rude jokes.”
In an Instagram Live on Tuesday, the 59-year-old offered healthy eating tips but hinted at the recent allegations, admitting he was "a little bit distracted" but still wanted to "check in and say hello."
He said: “I've had a fair bit of stress over the last few days, but my healthy lifestyle choices have stayed the same because that's my lifestyle. That’s what I do without thinking.”
“Does that make sense to people? I really, really hope it does. I'm a little bit distracted at the moment, you can probably tell.”
Wallace added “There are so many benefits of upping your levels of activity, so many healthy benefits.
“I'm not going to mention the newspapers at the moment – I've got that coming at me left, right and centre.”
It comes as Lisa Faulkner revealed that Wallace often told "rude joke after rude joke" on the set of MasterChef—while Wallace has denied accusations of making inappropriate sexual comments towards women.
Faulkner, who is married to Wallace's Masterchef co-host John Torode, admitted she would sometimes think, "I don't want to hear this," as he cracked jokes to the crew of the BBC's flagship cooking show.
The 52-year-old actress and chef, who won Celebrity MasterChef in 2010, shared how she would overhear Wallace’s jokes while she was busy chopping at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
According to The Sun, Faulkner shared: “Gregg was telling – I'm probably not allowed to say this…Gregg just told rude joke after rude joke to the crew.
“You're just sitting there and if you're on the front bench just chopping away thinking, ‘I've got ten minutes left’, and he's saying, ‘So this girl walked into a bar…’
“And I'm going, ‘Please, I don't want to hear this joke’.”
Faulkner’s husband John, 59, who was on stage with her to promote their new cookbook John and Lisa’s Kitchen, told her: “It's changed quite a lot really…”
The TV cook’s comments come after Wallace denied that he said “anything sexual” while appearing on a BBC show more than half a decade ago.
The TV star responded to reports that there was an alleged incident in 2018 when he appeared on Impossible Celebrities, which was investigated by the BBC.
The BBC’s review found he could continue working at the corporation, the Sun newspaper reported.
In an Instagram post following the front-page story on Monday, Wallace said: “The story that’s hitting the newspapers this morning was investigated promptly when it happened six years ago by the BBC.
“And the outcome of that was that I hadn’t said anything sexual. I’ll need to repeat this again. I didn’t say anything sexual.”
He previously fronted Inside The Factory before saying last year that he would step away to take care of his autistic and non-verbal son, Sid, who he shares with wife Anne-Marie Sterpini.
In another video, the former greengrocer said: “Despite what the newspapers are suggesting nobody six years ago accused me of flirting with anybody or hitting on anybody.
“And the reason I say this is because of my wife Anna. I have always been true to my wife Anna and have never flirted or hit on anybody in the 12 years that I met her and fell in love with her.
“And it’s important that, so that people don’t misunderstand that, that I am true to my wife.”
A BBC spokesman said: “Whilst we do not comment on individuals, if issues are raised they are dealt with swiftly and appropriately at the time.
“We do not tolerate any form of inappropriate behaviour and have robust processes in place.”
