Gregg Wallace has confirmed he'll be stepping down from BBC series Inside the Factory, so that he can focus on family commitments.
The presenter has worked on Inside the Factory for seven years but has decided to leave that job to focus on his son, Sid, who has autism. Sid is non-verbal and needs additional support with education, and Gregg said that he is a "lovely, lovely little boy" with a "wonderful mother" but "it's not easy".
Speaking to Gaby Roslin on BBC Radio London, he added: "So I’ve made a decision that I’m actually not going to do Inside the Factory anymore.
"It’s a good time to stop doing it because there are actually 12 episodes in the can… so I wouldn’t have been filming for a while anyway, so it just seemed like a good idea to stop it."
Reflecting on his decision to support his wife Anna, Gregg Wallace said: "Imagine a child that you can't threaten or bribe and that's basically what you've got.
"You've got a little boy who's cuddly and happy and naughty like any little boy would be, but he can't speak, he can't talk to you, so he gets frustrated because he finds it difficult to tell you what exactly it is he needs.
"Right now, we need to find education for him and I can't just leave that to Anna — that's a big, big decision."
Although he is stepping down from Inside the Factory, Gregg is believed to still be working on MasterChef and spin-off MasterChef: The Professionals, which he has hosted alongside John Torode, Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Anna Haugh over the years.
Meanwhile, the BBC said a new Inside the Factory presenter will be announced "in due course," so we will have to wait patiently to see who'll be taking on the role.
Jack Bootle, the BBC's head of specialist factual, said Gregg Wallace has been "integral to the success" of the series and has brought "humor, intelligence and genuine curiosity to one of the BBC's biggest returning factual brands".
He added: "I'd like to thank him for all his hard work and commitment to the program."
While we don't know who will take over for Inside the Factory, a new series presented by Gregg Wallace, Cherry Healey and Ruth Goodman, will launch on BBC Two in April.
