John Torode’s rare comments about Gregg Wallace are being dredged up in the wake of the allegations against his co-host.
On Thursday (28 November), it was revealed that Wallace had stepped down as host of the BBC cookery series amid an investigation into alleged inappropriate comments made across a 17-year period.
Since news broke of the scandal, several stars to have appeared on Celebrity MasterChef, including former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark and Geordie Shore’s Charlotte Crosby, have hit out at the host for alleged remarks they heard when they were filming episodes – and Katy Brand addressed being subjected to a “crass” comment made by the former host.
Speaking about the allegations, Wallace shared a video stating: “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.”
One person who has remained silent on the subject is Torode, who has hosted MasterChef, and its celebrity spin-off, alongside Wallace since it was revamped in 2005.
In 2017, Torode made headlines after claiming that he had “never been friends” with Wallace.
He said in an interview with The Mirror: “It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses. If we go away to somewhere like South Africa, we do things separately. If we do go out for a drink, I’ll invariably be at one end of a big old table and he’ll be at the other.”
However, Torode was best man during Wallace’s wedding to Anne-Maire Sterpini in 2016 and, despite his attempts to seemingly distance himself from his co-host, Wallace said on an episode of Lorraine that same year: “I film with John six or seven months of the year, so we are very close to each other physically, and emotionally we are very close to each other.
“What’s great about having a partnership is that if one of you is a bit off, a bit down, the other one naturally steps up, so I rely on John a lot.”
Earlier this week, in the wake of the allegations against Wallace, former Celebrity MasterChef contestant Aggie McKenzie said that Torode “behaves very differently” to his former co-host.
She told Times Radio: “I observed that when the cameras were off, they would go to separate ends of the room. They didn’t really communicate or have a connection off screen.”
The BBC said of the allegations Wallace: “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.”
BBC News sent a letter to Wallace’s representatives on Tuesday detailing allegations of inappropriate sexual comments by 13 people who worked with him across a range of shows over a 17-year period.
Wallace’s lawyers have said it is “entirely false” Wallace engages in behaviours of a sexually harassing nature, the outlet reported.
In October, Wallace hit back at reports he made sexually inappropriate comments to a female colleague at the BBC in 2018.
Wallace was accused of bragging about his sex life with wife, and taking his top off in front of the employee, according to The Sun.
The TV personality vehemently denied the accusations in a video he shared to Instagram, saying the allegations had been investigated by the BBC six years ago.
