MasterChef star Gregg Wallace has confirmed the real reason behind his decision to quit another of his popular BBC shows ahead of the much-anticipated return of the cooking competition. The TV presenter appeared on the latest episode of The One Show on Wednesday night (April 5) alongside his co-star John Torode as they chatted about the new MasterChef series.
As well as presenting and judging on Masterchef, Gregg is also known for presenting his own BBC series Inside The Factory. It saw the 58-year-old and fellow presenter Cherry Healey hit factory floors across Britain for a snoop around their supersized production lines.
However, Gregg revealed he was quitting last month. He told fans that he wanted to focus on his autistic son, Sid, who he shares with his wife Anne-Marie. Confirming his decision on The One Show, Gregg clarified that he and Anne were focusing on finding the non-verbal youngster a new school.
"Gregg, I want to ask you first, it's been in the news recently that you are taking a little break from Inside the Factory?" host Emma Willis asked. "Yes, that's true," Gregg replied. "I've got a little boy called Sid, he's very autistic, he's non-verbal and we have got to choose a school for him.
"As he's getting older, it's getting more challenging. It's not something I want to just leave to my Anna. I need a little bit more time just to help out." He then reassured viewers: "It's only until we find a school for him," before adding that he already had at least 12 episodes already filmed that are yet to be aired.
The chat soon moved on the MasterChef, which returns to screens on Easter Monday (April 10), as Emma, who was presenting with Ronan Keating, said: "It's incredible, 19 series [of the show] and still so many people are coming on." It is then when Gregg said: "And people still ask if we are really mates, 'Do you really get on because we heard you don't get on?'
"It's been nearly 20 years and I knew him 10 years before this, so we've known each other 30 years." Co-star John added: "We've done 10 years not 19 series, so we are up to nearly 40 series, then you put professional on top of that and juniors, 19 years on TV, we feel lucky."
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