Vanessa Feltz has become the latest star to speak out against Gregg Wallace, claiming he had described a sex act he had performed on his wife while in a BBC lift with her friend.
The 60-year-old faces allegations from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period, as reported by BBC News on Thursday, with many others since sharing their experiences.
Speaking on her YouTube channel, Feltz recalled: “My friend did not know Greg Wallace. Had never met him before, and in the lift was a young girl who worked on another show.
“So the three of them were going up in the lift together and completely unprompted Greg Wallace described a sex act that he had performed on his then-wife that morning.
“So my friend had not met Greg Wallace before, hadn’t asked him about his sex life. Was simply taking him to participate in a BBC programme, and the young lady in the lift was just an innocent passenger.
“So this is something that a very close friend and associate of mine told me about at the time. What did anyone do about it? Of course, absolutely nothing.”
Her comments come as Stephen Fry said men in television must consider who may be the “victim or stereotype” at the root of their “light banter” after Wallace apologised for his response to complaints made about his behaviour.
Author and comedian Fry said it was “unbelievably foolish” of Wallace to publish a video over the weekend in which he claimed the accusations, which include making “inappropriate sexual jokes”, came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.
Fry told Sky News Breakfast on Tuesday: “I think if, by now, people who work in television, men who work in television, don’t understand that light banter is no longer something that can be aired in ways unless they think hard about, is there a sort of victim or a stereotype at the root of this banter who might be hurt.
“And it’s just good manners, really. Good manners have changed. In Victorian times, certain things couldn’t be referred to or seen and it was only polite to obey this because people were shocked and upset if things were not respected that they respect.
“And so I think we’ve all just got to realise it’s not about wokeness, it’s just about being sensitive to the atmosphere.”
Fry and Feltz are not the only stars to come forward as Melanie Sykes said working with Wallace on Celebrity MasterChef pushed her to decide to quit television while Sir Rod Stewart branded him a “tubby bully” and accused him of ‘humiliating' wife Penny Lancaster when she appeared on the show in 2021.
Wallace’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.
The Standard has contacted Gregg Wallace’s rep for comment.
Elsewhere, MasterChef aired on Monday evening as scheduled despite the growing furore surrounding Wallace.
'It's a collision of generations and attitudes that makes a very ugly noise when they bang together'
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 3, 2024
'We've all got to realise it's not about wokeness it's just about being sensitive'
Stephen Fry speaks about the culture of the entertainment industry with Sky's @KayBurley ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ArfXNKZ0kq
The broadcaster insisted it would be business as usual despite facing calls to pause the current series of MasterChef: The Professionals as it investigates allegations by 13 individuals of sexually inappropriate comments made by Wallace, who stepped down from the programme on Thursday.
Issuing a statement, a spokesperson BBC said: “MasterChef is life-changing for the chefs that take part and the show is about more than one individual.
“Any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated,” the broadcaster reiterated.
Wallace prompted an angry backlash at the weekend after posting a video online claiming in his defence that accusations came from "a handful of middle-class women of a certain age".
He issued a grovelling apology on Monday, saying he had not been in a “good headspace” when he posted the clip.
He added: “I've been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion, I felt very alone, under siege yesterday when I posted it.”
Two people who are unlikely to offer him any comfort at this time are his MasterChef co-star John Torode and Torode’s wife Lisa Faulkner, both of whom “furious” Wallace is said to have unfollowed on social media.
A source told The Sun: “Gregg is absolutely furious and is convinced he has done nothing wrong.
“Seeing John keeping quiet amid all of this has irked him hugely. Gregg and John have been colleagues for almost two decades and while they aren’t the closest of friends, Gregg feels John could say something.
“He has deleted them from his Instagram account now and unfollowed both of them. It might seem petty from Gregg but he is furious about how this has all played out."
The pair have hosted MasterChef together since 2005 and Torode was the best man at Wallace’s wedding in 2016 but the year after he seemed to distance himself from the former Covent Garden green grocer.
Last Thursday, it was announced that Wallace is to step away from the hit BBC cooking show while historical misconduct complaints are externally reviewed by the producer Banijay UK.
Wallace’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.
Labour MP Jess Phillips has said she is comfortable with MasterChef continuing to air while Wallace is investigated over his behaviour.
She told BBC Breakfast: “Gregg Wallace isn’t the only person on MasterChef, if it was just the Gregg Wallace show, then I could understand that you would immediately go ‘Yeah, just take it off the air’.
“But it is a launchpad for quite a lot of young chefs. It’s not for me to decide what the BBC chooses to air or not.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has also held talks with BBC bosses in the wake of the Wallace investigation.
In response to reports that multiple complaints had been raised with the BBC, a source for the corporation said it would not comment on individuals or any internal HR processes but that it would be “wrong to report the BBC has done nothing if or when matters have been raised with us – not least because it is already being widely reported there were interventions in both 2017 and 2018 where action was taken”.
Allegations were also raised to BBC News by staff members about Wallace’s behaviour on Channel 5’s Gregg Wallace’s Big Weekends.
In an updated statement on Monday evening, a spokesperson from production company Rumpus Media said: “We’ve undertaken a close review of the production of Gregg Wallace’s Big Weekends Away which finished in 2021 when Rumpus was under different ownership.
“We don’t tolerate inappropriate behaviour and the welfare of our colleagues is a priority.
“If any crew member from this production would like to get in touch regarding their experience we would encourage them to email talktous_rumpus@stv.tv on a confidential basis.”
Production company Banijay UK confirmed it has appointed law firm Lewis Silkin to lead an investigation into Wallace’s alleged behaviour.
