Model Penny Lancaster has reflected on an “unbelievable” comment made by Gregg Wallace after the MasterChef scandal came to light.
In July, a total of 45 out of the 83 allegations made against Wallace during his time on the show were substantiated, including one allegation of “unwelcome physical contact”.
When the scandal first emerged, Wallace claimed the allegations were made by “middle-class women of a certain age” – a comment he apologised for.
Lancaster, who was left “humiliated” by Wallace on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021, reflected on this comment in a new interview, stating: “It’s unbelievable what he said, isn’t it? I mean, talk about stabbing yourself in the foot! Was that his comeback?
“It just goes to show that he has got away with it for so long, he doesn’t see what he has done wrong.”
Lancaster’s experience with the host was revealed by her husband, Rod Stewart, who wrote in the wake of Wallace’s departure from the show: “You humiliated my wife when she was on the celebrity version of the show, but you had that bit cut out, didn’t you?
The model, 54, told The Telegraph that “nobody stepped in to help” after she was left feeling humiliated by the host. According to Lancaster, Wallace, 61, took a fake orchid from her table mat and, when she asked him to return it, he dropped it on the floor, essentially making her crouch down to pick it up.
“It was as if it was all just in my imagination!” she said. “In a professional environment like that, when you have a duty of care to people and it goes amiss, that is when you really start scratching your head. Aren’t you going to do something?”
After the report findings, Patrick Holland, chief executive of MasterChef production company Banijay UK, said it was “clear that escalation procedures were not as robust as they should have been”, adding: “We are extremely sorry to anyone who has been impacted by this behaviour and felt unable to speak up at the time or that their complaint was not adequately addressed.”
When the allegations against Wallace first emerged, Lancaster’s musician husband called the former MasterChef host a “tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully” in a post shared while the model was on jury duty.
“I didn’t look at it until I pulled onto the drive at home,” she remembered. “There were all these messages: ‘Have you seen what your husband has written?’ ‘How cool is your husband?’ I was like: ‘Oh God, what’s he done?’”
She said her initial reaction was thinking “Oh Jesus”, but realised he thought: “This was what my wife went through; she might not say anything, but I can’t keep my mouth shut.”
Lancaster admitted that she wishes Stewart had informed her beforehand so she could have prepared herself.
“Because, of course, then my agent was on the phone, wanting my version of the story. I said I wouldn’t do that. But I spoke to the investigating team and did it that way.”
After the investigation into Wallace’s behaviour upheld 45 of the 83 complaints against the host, the BBC apologised to "everyone who had been impacted” by his behaviour and said “opportunities were missed to address” his conduct.
The corporation stated: “We accept more could and should have been done sooner. This behaviour falls below the values of the BBC and the expectations we have for anyone who works with or for us.
MasterChef’s production company Banijay, who conducted the report alongside law firm Lewis Silkin, said his return to the cookery show was “untenable.”
The host faced multiple accusations, including claims that he made inappropriate sexual jokes, asked for the phone numbers of female production staff, and behaved unprofessionally around female colleagues on set. He denied the allegations but said he is “deeply sorry for any distress caused”.
The “vast majority (94 per cent)” of the 83 allegations were linked to behaviour that allegedly happened between 2005 and 2018. Only one was substantiated after that time period.
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