Gregg Wallace latest: Kirstie Allsopp slams ‘sex act’ remark amid backlash over blaming ‘women of certain age’

TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has said she was “so embarrassed” she thought she “might cry” after Gregg Wallace allegedly made a comment to her about his sex life.

Allsopp, 53, said the encounter took place several years ago in a performers’ lounge while she was filming a pilot for a TV quiz show alongside Wallace and his partner.

She told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend: “I’d been chatting to her, she left the room and he (Wallace) made a reference to something they did in bed.

“You know that feeling when you’re so embarrassed that you think you might cry. You just feel kind of internally scarlet. I had that feeling and I always remembered it.”

“Gregg Wallace was always an unlikely TV star,” writes The Independent’s TV critic Nick Hilton. “Prematurely bald, stout, and the proud wearer of thick glasses, he seemed destined for an unglamorous life amid the vegetable stalls of the capital, rather than on TV screens across the country.

“And yet, the presenter, who has stepped back from his role as a judge on MasterChef after a series of historic sexual misconduct allegations came to light, has made himself part of the furniture at the BBC. And that makes his rapid fall from grace even more troubling for the corporation, though Wallace’s lawyers say it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.”

Read Nick Hilton’s full analysis here:

Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has advised Gregg Wallace to “rein it in” as the MasterChef host takes to social media to respond to claims of inappropriate behaviour against him.

In response to Wallace’s earlier claim that all complainants against him were “middle-class women of a certain age”, Fearnley-Whittingstall said the comments were “not wise”.

He told the BBC that he doesn’t know the fallen star well, but having met him a few times, called him “likeable and professional”.

He said: “I don’t think it’s smart to come out talking like that when at the moment he should probably be listening.”

Wallace stepped back from the cooking show on Thursday as a string of allegations emerged concerning the 60-year-old’s behaviour, including that he had made inappropriate sexual jokes, asked for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressed in front of women.

Over the weekend, reports emerged that the BBC had been made aware of complaints as far back as 2017, while it was claimed that a letter had been sent to the broadcaster in 2022 stating that women had been made to feel “uncomfortable” in his presence.

Politicians have spoken out about concerns surrounding the handling of Gregg Wallace’s misconduct allegations after it emerged claims were reported as far back as 2017.

The Conservative chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Caroline Dinenage, vowed to raise concerns to BBC bosses when possible.

She told The Telegraph: “BBC bosses appear in front of us on a regular basis and at the next opportunity I’m sure members will want to raise the issue of the BBC complaints process and whether it’s protecting the staff who work there or on its behalf.”

Labour MP and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee member Paul Waugh echoed these concerns; “Both BBC staff and the wider public will want to know whether the Corporation’s processes are fit for purpose. And I hope the director-general will have some answers when he’s next before the Committee.”

There’s a good reason why the disgraced former MasterChef host is angry with ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ – we’ve spent a lifetime putting up with men’s bad behaviour, and age brings the confidence to stand up to it, says Alice Smellie:

TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson, who claimed Gregg Wallace made a “rape joke” during the filming of Celebrity MasterChef, has said she was “seething” after seeing him single out “middle-class women of a certain age”.

Jonsson is one of several women who have accused Wallace of inappropriate behaviour as she claimed he was forced to apologise for the joke he made during filming for an episode of the cooking competition.

In response to Wallace’s comments made on social media this morning, the presenter told The Telegraph: “When he made reference to women of a certain age I was just seething… I was just absolutely wild.

“My first reaction was just, ‘Keep digging, Gregg. Keep digging’ because this shows the arrogance of a man who has zero introspection or self-awareness.

“When we refer to women ‘of a certain age’, they tend to be women my age, over 50, which is ironic because we are some of the hardiest women out there. When I was starting out, we had to put up with all sorts of sexist, misogynistic comments, and we put up with them.

‘‘It’s the height of arrogance for him to say, ‘Oh it’s this small bunch, it’s this small cohort of people who are different’. No, Gregg, actually, it’s not about being different. It’s about being respectable and having some ability to not just read the room, but to read the world.”

Amid accusations of inappropriate behaviour, Gregg Wallace has taken to social media to share supportive messages he has received in recent days.

The MasterChef host, who has stepped down in light of recent allegations, has posted screenshots of several messages from former contestants to his Instagram story on Sunday.

Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has advised Gregg Wallace to “rein it in” as the MasterChef host takes to social media to respond to claims of inappropriate behaviour against him.

In response to Wallace’s earlier claim that all complainants against him were “middle-class women of a certain age”, Fearnley-Whittingstall said the comments were “not wise”.

He told the BBC that he doesn’t know the fallen star well, but having met him a few times, called him “likeable and professional”.

He said: “I don’t think it’s smart to come out talking like that when at the moment he should probably be listening.”