Several allegations of misconduct have been made against the MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace.
The 60-year-old has been a co-presenter and judge of the popular cooking show since 2005.
He is currently being investigated by MasterChef's production company Banijay UK after complaints were made to the BBC last week, and has stepped down from the show.
Wallace's legal team has said: "It is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature".
What are the allegations made against Gregg Wallace?
Thirteen people have complained "in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with Gregg Wallace" on Banijay UK programmes, according to the company.
One of them is broadcaster Kirsty Wark, who was a celebrity contestant on MasterChef in 2011, Sky News reports.
The Newsnight presenter told the BBC Wallace used "sexualised language" during filming.
She explained: "There were two occasions in particular where he used sexualised language in front of a number of people and it wasn't as if anyone engaged with this. It was completely one-way traffic.
"I think people were uncomfortable and [it was] something that I really didn't expect to happen.
"I was actually more angry than anything else, because I thought it was so inappropriate. And in a sense what I thought was it was about power more than anything else, that he felt he could."
BBC's Highest Paid Stars 2023/24
Overall, these allegations span across multiple TV shows between 2005 and 2022.
This investigation comes after a previous BBC review into reports of an alleged incident in 2018 when he appeared on Impossible Celebrities.
Reports about that review, which found he could continue working at the corporation, surfaced in October.
Wallace, who denied any wrongdoing, said those claims had been investigated "promptly" at the time and that he had not said "anything sexual" while appearing on the game show more than half a decade ago.
Other allegations against him have emerged since the initial announcement.
Sir Rod Stewart claimed on his Instagram story that Wallace "humiliated" his wife Penny Lancaster while she was on MasterChef but "had that bit cut" from the broadcast
Author and actor Emma Kennedy, who won Celebrity MasterChef in 2012, said she believes she saw Wallace touch the bottom of a young woman who was working as a photographer's assistant.
Presenter Kirstie Allsopp has claimed his behaviour was "totally unprofessional" when they filmed a TV pilot together.
She wrote: "Within 1 hour of meeting Gregg Wallace he told me of a sex act that he and his partner at the time enjoyed 'every morning'. She'd just left the room, we were filming a pilot."
TV director and producer Dawn Elrick told Sky News several female production staff complained to her about Wallace's conduct.
Recommended Reading:
- Rod Stewart calls Gregg Wallace a 'tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully'
- Gregg Wallace says complaints about him are from 'middle-class women of certain age'
- Gregg Wallace apologises for 'any offence caused' in 'women of a certain age' video
She said women allege a pattern of behaviour that amounted to "bragging in a heightened sexual way" and using graphic language she describes as "lewd" and "quite filthy" - sometimes when cameras were still rolling.
Ms Elrick said she compiled the allegations in a letter to the BBC, who replied requesting more information and evidence.
But she said the response "kind of just missed the point" because, for production staff, coming forward is "very hard".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article