LONDON (AP) — The BBC said Monday it will no longer work with “MasterChef” host Gregg Wallace after a report found that dozens of misconduct allegations made against the hit cooking show presenter were upheld.
The report, led by a law firm, said 45 out of the 83 allegations made against Wallace during his time on the show between 2005 and 2018 were substantiated. It said the majority of the claims related to “inappropriate sexual language and humor," with a smaller number of allegations about Wallace “being in a state of undress” and one incident of unwelcome physical contact.
Wallace, 60, stepped away from hosting the hit BBC reality show, which is made by an independent production company, last year while an investigation was launched into allegations by multiple women that he made inappropriate sexual comments and behaved inappropriately over almost two decades.
The BBC has come under pressure over how it handles sexual misconduct allegations and how Wallace had continued to front some of its most popular shows for so long despite the complaints.
The broadcaster issued a statement of apology, adding Wallace’s “return to MasterChef is untenable.”
“The BBC has informed Mr Wallace we have no plans to work with him in future,” it said. “Although the full extent of these issues were not known at the relevant time, opportunities were missed to address this behavior, both by the production companies running MasterChef and the BBC."
The broadcaster previously said that Wallace was warned by his employers after a complaint in 2018, and an internal investigation at the time found his behavior was “unacceptable and unprofessional.”
The latest investigation found that there was little or no formal training or clear escalation procedures in place for staff — many of those working on the show were freelancers — leading to underreporting and normalization of inappropriate behavior.
Wallace has strongly denied the claims, and previously stated that he will not be “canceled for convenience.”
He said in a statement Monday that he was “deeply sorry for any distress” his behavior caused, though he maintained that none of the most serious allegations against him were upheld.
“Some of my humor and language missed the mark. I never set out to harm or humiliate,” he said.
In December, he drew an angry backlash after he alleged that complaints about his behavior came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age."
“MasterChef” is one of the BBC’s most popular and long-running competition shows, spawning numerous spinoffs and adaptations in other countries, including “MasterChef Australia.”
Caroline Dinenage, who chairs Parliament's culture, media and sport committee, said there was still a long way to go to tackle inappropriate behaviour in the creative industry when complainants still find it easier to take their allegations to the press rather than use internal processes.
Downing Street said it welcomed the BBC severing its ties with Wallace.
“We’re clear that appropriate steps must be taken to ensure abuses of power are prevented from happening in the future," a spokesman said.
FILE - British television host Gregg Wallace, Feb 16, 2017. (Yui Mok/PA via AP, File)
