On Thursday, Charlotte Crosby criticized Gregg Wallace on Instagram, describing him as ‘extremely unpleasant,’ while also adding her voice to the celebrities criticizing the BBC personality in light of a misconduct inquiry.
The 60-year-old Gregg voluntarily withdrew from MasterChef following allegations from 13 individuals accusing him of inappropriate and ‘wrong’ behavior with sexual connotations during the show’s production. This led to an investigation initiated by Banijay UK, the production company.
Charlotte Crosby, known for her role on Geordie Shore, has joined others who have come forward with allegations against Gregg Wallace, publicly sharing their experiences of encountering or witnessing inappropriate conduct from the ex-greengrocer.
Among those to have gone public are musician Rod Stewart, whose wife Penny Lancaster appeared on Celebrity Masterchef, journalist Kirsty Wark and presenter Ulrika Jonsson, who said Gregg had made a rape joke to another female contestant on the celebrity show.
Wallace has previously denied making sexual comments towards women after it was reported he was investigated over remarks made while filming Impossible Celebrities in 2018.
He is yet to comment after stepping back from the cookery show yesterday – but did break his silence on social media to thank fans for their ‘support’.
Banijay said Gregg is co-operating with the investigation, while his lawyers maintain that it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour that is sexually harassing in nature.
Charlotte, who starred on Celebrity MasterChef earlier this year, shared her own allegation about the TV host on Instagram last night.
She wrote: ‘He [Gregg] was extremely unpleasant to me when I was on MasterChef’.
It came as other celebrities, including some at the BBC, appeared to throw shade at the fitness fanatic after news of the Banijay probe broke.
Greg James dropped Wallace from his usual opening gambit as he kicked off his BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show on Friday morning.
The radio host typically opens the programme with a sound bite of Gregg saying: ‘Fire ’em up, let’s go!’
But today, he instead played a clip of Daniel Craig from US late night show Saturday Night Live, as the Bond star says: ‘Ladies and gentlemen: the weekend.’
Charlotte previously revealed she was reduced to tears while on the BBC show and that ‘she was wrong to be so confident’ going on the programme.
Speaking on The One Show alongside co-star Edith Bowman earlier this year, Charlotte explained: ‘There’s something about that space and that studio you feel like a little kid again.
‘It’s horrible, all the lights are on you. The pressure – it’s really scary. There was a lot of emotion!’
Edith then confessed: ‘We both cried!’
It comes hours after Sir Rod Stewart issued a furious rant at Gregg calling him a ‘tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully’ for ‘humiliating’ his wife Penny Lancaster when she appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021.
Fans of the show will remember Penny exiting in tears in 2021, after Gregg told her off with the ‘serious’ delay of her food and then refused to eat it.
Following Gregg’s departure, Rod wrote: ‘So Greg [sic] Wallace gets fired from Master Chef.
‘Good riddance Wallace… You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you?
‘You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart’.
As chaos filled the kitchen during her stint on the show, Gregg told Penny: ‘Mate, we can’t be 10 minutes late,’ calling her delay ‘serious’.
Following Penny’s eviction from the kitchen in 2021, she shared a cryptic post on Instagram hinting at ‘a person’s behaviour’.
She wrote on Instagram: ‘When you finally learn that a person’s behaviour has more to do with their own struggle than it ever did with you, you learn grace’.
MailOnline has contacted the BBC for a comment.
Last night, TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson claimed Gregg had left a fellow female contestant on Celebrity Masterchef ‘really distressed’ after he allegedly told her a joke about rape.
Ulrika told the Telegraph that the contestant then relayed the joke to her – before they then spoke to a producer about what had happened
The newspaper reports Gregg then came out to apologise; Ulrika claimed he had ‘tears in his eyes’ as he said sorry following the incident, alleged to have happened in 2017.
She said: ‘The apology should have been to everyone. It felt like, you know, “don’t make the joke in the first place”.’
Gregg has been accused of taking his top off in front of a female worker saying he wanted to ‘give her a fashion show’ and talking about his sex life to others.
On one occasion he allegedly told a junior female colleague he wasn’t wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans.
The BBC has revealed that 13 people, including Kirsty Wark, have complained about his conduct while working with him over a 17-year period across five shows, from 2005 to 2022.
Kirsty claims that on two occasions Gregg told stories and jokes of a ‘sexualised nature’ in front of contestants and crew while filming Celebrity MasterChef in 2011. She said his gags and comments were ‘really, really in the wrong place’.
‘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. But I think people were uncomfortable and something that I really did not expect to happen’, she said.
On Thursday, Scottish broadcaster Aasmah Mir shared a picture of herself during the 2017 Celebrity MasterChef series with the cryptic message: ‘Always keep your receipts’. It is not yet known if she has also complained.
The BBC claims that Gregg walked away from MasterChef today after BBC News sent a letter to his agent on Tuesday, setting out allegations from 13 people and giving him a right of reply.
They say he was warned after a complaint was raised in 2018, but new historical claims emerged over the summer of 2024.
Gregg is ‘committed to fully cooperating throughout the process’, the show’s production company Banijay UK said.
Gregg will be on BBC One as usual on Thursday night because MasterChef: The Professionals, which is already recorded, will transmit as planned and into December. MasterChef’s Christmas specials will also still be broadcast.
The chef is yet to comment today – but at the time of the announcement this afternoon he did take to Instagram to share his recipe for prawn tacos with pineapple salsa.
But in October Gregg vehemently denied that he had made inappropriate sexual comments towards women, declaring that he would never ‘flirt with’ or ‘hit on’ another woman and saying: ‘I didn’t say anything sexual’.
BBC News said it had been told of other allegations, including the presenter ‘talking openly about his sex life, taking his top off in front of a female worker saying he wanted to ‘give her a fashion show’, and telling a junior female colleague he was not wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans’.
Banijay has not revealed the nature of the allegations.
In a statement to the PA news agency Banijay UK said: ‘This week the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows.
‘Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate.
‘While this review is underway, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully cooperating throughout the process.
‘Banijay UK’s duty of care to staff is always a priority and our expectations regarding behaviour are made clear to both cast and crew on all productions, with multiple ways of raising concerns, including anonymously, clearly promoted on set.
‘Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately.’
The statement added: ‘If anyone would like to talk to us or raise any issues or concerns, then they can contact [email protected] in confidence.’
The BBC has said it takes any issues that are raised with it ‘seriously’.
A BBC spokesperson said yesterday: ‘We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.
‘We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.
‘Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.’
In October, Gregg admitted he was feeling stressed amid allegations he made inappropriate sexual comments towards women – and his fellow judge John Torode’s wife alleged he ‘repeatedly told rude jokes’ on set.
Gregg took to Instagram with a live video as he offered tips on healthy eating while also alluding to new allegations made against him this week.
He told viewers he was ‘a little bit distracted at the moment’, but said he ‘wanted to check in and say hello’.
His social media riposte came as it emerged his MasterChef co-host John Torode’s wife Lisa Faulkner would think, ‘I don’t want to hear this’, as he apparently delivered punchlines to crew of the BBC‘s flagship cookery show.
Lisa, 52, appeared on the series in 2010 where she went on to win the Celebrity MasterChef trophy – and has opened up about her time on the show.
Brookside and Holby City star Lisa told the Cheltenham Literature Festival how she would overhear the former greengrocer’s jokes as she was prepping her dishes.
She said: ‘Gregg was telling – I’m probably not allowed to say this…Gregg just told rude joke after rude joke to the crew.
‘You’re just sitting there and if you’re on the front bench just chopping away thinking, ‘I’ve got ten minutes left’, and he’s saying, ‘So this girl walked into a bar…’
‘And I’m going, ‘Please, I don’t want to hear this joke’.’
Her husband John, 59, who was also on stage with her to promote their new book, told her: ‘It’s changed quite a lot really…’
Gregg absolutely denied claims he boasted about his sex life to a younger female BBC employee and took his top off in front of her while filming a game show – saying he would never ‘flirt with’ or ‘hit on’ another woman.
Bosses at the corporation are said to have hauled the MasterChef co-host into a meeting in 2018 following allegations of ‘inappropriate sexual comments’ and told him to ‘change his behaviour’.
An insider claims Gregg brushed it off as ‘just banter’, having been reported for making ‘consistent inappropriate comments’ to the member of the production team while working on game show Impossible Celebrities.
But taking to Instagram, Gregg hit back at the allegations in an emotional video saying he was ‘madly in love’ with his wife Anna.
He said: ‘The story that’s hitting the newspapers was investigated promptly when it happened six years ago by the BBC.
‘And the outcome of that was that I hadn’t said anything sexual. I’ll need to repeat this again. I didn’t say anything sexual.
‘Despite what the newspapers are suggesting nobody six years ago accused me of flirting with anybody or hitting on anybody.
‘And the reason I say this is because of my wife Anna. I have always been true to my wife Anna and have never flirted or hit on anybody in the 12 years [since] I met her and fell in love with her.
‘And it’s important that, so that people don’t misunderstand that, that I am true to my wife.’
Gregg, who has previously spoken of losing 5st with an exercise regime, told viewers: ‘I’ve had a fair bit of stress over the last few days, but my healthy lifestyle choices have stayed the same because that’s my lifestyle. That’s what I do without thinking’.
‘Does that make sense to people? I really, really hope it does. I’m a little bit distracted at the moment, you can probably tell.’
Gregg went on to say: ‘There are so many benefits of upping your levels of activity, so many healthy benefits.
‘I’m not going to mention the newspapers at the moment – I’ve got that coming at me left, right and centre.’
He also responded to commenters including one who spoke of loving chocolate buttons, with Wallace saying: ‘Chocolate buttons are lovely – right now, that sugar hit, I get it. I understand.’
But he added: ‘I really like a mango. I really like a pineapple. I really like a bowl of blueberries. And fruit isn’t full of sugar and fat. Here’s the saying – love food that loves you back.’
The TV presenter then signed off by saying: ‘I’ve got a really, really busy day – I wanted to check in and say hello.
‘If you want to make a difference to your life, really consider the choices you make.’
The allegations of inappropriate comments have only now emerged as the BBC this week launched a probe into workplace culture as bosses aim to crack down on the ‘abuse of power’.
The insider who made the claims against Gregg, which his team says are ‘inaccurate’, raised questions as to why he was allowed to continue presenting MasterChef.
They told the Sun: ‘He is said to have been boasting about his sex life with his partner at the time.
At one point, Gregg was also accused of taking his top off in front of the woman which felt inappropriate.
The team working on the show were said to have gone to BBC bosses to complain after being left ‘mortified’ by Wallace’s alleged behaviour.
A spokesman for the BBC told The Sun: ‘Whilst we do not comment on individuals, if issues are raised they are dealt with swiftly and appropriately at the time.
‘We do not tolerate any form of inappropriate behaviour and have robust processes in place.’
It was previously reported by the Times back in May last year that he had allegedly offended female staff members at the Nestlé UK factory in York with comments about their weight during a ‘friendly’ conversation.
Gregg then denied that he left the BBC show Inside The Factory in March that year due to inappropriate comments made towards female staff.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain in August 2023, the called the claims ‘inaccurate’.
The newspaper had quoted a source as saying: ‘He was rude towards staff and continued to talk in a derogatory manner, especially to women.’
The comments were reportedly non-sexual but deemed ‘inappropriate’ and a complaint was lodged with Voltage TV, the production company responsible for developing the show.
When asked on GMB by Richard Madeley about his departure from the programme, Wallace responded by saying: ‘There was an argument inside the factory, the reporting isn’t accurate.
‘There was an issue and I thought this is the perfect time to come out.’
‘Offending people? No, no – if you look at the headlines, you can’t see a story that matches those headlines.’
Gregg also revealed that he also wanted to leave to help care for his son Sid, born in 2019, who is autistic.
Explaining his home situation, he said: ‘I’ve got a little boy called Sid who at the moment is non-verbal, he is still in nappies, he’s got learning difficulties. Mum needed help there.’
He revealed that the demanding nature of the filming around the different factories across the country meant that it made sense to give it up.
Gregg added: ‘It’s completely inaccurate, I didn’t challenge it. There was an issue, I don’t want to discuss the issue but it wasn’t what the papers said it was.
‘There was nothing offensive to anybody that’s just people guessing. It was a decent time to come out, I think.’
Gregg wed Anne-Marie Sterpini, 22 years younger than him, at Hever Castle in Kent in August 2016, having met three years earlier.
