The former MasterChef host was sacked earlier this month after a report upheld 45 allegations about his behaviour on the programme.
This included one of unwelcome physical contact and three of being in a state of undress.
Co-host Torode was also axed after a claim against him using “an extremely offensive racist term” was upheld.
Gregg Wallace has reportedly been banned from working at the BBC ever again. The organisation says they have a lack of “confidence” that the presenter can change his nature, following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Wallace was sacked as MasterChef presenter earlier this… pic.twitter.com/Mwhky1sUwY
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) July 11, 2025
BBC News has since revealed that the alleged incident took place on the set of MasterChef in 2018. Torode has said he has “no recollection” of the incident.
In an interview with The Sun, Wallace defended his former co-host, saying: “I’ve known John for 30 years and he is not a racist.
“And as evidence of that, I’ll show you the incredible diversity of the people that he has championed, MasterChef winners, over the years.
“There is no way that man is a racist. No way. And my sympathies go out to John because I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve been through.”
However, he added that he had unfollowed Torode and his wife Lisa Faulkner on social media, saying: “We never really did get on that well. We’re two very, very different characters.”
The fallout over MasterChef continues with reports that John Torode plans to sue the BBC after he was fired and is determined to clear his name following the allegation that he used an “extremely offensive racist term” in 2018.
Broadcaster Aasmah Mir appeared on Celebrity… pic.twitter.com/B8swv81yX7
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) July 17, 2025
“To anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry”
As reported by BBC News, the majority of substantiated claims against Wallace related to inappropriate sexual language and humour.
Allegations have also been made that he groped one MasterChef worker at a wrap party and pulled his trousers down in front of another.
The presenter acknowledged that he had said things that “offended people, that weren’t socially acceptable and perhaps they felt too intimidated or nervous to say anything at the time.
He said: “I understand that now – and to anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry.”
Discussing some of the other allegations, he added: “I’m not a groper. People think I’ve been taking my trousers down and exposing myself – I am not a flasher.
“People think I’m a sex pest. I am not.”
Wallace said that one of the upheld claims against him related to a widely reported incident in which he had allegedly walked around MasterChef’s set naked with a sock on his penis.
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Addressing that incident, he said that there were no contestants on set, and just four of his friends from the show outside his dressing room door.
“I was getting changed to go to a black tie event, a charity event. I put my bow tie on and my shirt. It’s only them outside the door. I put the sock on, opened the door, went, ‘Wahey!’ and shut the door again.
“The people interviewed were either amused or bemused. Nobody was distressed,” he claimed.
