Inside Gregg Wallace’s tumultuous friendship with MasterChef co-host John Torode – as he steps down from present amid misconduct probe

After spending nearly two decades presenting Britain’s best-loved cooking show together, the legacy of famed duo Gregg Wallace and John Torode appears to have come crashing down in just a matter of months.

Today, BBC presenter Gregg, 60, stepped down from MasterChef after it was revealed that 13 people, including Newsnight host Kirsty Wark, have accused him of ‘wrong’ and inappropriate ‘sexualised’ behaviour during filming.

As Gregg takes his leave from the cooking show, many fans have been left wondering who will replace him in MasterChef.  

Though the pair always appeared to have strong chemistry onscreen, admissions from both parties may suggest that John, 59, won’t be feeling too hard done by once his former co-star leaves the show.

Amid rows, weddings, and onscreen spats, John and Gregg appear to have endured a tumultuous friendship behind the scenes of their 19-year tenure of the show.

Though John was Gregg’s best man for his fourth wedding to Anne Marie in 2016, the duo have in the past admitted they had a spat so awful that filming for MasterChef had to be called off, while John has said they’ve ‘never really’ been friends.  

And their relationship will surely have been made even more difficult after John’s wife Lisa Faulkner claimed Gregg made ‘rude joke after rude joke’ while MasterChef was being filmed.  

Here, FEMAIL takes a look inside the relationship between the MasterChef stars – as one faces up to sexual misconduct allegations and the other prepares to introduce a new host on the cooking show. 

After over 10 years working, filming and eating together, John shocked the nation when in 2017, he revealed that, despite their onscreen rapport, he was ‘not actually friends’ with his co-star.

Having attended Gregg’s fourth wedding to Anne Marie, 37, as his best man just a year earlier in 2016, just a year later John said they’d ‘never actually been friends’.

During filming, the pair appeared to enjoy a close bond, sharing jokes, laughing and joining forces to make decisions on contestants. 

But speaking to The Mirror he said: ‘It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses…’

Even when travelling abroad for work, the two have always kept their distance, avoiding each other at mealtimes.

He continued: ‘If we go away to somewhere like South Africa, we do things separately… If we do go out for a drink, I’ll invariably be at one end of a big old table and he’ll be at the other.’

And when the two do come together, things don’t always play out as smoothly as they appear on camera, as John previously admitted to booze-fuelled spats with his co-host in the past.

‘Once, we had a bit too much to drink and filming got called off,’ admitted John. 

‘We ended up having a massive fight about one of the contestants, and he got really stubborn – it was ridiculous. We’ve had a couple of standoffs over the years, about contestants, and I’ve just had to walk away from him.’

But only a year earlier in 2016, John was best man at Gregg’s wedding to Anne-Marie, suggesting the pair enjoyed a closer bond than they care to admit. 

Later in 2018, a joint interview with The Mirror painted the view of a picture perfect friendship, with the two sharing in a number of personal jokes and offering support in times of need.

During the interview, the pair were asked what the most thoughtful thing had done for each other was, to which Gregg said his co-host has supported him with his mental health.

‘I was suffering from anxiety recently and John sat me down for a good chat to assure me things never turn out as badly as I imagine they will. That was so sweet,’ he said.

Referring to him as ‘The Wallace’, John described Gregg as having ‘kindness and big heart’, adding that he appreciated even the ‘little things’ from his onscreen pal, such as sending texts while the other was on holiday.

When asked if the other had any annoying habits, both answered jovially, as though old time pals.

John answered: ‘The worst thing about Gregg are the appalling, cheesy jokes he’s constantly cracking. The MasterChef set just gets sillier and sillier, we act like a bunch of naughty school kids.’

The pair gave the impression of a long and close friendship, with each reciting each other’s habits, such as Greg’s early morning rises to workout and enjoy a hotel breakfast, and John’s blasé attitude to flying.

Last year, the two shared further insight into their relationship, saying they had learned to make the relationship work for them – even if it wasn’t conventional.

Gregg told The Radio Times: ‘As far as I know, nobody’s written a bestselling pamphlet on how to be a successful TV couple, which is what we are. 

‘People are amazed we can be close and not be round at each other’s houses. We’ve found a way for it to work for us.’

While they may not be in each other’s pockets away from the show, they insist they do have fun while filming.

On who’s funnier, John, said: ‘I mean, his jokes are s***, but every now and then he does come out with something very funny. It makes work joyous.’

Gregg added: ‘I just constantly crack jokes. When John does it can be hilarious, because he’s normally in serious chef and judge mode. But I’m funnier.’   

Gregg has also previously insisted to Lorraine Kelly that the duo were close – despite John’s claims that they’ve never really been friends. 

During an appearance on the show in April earlier this year he told the ITV presenter: ‘I film with John six or seven months of the year, so we are very close to each other physically, and emotionally we are very close to each other.

‘What’s great about having a partnership is that if one of you is a bit off, a bit down, the other one naturally steps up, so I rely on John a lot.’

Gregg said: ‘People say that John and I don’t get on… We’ve been working together face-to-face for 20 years. We knew each other for 10 years before that – John bought fruit and veg off me – and he was best man at my wedding… He wasn’t best man at every wedding, but he was at the last one!

‘You make your mind up what’s going on there between me and Mr Torode.’

Meanwhile, his cohost said that one of the ‘joys’ of working together was that their differing ‘identities and opinions’ have ‘morphed’ together over the years, painting a much bright picture of an intimate friendship. 

But then in the summer, the picture painted by John was a somewhat different. 

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival earlier this year, John contradictorily jibed that they have sampled bountiful dishes together but that the two had never spent the time together to have developed each other’s own culinary skills.

John – who previously enjoyed a career of his own in the kitchen working as a sous chef for the Conran Group under Terence Conran and opening his own restaurant – was asked during the festival if he had ever offered any cooking tips to his co-host – to which he said the pair had never spent the time together to.  

He said: ‘Well we don’t really socialise Gregg and I, so not under my guidance, the man has tasted as many plates of food as I have in twenty-one years and I think it must be reaching over 20,000 plates of food we’ve eaten over that time. 

‘He’s got a pretty good palate, whether he cooks or not, I’m not quite sure,’ The Express reported.

Since the allegations made against Gregg, his TV aide has failed to address the ongoing dispute and axing of his cohost from the show.

Hours after the news broke that Gregg was stepping down from his position on the show, the TV presenter posted to his Instagram story, sharing a selfie after a spin class at his local David Lloyd club. 

Meanwhile – though failing to comment on the situation – at the time of the announcement this afternoon, Gregg took the time on to Instagram where he shared his recipe for prawn tacos with pineapple salsa. 

Since the allegations were made, Greg has ‘committed to fully cooperating throughout the process’, the show’s production company Banijay UK said. 

Already recorded episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals, which is currently on BBC One and featuring Wallace, will transmit as planned into December. 

In October Wallace vehemently denied that he had made inappropriate sexual comments towards women, declaring that he would never ‘flirt with’ or ‘hit on’ another woman and: ‘I didn’t say anything sexual’.

In a statement, 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.’

In October, Wallace 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.

Wallace 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.

Faulkner, 52, appeared on the series in 2010 where she went on to win the Celebrity MasterChef trophy