Gregg Wallace slammed as Ruth Davidson fumes ‘My God’ after his ‘middle-class girls’ rant

Gregg Wallace has faced further backlash over his controversial social media post.

The MasterChef star has been accused of making inappropriate sexual remarks and jokes by 13 people over a 17 year period. He strongly denied the allegations in a statement issued via his legal representatives. Wallace who has since stepped back from the BBC cooking show during an internal investigation has also been accused of groping individuals.

Although his statements have previously been issued via his official representatives, Gregg, 60, took to Instagram on Sunday to directly address the allegations. Turning to Instagram, the cooking expert took aim at those making accusations against him and suggested he has had no complaints over the past 20 years of working on screens. He described his accusers as “a handful of middle class women of a certain age” and also claimed female contestants on MasterChef had made sexual comments of their own.

Despite appearing to intend to clear his name, his post hasn’t gone down too well with social media users. One of those who has vented their views is the former leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Baroness Ruth Davidson. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, she fumed: “My God.”

In her post in view of her 205,300 followers, the politician and podcast host said: “I mean, this is going to be taught in future years as a stellar example of how **not** to do defensive comms. My God.” In his Instagram Stories videos, Gregg said: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years. Amateur, Celebrity and Professional MasterChef. And in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life. And apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time. In the newspaper I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.”

He continued in a second video: “In 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants, on MasterChef have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo. Can you imagine?” And in a further video message to fans, he commented: “This is important to me. Twenty years of doing Celebrity MasterChef, Amateur, Professional, Eat Well For Less, Inside the Factory… Do you know how many staff, all different sorts of staff, can you imagine the people I’ve worked with? Do you know how many staff complained about me in that time? … Absolutely none. Zero. Seriously.”

Meanwhile, MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK have since confirmed that they have retained law firm Lewis Silkin to oversee the investigation into Wallace’s alleged misconduct. The production company had revealed complaints were made to the BBC by individuals in relation to “historical allegations of misconduct” while working with Wallace. A Banijay UK spokesperson said: “Lewis Silkin is a major City law firm with a highly experienced specialist investigations team which has overseen a broad range of high-profile workplace investigations. Banijay UK has been impressed by the firm’s rigorous, in-depth, and impartial analysis and reporting.”

They said anyone wishing to raise further concerns could contact the investigation team via atbanijayinvestigation@lewissilkin.com. The spokesperson added: “All information will be handled sensitively, and names of those providing evidence to the team will be kept confidential.” They said earlier in the week that Wallace is “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process”.

Gregg stepped away from MasterChef last week after complaints from individuals about historical allegations of misconduct. Former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark is among 13 people who have accused the MasterChef presenter of making inappropriate sexual comments.

The allegations came to light on Thursday after the show’s production company Banijay UK confirmed the complaints made to the BBC are now being investigated. Wallace, who started a greengrocer company in 1989 which grew to a turnover of £7.5 million, is cooperating with the probe.

Wallace’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.”

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