MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace has faced several controversies over the years (Picture: Channel 4)
MasterChef star Gregg Wallace has courted controversy over the years for a range of reasons.
The presenter, 60, is best known for co-presenting MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals.
However, he is now stepping down from the franchise after the BBC announced it was investigating historical allegations of misconduct against him.
It comes after Wallace was accused of making inappropriate sexual comments to a female member of staff including boasting about his sex life and taking his top off in front of another employee in 2018.
He was also accused of being rude and insulting to women on a different programme last year.
The BBC received complaints from people who had worked with Wallace, saying it took the allegations ‘seriously’.
This isn’t the first time Wallace, who previously denied the claims against him, has come under the spotlight, with several other controversies unfolding in the past.
Thinking he deserves a statue in Trafalgar Square for ‘saving the nation’
He’s claimed he ‘saved the nation’ from obesity (Picture: BBC/ Shine TV)
Earlier this year Wallace suggested he deserved significant recognition for ‘saving the nation’ from obesity.
After spending years campaigning for the public to improve their eating habits, the presenter said he was hopeful his efforts could earn him a statue in London’s Trafalgar Square.
During an appearance on the Monday Mile with Aimee Fuller podcast, he boasted: ‘[All] I do is teach them to cook. And I have had such extraordinary successes.
‘I’ve got one lady, she’s like a pin-up girl for me. She’s lost 12 stone in two years. She’s basically lost two Gregg Wallaces!’
Although he admitted his work filled him with an ‘immense sense of purpose’ he still held grave concerns.
‘I’m also nervous for the nation, I’m nervous for the NHS, and the cost to the nation of rising obesity, heart disease, cancers, kidney issues, liver issues, knee joints, hip joints, fertility issues, and the cost to the NHS of picking up the bill and trying to cope with a nation that’s making itself more and more unwell on a week by week basis through its food choices. Didn’t expect this about me, did you?
‘Your grandchildren are going to drive past Trafalgar Square one day and there’s going to be a statue of Gregg Wallace in a toga holding a pineapple because he saved the nation.’
Accusations of being a ‘bad dad’
He was accused of being a ‘bad dad’ earlier this year (Picture: Gregg Wallace/ Instagram)
At the start of the year Wallace also drew the ire of many after a column about his weekend routine saw him branded a ‘bad dad’.
Explaining his Saturday morning routine in the Telegraph Magazine, Wallace explained it involved going to the gym – where staff let him in ahead of everyone else – heading to the local Harvester for breakfast and his wife having lunch ‘ready on the table’ when he returned home.
He also admitted that having his youngest child, four-year-old …read more
Source:: Metro