John Torode has broken his silence after Gregg Wallace stepped back from MasterChef (Image: BBC/Shine TV)
John Torode has broken his silence one week since his co-star stepped back from .
The former TV judge, 60, announced his exit from the show after 19 years on the programme
Over the past week, the father-of-three has been accused of making “inappropriate sexual jokes” in addition to other behavioural complaints on several programmes.
However, he has denied the allegations as his lawyers insisted: “It is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.”
The Australian chef, 59, has remained silent ever since an investigation was launched by the show’s production company. Now, his former co-star has broken his silence with a lengthy statement online.
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Gregg Wallace is facing allegations of sexual misconduct (Image: BBC)
Taking to on Wednesday (December 4), he wrote: “Since last Friday I have been away filming MasterChef overseas. I love my job, and I love MasterChef.
“I love being part of it and will continue to be part of it. During the last few days, I’ve been trying to make the best cookery programme, so being busy making the show and caring for our contestants has allowed me little time to think about anything elsem but that has been hard.
“The thought of anyone who has appeared on our show not having a brilliant experience is aful to hear, and I have found the recent press reports truly upsetting. But as I hope everyone appreciates there is an investigation underway, which I fully support, so I cannot make any furth comment at this stage, and I hope that you all understand and respect my silence on the matter moving forward.”
The dad-of-four decided to turn off the comments on this post. Express.co.uk has reached out to Gregg Wallace’s representatives for a comment.
His words come after Previously, Torode has bluntly claimed in a previous interview that .
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Gregg Wallace unfollowed John and his wife Lisa Faulkner (Image: BBC)
The duo have presented the hugely popular One show since 2005, but the Auddie chef seemingly does his best to avoid his colleague away from the cameras.
Wallace also unfollowed Torode’s wife Lisa Faulkner on , as they remained silent in the days following the accusations against the former greengrocer.
When Torode spoke to the Sunday Mirror in 2017, the TV chef said: “We’ve never been friends”, adding that his colleagues has “OCD” at one time. He added: “It’s funny, we’ve nebver been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses…
“He’s so OCD, he wouldn’t know what to do. He’s built it up in his mind for three days, and probably make himself quite sick, then he’d have an argument with his wife and not turn up. If I went to his house, he would feel like he wasn’t in control.”
who have accused the MasterChef presenter of making inappropriate comments on the show, the News reported.
The Australian cook previously claimed they were “never friends” (Image: BBC/Shine TV)
Kirtsy appeared on the culinary show back in 2011 and has claimed that the TV presenter told “jokes of a sexualised nature” on two occasions while filming.
She explained: “I think people were uncomfortable. We were essentially a captive audience. People looked embarrassed and just got on with their work. I was actually more angry than anything else, because I thought it was so inappropriate.”
It is understood that Wallace is cooperating with the probe which is being led by MasterChef production company Banijay UK. The company, which also makes Big Brother, and the have released official statements on the investigation.
The probe is addressing all complaints, but a conclusion date is yet to be announced. A spokesperson said: “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 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.”
A spokesperson for Banijay UK added: “This week the 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 under way, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully co-operating throughout the process.”