Masterchef contestant details show's 'toxic environment' and claims Gregg Wallace allegations are 'tip of the iceberg'
As Gregg Wallace is subject to an investigation regarding his alleged inappropriate behaviour on shows such as Masterchef, which he stepped down from last week, a former contestant of the cooking competition has spoken out. The contestant, who has chosen to remain anonymous, has alleged the "abuse" of contestants was widespread through the "production team", but was too scared to speak out after signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Speaking to Sky News, they claimed that Gregg 'wasn't the only one' who could make inappropriate comments on set. They said: "I was horrified. I'd never seen anything like it, genuinely, I was really quite shocked at that really toxic environment. What I witnessed... as a contestant was that there was a systemic problem that was larger than just him, in my view.
"Gregg... would occasionally crack jokes that in different ways felt inappropriate but he wasn't the only one," added the contestant.
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Several people have come forward to make complaints about Gregg, who is being accused of making inappropriate and sexual comments to celebrities and show contestants, something he denies. Amongst those who have spoken against Gregg is Kirsty Allsopp, who claims he made a 'sexual act' admission within hours of meeting her.
While Ulrika Jonsson has also slammed the presenter as being 'misogynistic' and 'arrogant'. Both Ulrika and Kirsty were particularly rattled by Gregg's comments over the weekend, where he claimed it was 'middle class women of a certain age' who were making allegations against him.
He said: "I have been doing Masterchef for 20 years - amateur, celebrity and professional MasterChef and I think in that time I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds and all walks of life. And apparently now I am 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."
In response, Ulrika wrote in her The Sun column: "I am nothing short of seething. Somewhere in his misogynistic, thoughtless, ancient mind he felt it appropriate to tell the world this. Oh, Gregg. Your ignorance and arrogance knows no bounds. Firstly, you have no clue what ‘class’ of women it is that have made complaints about you."
Continuing that the bracket of women he referred to includes herself, Ulrika said of the demographic: "The irony of this is that we are probably the hardiest bunch out there because we have been brought up on a diet of sexist, misogynistic, crude and sleazy comments and physical contact that was always surplus to requirements by the likes of Wallace, all our working lives.”
While Kirsty shared to X: "Within 1hr of meeting Gregg Wallace he told me of a sex act that he and his partner at the time enjoyed "every morning", she'd just left the room, we were filming a pilot. Did he get off on how embarrassed I was? It was totally unprofessional." She concluded her post by stating: "I'm a #MiddleClassWomanOfaCertainAge."
