Gregg Wallace ‘thought about suicide all the time’ amid misconduct allegations

TV presenter Gregg Wallace has said he “thought about suicide all the time” after allegations of misconduct were made against him.

The 60-year-old stepped away from hosting BBC cooking show MasterChef after a host of historical complaints came to light last year, which led to an external investigation by the show’s production company, Banijay UK.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper, Wallace said of the storm of complaints: “Nobody should be left on their own to face something like this.

“It’s very difficult to explain the pressure unless you’ve been through it. I thought about suicide all the time – ‘is my insurance up to date? Will Anna (Wallace’s wife) get some money? She doesn’t deserve this, it would be better if I wasn’t here’.”

Speaking about a number of social media posts he made following the allegations, the former greengrocer said he felt he “had to speak out because people were saying what they liked about me and it wasn’t true”.

Wallace claimed he had not been contacted by the BBC after the claims became public, which led to him posting a video on Instagram where he claimed they had been made by “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.

The presenter continued: “I hadn’t slept for four days. The feeling of being under attack, of isolation, of abandonment was overwhelming.

“Nobody from the BBC contacted me once these stories started breaking – absolutely nobody at all.

“News channels were updating hourly with new allegations. There was a tidal wave of abuse on social media, a dozen reporters outside the gate.

“You’re watching yourself get personally ripped apart, criticised, accused of all sorts of stuff over and over again. You’re thinking, ‘this isn’t true, it isn’t true, what’s coming next?’

“You don’t sleep, your chest races, your body feels like it’s shutting down because it can’t cope with the levels of stress. You feel really dirty and horrible because everybody is saying you’re a pervert.

‘Women – big, respected personalities I thought I had a decent relationship with – were attacking me.”

He went on to claim Banijay arranged for a crisis mentor to support him, whom he said was a “life raft” he “clung to”.

In the Mail interview, Wallace admitted to putting a “sock over my private bits” and opening his dressing room door shouting “hooray”, but claimed he did this to three friends who were in the studio after filming had finished, rather than while it was taking place.

He also told the newspaper that allegations of inappropriate jokes were also “probably true”, saying they sounded “like the sort of comments I’d have made”.

Wallace also claimed allegations he had groped crew members were “absolutely not true”.

The London-born presenter added: “I don’t want to make myself sound innocent because, I’ve come to realise, I must have offended a lot of people over the years when you look at the number of complaints.

“But people on MasterChef are in a very stressed situation and many of them are going to leave disappointed with shattered dreams.

“I think there has been a lot of misunderstanding of my intention, and so many of the complaints are from so long ago. There’s a difference between what they think I said and what was actually said.”

He went on to admit he was “very slow to wake up to the changing nature of the work environment” and added he had a “massive wake-up call” seven years ago that his “energetic greengrocer persona” was “becoming redundant”.

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

The most recent series of MasterChef: The Professionals continued to air last year amid allegations against Wallace, but two MasterChef celebrity Christmas specials were pulled from the BBC’s schedule in December 2024.

BBC bosses previously said the corporation will not “tolerate behaviour that falls below the standards we expect” and will continue to champion “a culture that is kind, inclusive and respectful”.

A memo sent to staff by the BBC director-general, Tim Davie, and Charlotte Moore, chief content officer, said the corporation would be supporting MasterChef producer Banijay UK in its investigation.

Earlier this month, Banijay UK said in a statement: “It is important to note that MasterChef welfare processes are regularly adapted and strengthened and there are clear protocols to support both crew and contributors.

“These include multiple ways of reporting issues, including anonymously. HR contact details are promoted and contributors are assigned a point of contact on set available to discuss any issues or concerns.”

Banijay UK declined to comment on Wallace’s interview when contacted by the PA news agency.

Samaritans can be contacted free on 116 123 or by emailing jo@samaritans.org.

Other sources of support are listed on the NHS “help for suicidal thoughts” webpage. Support is available around the clock, every day of the year.