The British version of MasterChef continues to be caught up in drama as new reports claim a second contestant asked to be edited out of the currently-airing season.
According to BBC News, an unnamed contestant requested to be removed from the broadcast amid controversy surrounding the BBC’s decision to air the season, which features hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode, before they were fired from the cooking competitions series.
“One other contributor decided that given recent events they would like not to be included,” a spokeswoman for Banijay UK, which produces the show through subsidiary Shine TV, said in a statement. “We have of course accepted their wishes and edited them out of the show.”
This comes after another contestant, Sarah Shafi, claimed to have been edited out of the current season after she complained about Wallace and Torode.
Wallace and Torode were both dropped from the long-running show over the past year after an investigation into unacceptable on-set behavior. Over 80 complaints were made against Wallace, including claims of making sexual remarks, explicit jokes, and one incident of unwanted physical contact. Torode was then dragged into the drama after claims emerged that he used a racist term back in 2018.
The current season was filmed in November before the allegations came to light. Wallace was replaced by Irish chef Anna Hughes midway through the competition as the allegations went public, though the reports regarding Torode didn’t surface until after filming. A debate followed over whether the BBC should air the season, a decision the network ultimately went forward with in spite of backlash.
“In showing the series, which was filmed last year, it in no way diminishes our view of the seriousness of the upheld findings against both presenters,” the broadcaster has said, per Deadline. “However, we believe that broadcasting this series is the right thing to do for these cooks who have given so much to the process. We want them to be properly recognised and give the audience the choice to watch the series.”
Wallace, who recently revealed he has autism, has continued to play down the seriousness of the allegations, telling The Sun that while he was “so sorry” for upsetting people, he was “not a groper, a sex pest or a flasher.”
Torode, meanwhile, has claimed he has “no recollection” of the incident in which he was accused of using a racist term, calling its use “wholly unacceptable.”
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