{"id":2114533,"date":"2025-10-25T07:16:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T07:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2114533"},"modified":"2025-10-25T07:16:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T07:16:31","slug":"ive-worked-with-a-lot-of-celebrities-gregg-wallace-was-the-worst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/ive-worked-with-a-lot-of-celebrities-gregg-wallace-was-the-worst\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities – Gregg Wallace was the worst"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\t\tGregg Wallace has been accused of groping three women (Picture: Ken McKay\/ITV\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

\u2018That was a joke, you\u2019re supposed to laugh.\u2019<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sitting in a photo studio, in London<\/a>, and Gregg Wallace<\/a> is glaring at me. I can\u2019t remember what exactly he had said, but what I do know is: it wasn\u2019t funny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a sexist remark, wrapped up as a \u2018joke\u2019 so unfunny that not even me, a people pleaser who laughs easily at\u00a0a lot\u00a0of inappropriate jokes (when they\u2019re actually funny) could muster a laugh.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He then turned to a more senior member of the team, and said, \u2018Can\u2019t you make her laugh?\u2019 This time his tone was more jovial, but there was an undercurrent to it and\u00a0his\u00a0behaviour throughout that day was: I have the power, you\u2019ll do as I am told.<\/p>\n

This was 2013, I was working as a junior writer at a magazine and we were shooting Wallace for our cover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was my first experience working with celebrities and I was excited to be a part of it all, but the day itself was deeply uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

Alongside the sexist remarks,\u00a0I was told\u00a0Wallace also refused to wear underwear, leaving us uncomfortable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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I had not thought much about that day very often.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mostly when answering the inevitable question you get when you tell people you\u2019re a journalist, of: \u2018who\u2019s the worst celebrity you\u2019ve ever encountered?\u2019<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve since gone on to interview and shoot with many more celebrities, in my career working for women\u2019s glossies and Wallace\u2019s attitude was by far the worst.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were other things, too: overfamiliarity with other women on set that I witnessed. That is not my story to tell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\"Television\t<\/div>\n

\t\tWallace presented Inside the Factory: How Our Favourite Foods Are Made (Picture: BBC\/Voltage TV\/Alice Harper)<\/p>\n

What I can say is that a BBC News investigation<\/a> heard from 13 people who have worked with him over the years<\/a> have accused him of making inappropriate sexual comments, and allegations that he groped three women<\/a> on and off the set have been reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, since I shared my memories of the presenter on my social media, my inbox has been full of other 00s journalists sharing their own stories about the presenter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only in the wake of all this that I\u2019ve begun to reflect more deeply on that shoot, seeing it as less of a celebrity anecdote to tell at parties, and more as a vile incident that shouldn\u2019t have been allowed to happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it was 11 years ago, and I say that not as an excuse for\u00a0his\u00a0behaviour but instead as a reason why afterwards (as far as I am aware) there were no complaints made against him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a time of \u2018put up, and shut up.\u2019 Heard something that makes you feel uncomfortable? \u2018Laugh, it\u2019s just a \u2018joke\u2019.<\/p>\n

Been groped? \u2018Oh it\u2019s just someone being a bit handsy, take it as a compliment.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\"MasterChef\t<\/div>\n

\t\tWallace has presented various iterations of Masterchef for 20 years (Picture: BBC\/Shine TV)<\/p>\n

Since 2003 it has been illegal to touch someone sexually<\/a> without their consent, and groping is considered, under the sexual offences act, a serious crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But still, it was the general consensus back then, that this sort of behaviour was just part of the fabric of life.<\/p>\n

Add, on top of that, the fact that he was a celebrity, with power,\u00a0of course\u00a0I wasn\u2019t going to say anything. We all just tried our best to keep out of his way.<\/p>\n

And afterwards we sat around and spoke of how vile he was, with the stylist fretting about how she would return the clothes he had worn without underwear on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t blame any of us for not speaking up, as it was, at the time, behaviour that was seen as simply unpleasant but also not something worth \u2018kicking up a fuss over\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The allegations against Wallace kept coming<\/a>. Each one I read has a flavour of what I witnessed that day. One woman, who accused Wallace of groping her on MasterChef, said that she felt she\u2019d had her \u2018card marked\u2019 after letting him know she was disgusted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A clip has also resurfaced of him, in 2014, telling his Strictly Come Dancing partner that he \u2018doesn\u2019t wear underwear<\/a>\u2019. The broadcaster Kirsty Wark<\/a>, a Celebrity MasterChef contestant in 2011, said he used \u2018sexualised<\/a>\u2019 language while filming.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wallace\u2019s lawyers have denied that he engaged in sexually harassing behaviour, and this weekend, he took to his Instagram<\/a> to say that the accusations have come from \u2018middle-class women of a certain age.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before going on to say: \u2018Twenty years of doing Celebrity MasterChef, amateur, professional, Eat Well For Less?, Inside the Factory. Do you know how many staff, all different sorts of staff, you imagine the people I\u2019ve worked with. Do you know how many staff complained about me in that time? Absolutely none. Zero. Seriously.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

He emphasised that on MasterChef he had worked with over 4,000 contestants comparing this to the 13 complaints made against him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It feels to me that Wallace has failed to recognise that there are so many reasons why we don\u2019t make complaints. He appears to be taking a lack of official complaints as a sign he has done nothing wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tWallace defended himself in a video he posted on Instagram (Picture: Instagram\/Gregg Wallace)<\/p>\n

But, time and time again, when we do speak up we\u2019re belittled and not believed. Or nothing actually happens. Particularly as complaints\u00a0were\u00a0made about him<\/a> and yet, he continued to be booked for TV gigs.<\/p>\n

Also, even if it is 13 women out of 4,000 contestants, why is Wallace OK with that? Why does he not want to take the time to consider what people are saying about his behaviour, and how it made them feel?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve hated reading the allegations made against Wallace, they make me feel sick. I keep wondering, what if I had flagged his behaviour? By ignoring it was I somehow complicit in it?\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I didn\u2019t speak up in 2013 as I was so conditioned by society to believe that his behaviour was \u2018no big deal.\u2019 I know better now but still, to be honest, I have felt nervous about opening myself up to criticism with people saying I\u2019m making a fuss over nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Particularly as I wasn\u2019t deeply impacted by what happened. However, that\u2019s precisely the point.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As women, we\u2019re raised to develop a thick skin, to plaster on a smile, fake a laugh and pretend that the things that make us feel deeply uncomfortable are normal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I grew up in a culture that\u2019s allowed men who behave inappropriately<\/a> to thrive, simply by encouraging us to look the other way. This\u00a0has\u00a0to change. It\u2019s not just on those who experience harassment or abuse to call it out, but also those who witness it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For those who receive complaints to take them seriously and deliver out the right repercussions. If the allegations are true, Wallace\u2019s behaviour has made so many feel uncomfortable and humiliated, and nothing about that could be considered a \u2018joke.\u2019<\/p>\n

This piece was originally published in December 2024<\/p>\n

Do you have a story you\u2019d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share your views in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: Barbie now looks just like me \u2013 and I couldn\u2019t be more excited<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: All my son wanted was his prescription \u2013 the next day he died<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: Gregg Wallace \u2018claims he suffered suspected heart attack\u2019 before bombshell BBC investigation<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n


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Degrees of Separation<\/h4>\n

Join us each week as hear from the people going through familial estrangement, for worse and for better.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source metro.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gregg Wallace has been accused of groping three women (Picture: Ken McKay\/ITV\/REX\/Shutterstock) \u2018That was a joke, you\u2019re supposed to laugh.\u2019 I\u2019m sitting in a photo studio, in London, and Gregg Wallace is glaring at me. I can\u2019t remember what exactly he had said, but what I do know is: it wasn\u2019t funny.\u00a0 It was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2114534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[25507,21741,390569,345966,309693,395231,314353,21913,348348],"class_list":["post-2114533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-bbc","tag-entertainment","tag-first-person","tag-gregg-wallace","tag-masterchef","tag-real-life","tag-sexual-harassment","tag-tv","tag-women"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ive-worked-with-a-lot-of-celebrities-Gregg-Wallace.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2114533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2114535,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114533\/revisions\/2114535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2114534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2114533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2114533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2114533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}