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John Torode has spoken for the first time about the allegations that have been made about his MasterChef co-host Gregg Wallace.
Last week, it was announced that Gregg would be stepping down from the show while production company Banijay UK investigates complaints made about his conduct to the BBC.
Since then, even more people have spoken out with allegations about Gregg’s behaviour, which his co-presenter and fellow judge addressed on Wednesday afternoon.
Explaining why he had not previously addressed the widespread headlines, John wrote on Instagram: “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 else, but that has been hard.”
He continued: “The thought of anyone who has appeared on our show not having a brilliant experience is awful 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 further comment at this stage, and I hope that you all understand and respect my silence on the matter moving forward.”
The BBC is continuing to air the current series of Masterchef: The Professionals as planned, but has pulled two planned celebrity specials from its Christmas schedule.
“MasterChef is an amazing competition which is life-changing for the chefs,” a spokesperson said. “The celebrity Christmas specials are obviously a different type of show and in the current circumstances we have decided not to broadcast them.”
Gregg recently faced a widespread backlash when he referred to his accusers as “middle-class women of a certain age”, for which he later apologised.
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