The BBC told Gregg Wallace that he could no longer work with the first Masterchef Presenter because his behavior is a threat to the safety of others.
In a letter of dismissal, Claire Powell, responsible for compliance for BBC content, told Wallace that the British national diffuser does not have “the confidence that you can change which seems to be learned behavior”.
The letter was cited in The daily telegraph And Daily mirror. The deadline has checked its content with a source close to Wallace.
The BBC wrote to Wallace before the publication of an independent examination in its conduct on Masterchef During its 20 years, organizing the series. Banijay UK, the producer behind MasterchefHandled Lewis Silkin to conduct the investigation last November following the claims that Wallace made obscene and inappropriate remarks on the set.
In a statement on Tuesday, Wallace acknowledged that he had used “inappropriate language” between 2005 and 2018, but argued that more serious allegations – notably groping and touching women – had been expelled by Lewis Silkin. A summary of the exam is expected on Monday.
Wallace said that his behavior could be attributed to his recent autism diagnosis, castigating Masterchef Colleagues to “not protect myself from what I do now was a dangerous environment”.
The 60 -year -old presenter believes that he was the victim of disability discrimination and hired Dan Morrison, partner of Grosvenor Law, to fight his corner. Lawrence Power, lawyer for Whitestone Chambers, would also work for Wallace.
In the BBC letter, Powell told Wallace that the company had weighed a variety of factors to make its decision, including previous warnings and the impact on the “reputation of the BBC”. The telegraph reported that, in parallel with Lewis Silkin’s review, the BBC also examined Wallace’s conduct on other programs, identifying six concern incidents dating from 2005.
Powell’s letter continued: “I also took into account the 2025 results with regard to your recent health and autistic diagnosis (as you have declared publicly). I noted that you do not consider certain environments as being “safe” for you.
“In addition to the obligation of diligence towards you, the BBC has also taken into account the security and the duty of diligence due to the contributors, public members and colleagues of the production teams with which you can commit and the appropriate use of license payers to establish a safe work environment for all.
“The 2025 results reflect that you acknowledge that some of your comments have offended or upset people, but it is clear that you find it difficult to distinguish the boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate behavior at the workplace, as well as the awareness of the reason why your behavior has an impact on others.
“I do not trust that your behavior can change to ensure that there is an environment sufficiently safe and respectful for others to work with you in the types of programs that the BBC has committed you to present. Such productions are not highly scripted programs and involve solid and consistent levels of judgment in relation to interactions with others that cannot be constantly monitored or supervised. ”
A BBC spokesperson said: “Banijay UK asked the law firm Lewis Silkin to investigate allegations against Gregg Wallace. We are not going to comment until the investigation is finished and the results will not be published.”
