MasterChef judges Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti have so far remained tight-lipped after their fellow presenter Gregg Wallace stepped back from the BBC culinary competition amid misconduct allegations. The 60-year-old is facing claims of making inappropriate sexual remarks, with 13 individuals alleging such behaviour over a span of 17 years.
However there have been previous comments made by three Masterchef judges on their co-star. Speaking ahead of MasterChef: The Professionals’ 15th series in 2023, Monica had made light-hearted comments about the stress of working with Gregg, joking: “But I think we all get that for a year working with Gregg.”
She also mentioned missing his jokes until filming started again, noting that she and Marcus often didn’t catch the punchlines, leading to repeated jokes. Marcus acknowledged he sometimes clashes with Gregg, saying: “If it was just me and Monica, then we’re good at predicting the winner, but because Gregg is in the mix, it f***s it all up a bit. We have times where we do disagree but everyone’s entitled to their point of view.”
He added that while initially he would fight “like a cat in a bag”. But he said now he’s more relaxed with a “whatever” attitude.
Meanwhile, John Torode, another co-star, has also not commented on the recent allegations. However, in a 2017 interview with The Sunday Mirror, he confessed that despite their on-screen chemistry, he and Gregg were not friends off-camera, revealing: “It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses… He’s so OCD, he wouldn’t know what to do.”, reports Birmingham Live.
“He would build up anxiety for three days, which made him unwell, then he would argue with his wife and fail to show up. If I visited his home, he felt like he was losing control.”
Gregg has denied all allegations made against him. The presenter is accused of making “inappropriate sexual jokes”, requesting phone numbers from female production staff, and undressing in front of or standing too close to female colleagues on his shows.
In a video posted on his Instagram page, he stated: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years, amateur, celebrity and professional MasterChef, and I think in that time I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life.
“Apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time. In the newspaper, I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.
“In 20 years, over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks, or sexual innuendo? Can you imagine?”