BBC Breakfast was halted for a breaking news update regarding Gregg Wallace.
The 60-year-old presenter has stepped away from the BBC cooking show while an investigation into historic allegations against him takes place. He has been accused by 13 people of making inappropriate sexual comments across several shows over a 17-year period.
Wallace has denied making inappropriate sexual comments and his lawyers told BBC News it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature. He took to Instagram on Sunday (December 1) to defend himself against the claims made against him.
READ MORE:Gregg Wallace posts bizarre three-word update as MasterChef complaints emerge
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BBC Breakfast hosts Ben Thompson and Luxmy Gopal shared news of his video response to viewers during Sunday's show. Luxmy said: "In the past hour, Gregg Wallace has posted two videos on his Instagram about the allegations made against him during his time on MasterChef, let's show you those videos now," as Gregg's clips appeared on screen.
In the first video, Gregg said: "I've been doing MasterChef for 20 years. Amateur, Celebrity and Professional MasterChef. And in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life.
"And 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 the second clip, he added: "In 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants, on MasterChef have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo. Can you imagine?" And in a further video message to fans, he commented: "This is important to me.
"Twenty 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, can you imagine the people I've worked with? Do you know how many staff complained about me in that time? ... Absolutely none. Zero. Seriously."
After the clips played, Ben said: "So there Gregg Wallace referring very much to MasterChef, but BBC news has also heard claims about Gregg Wallace's behaviour on other programmes that he worked on." He promised to bring viewers "any further developments as we get them".
MasterChef’s production company, Banijay UK says Wallace is "committed to fully co-operating" with an external review. A statement said: "This week the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows. Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate.
“While this review is under way, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully co-operating throughout the process. Banijay UK’s duty of care to staff is always a priority and our expectations regarding behaviour are made clear to both cast and crew on all productions, with multiple ways of raising concerns, including anonymously, clearly promoted on set."
A BBC spokesman said: "We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them. We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated. Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them."
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