MasterChef fans have called out Gregg Wallace, 60, for making a provocative comment on the show.
'The Professionals' version of the BBC show aired on Tuesday, with the last three chefs standing battling it out before the final on Thursday. During Tuesday’s innings, the expert chefs travelled to Cork, Ireland, and took on challenges in professional restaurant kitchens.
Seeing as the chefs were away from the usual kitchen, Gregg and the usual judges didn’t make an appearance until the end, to judge the final dishes. Fans quickly noticed, however, that Gregg made a risque comment about one pleasing dish. “You've got firm little dumplings in there,” he jokingly judged.
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BBC/Shine TV)On X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan pointed out: “Gregg loving his ‘firm little dumplings’ #MasterChefTheProfessionals,” with another responding, “Dead, along with a skull emoji. While some saw the comment as hilarious, another viewer guessed that Gregg would regret his wording. “Gregg Wallace on Masterchef tonight ‘you've got firm little dumplings in there’ .....bet you wish you hadn't said that now,” they wrote.
Fans thought that Gregg might wish he could take back his suggestive remark after he was put under investigation due to historic complaints that he’d made “sexual comments” on set of MasterChef, with Newsnight host Kirsty Wark among several people who have accused the MasterChef presenter of making inappropriate sexual comments or jokes.
The BBC host stepped down from MasterChef a couple of weeks ago amid the investigation, but responded to the accusations with a series of posts on Instagram. In his posts, Gregg vehemently denied having taken part in any wrongdoing.
Gregg’s comment making it into the episode came amid rumours that MasterChef’s production, Banijay, might already be trying to edit him out of pre-filmed episodes. Insiders claimed that editing footage might be a more pleasing option than scrapping footage at a major cost.
The next series of MasterChef, which will feature amateur chefs as opposed to the celebrity and professional spin-offs, has already been filmed, and is set to air next year. One BBC insider claimed that Banijay could still use the footage rather than ditching it or retaping, and simply crop Gregg out of wide shots while canning footage of him alone. “John and Gregg were always shot with separate cameras. Any two shots, or wide shots containing the pair can be cut. Removing Gregg entirely is a difficult task, but not an impossible one,” a source told the Daily Mail .
In contrast, another insider claimed that the BBC hadn't committed to removing Gregg, and were at a loss of what to do moving forwards. “The Beeb won’t even say if they’ll attempt to edit him out of the programme, though that would be virtually impossible to do anyway," they told The Sun. “This is a nightmare for execs because it’s one of the most expensive MasterChef series that’s been made as this one was filmed abroad."
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