Gregg Wallace has found himself at the centre of a BBC probe into sexual comments and inappropriate behaviour - but there has been a deafening silence from his co-star John Torode.
MasterChef host Gregg, 60, is facing complaints made against him spanning a 17 year period, with numerous famous faces coming forward to tell their own experience of the host. Ulrika Jonsson has claimed the presenter made a rape joke to a "distressed" contestant, while even Gogglebox star Kate Bottley, a vicar, claims Wallace made "racist" comments about an Asian contestant in 2017.
Australian chef John Torode has so far kept schtum about his MasterChef colleague, although his wife, TV cook and former model Lisa Faulkner, has been more vocal about her husband's workmate. When Lisa, 52, was speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, she foretold the storm that was about to unfold when she openly discussed Wallace's fondness for tasteless jokes.
Speaking at the event in October, she told her audience: "Gregg was telling - I’m probably not allowed to say this - Gregg just told rude joke after rude joke to the crew. You’re just sitting there and if you’re on the front bench just chopping away thinking, 'I’ve got ten minutes left,' and he’s saying, 'So this girl walked into a bar…' And I’m going, 'Please I don’t want to hear this joke.'"
The Times reported that Torode put up a lacklustre defence for Wallace, saying he had "changed". But even if that was true, it seems to be too little, too late, in light of recent events - and now there is the possibility that Lisa could be eyed up to replace Wallace on MasterChef.
With Torode yet to break his silence on the situation, a source has told the outlet that the pair are categorically "not friends", explaining that even their professional relationship is "looking shaky". They said: "John is actually much more of a sensitive soul but the fact is that he was present in the studios while MasterChef was being filmed so you have to wonder what he saw, what did he know?"
The source added: "Lisa is adored by viewers and television bosses. She is very, very good for John’s brand and there is no doubt that showing himself with her is helping him and therefore MasterChef. They’ve got a show on ITV which is popular, maybe next she will be snapped up by MasterChef, if it survives, to replace Gregg."
Reports of Gregg and John's tumultuous relationship have been circulating for years, with John once speaking about how they have "never been friends". Opening up to The Mirror previously, John confessed: "It's funny, we've never been friends. We've not been to each other's houses... If we go away to somewhere like South Africa, we do things separately... If we do go out for a drink, I'll invariably be at one end of a big old table and he'll be at the other."
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BBC)He disclosed: "We've had a couple of standoffs over the years. I've just had to walk away from him," adding: "Once we had a bit too much to drink and filming got called off. He got really stubborn." John said Wallace was "ridiculous" over the disagreement.
But that may not tell the full story, with Gregg saying that Torode was actually his best man at one of his weddings. Gregg previously told PA: “People say that John and I don’t get on… We’ve been working together face-to-face for 20 years. We knew each other for 10 years before that – John bought fruit and veg off me – and he was best man at my wedding… He wasn’t best man at every wedding, but he was at the last one! You make your mind up what’s going on there between me and Mr Torode.”
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