It is certainly no secret that MasterChef hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode were not the best of friends outside of the BBC show.
So it was no surprise that the trained chef was in full support of the broadcaster's investigation into Gregg's "inappropriate" behaviour with a number of women while on the cooking show. But now it looks as though John's wife, Lisa Faulkner, 52, who was also a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef in 2010, has also made her feelings towards Gregg perfectly clear - as she reshared her husband's post on Instagram.
Grace Dent, meanwhile, gave John's post a 'like'. Grace has been a firm fixture on the show for many years. Following his 20 year stint on the BBC programme, Gregg was forced to step down from his role as co-host due to allegations of misconduct by former contestants. And most recently, a number of women who worked with the former greengrocer have also come forward to reveal their experiences of historical misconduct.
Breaking his silence, John wrote on social media: "Since last Friday I have been away filming MasterChef overseas. I love my job, and I love MasterChef. I love being part of it and will continue to be part of it. During the last few days, I've been trying to make the best cookery programme, so being busy making the show and caring for our contestants has allowed me little time to think about anything else, but that has been hard."
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BBC/Shine TV)He added: "The thought of anyone who has appeared on our show not having a brilliant experience is awful to hear, and I have found the recent press reports truly upsetting. But as I hope everyone appreciates there is an investigation underway, which I fully support, so I cannot make any further comment at this stage. I hope that you all understand and respect my silence on the matter moving forward." Lisa quickly reposted her spouse's statement on her own Instagram page.
Gregg faced further criticism when he took to social media to speak out against "middle-class women of a certain age", who he felt were the only ones making the complaints about his behaviour. In his lengthy rant, which was filmed for his followers, he said: "I've been doing MasterChef for 20 years - amateur, professional and Celebrity 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."
He continued: "And apparently now, I'm reading in the paper, there's been 13 complaints in that time. Now, 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."
He concluded his statement saying: "In 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?"
But his comments left many enraged at his lack of awareness which prompted him to apologise for his comments. He posted another video clip that said: "I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday and any upset I may have caused to a lot of people. I wasn't in a good headspace when I posted it.
He added: "I've been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion. I felt very alone, under siege, yesterday when I posted it. It's obvious to me I need to take some time out now while this investigation is underway. I hope you understand and I do hope that you will accept this apology."
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