Dame Prue Leith has claimed Gregg Wallace shouldn't be sacked following allegations about his behaviour.
The star - who has taken a step away from presenting the BBC cooking show - has had historical allegations of misconduct issued against him which are being externally reviewed. The 60-year-old also faces fresh claims of harassment, including touching a woman's bottom at an event and pressing his crotch against another one while filming on a different show.
His lawyers previously said it was "entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature" and Wallace has vehemently denied all allegations made against him. Great British Bake Off star Dame Prue has spoken out about the allegations and stated that while he shouldn't be sacked, producers and TV bosses should be firm with presenters when it comes to behaviour at the work place.
Speaking on Times Radio, 84-year-old Dame Prue said: "I'm a great believer in due process... He should just stay off social media because he's just digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole because he's too insensitive to understand how offensive it is. But that's his problem, that he's insensitive. He hasn't, that I can see, disobeyed the law.
"I don't believe people should be cancelled or sacked. I can see why you would ask somebody to step aside while they investigate things, which I suppose is what they're doing. But I think the tragedy in this is that I bet you Gregg has no idea what he's done wrong." But while Dame Prue doesn't think Gregg should be sacked, she admits TV bosses should be tougher on on-screen talent.
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WireImage)She went on to tell Cathy Newman that TV execs can be "weak" when it comes to "managing" presenters. The star commented: "Yes, very weak. For goodness sake, they can replace Gregg Wallace. They can replace anybody. So they should be tough with their presenters. They should be very clear about whatever the rules are.
"I do think they've been weak. But I don't want to say that he should be sacked because I don't know what the crime is." However, Gregg has been accused of groping an individuals bum, which is classed as sexual assault.
MasterChef staff members and former contestants, including celebrities such as Emma Kennedy and Kirsty Wark, have claimed Wallace made them feel uncomfortable on set. On Wednesday, Gregg's ghostwriter, Shannon Kyle, made accusations against the star when speaking to Victoria Derbyshire on NewsNight.
Wallace was accused of asking a British Sign Language interpreter to sign inappropriate phrases. An attendee at the BBC Good Food Show claimed Wallace asked the interpreter to sign "big boobs" and "sexy bum" at the NEC Arena in Birmingham in 2012. "There was a British Sign Language interpreter there and he wandered over to her at one point and just said: 'Do you have to sign everything I say?' And she said yes, and then he just started saying, 'big boobs', 'sexy bum' – this sort of thing, in order to get her to sign it. It was like he could control her, I suppose," the attendee claimed to the Guardian.
Gregg faces allegations from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period, as reported by BBC News on Thursday, with many others since sharing their experiences. The presenter is "committed to fully cooperating throughout the process" during the BBC's investigation process, a statement from the show's production company Banijay UK said. He has also stepped away from his role on the show amid the investigation. On Sunday morning, Gregg took to social media to challenge the accusations and claimed they came from "middle-class women of a certain age" prompting Ulrika to say his "ignorance and arrogance knows no bounds". He later issued a grovelling apology and said that he was taking some time away from social media.
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