What did Gregg Wallace say to Penny Lancaster? As Rod Stewart slams 'tubby bully'

Loose Women's Penny Lancaster appeared on MasterChef in 2021 and her husband Sir Rod Stewart has since branded host Gregg Wallace a bully following a series of allegations

An awkward exchange between Gregg Wallace and Penny Lancaster has resurfaced after her husband Sir Rod Stewart accused the presenter of bullying.

Former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark is among 13 people who have accused the MasterChef presenter of making inappropriate sexual comments. Wallace, who has stepped away as host of the cooking show, has denied allegations of inappropriate sexual comments he is said to have made.

Wallace, 60, is “committed to fully cooperating throughout the process” during the investigation process, a statement from the show’s production company Banijay UK said. Following the news, Sir Rod referred to Wallace as a "tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully." He wrote: "So Greg Wallace gets fired from Masterchef. Good riddance Wallace…You humiliated my wife when she was on the show but you had that bit cut out didn’t you? You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart."

A clip of Loose Women star Penny on the cooking show has now resurfaced, where she was left embarrassed over her fried calamari and tartare sauce. Penny beamed with confidence as she made her dish and remarked: "I'm doing surprisingly well compared to what I imagined how I'd be doing. I don't want to slip up now."

However, when it came to tasting her dish things quickly went wrong. As she plated up, Penny said: "That tartare sauce doesn't look like the tartare sauce I'd normally have." Gregg told her: "You used whole eggs instead of egg yolks." Judge John Torode added: "What I've got in here is a raw egg/oil milkshake. Unfortunately, I can't eat that."

Later in the episode, Penny was able to move on from her mistake as she was praised for her chicken and coconut curry, green papaya chutney, grated apple, turnip and carrot salad as well as the coconut rice. Gregg told her: "I found myself going from bowl to bowl to bowl and finding it difficult to stop, you have had what we call in the industry a very good day."

However, things took a turn again when chaos ensued in the kitchen during the episode she was eliminated in. Penny was struggling with her timings as Gregg quipped: "Mate, we can’t be 10 minutes late." He then branded her delay 'serious'. Wallace has been co-presenter of MasterChef with John since 2005.

Earlier this week, a statement read: "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 underway, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully cooperating 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."

It continued: "Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately." A BBC spokesperson 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.”

Wallace took to Instagram to thank his fans for their support after stepping away from MasterChef. "I would like to thank all the people for getting in touch, reaching out, and sharing their support. That's good of you. Thank you very much." Although previous statements have been issued by his spokesperson, Gregg took actions into his own hands on Sunday morning.

Turning to Instagram, the cooking expert took aim at those making accusations against him and suggested he has had no complaints over the past 20 years of working on screens. He described his accusers as "a handful of middle class women of a certain age" and also claimed female contestants on MasterChef had made sexual comments of their own.

In his Instagram Stories videos, 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."

He continued in a second video: "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."

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTubeand Threads.