Who is Kirsty Wark?

Kirsty Wark is one of the most recognisable faces at the BBC, having fronted shows including Newsnight and Newsnight Review. 

In 2024, MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace resigned from the cooking show after being accused by several women, including Kirsty, of making sexualised remarks. He has denied all of the claims. 

BBC Fame

Kirsty Wark was born on February 3, 1955, in Dumfries, Scotland, to a solicitor dad and teacher mum.

After studying history at Edinburgh University, she landed a job as a researcher at BBC Radio Scotland before moving into television in the early 1980s.

She joined BBC’s Newsnight in 1993 and started presenting Newsnight Review in 2001. 

Kirsty decided to leave Newsnight after the 2024 General Election, which saw Keir Starmer’s Labour win a huge majority in the House of Commons.

Her farewell episode featured tributes from the actor Alan Cumming and the BBC Newsnight Political Editor Nick Watt. 

Life on TV

Kirsty has had a big career beyond her day job as a BBC broadcaster though. 

She is a regular guest panellist on Have I Got New For You and starred in a special series of The Great British Bake Off in 2013.

The presenter also took part in the Great British Sewing Bee on December 30, 2021. 

In 2011, she reached the final of Celebrity Masterchef but has since made some big allegations against one of the show’s presenters. 

Greg Wallace and Masterchef

Kirsty has claimed that Masterchef host Gregg Wallace told “sexualised” jokes while filming Celebrity MasterChef. 

She added that his comments were “really, really in the wrong place”. 

Gregg has since been accused of making inappropriate comments to 13 colleagues and The Sun has exclusively revealed that he took his top off, in front of one female worker. 

He also told another that he wasn’t wearing underwear. 

Gregg’s team have denied all of the claims made against him, but he announced that he would be leaving MasterChef on November 28, 2024. 

His co-presenter John Torode’s wife, Lisa Faulkner, has previously opened up about allegations regarding Gregg’s sense of humour. 

She said: “Greg was telling – I’m probably not allowed to say this…

“Greg 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’.”

Kirsty’s married life

Kirsty married a television producer named Alan Clements in 1989, after they met on BBC Scotland programme Left, Right, And Centre.

The couple have two children, named Caitlin and James.

Alan set up Two Rivers Media in 2018 which won commissions for Escape to the Chateau: Make Do And Mend (Channel 4), Frankie Boyle Live (BBC Two) and Becoming Scotland (BBC Scotland).

Before this, he ran STV Productions where they produced Catchphrase (ITV), Antiques Road Trip (BBC One) and Safeword (ITV2 and MTV).

He's an honorary professor of politics and media at the University of Glasgow, and is the author of two books including the novel Rogue Nation.