U.K. MasterChef Host Gregg Wallace Breaks His Silence Over Misconduct Allegations

Gregg Wallace, the host of the U.K.’s version of MasterChef, has issued a video message amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Representatives for Wallace, 60, were sent a letter on Nov. 26, detailing allegations of inappropriate sexual comments made by 13 people who worked with him over the course of 17 years, per BBC News. Two days later, multiple outlets reported that MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK said the presenter was stepping away from the program while the allegations were investigated.

On Sunday, Dec. 1, Wallace addressed the reports and reflected on his “22 years” of working on MasterChef shows, which air on the BBC, in a selfie video on his Instagram Stories. His latest statement follows a brief thank you message to fans who had been “showing their support” earlier this week.

“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 said. “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.”

In a follow-up clip, Wallace reiterated the amount of time he’s been hosting the show — while also listing off a few other programs he’s been a part of. “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?”

“Look, this is important to me,” he added. “20 years … do you know how many staff, all different sorts of staff, do you know how many staff complained about me in that time? Absolutely none. Zero. Seriously.”

Wallace has also been sharing screenshots of comments of support from fans and former colleagues on his Instagram Stories amid the allegations

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The TV personality, who has co-hosted MasterChef since 2005, has been accused by Scottish television presenter and journalist Kirsty Wark of telling “sexualized” jokes during filming when she was a Celebrity MasterChef contestant in 2011, per BBC News.

The outlet also reported that the BBC once warned Wallace after two women complained about his behavior in 2018 on the series Impossible Celebrities. Per the allegations, he “talked openly about his sex life to staff on the show” and later apologized.

The BBC notes that it began investigating Wallace last summer after learning of allegations from between 2005 and 2022, and as part of five different series he worked on.

“There were two occasions in particular where he used sexualized language in front of a number of people, and it wasn’t as if anyone engaged with this,” Wark told BBC News. “It was completely one-way traffic, but I think people were uncomfortable, and [it was] something I didn’t really expect to happen.”

Per multiple outlets, including BBC News, Wallace’s lawyers have since called it “entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.”

In a statement obtained by Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, Banijay UK said, “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.”

“We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them,” a spokesperson for the BBC told PEOPLE in a statement. “We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.”

After news broke of Wallace stepping away from the U.K.’s MasterChef, Rod Stewart also called out the host over his alleged mistreatment of his wife Penny Lancaster when she was a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021. “Good Riddance Wallace … You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that part cut out didn’t you?” he wrote. “You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got you.”

Representatives for Wallace did not respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE on Stewart’s claims at the time.