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Master chef presenter John Torode has said he will remain part of the next programme allegations against his co-host Gregg Wallace.
In a statement on Instagram, he added: “The thought that someone who has appeared on our show doesn’t have a brilliant experience is devastating to hear.”
Wallace, 60, quit presenting the BBC show last week after allegations of inappropriate sexual comments and behavior against him came to light.
His lawyers have denied that he is guilty of sexually harassing behavior.
Australian-born Torode, who has co-presented the BBC One cooking show with Wallace since 2005, said in a statement on Instagram that he found the recent reports “really disturbing”.
He said: “I have been filming since last Friday Master chef abroad. I love my job, and I love Master chef. I enjoy being a part of it and will continue to be a part of it.
“Over the past few days I have been trying to make the best cooking show, so being busy with the show and looking after our contestants left me little time to think about anything else, but that was difficult.”
He added: “But as I hope everyone appreciates, there is an ongoing investigation, which I fully support, so I cannot comment further at this stage and I hope you will all understand my silence on understand and respect the issue in the future.”
The BBC announced two on Tuesday Master chef Celebrity Christmas specials, a Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off and a Strictly festive extravaganzahave been removed from the festival programme.
The BBC said: “As we have said, Master chef is an amazing, life-changing competition for the participating chefs and the current series MasterChef: the professionals will continue as planned.
“The celebrity Christmas specials are obviously a different type of show and in the current circumstances we have decided not to broadcast them.”
Three episodes of BBC Two’s Inside the factorywhich are repeats also come from the schedule, but the current series MasterChef: the professionals remains in the air.
On Tuesday, Wallace was accused of further inappropriate behaviour, with one woman telling the BBC that he had touched her buttocks and another woman saying he had pressed his crotch against her during the production of a television series.
One of the women said Wallace told her, “Oh, you liked that, didn’t you” after he “touched (her) butt with his waist.”
Wallace also reportedly asked a British sign language interpreter to translate a number of terms of a sexual nature, including “big boobs” and “sexy ass”, in front of a live audience of around 400 people at a BBC Good Food event.
A woman who attended the 2012 show at Birmingham’s NEC Arena said she was “shocked and dismayed” by “sexist” behaviour. The Guardian: “There was a British Sign Language interpreter there and at one point he walked up to her and just said, ‘Do you have to sign everything I say?’
“And she said yes, and then he just started saying ‘big boobs,’ ‘sexy ass’ – this kind of thing, to get her to sign it. It was like he could control her, I think.”
A BBC spokesperson said the corporation has “always been clear that any behavior that falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated”, adding that they would not comment on anything that could be part of the ongoing investigation by the BBC. Master chef‘s production company, Banijay UK.
On Monday, Wallace apologized for claiming complaints about his behavior came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age,” adding that he was “not in a good place” and will now “take some time out ”.
He is facing a series of allegations from at least 13 people on a series of shows over a 17-year period, as reported Thursday by BBC News, and many others since they shared their experiences.
Some complaints date from 19 years ago. The allegations made against him include making sexualized and suggestive comments, groping participants on set, making rape jokes, mimicking accents, undressing in front of colleagues, openly discussing his sex life and asking for the mobile numbers of female production staff.
One of the original 13 accusers, broadcaster Kirsty Wark, told the story BBC news that Wallace had made “sexualized” jokes during filming in 2011, which she felt made people “uncomfortable” and were “really, really in the wrong place.”
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