Gregg Wallace facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gregg Wallace
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Wallace judging at MasterChef Live in 2010
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Gregg Allan Wallace
17 October 1964 Peckham, London, England
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| Years active | 2002–2024 |
| Employer | BBC |
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| Children | 3 |
Gregg Allan Wallace (born 17 October 1964) is an English TV presenter, business owner, and writer. He is well-known for being a co-presenter on cooking shows like MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef, and MasterChef: The Professionals. These shows aired on BBC One and BBC Two. He has also written for popular food magazines such as Good Food and Olive.
Wallace left MasterChef in 2024. This happened after some concerns were raised about his behavior. His lawyers stated that claims of him acting inappropriately were completely false. In July 2025, he made a public statement. He said that an investigation into his actions had cleared him of the "most serious" accusations. Media outlets reported that the BBC would no longer work with him.
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Gregg Wallace's Early Life and Businesses
Gregg Allan Wallace was born on 17 October 1964 in Peckham, South London. He left school when he was 15 years old. He began working as a warehouseman at Covent Garden Fruit and Veg Market. There, he sold vegetables from a stall.
Starting His Own Company
In 1989, Gregg Wallace started his own company called George Allan's Greengrocers. This business grew very successfully. It eventually reached a turnover of £7.5 million.
Opening Restaurants
In 2010, Wallace opened a restaurant called Wallace & Co in Putney, London. He was one of the directors there. In 2012, he opened another place, Gregg's Bar & Grill. This was a partnership with the Bermondsey Square Hotel. However, both of his restaurants closed down in 2014. One of his companies, West Veg Limited, also closed in 2013.
Gregg Wallace's TV Career
Gregg Wallace was invited to present a show called Veg Talk on BBC Radio 4. He hosted it with Charlie Hicks. The show was on air for seven years, from 1998 to 2005.
Early TV Shows
Wallace was the first presenter of Saturday Kitchen from 2002. He was replaced in 2003. He also presented Veg Out for the Discovery Channel. Another show he hosted was Follow That Tomato for The Food Channel. This show won an award for Best Lifestyle Programme in 2003.
Documentaries and Other Series
In 2008 and 2009, Wallace presented two episodes of The Money Programme. These episodes looked at how the 2008 financial crisis affected people's views on food. In August 2013, he presented Supermarket Secrets on BBC One. This program explored how supermarkets get and distribute their food. In September 2013, he co-presented Harvest 2013. This was a three-part series about Britain's vegetable, cereal, and fruit harvests.
From 2013, Wallace co-presented Eat Well for Less? with Chris Bavin for BBC One. From 2015 to 2023, he also co-presented Inside the Factory for BBC Two. In 2016, Wallace presented a new version of the BBC game show Time Commanders.
Travel Shows
In December 2019, Wallace presented a Channel 5 documentary. It was called Gregg Wallace's Magical Christmas Market and was filmed in Vienna, Austria. In February 2021, a four-part travel series called Big Weekends with Gregg Wallace aired. The first episode was about Barcelona.
In February 2021, Wallace presented a six-part ITV series. It was called South Africa with Gregg Wallace. In this series, he visited places like the Augrabies Falls and Durban.
MasterChef Role
From 2005 to 2024, Wallace was a co-presenter and judge on the BBC cooking show MasterChef. He worked alongside John Torode. In December 2024, food critic Grace Dent replaced Wallace. In March 2018, Wallace made a comment about a chicken rendang dish on MasterChef. He said it was "not crispy enough." This comment caused a lot of discussion online in Southeast Asian countries. People pointed out that rendang is meant to be a soft, stewed dish, not crispy.
Guest Appearances on TV
In 2007, Wallace appeared in the BBC singing contest Just the Two of Us. He was partnered with singer Carol Decker. They were the first pair to be eliminated. In 2012, Wallace was featured in an episode of the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are?. This show explores people's family history.
Wallace has also been a guest on many other shows. These include An Extra Slice and The Chase Celebrity Special. He also appeared on Celebrity Catchphrase and Tipping Point: Lucky Stars.
In September 2014, Wallace was a contestant on the twelfth series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. He danced with professional Aliona Vilani. He left the show in the second week after the public vote.
Concerns and Investigations
In November 2024, it was reported that Gregg Wallace would step away from MasterChef. This was while concerns about his past behavior were looked into. Wallace's lawyers stated that claims of him acting inappropriately were entirely false. The charity Ambitious about Autism had made him an ambassador because his son has autism. They later stopped working with him. In April 2025, Wallace said he had been diagnosed with autism. He mentioned he was "very slow to wake up" to changes in the work environment. He added, "I honestly never meant to upset anyone. I didn't realise I was causing any problems."
In December 2024, Wallace posted a video on Instagram. He said there had been "13 complaints" from "over 4,000 contestants" he worked with on MasterChef over 20 years. On 2 December 2024, Wallace apologized for suggesting that complaints against him came from "a handful of middle-class women of a certain age." The BBC later announced that some MasterChef special episodes and repeats of Inside the Factory were removed from the Christmas schedule. This was while the concerns were still being investigated.
In January 2025, singer Sir Rod Stewart criticized Wallace online. This was about an incident involving Stewart's wife, Penny Lancaster, on MasterChef. Wallace said in April 2025 that there had been a "falling out" between them. This was over "whether an orchid should stay on a bowl of soup or not."
It was reported that former Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark was among those who had raised concerns about Wallace's comments on the show. Wallace said he did not know he had upset Wark until the complaint became known in 2024. He stated, "I thought we got on." In April 2025, Wallace said he felt "under attack" because of the concerns.
BBC Response and Report
In July 2025, it was reported that a BBC executive had warned Wallace in 2019. They said that continued inappropriate behavior could lead to his job ending. Despite more concerns, he remained employed. On 14 July 2025, the BBC released a statement. This was after an independent investigation into Wallace’s actions. The investigation found that 45 out of 83 concerns were true. These concerns covered a 19-year period from 2005 to 2024. They included inappropriate language and culturally insensitive remarks. The BBC stated that Wallace’s behavior "falls below the values of the BBC." They confirmed they have "no plans to work with him in future."
Before the report was published, Wallace made a public statement. He claimed he had been cleared of the "most serious" accusations. He also criticized the BBC for "peddling baseless gossip." In the same statement, he shared his recent autism diagnosis. He claimed the BBC did not investigate or support his neurodiversity. He described the MasterChef work environment as "dangerous" for someone with his condition.
Responses from Autism Advocates
Wallace's comments received criticism from some disability charities and people who support neurodiversity. They said that using autism as a defense might make autistic people seem bad. Emily Banks, who started a neurodiversity training group, said autism "doesn't absolve anyone of responsibility." A spokesperson for the National Autistic Society emphasized that it is important to avoid making general statements about autistic people.
Investigation Summary
A summary of a report by Lewis Silkin LLP was published on 14 July 2025. It was done for Banijay Entertainment. The report found that 45 of the 83 complaints against Wallace were true. Wallace was found to have made people feel uncomfortable. These issues were only sometimes addressed at the time. Many people working on Masterchef were freelancers. They were hesitant to complain because their jobs were not permanent. Policies for dealing with inappropriate behavior were not good enough before 2016. Wallace received a formal warning after a complaint in 2017. The report mentioned his autism diagnosis as important. However, the report said Wallace thought it might explain some of his actions, but he did not want to hide behind it.
Gregg Wallace's Personal Life
Wallace married his first wife, Christine, in 1991. Their marriage lasted only six weeks. He was married to Denise Lovell from 1999 to 2004. They have a son, born in 1994, and a daughter, born in 1997. Wallace later married Heidi Brown in 2011. They met on Twitter. This relationship ended after 15 months.
Wallace met Anne-Marie Sterpini on Twitter in 2013. They got married on 6 August 2016 at Hever Castle in Hever, Kent. His Masterchef co-host John Torode was his best man at the wedding. Anne-Marie gave birth to their son in 2019. They live in Biddenden, Kent. Wallace's son was diagnosed with autism in 2022.
Wallace was given the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2022. This was for his work in food and charity. He has supported Millwall F.C. since he was a child.
