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Gregg Wallace has issued a defiant response to mounting allegations against him, dismissing his accusers as “middle-class women of a certain age”.

Wallace has stepped back from presenting the BBC cooking show MasterChef over accusations he made sexual comments towards staff and celebrity guests on a range of programmes over 17 years.

In a series of videos posted on Instagram before 7am on Sunday morning, Wallace says he has worked with more than 4,000 contestants over the years “of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life”.

“Apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time,” Wallace says.

“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.”

The video has prompted outrage online, with TV star Kirstie Allsopp posting on X about an incident while filming a pilot show with Wallace, alleging his behaviour was “totally unprofessional”.

She used the hashtag #MiddleClassWomanOfACertainAge.

In a second video on Sunday morning, Wallace says: “In 20 years, 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?”

Wallace’s intervention follows a denial from his legal team, which said “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature” in a statement to BBC News.

More allegations have emerged against Wallace, 60, since his departure from MasterChef was announced on Thursday.

Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark told the BBC shortly after the news broke that she saw Wallace “use sexualised language in front of a number of people” when she appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.

Singer Sir Rod Stewart criticised Wallace on Instagram and claimed he “humiliated” his wife Penny Lancaster in 2021.

Wallace discussed ‘sex act’ on set

In her post on Sunday morning, Allsopp gave details of an alleged incident.

“Within 1 hour of meeting Gregg Walllace he told me of a sex act that he and his partner at the time enjoyed ‘every morning’, she’d just left the room, we were filming a pilot,” she said.

“Did he get off on how embarrassed I was? It was totally unprofessional, I’m a #MiddleClassWomanOfACertainAge.”

David Baddiel also commented on X: “It’s not often that the internet gets behind middle-class middle-aged women these days, but thanks to Gregg Wallace for making it happen.”

‘Zero complaints,’ says Wallace

Wallace is yet to directly address any of the allegations but posted a third video on Sunday.

He posed a question to viewers about his conduct over 20 years of presenting various TV programmes: “Do you know how many staff made a complaint about me in that time? Absolutely none. Zero. Seriously.”

On Saturday the production company that makes MasterChef, Banijay UK, called for anyone wishing to report allegations of misconduct to contact Lewis Silkin, a legal firm appointed to lead an investigation.

A spokesperson said: “All information will be handled sensitively, and names of those providing evidence to the team will be kept confidential.”

Wallace has been a presenter on the programme since 2005, as well as its spin-offs Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals.

Comments were ‘lewd’ and ‘filthy’

TV director and producer Dawn Elrick has spoken to Sky News about complaints made to her about Wallace’s conduct by several female production staff.

She said women had alleged a pattern of behaviour which amounted to “bragging in a heightened sexual way” and graphic language she described as “lewd” and “quite filthy”.

“I think some of it, some of the behaviour, will also have been recorded and I think cameras will have been rolling at certain points,” she added.

Ms Elrick said she compiled the allegations in a letter to the BBC, who replied requesting more information and evidence.

But she said the response “for me, it kind of just missed the point” because, for production staff, coming forward is “very hard”.

“As soon as you start outlining a timeline of events, then you’re making yourself very identifiable,” adding that – for freelance workers – “your last job dictates your next job”.

Speaking about the allegations against Wallace, Ms Elrick said: “I felt like he [Wallace] was one of these ‘open secrets’ and I can’t see that they [the BBC] haven’t known about this for a while.”

Wallace’s representatives have been approached for a response to Ms Elrick’s comments.

Wallace dropped by charity

Banijay previously said he has “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process” after the BBC received complaints over “historical allegations of misconduct”.

On Friday, the charity Ambitious About Autism said it had dropped him as an ambassador, citing the “recent allegations”.

Wallace has three children and his youngest, five-year-old Sid, is non-verbal and autistic.

In October, Wallace responded to reports that a previous BBC review had found he could continue working at the corporation after reports of an alleged incident in 2018 when he appeared on Impossible Celebrities.

Wallace said on Instagram that those claims had been investigated “promptly” at the time and said he had not said “anything sexual” while appearing on the game show.

In a video posted on Thursday addressing the new allegations, he said: “I would like to thank all the people getting in touch, reaching out and showing their support. It’s good of you, thank you very much.”

BBC has ‘robust processes’

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.

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on anything that could form part of Banijay’s ongoing investigation or otherwise influence it.”