The BBC has hit back at Gregg Wallace’s £10,000 damages claim following his dismissal from MasterChef earlier this year amid allegations of misconduct.
The 60-year-old presenter is said to have lodged the lawsuit at London’s High Court last month, vowing “not to go quietly”. He is seeking access to hundreds of pages of internal documents which he believes could help clear his name and recover millions in lost earnings.
However, the broadcaster has now filed its defence, arguing that Wallace is not entitled to damages over claims that the BBC caused him “distress and harassment” by withholding information.
According to legal papers seen by The Sun, BBC lawyers said the former Eat Well for Less? host pursued his claim without giving prior notice. “That voluntary disclosure demonstrates the claimant has no basis to claim damages for distress in respect of the withholding of such information,” the documents state.
Wallace’s data was reportedly handed over on October 7, after his initial request in March.
A source close to the chef told the publication that he is also preparing a separate disability discrimination claim, alleging the BBC failed to make reasonable adjustments for his then-undiagnosed autism during his 20-year tenure on MasterChef.
“My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of MasterChef,” Wallace said in a statement earlier this year. “Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over 20 years. That failure is now being quietly buried.”
Wallace stepped down from the long-running cooking competition earlier this year following complaints about his behaviour. An internal report found that 45 of 83 allegations were upheld, with 41 people having raised concerns.
The review concluded that the “majority of substantiated allegations” related to “inappropriate sexual language and humour”, alongside “a smaller number” of incidents involving inappropriate conduct, including one of “unwelcome physical contact”.
Wallace later told The Sun that while he accepted some of the findings, many incidents had been “perceived incorrectly”. He claimed his behaviour reflected “learned workplace culture” and that his autism diagnosis had contributed to misunderstandings.
His MasterChef co-star, Australian-born chef John Torode, was also dismissed after two decades following separate allegations that he had used a racial slur – something he says he has “no recollection” of.
