Gregg Wallace is thought to be seeking £10,000 from the BBC for “distress and harassment” after he was fired from MasterChef.
The presenter, 60, was sacked from the BBC cooking competition in July after a report upheld 45 allegations of misconduct on the show - many of inappropriate sexual language and one of unsolicited physical contact.
He has launched legal action against the BBC over a data protection claim and is seeking damages of up to £10,000.
The BBC and BBC Studios have filed a defence to the claim.
In March, when his future at the show was uncertain, he submitted two requests at the High Court to the BBC and to its subsidiary, BBC Studios Distribution, per the Daily Mail.
The filings were for the personal data they held about him, with regard to “his work, contractual relations and conduct, spanning across 21 years”.
Wallace claimed the BBC classified his request as “complex” and said it needed two months more than the one month usually required for such requests.
BBC Studios said it would “endeavour to respond” within a month, according to Wallace’s claim.
He claimed “nothing was received” from the BBC and that BBC Studios “stated that parts of his personal data were being withheld due to 'freedom of expression'”.
Wallace alleged that BBC Studios censored details about who could access his personal information during its “processing and handling”.
The BBC has declined to comment due to the “ongoing legal proceedings”.
Wallace fronted MasterChef for two decades before being removed following an independent investigation commissioned by production company Banijay and carried out by an external law firm.
The inquiry examined 83 separate allegations about his behaviour, upholding 45 of them.
The report found that Wallace had made inappropriate sexual remarks and culturally insensitive comments, undressed in front of colleagues on several occasions and engaged in one incident of unwelcome physical contact.
Wallace and his legal team have consistently denied the allegations, insisting “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.
However, he did apologise for what he described as a “difference in perception” around one case of unwanted touching, adding: “I am deeply sorry for any distress caused. It was never intended.”
Wallace’s former co-presenter John Torode was also implicated in the review, which alleged he had used a racial slur — an accusation Torode said he did not recall.
Both men were dismissed, though the broadcaster chose to air the most recent series they had already filmed.
