Another MasterChef series, another masterclass in self-awareness from co-host Gregg Wallace. For many people, Gregg’s defining moment will always be the time he was contacted on Twitter by a member of the public. “Hi Greg,” ran the message. “I am cycling just over 180 miles in 2 days for Macmillan Cancer Support. Any chance of a retweet?”
The presenter’s reply was simply: “Gregg?” “No worries mate,” retorted the charity bike rider. “It’s only people with cancer. You worry about your extra G.” But Gregg does worry. He is a worrier, of a sort, and his current worry is that people might look at his fourth wife and draw unfavourable conclusions. About her. Gregg is 52, you see, and Anne-Marie is more than 20 years his junior, and he is worried that people might make surmises.
“When I found it difficult,” he told Lorraine Kelly this week, “wasn’t going to nice places,” but shopping centres. Well quite – God knows it must be ghastly meeting the viewers in their not-nice places. “Anna would want to hold my hand and because you’re on the telly, people look at you,” Gregg went on. “I didn’t want people to judge her harshly.”
Gregg seems to have been imagining people looking at his wife and wheeling out all the old cliches. You know the sort of thing. “There’s no fool like a young fool.” “First time lucky.” Yet I’m sure he couldn’t be more wrong about what they’re thinking, and do hope he can stand down from defending Anne-Marie in due course.
