According to the BBC, 50 more people have approached them with fresh claims about former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace, including an allegation of groping, which he strongly denies
Friends of Gregg Wallace has claimed his autism is partly to blame for alleged behaviour that has seen him sacked from BBC’s MasterChef, after 21 years. More specifically, the 60-year-old reportedly has “autistic hypersensitivity”, which results in him having an “oddity of filters and boundaries”.
It is claimed another effect of his autism is an exaggerated sensory experience, which means he has an “inability to wear underwear because of his autistic hypersensitivity to labels and tight clothing”. The BBC host stepped away from MasterChef back in November, after 13 people made complaints of inappropriate sexual comments against him over a 17-year period.
According to BBC News, he is now facing fresh allegations from at least 50 people, who say they encountered him across a range of shows and settings.
Among the claims, one MasterChef worker says she was groped by Gregg, which left her feeling “absolutely horrified” and “quite sick”.
Another said he pulled trousers down in front of her in a dressing room, what she described as “disgusting and predatory” behaviour.
He has strongly denied these allegations. Gregg himself has claimed that being autistic has led him to misread social situations, and friends claim it stopped him from going out.
A friend told The Times: “He stopped going out with the team and stopped telling jokes because he realised he didn’t know what was right and what crossed the line.”
“Gregg is guilty of bad jokes and rough humour,” a source previously said. “But so many people on the show talked openly about suspecting that he had autism for years before he got his diagnosis.
“To sack him now when they were well aware of his condition is outrageous. He’s going to take them to the cleaners.”
The new allegations come to light just days before the result of a report on separate claims made last year. It led to MasterChef’s production company Banijay commissioning a report on him, which was overseen by the law firm Lewis Silkin.
The former BBC star has admitted to “using inappropriate language”, which he apologised for in a statement, but claims he has been cleared of “the most serious and sensational accusations made against me”.
As part of a lengthy statement shared on his Instagram page, Gregg also hit out at his employers for doing “nothing” to investigate his disability.
He claimed: “My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of MasterChef.
“Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over twenty years. That failure is now being quietly buried.”
He concluded: “I was tried by media and hung out to dry well before the facts were established. The full story of this incredible injustice must be told and it is very much a matter of public interest.”
Source: Mirror
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