Gregg Wallace has spoken out about reports that he departed Inside The Factory after engaging in ‘derogatory banter’ with female employees.
Despite leaving the BBC2 programme in March to spend more time with his three-year-old son, the host’s involvement at the Nestlé facility has been identified as a contributing cause.
The MasterChef host was accused of being ‘rude towards staff’ and ‘talking in a derogatory manner, especially to women’ and of being ‘appalled’ that he had caused ‘such an offence.’
On Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, the former greengrocer, 58, was interrogated by host Richard Madeley about the reasons of his resignation and the truth about his ‘offensive’ behaviour.
Gregg said there was “an argument” on the show, but declined to clarify and maintained he departed to spend more time with his autistic and nonverbal son Sid.
He said: ‘There was an argument in Inside The Factory. The reporting isn’t accurate. There was an issue and I thought that was the perfect time to come out.
‘Offending people? No, no. If you look at the headlines you can’t see a story that matches those headlines. But there was an issue; I don’t want to discuss what the issue was.
‘But I thought it was a good time – Mum needs help with Sid at home, running around the country going to those factories – I thought it was a good time to give something up.’
Gregg has previously stated that he was leaving Inside The Factory to assist raise Sid, his 21-year-old son with wife Anne-Marie Sterpini.
He told Gaby Roslin’s BBC Radio London show that while his son is a ‘lovely, lovely little boy’ with a ‘wonderful mother’, parenting is ‘not easy’.
‘Right now, we need to find education for him and I can’t just leave that to Anna – that’s a big, big decision,’ he explained.
‘I mean, all parents worry about the schools that children will go to. Ours is even more highlighted because of poor little Sid’s issues.’
The MasterChef host has been accused of making improper comments about the weight of ladies at the facility that were not sexual in nature.
A source told The Times the staff involved shared they would not be happy participating in the show if it was to return with Gregg at the helm.
They continued: ‘[Gregg] felt that he was just trying to be friendly but no longer knew what the right thing to say was anymore and decided to leave.’
Following the initial comments, an insider from Nestle added: ‘He comes in cracking jokes but is from a very different world to our workers.’
Nestle themselves said: ‘Nestlé UK has been proud to host Inside the Factory on five occasions since the series began.
‘We have one more episode filmed . . . and would be open to participating in future episodes or similar projects.’
Gregg has hosted the factual show for the past seven years, and the BBC is yet to identify his replacement.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
