How ‘heartbroken' and ‘blindsided' MasterChef star learned he had been sacked from hit show
The Australian-British star, who was born in Melbourne but moved to England in the '90s, was said to be heartbroken after the BBC and production firm Banijay confirmed his dismissal for racist language following the Gregg Wallace scandal, The Sun reports.
A source said, 'John had no idea. He was blindsided.'
The 59-year-old's axing came after BBC chief Tim Davie said no presenter was bigger than the show.
'John Torode has identified himself as having an upheld allegation of using racist language,' Davie said.
'This allegation — which involves an extremely offensive racist term being used in the workplace — was investigated and substantiated by the independent investigation led by law firm Lewis Silkin.
'John Torode denies the allegation.
'We will not tolerate racist language of any kind and, as we have already said, we told Banijay UK, the makers of MasterChef, that action must be taken.
'John Torode's contract will not be renewed.'
A source said, 'John's agent received a call 11 minutes before the statements went out and hadn't had a chance to call him. He read about it on the BBC News website.
'Obviously he's heartbroken. He feels he's been made a scapegoat off the back of the Gregg Wallace report.'
Another source told The Sun the Aussie chef planned to quit at the end of this week.
In an Instagram post, Torode said: 'Although I haven't heard from anyone at the BBC or Banijay — I am seeing and reading that I've been 'sacked' from MasterChef and I repeat that I have no recollection of what I'm accused of.
'I have loved every minute working on MasterChef, but it's time to pass the cutlery to someone else.'
The report into the behaviour of MasterChef co-host Gregg Wallace, 60, upheld 45 of 83 complaints from 2005 to 2024, leading to his sacking.
Torode was cited in the report — but not named — over a racist remark allegedly made during a private conversation.
We revealed yesterday that BBC bosses had asked Torode to resign at the weekend and claim he had mental health issues.
He refused to do so.
No decision has been made as to whether the next MasterChef series will be aired.
Mr Davie insisted the show 'absolutely' had a future and was 'much bigger than individuals'.
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