
Gregg Wallace launches private middle-aged male only chat room for £11.99 a month in desperate bid to keep earning amid fears of 'losing everything' following MasterChef scandal
Daily Mail revealed earlier this month Gregg is urgently plotting a 'survival plan' after the BBC told him it had 'no plans to work with him in future' leaving his television career in tatters.
As part of his remodeling as a fitness guru, he's selling a subscription for men to join his Healthy Fifty plan.
Gregg promises: 'A private chat room for men over 50. Real talk, real support – hosted by Gregg Wallace. Fitness, food, lifestyle, laughs. Sign up below and pop in to say hello.'
The venture is illustrated by a photo of a laughing group of middle-aged men sat in a pub drinking pints of beer.
It's a contrast to Gregg's comments last year when he hit out at 'middle class women of a certain age'.
The celebrity presenter apologised for 'any offence I caused' after his controversial comments on Instagram.
It's not the first online subscription Gregg has set up to earn the funds as he recently launched his new career as PT just weeks ago after he lost five stone three years ago.
Gregg announced he is personally training clients to improve their 'wellness' for the £200 a month fee.
In a video posted to Instagram, he explained: 'You do not have to accept decline as a part of getting older. You can do something about this. You can be leaner, fitter, healthier, [and] have more energy.'
Gregg continued: 'I went on my own wellness journey and I am healthier at 60 than I was at 30. I coach people over 50. I help them feel better and look better and have more confidence.
'If you would like to speak to me about your own health journey, leave me a message here.'
Earlier this month, sources close to Gregg said he has vowed to relaunch himself independently on a string of digital platforms.
Gregg is desperate to keep earning, having been side-lined since last year following a raft of allegations about his inappropriate behaviour on set at MasterChef.
It's not the first online subscription Gregg has set up to earn the funds as he recently launched his new career as PT just weeks ago after he lost five stone three years ago
Gregg is desperate to keep earning, having been side-lined since last year following a raft of allegations about his inappropriate behaviour on set at MasterChef
A report substantiated 45 of the 83 allegations against him, and the BBC informed the star that it had no intention of working with him in the future.
He is now frantically seeking a new agent and planning a return to the spotlight using social media to air self-made content about food and healthy living – having watched others succeed after losing their mainstream TV work.
Gregg is said to fear financial ruin, having seen several of his businesses forced into administration with mammoth debts and he has previously admitted 'losing everything' was the worst experience of his life.
The father-of-three, who has had three costly divorces from his ex-wives, now lives in a five-bedroom farmhouse in Kent alongside three generations of his family, including his wife Anne-Marie Sterpini, in-laws and young son who has autism – but has 'never been great with money' according to those who know him.
As one insider said: 'He really should take a break from the spotlight and work out for himself what has gone wrong, he might learn a bit about himself and start to recognise the mistakes he has made, but all he can think about right now is how to keep the cash rolling in.'
'Money is clearly at the very forefront of his mind – much more so than whether this is actually his own fault.
'He's telling people he needs to get straight back to work whatever it takes for financial reasons, and seems to think he can follow in the footsteps of other people who have lost prominent jobs in mainstream TV and go it alone. His biggest fear is losing everything he has worked so hard for and going bust.
'He also wants to get himself a new agent pretty quickly to land some commercial deals – he's had big endorsement arrangements in the past which have paid a fortune, but it's hard to imagine any big brand wanting to snap him up at the moment.'
Instead he is widely expected to ramp up his content on YouTube and TikTok as he pursues other revenue streams outside of mainstream broadcasting.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Greggs and KFC team up to launch sausage roll drenched in gravy
Greggs and KFC have teamed up to create the 'culinary crossover of the century' in the form of a sausage roll drenched in gravy. The high street food giants have worked together for the first time to offer the Greggs sausage roll with KFC gravy, claiming it is the 'mash-up the nation's been craving' and 'seriously flavoursome'. The brands said the alliance followed Britons consuming 15,000 litres of KFC gravy and more than one million Greggs sausage rolls every day over the past year. They are taking the new combination on a three-day tour from Thursday, handing it out for free in London on August 7, followed by Manchester on August 8 and Newcastle on August 9. A sharing bucket including six Greggs sausage rolls and a large tub of KFC gravy will be available for £10 on Friday August 15 and Saturday August 16 through Uber Eats in London, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham. KFC brand manager Phoebe Syms said: 'At KFC, we bleed gravy. We go to obsessive lengths for our liquid gold, and so do our fans. 'In fact, it was them who inspired this once-in-a-lifetime event, calling for us to partner with Greggs and unite our iconic gravy with their iconic sausage rolls. 'Now we're joining forces for just a few days to give the people a taste of what they really want … it's time for gravy to meet pastry. You're welcome.' Fiona Mills, brand communications lead at Greggs, said: 'With 96 layers of light puff pastry, and perfectly baked to give that satisfying golden crisp and flaky goodness, we've always known our sausage rolls are a true British icon. And why not pair one icon with another? 'We can't wait to see what Greggs and KFC fans make of our latest partnership. We're sure fans of both brands will enjoy devouring their Greggs x KFC sharing bucket.' The tour will stop at London's Southbank Centre on Thursday, followed by Manchester's Cathedral Gardens on Friday and then Newcastle's Times Square, all between 12pm and 5pm, with supplies available on a first come, first served basis. Last week, Greggs revealed a slump in profits as it was knocked by hot weather and caution among shoppers over their finances. The Newcastle-based business revealed that pre-tax profits fell by 14.3% to £63.5 million for the half-year to June 28, compared with a year earlier. It said the first half of 2025 was impacted by 'challenging market footfall, more weather disruption than in 2024' and increased costs.


Daily Mail
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Country singer Zac Brown, 46, reveals secret to his shocking weight loss transformation
Zac Brown has revealed the secret to his weight loss transformation after shedding an impressive 65 pounds. The country singer, 46, has been on a grueling 'spirit quest' over the last seven years, and has tried a range of diets – including veganism – to try and get there. Now, he is looking trimmer than ever and weighs in at just under 200 pounds - and he is imploring Americans to 'invest in the way that you feel.' While he used to drink alcohol, Zac has now cut out the booze from his diet completely. He also pays close attention to reading food labels and tries to keep junk food out of his house. Additionally, the artist has been working with an NFL trainer and a nutritionist to make sure that he is focusing on strength and conditioning, as well as his diet. 'I have to carry around my food with me,' he said of what he eats. 'But the diet is pretty simple. It's based on three meals a day that are about four hours apart. 'After your last meal, you fast for 14 hours. And as far as what you're eating: it's a lot of paleo, vegetables, good, clean proteins, whole foods, things that aren't just processed in a bag or in a box. 'I'm gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, alcohol-free.' The country music star now weighs in at just under 200 pounds and is encouraging fans to 'invest in the way that you feel' (pictured in July) As for how he exercises, Zac revealed that he often plays games while hitting the Arc Trainer for an hour. An Arc Trainer is an exercise equipment that has its pedal move in an arcuate motion. It is great for a cardio workout and muscle strengthening. He also enjoys playing pickleball, or other outdoor activities where you're not thinking about exercising. Speaking to GQ, Zac explained that he has had to change his mindset and really focus on keeping the momentum going. 'I'm making my choices based on how I want to feel, how I want to look, and the amount of energy I have,' he said. 'My discipline for the workouts, the days that I don't feel like working out, those are the days that you really need to do it the most. It pulls you out of whatever funk you're in.' In July, it was revealed that Zac is engaged to his jewelry designer girlfriend, Kendra Scott, just a few months after they debuted their relationship on the red carpet at The American Music Awards in May. 'We are so happy and grateful that we found each other,' the couple told People. Zac proposed with a large, pink, bezel-set diamond. Both Zac and Kendra, who landed a spot on Forbes' 2025 list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, have been married before. Zac has five children with his ex-wife, Shelly Brown, while Scott has two adult sons with her ex, John Scott, and a young son with ex Matt Davis. The couple shocked the world when they made their red carpet debut at the AMA's this past spring.


Telegraph
5 minutes ago
- Telegraph
‘I worked with Steve Wright for 30 years. The BBC has tarnished his legacy'
Later this month, BBC Radio 2 will broadcast a tribute concert for Steve Wright – the adored DJ, who died last February. It will feature the bespoke jingles that were such a crucial part of shows such as Steve Wright in the Afternoon and Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs, but the man behind those jingles, Anthony James, is not involved. Since Wright's death at the age of 69, James says he has been dismayed by the BBC's handling of his friend's legacy – and haunted by what he sees as mistreatment by the corporation in the years leading up to his death. The pair first met in 1986 when James (known professionally as AJ) was a teenager. He had already begun working in local radio, composing unique musical idents for the station's presenters. A fan of Wright's BBC shows, James sent him a 30-second piece of music, with his 'cold pitch' resulting in a phone call to his home soon afterwards. 'My mother picked it up and ran upstairs and said, 'Oh my God, it's Steve Wright on the phone.' I thought it was one of my friends doing a prank,' James reflects, but it was Wright, promising that he would play the tune on his show at 3pm that very afternoon. So began a partnership that James describes as '50-50 friendship, 50-50 like a father figure'. At the outset, Wright appeared to him 'like the Wizard of Oz: he was this great big celebrity on one of the biggest stations in Europe'. When James moved to New York in the late 1990s to continue his career as a composer (still writing around 100 jingles a year across Wright's shows), their friendship continued to develop: 'He would tell me a lot of personal stuff, which was great. But first, he would always want to know what was up with me, what was going on in my world… He was very sensitive, very conscious of how I was doing.' Wright visited James in New York often; they spoke on the phone two or three times a week. He remembers Wright's levity during their calls. 'I miss that, big time. I would always get off the phone with Steve and I'd have laughed so much, because he just found humour in everything.' In the years leading up to his death, however, Wright would suffer a series of personal and professional setbacks. The first came in 2022, when Steve Wright in the Afternoon was axed by the BBC. Wright called a tearful James once the news broke; both saw the move as 'crazy; our numbers [were] through the roof'. Wright admitted that he had been told of its cancellation and sworn to secrecy by the organisation nine months prior, but was reassured by promises made by Helen Thomas, the head of BBC Radio 2, that the show would live on via a yet-to-be-created digital channel. When that prospect began looking increasingly unlikely, Wright approached Tim Davie, the director-general. According to James, Davie told Wright: 'I can't believe she fired you… I wouldn't have fired you myself.' The BBC has, however, denied this. James believes that the axing of Steve Wright in the Afternoon was part of a push to banish broadcasters considered too ' pale, male and stale ' from the airwaves, and to create a kind of conformity at direct odds with Wright's verve. 'They just wanted it a little bit more like wallpaper,' he says of Thomas's decision to 'do something different in the afternoons'. 'They thought that this idea of personality [displayed in abundance by Wright] is old style; it's not cool anymore, we should make Radio 2 cool,' he says. 'But who gives a s--- about cool? It's about being entertained.' The effect on Wright was devastating. 'He didn't really stop to accept it. I think it ate him up,' James tells me. 'It got worse, and his health got worse.' Wright had heart surgery a year after the show was axed, and the medication he took in its aftermath led him to put on even more weight. 'He told me, 'I'm just really not well. I'm trying to lose the weight, I think I'm going to have a gastric band.'' James says that Wright also considered using Ozempic. Despite Wright's best attempts to get better, James recalls that: 'There was something about our last meeting [in November 2023]. There was just a look in his eye. I told my partner [afterwards] that something was really wrong.' Then, the following February, Wright died, leaving James overwhelmed with grief. 'I was not on this planet,' he says of that time. The groundswell of public affection went some way to easing his sadness, but that was quickly dismantled by the actions of the BBC. 'The painful truth is that the same BBC leadership celebrating Steve publicly is the one that disregarded and undermined our work privately,' says James. After Wright's death, James feels that they tried to 'delegitimise' his and Wright's relationship. 'I felt disgusted by that,' says James. 'Our relationship was so successful and it lasted for 38 years, and I feel like they're just s---ting on it.' And on Wright himself: a man who attended the studio at nine o'clock each morning to prepare for his afternoon show, and was dedicated to his listeners to the last. In response to questions about the treatment of Wright, the BBC said: 'Steve was deeply loved by the Radio 2 family and listeners, and we all miss him dearly. For almost three decades he hosted a raft of brilliant shows on the network. 'Steve's Sunday Love Songs had been on air since 1996 and he was excited to take on the legendary Pick of the Pops alongside a variety of specials on Radio 2 including Steve Wright: The Best of the Guests, Steve Wright's Summer Nights and Steve Wright's Love Songs Extra on BBC Sounds.' Thomas wrote to James in autumn last year asking for permission to play his music in the BBC tribute concert for Wright, which was recorded earlier this year (ahead of this month's transmission). He agreed, but when he rediscovered a recording of Wright railing at the poor internal handling of his show being axed, 'I just got more and more angry.' James talked through the matter with Wright's son, before telling Thomas that he no longer planned to attend. Then, in the week before the concert, she let him know that 'the great and the good will be there', which James took to mean: don't miss an opportunity to network. 'And I said, 'I'm not f---ing networking; this is not about networking. This is about a tribute to my friend.'' James thinks this last-minute push was driven by fear that his absence would 'look bad' for the BBC. 'It just started stinking towards the end of it, and I thought, 'No, I've given my music, my music will represent me, and that's it. I'm not going,' he says. When I put James's thoughts to the BBC, a spokesman replied: 'When inviting AJ to the recording of the celebration of Steve's broadcast career, where new arrangements of his work would be played live on stage, Helen's sole aim was to make sure AJ did not miss what promised to be, and indeed proved to be, a very special event, with many of Steve's friends and colleagues in attendance.' It is clear that James feels both he and Wright have been wronged by the BBC. The outpouring of affection from fans since Wright's death, compared with what he sees as shoddy treatment by the corporation now openly celebrating him, has made the past 18 months particularly challenging. Wright would have turned 71 on August 26, and his birthday will spark 'very intense' feelings for James as he remembers their friendship and their creative partnership. 'I miss all that,' he says, 'and that makes me very emotional.'