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Daily Mirror
a minute ago
- Daily Mirror
Gregg Wallace gives a very direct response to fan asking if he has trousers on
Former MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace has hit back at social media users questioning the findings of a report that saw him forced to leave the BBC cooking show Former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has hit back at an Instagram user seemingly referring to his alleged conduct during his time working at the BBC. In November 2024 it was announced that Wallace would step away from his role on the BBC cooking show while historical allegations of misconduct were investigated. Wallace issued an apology saying he was "deeply sorry for any distress caused" and that he "never set out to harm or humiliate" in the wake of the Lewis Silkin review, which upheld 45 out of 83 allegations made against him. One of the allegations came from a complaint from a former MasterChef worker who accused Wallace of dropping his trousers in front of her - something Wallace denies. In a fresh comment on social media today, Wallace claimed the allegation was one of the 38 dismissed by the independent inquiry. Posting on Instagram, Wallace shared a video of himself and wife Anna celebrating their ninth wedding anniversary. But the comment section was more focused on discussing Wallace's recent scandal. One Instagram user wrote to Wallace: "I'm surprised she stayed with you after the things you were accused of though." Wallace replied: "Maybe because she realised I was just accused and they weren't true." Another comment aimed as Wallace reads: "Are your trousers up or for a friend." In response, Wallace wrote: "no allegations of that type were upheld. What made you think they were, please?" Last month, Wallace again apologised to anyone hurt by his behaviour, but insisted he is "not a groper, a sex pest or a flasher". In fresh comments to The Sun, Wallace acknowledged that he had said things that "offended people, that weren't socially acceptable and perhaps they felt too intimidated or nervous to say anything at the time. I understand that now – and to anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry." He added: "I'm not a groper. People think I've been taking my trousers down and exposing myself – I am not a flasher. People think I'm a sex pest. I am not.' The former greengrocer also said his recent autism diagnosis means he struggles "to read people". "I know people find me weird," he said. "Autism is a disability, a registered disability." Earlier this week, Wallace and John Torode's final series of amateur MasterChef landed on BBC iPlayer after both presenters were dropped from the popular cooking show. The first three episodes of the 21st series were released on iPlayer early on Wednesday morning, ahead of the first episode airing on BBC One at 8pm. Both presenters can be seen in the introduction shots of episode one, with Torode saying: "This is the sort of stuff that dreams are made of", while Wallace can be seen telling a contestant 'that is a cracker of a job'. Torode was the subject of an allegation about using racist language that was upheld as part of the Lewis Silkin review, but the TV star said he had "no recollection of the incident" and was "shocked and saddened" by the allegation. Last month the BBC confirmed the series, which was filmed last year before allegations against Wallace and Torode were upheld, would be broadcast in August, adding that it had "not been an easy decision in the circumstances."
Daily Mirror
a minute ago
- Daily Mirror
Zoe Ball in floods of tears after being 'wounded' by break-in while on live TV
BBC radio star Zoe Ball has revealed she burst into tears and felt wounded after her car was broken into while she appeared live on the One Show last week Zoe Ball has revealed she was left "wounded" following a break-in while she was on live TV. The BBC radio star appeared on the One Show last week, but uncovered a nasty surprise on her way home. She had just left the BBC studios in London when she noticed her car had been smashed and her bag stolen. Zoe emotionally shared how she blames herself for the incident and was left in floods of tears. The presenter confessed the incident left her shook up and "froze" as she tried to figure out what to do. It comes after Zoe gave a rare love life insight following her Fatboy Slim split. Opening up to her co-star Jo Whiley on their Dig It podcast, Zoe shared: "Someone had smashed the front window of my car, that's never happened to me before." Zoe thought quick on her feet and decided to use an old festival poncho that was in her car to wrap up the smashed window. "I wrapped [it] around the smashed door [and] slammed it tight and was like, 'Right, okay, I'm probably going to have to drive from London to Brighton at 30 miles an hour'." she shared. "But do you know what? I got up to 60 and it was very loud!" Zoe had Jo Whiley on the radio as she navigated home followed by Bob Harris' show. "I've never heard the country show quite so loud in my ear," she laughed. "But you both got me home safely, thank you." Despite getting home safely, Zoe confessed the incident may not have happened if she didn't place her bag on the front seat. "I'm not very practical," she confessed. "Sometimes when things like that happen, I'm like, 'Right, oh yes, what do I do? I don't have any masking tape'. Anyway, they didn't get anything valuable, so it was fine." Asked if she felt quite wounded by the incident, Zoe insisted she was. She added: "I got in and I had a massive cry. Do you know what I did? I did a stupid thing, I was so busy running into The One Show with my suits and my bag and everything. "And we were going to do a picture with our Spotify picture [team], which was amazing, and I left a bag on the front seat. Big no, no in London, idiot. Luckily nothing in it except my diary." Zoe admitted she cried so much, that it actually felt like a release to her. "It was good, I love a big blub. The ones where you wake up in the morning and your face is a bit swollen and you're like, 'Well I'm glad I got that out'." Jo also revealed she had been targeted while in the capital as she had her phone stolen. She told Zoe: "Just a boy on a bike just literally snatched it from my hand. "And then you having something [happen] like this, it's just so disappointing that people would do that to another person."
Telegraph
5 minutes ago
- Telegraph
ITV is going to regret hiring Gary Lineker
ITV is said to be 'really excited' about snapping up Gary Lineker to present its new game show, The Box, set to air next year. The channel presumably sees the former Match Of The Day host as a potential saviour of the Saturday night slot, once the most important and coveted moment on terrestrial TV's weekly calendar, but now struggling to retain any relevance in the era of the big streaming services. Given Lineker's seemingly insatiable need to make controversial political pronouncements, it's a strategy that looks more likely to give ITV nightmares than a new frontman in the mould of Bruce Forsyth. It's reported that ITV has been 'sniffing around' the 64-year-old Lineker for some time. The channel is facing a potentially existential problem as it seeks a replacement for Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, which came to an end last year. It had been a game show that – uniquely in the modern era – recaptured the pure light-entertainment magic of the 1970s to the 1990s, when families across the country would routinely sit down together to watch their favourite programmes, providing huge viewing figures and advertising revenues to match. Given that desperate need, replacing two universally loved and accomplished entertainers such as Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly with a football presenter with a habit for putting his foot in it is a dangerous gamble. Given Lineker was paid a yearly salary of £1.35m by the BBC, recruiting Lineker is likely to be an expensive risk as well as a reputational one. What ITV has on its hands is less 'Mr Saturday Night' and more a deeply divisive figure who is as likely to have viewers turning off as tuning in. So ITV's celebrations might be short-lived, especially if it is unable to police his frequent public interventions on social media. BBC rules dictate that staff must uphold the corporation's impartiality on personal social accounts. The 2021 ITV guidelines state: 'Online communications, especially relating to news, political, religious and industry issues, should be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality.' So will it do what the BBC seemingly never could and insist he finally shuts up? Perhaps new colleagues might demand the channel's chiefs do so, having seen the tension his behaviour caused among the rank-and-file at the BBC. As long ago as 2018, Lineker was criticised by the BBC's cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew for his use of social media. 'Please keep your political views, whatever they are and whatever the subject, to yourself,' said Agnew. 'I'd be sacked if I followed your example.' Lineker has long preached a kind of morally lofty and pseudo-neutral liberalism – 'Linekerism' if you will – but this has never really stood up to scrutiny. His assertion that he is politically neutral has been continually undermined, such as when he described the attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7 2023 as 'that Hamas thing' and said of the ensuing war in Gaza, 'I can't think of anything that I've seen worse in my lifetime '. This despite his lifetime encompassing the Vietnam War, the Yugoslavian Civil War, the Rwandan genocide, the Iraq War and the rise of Isis to name just a few. In 2023, Lineker criticised the government's policy of stopping migrants in the English Channel as 'an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s'. Even a spokesperson for Sir Keir Starmer said comparisons with 1930s Germany 'aren't always the best way' to make an argument. There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I'm out of order? — Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2023 The BBC temporarily suspended Lineker but he returned a week later after its director-general, Tim Davie, confirmed the presenter had agreed to abide by the corporation's guidelines. But in May this year it was announced Lineker would leave the BBC at the end of the Premier League season following further controversy after he shared a pro-Palestine video on his Instagram account. The clip, produced by the campaign group Palestine Lobby, featured an anti-Semitic rat emoji. Lineker later apologised, pleading ignorance and saying he stands 'against all forms of racism', which just happens to be a favourite expression of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. But he has since double backed (as any proud Linekerist would). When asked last week if his exit from the BBC was 'of his own volition, or a case of quit or be quitted', he replied, 'the latter'. Lineker has also stated he believes his apology should have been enough to keep his job on Match Of The Day. Instead, he will now be preparing for his new role as host of The Box, a Norwegian concept that sees a dozen celebrities complete a series of challenges whilst being stuck in containers. The show is said to be a mix of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and SAS: Who Dares Wins. But executives at ITV may soon be wishing they themselves were trapped in a tunnel filled with mealworms or being dropped out of a helicopter into a freezing ocean rather than have to police the Gospel of Gary unshackled by the constrictions of the licence fee.
