Gregg Wallace breaks silence after Rod Stewart brands him 'tubby bully'

Daily Record

19 hours ago

Gregg Wallace has responded to Rod Stewart's 'hurtful' comments against him, revealing that he is actually a big fan of the singer.
MasterChef's Gregg Wallace has broken his silence after Sir Rod Stewart called him a "tubby, bald-headed, ill mannered bully". The 60-year-old initially stepped down from the franchise after the BBC announced it was looking into historical allegations of misconduct against him.
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He was then officially fired after the bombshell Silkins review, commissioned by MasterChef production company Banijay UK, upheld 45 allegations against him, including a case of "unwelcome physical contact". In the wake of the news that the BBC was investigating Wallace, Sir Rod alleged in a post that the scorned host had 'humiliated' his wife Penny Lancaster when she was on the show in 2021.
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He wrote: "So Gregg Wallace gets fired from Masterchef. Good riddance Wallace. You humiliated my wife when she was on the celebrity version of the show, but you had that bit cut out didn't you?
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"You're a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart."
In a new interview with The Sun, Gregg replied to the hitmaker's remarks, stating: "I'm actually a Rod Stewart fan.
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"I've been to see him twice. So that hurt me. Somebody like that carries a lot of weight. But there was no bullying and no harassing."
Talking about Sir Rod's Instagram post on Loose Women in December, host Penny confessed: "I didn't realise my husband had sent that post out until it was out. And of course, you can imagine the influx of inquiries there were."
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She explained she was on jury duty at the time and didn't realise what had happened until later, saying she was left "shocked" by Rod's message.
She explained: "When I did turn my phone back on I got a message from a friend saying, 'Oh my God, how amazing was that message your husband put out!' And I was like 'What message? What has he done?'."
Penny explained: "I most definitely was witness and victim to some of the bullying and harassment behaviour of Gregg Wallace, and unfortunately, a lot of those involved in the production team were also witness to that.
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"I really feel that he used his position of power to, I believe, intimidate and cause distress to a lot of people on set."
Wallace's MasterChef co-presenter John Torode followed in Wallace's footsteps after he was also axed following a report that included an accusation that he had used racist language.
Wallace went on to say that he had unfollowed John and his wife Lisa Faulkner on social media, insisting that the MasterChef co-presenters "never got on that well".
He added that he understands he said offensive things and that those on the receiving end were perhaps "too intimidated or nervous" to report the incidents at the time.
Wallace went on to apologise to those he had upset and said he "doesn't expect sympathy".