30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Gregg Wallace given shock diagnosis and says 'it explains a lot' after sexual misconduct scandal
Gregg Wallace has opened up about a shocking diagnosis he received amidst accusations of sexual misconduct last year. The ex-MasterChef judge revealed that he was diagnosed with autism during the peak of the scandal, stating: "It does explain a hell of a lot to me."
The 60-year-old shared that his diagnosis came after his notorious Instagram story response to the allegations, where he pointed fingers at "middle-class women of a certain age". Speaking to the The Daily Mail after, he admitted: "My world tumbled in. At this point my name is being linked with Jimmy Savile and Huw Edwards.
"The abuse on social media is just phenomenal and the stuff hitting the papers was... (sic) I think it's vital there are channels open for vulnerable people to complain if they are being bullied, harassed or made to feel uncomfortable, but the system hasn't been perfected. It doesn't work if the person is a public figure and everything becomes a public trial."
He continued: "Crying out loud, I had no idea where all these people were coming from. Then I went completely wild and blamed it all on middle-class women. It was the biggest mistake but, by far, the best thing I could have done."
According to Wallace, this blunder led someone from the MasterChef production team to finally reach out to him. He felt left without support amidst the surge of allegations, Bristol Live reports.
He recalled: "He was the first person I'd spoken to in days. Nobody should be left on their own to face something like this. It's very difficult to explain the pressure unless you've been through it.
"I thought about suicide all the time: 'Is my insurance up to date? Will Anna get some money? She doesn't deserve this. It would be better if I wasn't here.' The MasterChef exec said, 'Mate, what are you doing?'
"I told him I had to speak out because people were saying what they liked about me and it wasn't true. I said, 'It just keeps on and on. What am I supposed to do?'"
Recognising his struggles, Banijay UK, the production firm behind MasterChef, set Wallace up with a crisis mentor.
Wallace expressed deep gratitude towards the mentor, calling them "the life raft" he "clung to", and credited them for insisting upon a mental health screening which ultimately led to his autism diagnosis.
He said: "I want to make it absolutely clear I'm not blaming my behaviour on my diagnosis, but it does explain a hell of a lot to me".
Yet, Wallace also questioned why, if his television persona had been causing offence over the years, nobody confronted him about it until now.
He said: "Although I'm still trying to compute why, if my persona on the telly was pi***ng so many people off for all those years, nobody told me at the time."
Wallace said the diagnosis did not come as a surprise to those who know him.
He said: "John and I had an argument over what was 'travelling' and what was 'going on holiday' because I couldn't get a definitive answer. This has been going on for two years because so many of the contestants say they went travelling but, to me, it sounds like they've been on holiday.
"The producers are like, 'Mate, will you stay on the food?' I'm saying, 'No. I need to know what constitutes travelling. How long were you away? How many hotels?' John's like, 'Will you just f***ing drop it?'"
The BBC is set to disclose the outcomes of its investigation into Wallace next month.
