The nightmare of Gregg Wallace’s last MasterChef – scrap it or show it?

The broadcast of the latest MasterChef series is delayed due to allegations against judge Gregg Wallace. Photo / Getty Images

There have been 20 MasterChef champions since the programme was revived in 2005. Winning the competition is as good as a guarantee that an enthusiastic amateur cook can quit their job and forge a career in the hospitality industry; dozens of alumni have gone on to start their own restaurants, write recipe books or work as top chefs.

A 21st victor triumphed in the series filmed last autumn but, almost a year on, we still do not know who he or she is. The demise of Gregg Wallace, against whom an official report upheld 45 complaints about his behaviour at work, has thrown that whole cohort into limbo and denies them the chance to experience the life-changing benefits of succeeding on MasterChef through no fault of their own.

Past winners urge the BBC to air the series, emphasising the impact on contestants' careers. Photo / Getty Images

The latest series was supposed to be broadcast in February, but the live inquiry by an independent law firm into Wallace meant it could not be aired. Now that a return to the series by Wallace, 60, has been deemed “untenable” after investigators at Lewis Silkin upheld claims the star judge had made inappropriate and sexually explicit comments – as well as being “in a state of undress” on three separate occasions, making unwanted physical contact on another, bullying and saying racist or culturally insensitive things – the BBC now has to decide what to do with his final series.

The full run of more than 20 episodes has been completed and delivered to the BBC by Banijay, the production company, but bosses at the corporation have yet to say if it will ever be broadcast – or consigned to the cutting room floor.

The Telegraph has spoken to four previous winners who say the BBC owes it to those who took part in the series to air it, as Wallace’s bad behaviour is the only reason it has been delayed.

Thomasina Miers, the winner of the 2005 edition who went on to found the Wahaca chain of Mexican restaurants, says not showing that series is “a punishment happening to people who have very little to do with what’s going on in the news”. If the contest never saw the light of day, she adds, it would be “a terrible thing to do to someone. What does it achieve? I’m not sure what it achieves, other than being deeply unfair to someone”.

Thomasina Miers won the first series of the revived BBC cooking competition MasterChef in 2005. Photo / Getty Images

Winners often line up a move into the hospitality industry before their series airs, so they can hit the ground running in their new business as their triumph is in the public consciousness. Mat Follas, the 2009 champion, says he had signed a lease on a restaurant in advance of its broadcast and he was inundated with early interest.

“That publicity is like no other award. For the general public, MasterChef, [The Great British] Bake Off and, maybe, Great British Menu – nothing else really matters,” he says. “The publicity is worth tens of thousands of pounds to the winner, however you cut it, probably more, and they’ve earned it … I really feel for those in the top half-dozen [in the unbroadcast series] because they’ve all got careers in food, if that’s what they want to do. Without that publicity boost, they’re not all going to make it.”

Irini Tzortzoglou, who triumphed in 2019, says there must be some kind of compromise that would allow the series to go out despite the Wallace scandal. “The presenter’s career is down the drain. The BBC has said – very openly, very rightly – they are not going to work with him again. So what about not depriving the viewers of the series? What about finding a middle ground? So broadcast, but air it with a statement or disclaimers at the beginning of every programme,” she tells me.

“I think the viewing public should be given the credit to be able to differentiate between bad behaviour and a TV competition,” Tzortzoglou adds. “Knowing how much my life has changed, I would hate to see somebody who made sacrifices, gave a lot of time, effort, money – because you buy ingredients, you buy gadgets, you try very hard – and then was being deprived of that opportunity.”

There is also a recognition that Wallace, with his cheeky-chappy greengrocer persona, was a large part of MasterChef’s success. “Gregg played the role the BBC paid him to do,” says Follas. “They’ve employed somebody, he performs an act, and it shouldn’t be on the contestants.

“You could see him get out of his car in the morning, and almost like putting on a jacket he put on the character of ‘Gregg Wallace’,” he adds. “And I liked the guy outside of the studio; in the studio, he’s a bit of a t***, there’s no way around it. But he’s the t*** that every kitchen had. I don’t think they’ve got them anymore, but every kitchen had someone like that.”

Simon Wood, the 2015 champion who now works as a private chef, says: “It’s someone’s journey and Gregg has been an integral part of MasterChef for so long – and the BBC kept him there for 20 years. I don’t see why they can’t show it. I think the BBC has shown worse things. And what they’re going to show is the best part of everybody that’s involved in the programme.”

The BBC is considering options, with a decision expected soon, amid concerns about fairness to participants. Photo / Getty Images

MasterChef contestants are required to sign up to strict secrecy rules about their involvement in the programme and are not allowed even to tell their loved ones if they won. The previous winners who spoke to the Telegraph say it was difficult to keep the secret from their families for the brief period between filming wrapping and the eventual broadcast. “It must be absolutely gutting for whoever is sitting on their hands waiting for the show; I can’t think of anything worse,” says Follas.

“I know what it was like for me. I was holding down a corporate job knowing that I was ready to leave. There’s got to be a way to get the show on air one way or the other, even if it is heavily modified.”

Much of what is now Wallace’s last series of MasterChef had been filmed before news of the allegations against him broke, and the final was shot last year with Irish chef Anna Haugh – who has previously stood in for Monica Galetti in MasterChef: The Professionals – replacing him. Grace Dent, the restaurant critic, has been named as Wallace’s fulltime replacement.

The scandal around Gregg Wallace leaves MasterChef participants in limbo. Photo / Getty Images

The ubiquity of Wallace in this as-yet unaired series means it would be almost impossible to edit him out, according to production sources. “Gregg and John [Torode] set the challenges together, the chefs walk in and stand in front of them and they say, ‘Hello, welcome to the MasterChef studio.’ You can’t edit that out,” says one. “They walk around and talk to people all the time while they’re cooking, and get to know them. You can’t cut that out. You can’t cut the deliberation out, you can’t cut out the final decision. I’d say it was nearly impossible to do any editing to make it less [Wallace-heavy].”

The source also points out that the Lewis Silkin investigation upheld only one complaint about Wallace since 2018, meaning his behaviour in last year’s series has not been seriously questioned. “The historic nature of all this being responsible and penalising people now is completely disproportionate,” they say. “If he’s not offended anyone since 2018 then what’s the f***ing problem?”

Gregg Wallace (right) with fellow judges in MasterChef UK 2023: The Professionals, Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti. Photo / Getty Images

Those at Banijay insist that, as the finished series has been delivered to the broadcaster, the decision is one only BBC bosses can take.

“It is entirely a BBC decision as to when to schedule it,” says an insider. “They’re probably looking at what the reactions are to [the Wallace report] and then they’ll have to make a call.”

The BBC said on Monday: “At this stage we are not going to make a final decision on the broadcast of the series that was filmed last year. We know this is disappointing for fans of the show and those who took part and at the appropriate time Banijay UK will consult further with the amateur contestants.”

It is understood a decision will be taken in the coming days.

“Everyone has huge sympathy with the people who took part in a programme last year that hasn’t appeared yet through circumstances that are outside their control,” says a BBC source.

“In the light of the findings, we will want to check whether people are comfortable. That is a conversation for us and Banijay, and then Banijay and the contestants. There is a winner out there somewhere, and they will want that programme out there.”