FormerMasterChef host Gregg Wallace has settled his damages claim with the BBC after seeking £10,000 from the broadcaster.
The presenter, who was fired from the BBC show after a report upheld 40 allegations of misconduct, claimed that the broadcaster had failed to comply with a request for copies of his personal data – causing him “distress and harassment”.
Wallace sued the BBC and its subsidiary BBC Studios Distribution Limited in October last year after being sacked from MasterChef. The presenter, 61, had hosted the show for 19 years before being dismissed over historic allegations of misconduct.
According to court documents, seen by BBC News, Wallace’s claim against the two companies has been “discontinued” with there being “no order as to costs”.
The Independent has contacted Gregg Wallace’s representative and the BBC for comment.
In court documents, barrister Lawrence Power said that Mr Wallace had requested “personal data” from the BBC and BBC Studios related to “his work, contractual relations and conduct”.
He claimed that Wallace had made subject access requests (SARs) to the companies on March 6 last year but was told that parts of his personal data were being withheld due to “freedom of expression”.
Power also alleged that the body had “wrongly redacted” information and “unlawfully failed to supply all of the complaint’s personal data”.
He added: “By reason of the defendants failing to fully comply with the SARs made by the claimant for his own personal data, the defendants acted in breach of their statutory duty and in doing so caused distress and harassment to the claimant.”
The BBC rejected Wallace’s claim at the time, stating that he was not “entitled to any damages”. Filing its defence to the High Court in October, the broadcaster denied that Wallace had “suffered any distress or harassment” as a result of its responses to his requests and claimed that he pursued the lawsuit without giving any prior notice.
More to come.
