Gregg Wallace and John Torode “were never friends” despite being co-hosts for 20 years, a former MasterChef employee has claimed.
Wallace and Torode were sacked as presenters of the cookery show this week after a seven-month investigation upheld allegations made against the pair.
More than half of the 83 allegations levied against Wallace were substantiated, including unwelcome physical contact, but the report also upheld an accusation of “offensive racist language” allegedly used by Torode.
The TV chef has said he had “no recollection” of the incident, which BBC News alleges saw him direct the N-word at a member of staff while on set in 2018.
It’s also been claimed that nine other allegations were made against Torode, including claims of abusive language towards junior production staff and sexual language, but these were unsubstantiated because of a lack of witnesses or evidence.
Addressing the upheld allegation of using a racist slur, Torode said he was “shocked and saddened” by the claim, adding that he knows any racial language “is wholly unacceptable in any environment”.
In the wake of the findings, the spotlight has been placed on Wallace and Torode’s working relationship, with a source telling the outlet: “Clearly they had a good chemistry when the cameras were rolling. But you rarely saw them interact when the cameras were off.”
Another anonymous person who worked on the show claimed their dynamic “seemed off”, adding that Torode would roll his eyes when Wallace made alleged inappropriate comments.
The relationship between Torode and Wallace, who both presented the revamped cooking programme since 2005, has always been a point of confusion among viewers.
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Despite being Wallace’s best man in 2016, Torode later claimed he had never been friends with his co-host, telling The Mirror in 2017: “We’ve not been to each other’s houses. If we go away to somewhere like South Africa, we do things separately. If we do go out for a drink, I’ll invariably be at one end of a big old table and he’ll be at the other.”
However, Wallace had a different view, telling ITV series Lorraine that same year: “I film with John six or seven months of the year, so we are very close to each other physically, and emotionally we are very close to each other.
“What’s great about having a partnership is that if one of you is a bit off, a bit down, the other one naturally steps up, so I rely on John a lot.”
Wallace has said he is “deeply sorry for any hurt caused” after the report’s findings were published and that he also “challenged the remaining issue of unwanted touching, but [has] had to accept a difference in perception”.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, he also said he was “exonerated of the most serious allegations”, after being cleared of 38 claims.
The presenter faced multiple accusations, including claims that he made inappropriate sexual jokes, asked for the phone numbers of female production staff, and behaved unprofessionally around female colleagues on set.
The report noted that during the course of the investigation, which was over a seven-month period, Wallace was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and said that the findings should be viewed in the context of his neurodiversity.
