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Ladies Prue Leith he said Gregg Wallace is too insensitive to know how offensive he is, but he shouldn’t be fired for allegations of misconduct.
The Great British Bake Off said the judge Times Radio she could not see that Wallace had broken the law as claims due to MasterChef the judge’s behavior piled up, including his ghostwriter’s claim that he dropped his towel in front of her – which he denies.
“I’m a big believer in due process…I’d say Gregg Wallace, he should just stay off social media because he’s just digging himself deeper and deeper into the hole, because he’s too insensitive to realize…how offensive it is. But that’s his problem, he’s insensitive. I see that he did not follow the law,” said Dame Prue.
“I don’t believe people should be terminated or fired, I mean, I can see why you would ask someone to stand down while they investigate things, which I guess is what they’re doing. But I think the tragedy is, I bet Greg has no idea what he did wrong.”
Wallace faced widespread backlash last weekend after comments that appeared to blame “middle-class women of a certain age” for the allegations. He later apologized, saying he was “going to take some time.”
He stepped down from his role MasterChef last Thursday, after nearly 20 years on screen.
The production company behind the show, Banijay UK, launched an investigation into claims made by 13 people in a series of shows over a 17-year period.
His lawyers strongly denied “that he engages in sexually harassing conduct.”
Initially, the BBC resisted calls to remove Wallace from its programme. However, on Tuesday it was confirmed that there are two MasterChef Christmas specials with Wallace will be withdrawn. The current series of MasterChef: The Professionals will continue as planned.
Dame Prue said that “there is no such thing as irreplaceable talent”.
“So it’s really stupid for talent to become arrogant and think they’re too good to fire, because nobody’s too good to fire,” she said, adding that television producers were “weak”.
“I think they were weak, but I don’t want to say he should be removed, because I don’t know what a crime is,” she said.
In a report this week on the BBC Newsnight, Shannon Kyle, who wrote Wallace’s memoir in 2012 Life on a platehe detailed a series of incidents that allegedly occurred during the time they worked together.
The most disturbing incident, she said, occurred when Wallace answered his front door wearing only a towel, which he then dropped in front of her when she entered his home to work on a book.
A statement from Wallace’s lawyers said: “Our client has denied engaging in any such conduct and specifically denies any sexual misconduct with Ms Kyle.”