Gregg Wallace responds with “A handful of comments from middle class women of a certain age”

[Conniebygaslight]

Just heard his comments on the news….unbelievable.

Sounds like a systematic attempt to humiliate and embarrass people in the workplace with less power than he had , and the BBC yet again turning a blind eye to keep the coin rolling in

Former contestants, male and females making statements now, many said they had hideous experiences on the MasterChef set but had to sign NDAs - so, those asking why people didn't speak up sooner, that's why. Production staff making complaints would be ostracised and, many being freelance, would never work for the show/company again.
If you've never had to stand up against 'authority', you have no idea how difficult and isolating it can be.
25 years ago, I worked in TV, and after discovering a male contemporary was being paid more than me, raised a complaint to management. Finally, with union support, I and my female colleagues were brought into line with the male member of staff. Following that, I was largely ignored and overlooked by senior management, presumably for being 'trouble'. Do I regret it? No. Would I so the same again? Hell yes. Did it impact my career? Possibly, yes. Women who speak up and speak out are often discriminated against - how hard is that to understand?

Its sexual harassment.

I am amazed that this is still the lead story on every news bulletin on Classic FM since 11am. Lets hope that this will encourage more women to come forward and speak out and be supported.

It’s almost like he targets his comments at a particular demographic 🙄.

Greg Wallace has broken the law and so have the BBC as his employers:

Sexual harassment
What sexual harassment is
If you've been sexually harassed at work
Witnessing sexual harassment
Handling a complaint
Preventing sexual harassment
Creating a sexual harassment policy
Specialist help and support
Sexual harassment is unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature. The law (Equality Act 2010) protects the following people against sexual harassment at work:
employees and workers
contractors and self-employed people hired to personally do the work
job applicants
To be sexual harassment, the unwanted behaviour must have either:
violated someone's dignity
created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for someone
It can be sexual harassment if the behaviour:
has one of these effects even if it was not intended
intended to have one of these effects even if it did not have that effect
Who is responsible
Employers must take steps to prevent sexual harassment happening in the first place.
Employers can be held responsible for the actions of employees. This is called vicarious liability.
Employers also have a responsibility – a 'duty of care' – to look after the wellbeing of their employees. Not doing this could lead to a serious breach of an employee's employment contract. If an employee feels they have no choice but to resign, the employer could face a claim of sexual harassment and constructive dismissal.
Anyone who sexually harasses someone at work is also responsible for their own actions. Discrimination complaints and employment tribunal claims can be made against individuals as well as employers.
Who can experience sexual harassment
Sexual harassment can happen to men, women and people of any sexual orientation. It can be carried out by anyone of the same sex, another sex or anyone of any sexual orientation.
You could experience sexual harassment from anyone you come into contact with because of your job, including:
someone you work with
a manager, supervisor or someone else in a position of authority
third parties – for example customers, clients and members of the public
Examples of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment can be a one-off incident or an ongoing pattern of behaviour.
It can happen in person. It can also happen online, for example in meetings, email, social media or messaging tools.
Examples include:
making sexual remarks about someone's body, clothing or appearance
asking questions about someone's sex life
telling sexually offensive jokes
making sexual comments or jokes about someone's sexual orientation or gender reassignment
displaying or sharing pornographic or sexual images, or other sexual content
touching someone against their will, for example hugging them
sexual assault or rape
What some people might consider as joking, 'banter' or part of their workplace culture can still be sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment is usually directed at an individual, but it's not always the case. Sometimes there can be a culture of behaviour that's not specifically aimed at one person – such as sharing sexual images. Someone could still make a complaint of sexual harassment in this situation.
The law on harassment
The laws that protect people against sexual harassment are:
the Equality Act 2010
the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 – this law is about preventing sexual harassment
The Equality Act 2010 also covers other types of harassment. This includes:
harassment related to certain 'protected characteristics' – for example sex, sexual orientation and gender reassignment
less favourable treatment because of how someone responded to previous sexual harassment
Someone could experience more than one type of harassment at the same time.
Find out more about other types of harassment
Example of more than one type of harassment
Jo's supervisor regularly makes comments about women that Jo finds insulting. For example, saying their industry should not let women in. This is harassment related to a person's sex.
Jo's supervisor starts making sexual comments about Jo's body, getting very close and resting their hand on Jo's arm. It makes Jo feel very uncomfortable and intimidated. This is sexual harassment.
Jo tells their supervisor that this behaviour is offensive and must stop. The supervisor is angry at being rejected and spreads hurtful rumours about Jo's sex life. This is harassment because of how Jo reacted previously.
Jo makes a complaint that includes the different types of harassment.

Excellent! Thank you. Your search skills are obviously much better than mine.

More than one person has said he did.

I just saw Kirsty Allsop have a piece on C4 news

lots to come out yet I feel
where do these people come from Saville,huw Edward’s,Schofield jenas Jay blades and now this vile man

Production staff and contestants would find it difficult for sure. That's why people higher up the food chain should be protecting them.

If you've been in a financial position to walk away from jobs and people you don't like. I can tell you, it's not that difficult to do it when you are in that position.

And you can be quite a lot less wealthy than Kirsty Allsop to be in that position. She's quite a bit richer than Gregg Wallace and can call the shots in that dynamic.

@HazelFawn hope you are not a mother of a son and bringing him up to think it's all bantz and the little women just have to put up with it

So you think the 'watching you touching fish is like watching a rapist do foreplay' is just harmless smutty quip do you?

But it's not a kitchen. It's a television studio with amateur cooks there to take part in a competition.

The presenter/judge's "sense of humour" has nothing to do with it. The contestants are there to demonstrate their cookery skills.

Man's a divot.

Haha, oh yes indeed.

More to the point, I made a list of the known complaints or incidents that WERE logged.

People seeking to put the boot in on those who didn't complain saying 'why didn't they complain', are trying to distract from the following.

I've copied and updated from list I made on the other thread:

2008 Dr Kate Tomas complaint about sexual harassment
2011 Kirsty Walk incident (not entirely clear if she made a complaint at the time)
2012 Emma Kennedy complaint about groping
2013 Katy Brand on MasterChef - awkward moment broadcast (she didn't put in a complaint)
2014 Gregg Wallace on Strictly Come Dancing - awkward inappropriate moment broadcast. Aliona Vilani seems to have made it clear just how much she dislikes him. She liked over 60 people who said she should have had a better partner!
2014/5 Georgia Harding complaint about behaviour on Eat Well for Less
2017 Aasmah Mir complaint
2018 Wallace officially warned about his conduct on Impossible Celebrities.
2022 Dawn Elrick complaint on behalf of a number of production staff who were told they had to waive their anonymity and report individually
2023 Nestlé bans Inside The Factory from their premises due to Wallace's behaviour

These are complaints or incidents we KNOW about which the BBC had full visibility of.

Thats SIX clear complaints PLUS Nestle and an official warning. With two clips, which are distinctly uncomfortable to watch due to the obvious horror by the women involved that PASSED the edit.

Its been said that THIRTEEN complaints WERE made to the BBC. But this may not include ones who were made to third parties or production companies.

There seems to have been incidents on numerous shows - it wasn't just MasterChef: He looks to have been problematic on Strictly, Eat Well for Less, Impossible Celebrities, Inside the Factory and Gregg Wallace's Big Weekends.

This ISN'T a comprehensive list of people who have spoken up, but not complained. (I'd take me a while to put that list together).

This is what I find WORSE than just GregG. Theres a systematic dismissals of multiple women, when a pattern formed - the Dawn Elrick complaint is the particularly concerning one.

Elrick, who submitted her letter with the support of industry union Bectu, had received the allegations against Wallace through her Instagram account, Shit Men in TV Have Said to Me, which has become a place for workers in the UK film and TV industry to share instances of workplace sexism and sexual harassment. She had received multiple submissions about Wallace and felt compelled to report this to the BBC.

Elrick said that, soon after sending the letter, she also submitted the allegations to the BBC via Navex Global, an external whistleblowing service. She said she had received no further contact with regards to that report. Elrick said the BBC’s lack of action showed there is “no satisfactory means of reporting sexual harassment and bullying within the TV industry”.

A BBC spokesperson told the Observer: “If issues are raised with us we have robust processes in place to deal with them swiftly and appropriately. We will always listen if people want to make us aware of something directly.

The whole article is here:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/nov/30/gregg-wallace-behaviour-letter-bbc-2022-masterchef-presenter

Well yes, but he's also implying that the women are sexually frustrated spinsters.

Yes to this. He also paid for some medical treatments or tests for people a few years ago after he realized people were on waiting lists and he wasn't because he could afford private treatment.

On a separate note, I am curious as to why the women are only coming forward now?

I disagree actually.

See my point above.

It points to an industry wide problem, thats enabled and glorified men like this.

Then tonight we've got this article which says:

In terms of the language he claimed he witnessed, he said Wallace was "the least offensive".

"I mean, there was effings and c and twats and all sorts and that that was the kind of language you kind of got used to, particularly from some of the camera crew, but also a couple of the producers too. He was the least sweary person," he said.

"I think I got off pretty lightly, but I'd see the other contestants and just [be] thinking I would have been very upset if that person had that said that to me."
When asked by Spencer if the camera crew and directors were involved, he replied: "Producers as well... it wasn't everybody, of course, and some people I thought were incredibly respectful and very professional. So it certainly wasn't everyone, but there was certainly people from all levels of the organisation.

"It was all men... I don't think I ever witnessed any of the women taking part in it. I think there was a kind of disconnection within the team at large... between some of the men and the women."

https://news.sky.com/story/gregg-wallace-claims-tip-of-the-iceberg-former-masterchef-contestant-claims-13264535

Notably it also says:
A BBC source said: "While we are not going to comment on individuals or any internal HR processes, particularly when there is an ongoing process in place being run by Banijay who have the direct contractual relationship with Gregg Wallace, it would be wrong to report the BBC has done nothing if or when matters have been raised with us - not least because it is already being widely reported there were interventions in both 2017 and 2018 where action was taken.

Personally thats not good enough. Because they kept renewing MasterChef with Wallace despite there being incidents broadcast by the BBC which raise eyebrows and theres such a long list of concerns. Its saying 'aw schucks not our responsibility'. Of course it fucking is! People talk and so many people know someone who had a problem with his conduct.

He's a grade a arsehole.

THEY DIDN'T!

I'VE LITERALLY JUST POSTED A LIST OF COMPLAINTS THAT WERE MADE AND YOU ARE CHOOSING NOT TO SEE IT.

No.

Also, using the word "snowflakes" says a lot about you, none of it good.

John Cleese may be a bit of a prat about some things, but I think he was spot on with this.

Because once one person speaks out other feel empowered - they feel like someone will believe them , they think they were not being stupid

Given there have been many private complaints - it's this is being made much more public wgich to be fair is probably the only way to make change happen