TOM BRYANT'S reflections as star faces string of allegations

AFTER I spent a morning in Gregg Wallace's company, I felt like I needed a lie down.

- BY TOM BRYANT

Meeting him to record an episode of my podcast, he was - at first - everything I had expected him to be: brash, extrovert and very loud.

In fact, he was not unlike his persona on BBC show MasterChef, with his booming voice and cockney cackle of a laugh.

But after a few hours with him in late 2023 - and a very revealing interview - I came away with a very different perspective of the former Peckham greengrocer.

Namely: how has this clearly troubled man with a host of demons risen to the top of the TV pile and stayed there for so long?

It's pertinent now as his career lies in tatters amid a swirl of accusations.

This week alone we learned that 50 more people have made claims about him to BBC News.

Most accuse him of inappropriate sexual comments.

Eleven women accuse him of inappropriate sexual behaviour, which he denies.

If the claims against him are true, you can see in a heartbeat why he was relieved of his job as MasterChef co-host, a role he had since 2005.

When I met him in 2023, I found it hard to comprehend how he coped in the glare of the public eye. The answer was that he didn't.