Outrage over Wallace's 'middle-class women' jibe

Fury over Gregg Wallace's alleged conduct has intensified after he dismissed his accusers as "middle-class women of a certain age" after revelations of multiple complaints made to the BBC over 12 years.

- Josh Halliday

The corporation and other broadcasters are facing growing questions about how the MasterChef presenter was allowed to remain on screen despite a series of allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

Yesterday Dame Vera Baird KC, the former victims' commissioner for England and Wales, accused the BBC of being "in the dark ages" for tolerating allegedly sexually inappropriate conduct by its male stars.

"It is shocking that repeatedly we see this kind of behaviour being tolerated by the BBC, who do seem to disregard the obligations they have to protect people who go on television," Baird told the Guardian.

The claims surrounding Wallace come after controversy over the corporation's handling of allegations against the news presenter Huw Edwards last year. In 2016, a report found that the BBC missed chances to stop abuse by the TV stars Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall because of a "culture of fear".

Yesterday Wallace, whose lawyers deny he engages in sexually harassing behaviour, described his accusers in an Instagram video as "a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef".

He claimed he had worked with more than 4,000 contestants on MasterChef since 2005, saying: "Over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks, or sexual innuendo? Can you imagine?"

Wallace, who is 60 and began his career as a grocer at a fruit and vegetable market before becoming a TV personality, claimed that "absolutely none" of the staff on his other shows had complained about him.