The ghostwriter of Greg Wallace’s 2012 autobiography. claims he sexually harassed her while she was working on the book.
Shannon Kyle said BBC Newsnight that Wallace touched her thigh inappropriately while she sat in the passenger seat of his sports car and touched her bottom during an appearance on the Good Food Show.
Lawyers representing Wallace said: “Our client has denied engaging in any such conduct and he specifically denies any sexual misconduct with Ms Kyle.”
Kyle had been working on Wallace’s book since 2012. Life on a Plate when she said the MasterChef host answered the door with nothing but a towel, which he later dropped, made “disgusting” and “disgusting” sexualized advances and touched her inappropriately.
Kyle, who has written a number of books, signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before starting the project.
The NDA said “the writer understands that Wallace enjoys a high public profile and therefore her duties to him of loyalty and confidentiality are of particular importance.”
“I was worried about losing my job,” she told Newsnight. “Because I had abandoned all work for this work. So I thought… I’ll just try to navigate this, [I’ll] just try to move on,” she said. “It was really disgusting.”
When the allegations about Wallace’s inappropriate comments and behavior surfaced last week, Kyle said it felt “a long time ago.”
She described his behavior as “predatory” and said: “Sometimes you really have to speak up for what’s right.”
The ghostwriter claims Wallace’s alleged actions have been downplayed by some as “cheeky barrow boy humor,” but she described him as a “disgusting misogynist.”
Last week, BBC News aired allegations from 13 people of various ages who worked on five different programs who made allegations of inappropriate sexual comments by Wallace.
People who have come forward with allegations against Wallace include former BBC Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, who said he told stories and jokes of a “sexual nature” to contestants and team when she was on Celebrity MasterChef.
Melanie Sykes also revealed that she had made an informal complaint for Wallace, saying he should work with him on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021. is the reason she left television. On Tuesday. on The BBC has pulled two Christmas offers from MasterChef celebritiesday after Wallace had apologize to dismiss his accusers as “middle class women of a certain age”adding that it would “take some time.”
Wallace faces a series of allegations of past misconduct – including three for inappropriate touching – which are being investigated by MasterChef production company Banijay UK. Previously, Wallace’s attorneys said he denied any sexually harassing behavior.
As the number of allegations against Wallace mounted, the BBC pulled its MasterChef Christmas promotions and on Wednesday his long-time co-presenter John Torode said he found them “really upsetting” and welcomed the ongoing investigation.
A BBC spokesman thanked those who “had the courage to speak out” about the allegations about Wallace. He told Newsnight that Banijay UK had launched a review because it had a contractual relationship with Wallace.
“He is not employed by the BBC. When the issues were raised with the BBC, we took action, taking the issues to the relevant production company and challenging his conduct directly, as was widely reported.’
The new claims came as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the allegations about Mr Wallace’s conduct were “somber”.
She said employers should take concerns about “harassment in the workplace” seriously.
Cooper told Sky News that “you should never underestimate women of a certain age”, adding: “Some of the stories we heard were really quite dark.”
She said she finds it difficult to discuss individual cases, but “really, I think the depressing thing is that we hear the same story too many times” about people in positions of power abusing their status and “concerns about harassment of the workplace is simply not taken seriously enough”.
“And we need employers to take these things seriously,” she added.
On Monday, Wallace apologized for claiming that complaints about his behavior came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age.”
