Gregg Wallace has been accused of asking a young female crew member if she has ‘daddy fantasies’ in a new slew of allegations about his behaviour behind the scenes.

The MasterChef host stepped aside after 13 people told the BBC of what they consider inappropriate 𝑠e𝑥ual comments made by him over a 17-year period.

But despite the presenter initially seeking to write off his accusers as a ‘handful of middle class women of a certain age’, two members of staff, both aged in their early 20s and one of them a man, have come forward with more claims about his behaviour.

One, a longstanding female TV employee who worked with Wallace as a researcher in the early 2010s painted a damning picture of incessant 𝑠e𝑥ual language.

She claimed he made shockingly vulgar remarks about women, asked if she had ‘daddy fantasies’ or was into BDSM, and even told her ‘I could fall in love with you’.

Another male media professional, who worked as a runner for both Gregg and MasterChef co-presenter John Torode, shared a similar tale of relentless ‘jokes’, boasts about his 𝑠e𝑥 life, and a tendency to walk around topless to show off his physique.

Wallace later apologised for ‘any offence caused’ by the remark about ‘middle class women’.

His lawyers say ‘it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a 𝑠e𝑥ually harassing nature’.

The researcher worked with Wallace early in her television career and said she was initially enthusiastic about landing a job alongside the MasterChef star.

She told MailOnline: ‘I was really excited to be working with Gregg because I had watched MasterChef, I was a big fan, I thought he seemed fun so I went into it really wanting it to go well. That was my first series working with talent, I didn’t know what to expect, and it was very disappointing.’

One of the woman’s roles was to drive members of the production to and from set, which meant always driving Gregg to locations by herself – giving him time with her alone.

She said: ‘From the moment we had our first journey together, he was saying things that made me feel uncomfortable, his comments started almost straight away.

‘I remember thinking about how to shut it down, but in ways that wasn’t going to offend the ‘talent’. I didn’t want to inconvenience the crew. The crazy thing is I was trying to stop him feeling uncomfortable. I don’t necessarily blame the production staff. No one ever pulled him up on his behaviour.

‘He always wanted to show me photos of his girlfriend, tell how beautiful she was, he’d tell me ‘she is this tall in stockinged feet,’ or tell me about having 𝑠e𝑥 with younger women, or ask my opinion on bracelets he was buying for his girlfriend.’

However, at times she said the comments escalated from creepy to outright vulgar.

She said: ‘On location he’d frequently make very 𝑠e𝑥ual jokes. Once I was crouched next to him and he said “my gf has a tattoo of a shell on her inner thigh, when you put your ear to it you can smell the sea.”

‘There was no-one else is in earshot but he had a mic on, so it felt like there was a bravado element to it.

‘That night we all went for dinner and the waitress came over with a comment card, she probably wasn’t over 21, me and the director were diligently filling it out, we asked him if he wanted to add anything and his response was ‘What, like ‘I want to c** on your face?”

Worse was to come on the second day of filming as Wallace’s remarks began to turn personal.

She said: ‘The next day he was asking lots of questions, he looked me in the eye and said ‘I could fall in love with you’. He started asking about my 𝑠e𝑥 life. What I was into? Was I into S&M? Did I have daddy fantasies?

‘I didn’t want to make things awkward because I knew I still had to drive him for the next few days, and this was pre-Me Too.’

Another complaint was that the TV star loved to strip down to the waist in front of crew – a running theme in the allegations against Mr Wallace – and to make unwanted physical contact.

She said: ‘The other thing he did was take his top off. The sight of his little Millwall tattoo stays with you. He enjoyed being topless and seeing you squirm.

‘It’s a habit. I read recently after the story broke about him being topless in front of cast members and I realized it was a pattern, not a one-off.

‘He did invade your personal space a lot too, putting your arm around you, giving you a cuddle. It wasn’t something you had a choice in.’

Overall the experience of working with Wallace was a profoundly negative one and the woman swore never to be on another production with him again.

‘It made me feel uncomfortable and a bit trapped. I knew if I said something I’d have a problem, I was early in my career and didn’t want to rock the boat,’ she said.

‘I’ve spoken about it to friends and colleagues – it did put me off wanting to work on anything again that he’d be part of.’

The woman said their paths have not crossed since, although her parents did randomly happen to be on the same cruise as Wallace once – much to their horror.

She said: ‘They messaged me and were like ‘Ugh that horrible man is here’. They said they were disgusted.’

In the more than a decade since they worked together, Wallace has gone on to become a household name, earning £400,000 a year from the BBC and receiving an MBE in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to food and charity.

How then did it feel seeing him achieve such success?

The researcher said: ‘I really like MasterChef, although me and my husband take the p*** out of him whenever he’s on screen. I like the bits without him. He’s a contrived character – the fact people are now shocked at all the 𝑠e𝑥ualised stuff he says, he’s either says a lot and it’s all are edited out or he doesn’t say it when cameras are rolling.

‘Because his whole persona is built around ‘banter’, you don’t want to be seen as not being able to take a joke.’

Asked how she feels watching Wallace leave MasterChef, with an investigation ongoing, the researcher admits she does feel a sense of relief.

She said: ‘Seeing him succeed was hard but seeing him held accountable feels good – but we have to remember that at the moment it’s nothing firm, it’s still only being looked into.

‘It feels unsurprising. I’ve been waiting for it for a long time. It’s sad that it’s gone as deep as it has and so many people have been affected by his behaviour. Part of me is happy that he’s finally being held accountable for behaviour that has gone on for over a decade.

‘It’s not for me to judge if there’s a route back for him or not, but I don’t think it would be a positive thing for him to get a second chance, because I think he’s probably been given a lot of second chances and ignored them.

‘If you think of the breadth of talent that exists in TV, it’s a hard argument to make that he’s somehow indispensable despite his actions.

‘I hope he has time to reflect on his own behaviour. The thing that is most uncomfortable is that he didn’t target the men with those jokes – which makes it feel very predatory.’

Asked about the claims made by friends of Wallace that his actions are down to autism, the unnamed woman gives the suggestion short shrift.

She said: ‘There are lots of people on the spectrum who don’t behave how he does, so to use neurodiversity as an excuse feels offensive. Sure, some people can’t read the room – but ultimately I’m less interested in his defence than the impact of his behaviour.

‘One: he shouldn’t behave like that and two: he was enabled to behave like that by some very senior people. His ways are common knowledge in the industry.’

The runner, a man with a seasoned career in TV, also worked with Wallace early in his career – and while his experiences are not as extreme, he says Wallace is by far the most difficult celebrity he has worked with.

Corroborating the claims of the researcher, he also cites Wallace’s regime of relentless jokes, frequent talks about 𝑠e𝑥ual topics and an obsession with showing off his body in public.

He said: ‘Before I started the job I only knew him as the guy from MasterChef, although I knew he came from grocery store background and that he was kind of funny.

‘Initially we bonded over food and his jokes just glided over me – but they were relentless. And then he started in on jibes about my nationality, which quickly tipped over into what felt like bullying.

‘I’m not sure he always meant harm, but he caused it anyway. He was seeking a reaction. The jokes were constant, you couldn’t have a normal conversation.

‘I’d come in the morning and my heart would sink when I saw him. In general just a nasty guy to be around.’

Like the researcher, the runner saw Wallace topless many times and said he loved to boast about his 𝑠e𝑥 life to crew members.

He said: ‘He would talk about 𝑠e𝑥 a lot. He’d talk about his 𝑠e𝑥 life, he’d make comments about people being fat.

‘He’d make these jokes, no-one would laugh, but then he’d carry on doing it. He’d also talk about his wife all the time and how young she was.’

As with the unnamed researcher. the runner noted that Wallace was ‘touchy feely with everyone, he felt very entitled to touch everyone.’

He added: ‘I saw him shirtless many times, making it feel like it was casual but really wanting to show off his body. ‘Look at my muscles, I’m 65′.’

The runner was complimentary about working with many of Wallace’s co-hosts, including Monika Galetti.

He said: ‘Monika was amazing, so lovely. She made jokes as well – and they were actually funny.

‘I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities and Gregg Wallace was definitely the worst.’

However, he noted that another of Wallace’s co-host, chef John Torode, kept his distance from Wallace.

The runner said: ‘He took the job much more seriously, he was more prepared. They didn’t really interact much, when they weren’t shooting John would stay in his green room.

‘Whereas Gregg would mingle with the crew and laud it up, he treated the set like it was his second home, which in many ways it was.

‘It was only really when I left the show I realized how inappropriate a lot of the things he said were.

‘It feels good to know it’s out there, even having lived a very limited version of what some people have lived though. I remember thinking ‘How has this guy had such a public profile for so long when he acts like this?’

A total of 13 people, including Kirsty Wark, complained about Wallace’s conduct while working with him over a 17-year period across five shows, from 2005 to 2022, the BBC revealed last week.

The presenter was accused of taking his top off in front of a female worker saying he wanted to ‘give her a fashion show’ and talking about his 𝑠e𝑥 life to others, including telling one female colleague he wasn’t wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans.

Ms Wark claimed that on two occasions Wallace told stories and jokes of a ‘𝑠e𝑥ualised nature’ in front of contestants and crew while filming Celebrity MasterChef in 2011. She said his gags and comments were ‘really, really in the wrong place’.

Former Celebrity Masterchef winner Emma Kennedy revealed she reported Wallace 12 years ago after she allegedly witnessed him grope a camera assistant during a photoshoot for the 2012 finals.

Kennedy’s accusation was only one of three bombshell claims of groping that have been made against Wallace, with a City law firm called in by production company Banijay UK to lead the investigation into the claims.

Pop legend Rod Stewart’s wife Penny Lancaster also came forward to claim she was prepared to go to ‘authorities’ to discuss what happened during cut scenes with MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace after the host stepped down from the BBC show amid a series of misconduct claims.

After the allegations against Wallace leaked, her husband posted on Instagram: ‘So Greg [sic] Wallace gets fired from Master Chef.’

13 people who have told the BBC of what they consider inappropriate 𝑠e𝑥ual comments made by Wallace across a range of shows over a 17-year period.

Some of those who have spoken out include:

She says that Gregg would allegedly openly talk about his 𝑠e𝑥 life on set

Other claims include:

The Director and producer said she sent a letter to the BBC in 2022 with a number of anonymous accounts from people who alleged they ‘have experienced 𝑠e𝑥ism within the TV industry’.

She says these included claims that Wallace was allegedly making lewd comments and asking for personal phone numbers of female production staff.

Mir said Wallace allegedly made inappropriate comments during the filming of MasterChef.

She said he asked her to tell a colleague at the BBC that she was a ‘𝑠e𝑥y b****’ and said he told a fellow contestant she was ‘handling fish like a rapist’.

She said she was left embarrassed a few years ago after Wallace ‘made a reference to something [he and his partner] did in bed’.

The actress who won Celebrity MasterChef in 2012 says she complained about his behaviour at the time.

She said ‘it doesn’t matter what the age of any woman is’.

Stewart suggested Wallace had ‘humiliated’ his wife Penny Lancaster when she was on MasterChef.

‘Good riddance Wallace… You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you?

‘You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart’

The reports against Wallace are a world away from comments he made in 2013 when, speaking to Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast, Gregg said: ‘You can’t chat anyone up at work because the HR department would sack you.’

Greg Wallace’s representatives have been approached for comment.