Gregg Wallace made an alleged remark to Melanie Sykes on Celebrity MasterChef that forced her to quit television “once and for all”. The TV presenter appeared on the cookery competition in 2021, making it to the semi-final. However, Sykes ended up making an informal complaint about Wallace, who has “stepped away” from the show over allegations of inappropriate comments .
Since news broke of the scandal , several stars to have appeared on Celebrity MasterChef , including former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark and Geordie Shore ’s Charlotte Crosby, have hit out at the host for alleged remarks they heard when they were filming episodes – and Katy Brand addressed being subjected to a “crass” comment made by the former host. Sykes spoke out against her time on Celebrity MasterChef in her autobiography Illuminated , which was published in 2023 – one year before the investigation into Wallace was announced last month. In the book, Sykes claimed that Wallace asked her as she walked onto set whether models eat, which she deemed “unprofessional”.
The TV personality, who once hosted a daytime show with Des O’Connor, said the remark stemmed from “ignorance and disrespect with an extra helping of arrogance”. Sykes wrote in her book: ‘‘The MasterChef experience continued to be an eye-opener and some unprofessional behaviour on set was jaw-dropping.” But it was a conversation with Wallace at the end of filming that made her decide to quit the TV industry “once.