Gregg Wallace has revealed that he stopped socialising with young people after first being disciplined by the BBC in 2018, because he was ‘scared they would complain about him.’ 

The MasterChef star, 60, stepped down from the programme five months ago while complaints from 13 women about historical allegations of misconduct were investigated.

The findings, which are expected to largely find in Gregg’s favour, will be made public next month. 

But before this, seven years ago in 2018 Gregg was disciplined by the BBC for inappropriate behaviour while working on a quiz show.

He told a young runner on the final day of filming that he’d ‘really enjoyed working with her, she was brilliantly clever, strikingly attractive and was going to do well’.

He said: ‘They said that was improper because it was a personal remark and sent me on a course on how to communicate with younger people, which just confused me even more.

Gregg Wallace has revealed that he stopped socialising with young people after being disciplined by the BBC in 2018, because he was ‘scared they would complain about him’

The 60-year-old MasterChef star stepped down from the programme five months ago while complaints from 13 women about historical allegations of misconduct were investigated (pictured on MasterChef in 2020)

‘I thought, ‘F***, I don’t have to do very much to get into a lot of trouble here.’

Gregg stopped socialising with young people. When on location, he’d order room service rather than join them for dinner or a drink.

‘It was at that point that I realised, in 2018, that I didn’t have to do a lot to get into a lot of trouble.

Talking about the aftermath in a new interview, he explained: ‘My behaviours completely and utterly changed from 2018 and that’s why there are no complaints in this big investigation after 2018. It changed me completely and I never got into trouble again.

‘But the way I did it was to become a social recluse. I refused to do anything social at work, wouldn’t go to the pub with anyone, to the point where when we went out on location everybody else would go out for dinner and I would stay in my H๏τel room. 

‘I wouldn’t socialise. I stopped any social conversations with younger people that I didn’t know very well.’

Gregg recalled: ‘There’s some really good young people at work and they’d say ‘Gregg we’re all going for a drink are you gonna come?’

‘And I’d say no I won’t come. You guys make me nervous. The sensibilities of a sixty year old man are different to 25-year-olds and you live in a complaint culture that never existed.

‘If I go out with you and I drink and offer an opinion, political or social, I’m scared you’re going to complain about me. The anxiety levels were just extraordinary.’

Wallace co-hosted Masterchef for 17 years alongside John Torode (left) 

At least 13 people have made formal complaints against Wallace, with others alleging inappropriate behaviour on social media 

Read MoreEXCLUSIVE Tearful Gregg Wallace’s shocking first interview

‘They’d say, ‘But Gregg, it’s us!’ I’d say, ‘I know but you scare me – you all scare me.’ 

It’s now almost three months since the greengrocer-turned-television star’s career spectacularly derailed amid a flurry of claims of inappropriate behaviour during his 19-year stint as co-host of MasterChef.

It was announced the father-of-three would be stepping back from the BBC show amid an investigation into his conduct.

It later emerged that 13 individuals, including Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, had reportedly accused him of ‘wrong’ and ‘Sєxualised’ behaviour during filming across a range of shows over a 17-year period.

Three days after the announcement, the presenter landed himself in more trouble when he declared that his accusers were ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ and claimed that ‘absolutely none’ of the staff on his other shows had complained about him.

Afterwards, Gregg released a somewhat red-faced apology, stating: ‘I wasn’t in a good headspace when I posted it. I’ve been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion.’

Lawyers, meanwhile, said it was entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a Sєxually harᴀssing nature.

Gregg, who until that point had only faced two complaints in a 20-year career that saw him work with as many as 4,000 contestants and crew on programmes such as MasterChef, MasterChef: The Professionals and Celebrity MasterChef, was at breaking point when he posted that video on Instagram shortly after stepping down.

‘I hadn’t slept for four days. The feeling of being under attack, of isolation, of abandonment was overwhelming. Nobody from the BBC contacted me once these stories started breaking – absolutely nobody at all.

‘News channels were updating hourly with new allegations. There was a tidal wave of abuse on social media, a dozen reporters outside the gate. 

‘You’re watching yourself get personally ripped apart, criticised, accused of all sorts of stuff over and over again. You’re thinking, “This isn’t true. It isn’t true. What’s coming next?”