Lewis Silkin has been appointed to lead an investigation into TV presenter Gregg Wallace, after historical allegations of misconduct were made against the MasterChef host.
The UK firm, which is highly regarded for its expertise in employment investigations, has been brought in by MasterChef production company Banijay UK, following claims made by several individuals about Wallace’s behaviour.
Last Thursday (28 November) it was announced that Wallace would step away from presenting MasterChef while Banijay investigated complaints made to the BBC about the allegations. BBC News reported the same day that 13 people had come forward with a range of allegations over a 17-year period.
A spokesperson for Lewis Silkin said: ‘We can confirm that our highly experienced investigations team has been appointed by Banijay UK to conduct an external investigation relating to the television presenter Gregg Wallace. We will not be commenting further while the investigation is ongoing.’
Wallace responded to the claims in a video posted to his Instagram account this Sunday (1 December). ‘I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years – amateur, professional and Celebrity MasterChef – and I think in that time I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life’, he said. ‘Now, in the newspaper I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.’
He has since deleted the video, and today (2 December) posted another video to his Instagram story apologising. ‘I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday’, he said. ‘I wasn’t in a good head space when I posted it. I’d been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion. I felt very alone and under siege yesterday when I posted it. It’s obvious to me that I need to take some time out now while this investigation is underway.’
Lewis Silkin has top-tier rankings for both employment and senior executives in the Legal 500, with Banijay UK listed as a key client on the firm’s media: film and TV ranking. The team’s recent work for the company includes advising it on its acquisition of leading scripted producer The Forge last November.
A Banijay UK spokesman described the Lewis Silkin team as a ‘highly experienced specialist investigations team which has overseen a broad range of high-profile workplace investigations.’
The statement continues: ‘Banijay UK has been impressed by the firm’s rigorous, in-depth, and impartial analysis and reporting. All information will be handled sensitively, and names of those providing evidence to the team will be kept confidential.’