Gregg Wallace to tell investigation: ‘Autism is behind my sex obsession’

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/06/autism-blame-sex-obsession-gregg-wallace-inquiry/

Posted by SwiftieNewRomantics

24 comments

  1. [Gregg Wallace](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/05/just-eat-gregg-wallace-sex-scandal-masterchef/) is expected to tell independent investigators that his [sexually inappropriate behaviour](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/03/gregg-wallace-accused-touching-womans-bottom-claims/) could be linked to undiagnosed [autism](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/wellbeing/mental-health/living-with-audhd-autism-and-adhd/).

    Friends of the MasterChef presenter are convinced he suffers from a neurodiversity condition that explains his behaviour.

    Banijay, the production company that makes the programme, announced last week it was launching an investigation into [complaints made against Wallace](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/06/greeg-wallace-bbc-boss-complaints-sex-harassment/)over his behaviour on the show. A law firm is conducting the inquiry.

    The Telegraph understands that there is no chance of Wallace returning to the BBC, with [corporation bosses alarmed by the deluge of complaints](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/04/gregg-wallace-bbc-investigation-pressure-masterchef-banijay/). But Wallace, 60, is desperate to salvage his shredded reputation and the investigation’s findings are critical if he wants to carry on working in broadcasting.

    Wallace is likely to raise the possibility he has autism with Lewis Silkin, the London law firm hired by Banijay. Friends of Wallace said they were also planning to tell the lawyers the same thing in support of his case.

    One source said: “We think Gregg has an undiagnosed condition. Probably autism. If you look at symptoms of autism he seems to fit those. The symptoms fit him. He tells inappropriate jokes but it’s never been malicious. He just doesn’t understand that sometimes the jokes he tells just aren’t funny.”

    One friend said: “It’s clear to me he probably has to work with a level of neurodiversity.” A source said: “Many people close to him have over the years suggested he exhibits characteristics associated with autism spectrum disorder.”

    Friends point to his obsessive behaviour that includes an hour-by-hour weekend schedule, [first disclosed in February](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2024/02/03/my-saturday-gregg-wallace-autistic-son-weight-loss-alcohol/) and widely mocked at the time. They have also dug out official studies suggesting that inappropriate behaviour, including making sexual remarks, could be a sign of autism.

    They also point out that Wallace’s four-year-old son has been diagnosed with autism. Studies have shown a majority of autism cases are linked to inherited genes and tend to run in families. Sources suggested that Wallace had not been keen to get an official diagnosis due to a sense of guilt at having possibly passed autism to his son, who is also non-verbal.

    Dr Fiona Gullon-Scott, an autism expert and senior lecturer in clinical psychology at Newcastle University, said she had wondered if Wallace may have undiagnosed autism after seeing his extraordinary claim posted online that only “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age” had made complaints against him. The comments were widely condemned and later withdrawn by Wallace, who said he had been under a “huge amount of stress”.

  3. I’m autistic and I’ve managed to go 33 years without sexually harassing anyone.

  4. You’ve almost got to admire the cynicism of his lawyers for coming up with this

  6. It’s quickly becoming a cliche for people to reach for autism as an excuse for any kind of shitty behaviour, that and ADHD.

    I don’t have either condition personally, but it’s got to be disrespectful to people with those conditions that so many people use them as an excuse.

    There are plenty of people with autism who simply don’t behave like this, and I can’t imagine Wallace using it as an excuse for sexualy harassing people will do wonders for the public’s perceptions of people with it.

  7. Interesting tactic considering he has an autistic son!

  9. I think the reason people have a sex obsession is because they can’t get it.

  11. Yes latch on to some form of over diagnosed vulnerability and blame that .

    If I was offensive and rude

    Don’t blame me

    Blame my vulnerability

  12. Is this as bad or worse than Kevin Spacey coming out as gay after he was outed for being a creep?

  14. Autistic. Run a business that regularly hires young trainees, half of them women. I’m a similar age to Wallace too. I’ve managed never to make any suggestive remarks, crack any grubby jokes or rub my crotch in all those years. Being a prick is behind his behaviour, I suspect.

  15. My wife said when this story broke he would play this card and here we are. She often tells me she’s never wrong!

  17. Just because you are a c*nt doesn’t mean you are autistic.

    You can also be autistic and not a cu*t !

    He just happens to possibly be autistic, as well as also being a cun* !

    The two are unrelated.

  20. Yes Gregg… I’m sure it’s 15 counts of misunderstanding.

    Prick🙄

  21. It’s a terrible excuse and it’s massively insulting, however I know people are going to believe it which makes it more fucking annoying

  22. Not the mental health card! Why not throw a bereavement and an unusual reaction to life saving medication as well?

  23. At least he didn’t become a born again Christian like that pervert that did a comedy with P Diddy.

  24. I don’t even think Gregg Wallace is diagnosed with ASD but if there’s actual concrete info he is please lmk. If he isn’t that makes it even more shite he’s come up with it as an excuse for his behaviour, presumably just because his son has it; Autistic people already get stereotyped a lot and i genuinely feel for his son (who he has admitted he never wanted). He’s just a sociopath and a knob, he lacks remorse and empathy.

    Those with Autism find it harder to relate to others but don’t necessarily actually lack empathy; generally Autistic people only have impairment in cognitive empathy not somatic or affective. Lacking self awareness and being naive is common with those who have Autism but you can be made aware/learn and have capacity to feel remorse unlike Gregg Wallace who doesn’t.

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