![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1_GW.jpg\")
The Mirror’s Tom Bryant opens up about meeting Gregg Wallace(Image: Tim Merry\/Daily Mirror)<\/p>\nAssociate Editor Tom Bryant reflects on meeting Masterchef star Gregg Wallace who opened up about his fears over losing his job during an extraordinary interview in late 2023<\/p>\n
22:31, 11 Jul 2025Updated 00:01, 12 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
The Mirror’s Tom Bryant opens up about meeting Gregg Wallace(Image: Tim Merry\/Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n
After I spent a morning in Gregg Wallace<\/a>\u2019s company, I felt like I needed a lie down. Meeting him to record an episode of my podcast, he was \u2013 at first \u2013 everything I had expected him to be: brash, extrovert and very loud.<\/p>\n In fact, he was not unlike his persona on BBC<\/a> show MasterChef<\/a>, with his booming voice and cockney cackle of a laugh. But after a few hours with him in late 2023 \u2013 and a very revealing interview \u2013 I came away with a very different perspective of the former Peckham greengrocer. Namely: how has this clearly troubled man with a host of demons risen to the top of the TV pile and stayed there for so long?<\/p>\n It\u2019s pertinent now as his career lies in tatters amid a swirl of accusations. This week alone we learned that 50 more people have made claims about him<\/a> to BBC News.<\/p>\n Most accuse him of inappropriate sexual comments. Eleven women accuse him of \u00adinappropriate sexual behaviour, which he denies. If the claims against him are true, you can see in a heartbeat why he was relieved of his job as MasterChef co-host, a role he had since 2005.<\/p>\n When I met him, I found it hard to comprehend how he coped in the glare of the public eye. The answer was that he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n During our recording in the basement of a private members\u2019 club in Soho in London\u2019s West End, he talked about how being on TV exacerbated his mental health struggles.<\/p>\n It was a candid chat. But there was a niggling thought at the back of my mind that things wouldn\u2019t end well.<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t put my finger on it \u2013 and I still struggle to \u2013 but 20 months later, the situation has well and truly imploded. He had revealed how the more famous he got, the worse his anxiety grew. He told me: \u201cI used to not be able to go on holiday without getting anxiety attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n At one point, Gregg looked me in the eye as he said how he lived in constant fear his career could end at any moment.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cWhy was I always scared of losing my job? Why was I always scared of losing my house? Why was I always scared of being poor?\u201d<\/p>\n Being on telly made his anxiety levels soar. \u201cTV is terrible for someone with anxiety,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the same PA for 12 years. She went, \u2018My word, you picked the wrong profession.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n His stint on Strictly <\/a>was a disaster. BBC bosses were so worried they got a therapist for him mid-series.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI was having a tough time. I was really stressed \u2013 so badly that the side of my face broke out into a rash, like cold sores.\u201d<\/p>\n He told me his fourth wife Anna pleaded with him for them to quit the UK and live in Italy, asking him: \u201cIs this worth it?\u201d<\/p>\n A lot of his issues stemmed from a childhood blighted by abuse<\/a>. Aged eight, he was sexually assaulted by a babysitter\u2019s husband. Gregg told me: \u201cI didn\u2019t tell anybody at the time. I did tell my mum when I was older but she didn\u2019t seem to want to know.\u201d<\/p>\n He said of the abuse: \u201cIt was quite a horrendous situation for a young boy.\u201d<\/p>\n Clearly, none of this could excuse some of the appalling behaviour heis now accused of.<\/p>\n There are some who may question why Gregg was on TV in the first place given his fragility. But mental health problems should not preclude you from your chosen career.<\/p>\n And I\u2019m told that producers \u00adrecognised he needed help and assigned him a full-time welfare specialist over the past six months.<\/p>\n This week he claimed to have received a formal autism diagnosis<\/a>. Gregg, 60, said on Tuesday: \u201cMy neuro-diversity, now formally \u00addiagnosed as autism, was suspected by colleagues across countless seasons of Master-Chef. Yet nothing was done to \u00adinvestigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Autism charities have reacted with fury to these comments<\/a>, with one saying the condition is \u201cnot a free pass for bad behaviour\u201d. Emily Banks, founder of neurodiversity training body Enna, said: \u201cBeing autistic is never an excuse for misconduct.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t absolve anyone of responsibility and it doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t tell right from wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n But as one executive on a rival channel told me: \u201cThis isn\u2019t about whether Gregg has autism.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about what MasterChef knew about the wronged women over the years, and whether they just turned a blind eye.\u201d<\/p>\n We now have to wait and see if the long-awaited MasterChef review into the saga provides the answers when it comes back on Monday.<\/p>\n Join The Mirror\u2019s WhatsApp Community <\/a>or follow us on Google News <\/a>, Flipboard <\/a>, Apple News, TikTok <\/a>, Snapchat <\/a>, Instagram <\/a>, Twitter <\/a>, Facebook <\/a>, YouTube <\/a>and Threads <\/a>– or visit The Mirror homepage.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Gregg](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_pxl_celeb_masterchef_wark_wallace_30JPG.jpg\")
Under-fire: Gregg Wallace has been axed from Masterchef(Image: Pixel8000)READ MORE: Katie Price slammed for ‘sunburning’ cat in new animal cruelty row<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Gregg](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2_Gregg-Wallace-sacked-as-MasterChef-presenter.jpg\")
Gregg Wallace: worried about losing his job(Image: PA)<\/p>\n