The report into Wallace’s conduct – which has taken eight months to compile – was widely expected back two Thursdays ago, but that day came and went.<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes, frantic negotiations were under way.<\/p>\n
We understand the BBC saw the findings and started asking questions, specifically on the other unnamed individuals referenced in it.<\/p>\n
One of those was Torode. As we now know, an allegation he had used a severely offensive racist slur had been upheld.<\/p>\n
It has been reported that Torode used the N-word at a season filming wrap party in 2019 while singing along to Gold Digger by Kayne West.<\/p>\n
It is believed a debate started after he used the word among those present. However, the claim which was upheld against him relates to the previous year when he allegedly used the same word on set following the end of filming, and it was directed at a member of staff.<\/p>\n
Only one claim was upheld against him. But BBC News understands that of the 10 additional complaints against other individuals mentioned in the report, nine were about Torode, including other allegations of <\/b>racist language, abusive language towards junior production staff and sexual language which were unsubstantiated because of a lack of evidence or witnesses. We have not spoken to the people making those allegations.<\/p>\n
Torode has said any racist language is “wholly unacceptable”. And Banijay, it appears, was not initially planning to sack Torode.<\/p>\n
But the BBC’s director general Tim Davie has insisted it is drawing “a line in the sand”.<\/p>\n
Torode had been “caught up in the new ‘first strike and you’re out’ policy by the powers-that-be at the BBC,” Max Goldbart, international TV editor at Deadline, said. “I wouldn’t say Torode was collateral damage, I’d say that’s offensive to the people who came forward,” he said. <\/p>\n
But he added it was likely the BBC wanted to “reset” after the scandal.<\/p>\n
We put these latest developments to the BBC, but it did not comment.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, a BBC spokesperson described the allegation as “an extremely offensive racist term,” adding: “We will not tolerate racist language of any kind.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the role of a senior executive on MasterChef is also under the spotlight. It is thought they are the other person who had a complaint upheld against them for swearing.<\/p>\n
BBC News has contacted that executive but has not heard back.<\/p>\n
A Banijay spokesperson said that in relation to the swearing allegation, “we are handling appropriately internally”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The report into Wallace’s conduct – which has taken eight months to compile – was widely expected back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[77,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-273329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114876965634882139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}