Gregg Wallace pushed his groin into my face THREE TIMES while I crouched in front of the oven on Masterchef, contestant reveals

A MASTERCHEF contestant has told how Gregg Wallace pushed his groin into her face three times as she crouched in front of an oven – in scenes edited out of the show.

Emma Phillips-Jennings, who took part in the BBC cooking competition in 2009, said Wallace also made a crude sexual joke about meat.

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Beautician Emma, ​​42, was preparing a stuffed trout dish when she claims Wallace made his crude gestures.

BBC News has reported three new complaints against Wallace, 60, who resigned as MasterChef presenter.

This is the second allegation that BBC presenter Wallace harassed contestants on the show in front of their ovens after we reported he groped a woman while she prepared his dish.

Meanwhile, a young staff member on the show reportedly complained after Wallace held her head and pushed his body towards her, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Clips from the episode Emma appeared in before being voted out show her steaming out of his oven as she crouches in front of him.

Emma, ​​then 29, said: “Gregg asked me how I learned to cook and was it from my mother. I said, “No, because my mother is Jewish and lived on a kibbutz where you have very fixed jobs and my father was the head of our family.” I said she hadn’t even seen raw meat until she met my father.

“As soon as I said that, Gregg then said, ‘Yeah, and then he showed him his meat.’

“He then pushed his groin towards me three times as I crouched in front of the oven.

I was stunned and found it disgusting. I was young

Emma

“It was a gentle oven, so that meant it was close to my face.

“I was completely taken aback. I was so shocked because he shouldn’t have talked like that – and no one said anything to him or brought it up to him.

“He approached with the film crew but no one said anything.

“I was stunned and found it unprofessional and disgusting.

“He had no shame. I found it dismissive and demeaning and he was really imitating my father by pushing me. No one wants to think of their father that way.

“I told them about my family and my background. He totally disdained it. This was filmed but not used.

“I was young and naive at the time, and it was a big time in my life and he ruined it.

“I was furious when he made those comments. He was despicable. I wasn’t a certain age at that time. I might have expected such ‘jokes’ if I had appeared on Little Britain, but not on a cooking show.

“I haven’t watched an episode of MasterChef since.

“I can’t believe it’s taken this long for things to come out.

“I’ve been talking to my friends about him for years and have received many messages since the scandal broke telling me I was right.”

Emma, ​​who runs a wellness business, qualified as one of the final 130 candidates out of 15,000 who auditioned and was delighted when she arrived at a north London studio to film with Wallace and co -presenter John Torode.

Along with five other people, she had 50 minutes to prepare and cook a dish consisting of trout, potatoes, polenta, snow peas, beetroot, eggs, broccoli and tomato puree.

She said: “When I walked into the studio I was nervous.

“It was a big time in my life and I was a single mother who had just gone through a separation.

“It was a really important moment for me to feel empowered as a woman. But I was really surprised by Gregg.

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Emma, ​​from Herne Bay, Kent, claims Wallace’s offensive acts were allegedly filmed but believes MasterChef production company Banijay “removed it to protect their star”.

Yesterday she rewatched the episode with The Sun and said: “You can see how nervous I am. And I can see where they cut it right before it was about to happen. It still makes me cringe today.

During judging, Wallace praised Emma’s garlic mashed potatoes, but said her tomato puree was too strong and sweet.

She also claims Wallace joked that another contestant had cocaine on her nose.

She added: “When she said it was flour, he replied: ‘It should be cocaine, otherwise you’ll never make it as a chef’. I think he was just trying to show off, but I also thought it was inappropriate.

Emma said she decided to speak out after Wallace posted a message accusing “women of a certain age” of filing complaints. He then apologized.

She said: “I was really shocked – it was like he couldn’t see he had done anything wrong.

There seemed to be no accountability for his behavior, which I found disgusting.

Emma

“There doesn’t seem to be any accountability for his behavior, and that’s what I found disgusting.

“I don’t think he should have behaved this way towards a young and nervous competitor. It’s not about being “woke” by complaining – it shouldn’t be that kind of program and I wonder what kind of person he is.

“Women need to feel safe and this is just not an environment where that could happen.” »

Wallace resigned last week from MasterChef, which he has hosted since 2005, after accusations he made sexual comments towards staff and celebrity guests on a series of programs over 17 years.

He denied any behavior of a sexual harassment nature. Wallace is being investigated by MasterChef producers Banijay UK, who said they had no record of Emma’s complaint.

A spokesperson said: “Banijay UK takes this matter very seriously, but whilst the investigation is ongoing we will not comment on individual allegations. »

A BBC spokesperson said: “We take all issues reported to us seriously and have robust processes in place to resolve them.
“We are always clear that any behavior that does not meet the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.”

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