MasterChef's John Torode breaks silence on Gregg Wallace in statement

Torode posted a statement to his Instagram, which read: "Since last Friday, I have been away filming MasterChef overseas. I love my job, and I love MasterChef. I love being a part of it and will continue to be part of it.

"During the last few days, I've been trying to make the best cookery programme, so being busy making the show and caring for our contestants has allowed me little time to think about anything else, but that has been hard."

He continued: "The thought of anyone who has appeared on our show not having a brilliant experience is awful to hear, and I have found the recent press reports truly upsetting.

"But as I hope everyone appreciates, there is an investigation under way, which I fully support, so I cannot make any further comment at this stage, and I hope you all understand and respect my silence on the matter moving forward."

Most recently, it was confirmed that the BBC would be pulling its two previously announced (and recorded) MasterChef Christmas specials from the schedules.

Both Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off and MasterChef Meets Strictly Festive Extravaganza were due to air over the festive period, but have since been taken out of the schedules after the BBC faced mounting pressure to do so.

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Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, one of the 13 complainants against Wallace, appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.

Previously commenting on her experience being part of the show, she said: "There were two occasions in particular where he used sexualised language in front of a number of people.

"It wasn't as though anyone engaged with this, it was completely one-way traffic. But I think people were uncomfortable and it was something that I really didn't expect to happen."

Last weekend, Wallace commented that the complaints "came from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age."

Wallace issued an apology in response to that video, saying: "I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday and any upset I may have caused to a lot of people.

"I wasn't in a good head space when I posted it. I've been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion, I felt very alone and under siege yesterday when I posted it."

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