Gregg Wallace’s autism defence: ‘The definition of narcissism’
| Updated:
Gregg Wallace has sparked outrage by blaming allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the BBC on his recent autism diagnosis, and his "cheeky chappie" persona with critics calling him narcissistic and deeply offensive to those struggling with neurodiversity.
Listen to this article
Read time: 3 minutes
In brief:
- Gregg Wallace was sacked from MasterChef after facing allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior, including 50 fresh claims made to the BBC including groping, touching and exposing himself.
- Wallace is defending himself by blaming his recently diagnosed autism and claiming the BBC hired him to be a "real person" with rough edges as part of his on-screen persona.
- The News Agents label his defense as narcissistic and offensive, arguing he's trying to portray himself as the victim rather than taking responsibility for his alleged actions.
What’s the story?
Gregg Wallace has blamed his alleged inappropriate sexual behaviour whilst working at the BBC on autism.
The TV chef has said his behaviour was due to both a recent autism diagnosis, and his on-screen persona as a “cheeky greengrocer”, cultivated by Masterchef producers.
A friend of Wallace tells The Times the TV host is unable to wear underwear due to his autism causing “hypersensitivity”.
An investigation into the alleged inappropriate behaviour has been carried out, commissioned by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK, and is expected to be released soon.
But ahead of its publication, Wallace has said he “will not go quietly,” accusing the BBC of “chasing slanderous click-bait rather than delivering impartial journalism” in a statement.
He’s also stood firm on the argument that his autism is partly to blame.
“Nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over twenty years,” he said. “That failure is now being quietly buried.”
“He's trying to paint himself as the victim in all of this,” Jon Sopel says on The News Agents.
The 60-year-old stepped back from presenting the cookery show in November 2024 after facing 13 accusations that he’d made inappropriate sexual comments towards staff and celebrity guests on programmes spanning 17 years.
More than 50 people have since approached the BBC with fresh claims about the presenter including allegations of groping, touching and one member of staff reported the "disgusting and predatory" moment he pulled his trousers down in front of her.
Gregg Wallace's autism defence is 'deeply offensive' and 'sickening'
“It's the definition of narcissism”
Wallace’s statement would be “hilarious if it wasn't so deeply offensive,” Emily Maitlis says.
“There will be people who have lived, struggled and tried so hard to even hold down a job with autism, who are now thinking: ‘How on earth do you get away with dropping your trousers, talking about your cock, and then blaming your neurological diversity?’”
She adds that Wallace should have “stepped back to pause upon some of the complaints” that people have been making, instead of trying to shift blame onto his former employer, the BBC, for apparently knowing that he was autistic and doing nothing to “protect” him.
His response is “the definition of narcissism,” Jon Sopel says.
“It is a classic of the genre where you are accused of things, yet you somehow construe it that you yourself are the victim of everything that's happened.”
“Look, maybe Gregg Wallace is right, and the manifestation of his autism is that he can't wear pants. But if that is the case - don't take your trousers down,” he adds.
What’s The News Agents’ take?
As well as blaming his autism, Wallace also claimed he was hired by the BBC to be a “real person” with “rough edges and all”.
“That authenticity was part of the brand,” he said in his statement, adding that “now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.”
But Emily and Jon aren’t buying the excuse that people from working class backgrounds, or ‘cheeky chappies’ behave in the way Wallace is alleged to.
“They know the difference between right and wrong - there's no doubt on which side of the line Gregg Wallace's behavior falls,” Jon says.
He adds that Wallace has played the whole saga “so freaking stupidly,” and suspects that if he would have stuck to this line of defence - rather than also blaming his autism - there’s a world in which he would have gotten away with it.
Ironically, by blaming his autism he has tipped himself into the ‘woke’ label that he is otherwise trying to attack, Emily believes.
“You can either play the ‘we were just having a laugh’, or you can play the ‘I'm I'm really suffering from my own neurological diversity’ - you can't do both.”
“What he's done, with the line of telling friends ‘I couldn't wear pants because of my autism’, I think it just becomes into the realms of parody and comedy,” Jon says.
Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.
