Gregg Wallace to leave BBC's MasterChef after 6-month investigation as further 50 people make claims

It was ordered after BBC News reported last year that 13 individuals had made allegations of historical misconduct against Wallace, with "inappropriate sexual comments" made over a 17-year period covering five different programmes.

Wallace stepped down from his role on MasterChef while the investigation took place.

Now, BBC News has subsequently reported that 50 more people have come forward with claims about the presenter. The majority relate to inappropriate sexual comments reportedly made by Wallace, while 11 women accuse him of inappropriate sexual behaviour, such as groping and touching.

Before the BBC's latest report was released, Wallace spoke out in a lengthy post on Instagram, saying: "I have taken the decision to speak out ahead of the publication of the Silkins report - a decision I do not take lightly. But after 21 years of loyal service to the BBC, I cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged to protect others.

"I have now been cleared by the Silkins report of the most serious and sensational accusations made against me. The most damaging claims (including allegations from public figures which have not been upheld) were found to be baseless after a full and forensic six-month investigation."

Wallace also claimed that the BBC News report would "platform legally unsafe accusations, including claims which have already been investigated and not upheld by the BBC and found not credible by Silkins".

He accused the corporation of "peddling baseless and sensationalised gossip" and that although he recognised "that some of my humour and language, at times, was inappropriate", he was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as "the cheeky greengrocer".

"For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand," he said. "Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem. My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of Master Chef.

"Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over 20 years. That failure is now being quietly buried."

He added: "I will not go quietly. I will not be cancelled for convenience. I was tried by media and hung out to dry well before the facts were established."

Amongst the new allegations made about Wallace, one woman claimed he put his hand under the table and on to her groin, saying "Do you like that?", ahead of filming on the BBC's Saturday Kitchen.

Another woman claimed she met Wallace in a nightclub while at university, and when she asked to take a photo with him he reached under her skirt and grabbed and pinched her bottom.

A BBC spokesperson said: "Banijay UK instructed the law firm Lewis Silkin to run an investigation into allegations against Gregg Wallace. We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings are published."

A Banijay spokesperson added to Sky News: "We won't be commenting until our report is published."

Following the latest development, Baroness Helena Kennedy, who chairs a watchdog aimed at improving standards of behaviour in the creative industries, told Newsnight that her advice to Wallace would be not to dismiss the women's claims.

"There may be an opportunity for you to make a comeback at some point but don't say that all of these women have made this stuff up and don't say that it's all invented," she said.

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