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Former Celebrity MasterChef contestant Aasmah Mir has spoken of her shock that John Torode did not react to Gregg Wallace’s sexually inappropriate comments to her on the show, saying: “There was no emotion… maybe he was just used to it.”
The former BBC Radio 4 journalist took part in Celebrity MasterChef in 2017, and when allegations about Wallace’s behaviour on the show emerged last year, she opened up on the complaint she had made about him after her experiences. Wallace has since been sacked from the show.
In the wake of Torode also being fired from MasterChef after an allegation that he used “extremely offensive” racist language was upheld, Mir has reflected back on her time on the show and admitted she was surprised at his lack of reaction over Wallace’s comments at the time.
What, how and why?
John Torode and Gregg Wallace have both now been dropped from MasterChef. (BBC screengrab)
Mir appeared on Thursday, 17 July’s Good Morning Britain, where hosts Richard Madeley and Kate Garraway asked her how she felt about the claims over Torode’s behaviour, and she admitted: “I’m very surprised.” However, she added that she had wondered why he did not address Wallace’s comments when she was on Celebrity MasterChef.
Talking about a sexually inappropriate comment Wallace had made to her as she presented her first dish in the competition, Mir said: “No one said anything and then Gregg Wallace and John Torode just looked completely blank, poker-faced, like nothing had happened.” Asked whether Torode had heard the comment, she said: “Yes, he definitely heard it.”
Madeley acknowledged that Mir had not complained about Torode, but asked: “You do have issues about his non-intervention?”
Aasmah Mir questioned why John Torode (right) hadn’t challenged Gregg Wallace (left). (BBC)
“I absolutely do,” she replied. “I don’t know how many of the allegations and how many of the substantiated allegations he witnessed… what I do know is, Gregg Wallace used an incredibly inappropriate term, and John Torode didn’t do anything.
“There was no emotion. That could be a lot of things; it could be that it was 2017, it had been going on since 2005, there was a complaint made by Kirsty Wark in 2005, so maybe he had become used to it. I don’t know.
“You would expect some emotion on his face, but maybe he was just used to it. That’s not his fault necessarily, that’s Gregg Wallace’s for putting him in that position.”
Mir later added: “I feel sorry for Gregg Wallace, I do feel sorry for him because of the neurodivergence, which is quite obvious here. Someone, the production company, should have stepped in earlier and said this is not acceptable. And do you know what, we wouldn’t have the mess we’re in today.”
Read more: MasterChef controversy
A report commissioned by production company Banijay into complaints about Wallace found 45 out of 83 allegations were upheld. Mir said, “I’m pretty sure one of them was mine, but no one actually told me that it was, so you have to second-guess the report.”
Responding to the news of his exit from MasterChef, Torode wrote on Instagram: “Although I haven’t heard from anyone at the BBC or Banijay — I am seeing and reading that I’ve been ‘sacked’ from MasterChef, and I repeat that I have no recollection of what I’m accused of. The enquiry could not even state the date or the year of when I am meant to have said something wrong.
Both MasterChef hosts have now been dropped. (BBC)
“I’d hoped that I’d have some say in my exit from a show I’ve worked on since its relaunch in 2005, but events in the last few days seems to have prevented that. Over the past few months, I have been considering my life and the shape of it now and in the future.
“Celebrity MasterChef, which I recently filmed with Grace Dent, along with two fantastic Christmas specials, will be my last. Personally, I have loved every minute of working on MasterChef but it’s time to pass the cutlery to someone else. For whoever takes over, love it as I have.
“I will watch fondly from afar as I now focus on the many other exciting projects that I have been working towards. My tummy will be grateful for a rest after 20 years of eating, but what a joy it has been. Life is ever-changing and ever-moving & sometimes personal happiness and fulfilment lay elsewhere. Thank you for many years of MasterChef.”
The fallout over MasterChef continues with reports that John Torode plans to sue the BBC after he was fired and is determined to clear his name following the allegation that he used an “extremely offensive racist term” in 2018.
Broadcaster Aasmah Mir appeared on Celebrity… pic.twitter.com/B8swv81yX7
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) July 17, 2025
Meanwhile, Wallace said of the report’s findings: “For eight months, my family and I have lived under a cloud. Trial by media, fuelled by rumour and clickbait.
“None of the serious allegations against me were upheld. I challenged the remaining issue of unwanted touching but have had to accept a difference in perception, and I am deeply sorry for any distress caused. It was never intended.”
What had Aasmah Mir said about her Gregg Wallace complaint?
Aasmah Mir first spoke to Good Morning Britain about her MasterChef experience in December 2024. (ITV screengrab)
Mir first spoke about her experiences on Celebrity MasterChef to Good Morning Britain in December 2024. She said: “I put my first dish down… my hands were shaking, they paused to reset. In front of everybody, the judges, the crew, the other contestants… Gregg Wallace said to me, ‘oh, do you work at Radio 4?’
“I thought, how nice, he’s doing that presenter thing, he’s relaxing you. I said, ‘Yes, I do work at Radio 4.’ ‘Do you know X?’ ‘Yes, I do.’ He said, ‘Tell her from me’ I thought he was going to say hi, ‘Tell her from me, she’s a sexy b***h’.
“There was a silence, and then I laughed awkwardly. I just remember thinking this is mad. I wish I hadn’t laughed, but I did. No one said anything, and then they just went right, let’s start again, and they tasted my dish. I just remember thinking, am I going mad? I’m not using the excuse, but when you’ve just had a baby, you do think everything is a bit mad.
“I remember thinking, did I imagine that? What happened there? So I went back and I muddled through for a couple of days, and then I was eliminated. It was in my head for many months, and I thought I can’t complain about this because it’s going to look like sour grapes because I was first out, so I kept quiet.”
MasterChef was hosted by John Torode, and Gregg Wallace for nearly 20 years. (BBC)
Mir added: “Then I heard from another contestant that there had been other things that had gone on. That Gregg Wallace had gone up to one of the contestants who didn’t like handling fish. Of course, they’d given her some fish to gut, because it’s TV. He went up to her and said, ‘watching you trying to gut a fish is like watching a rapist doing foreplay.'”
The journalist continued that she had later run into another contestant from the series who told her about the incident: “One of the contestants said she was so upset that she walked away, and the production crew did come up to her because she walked away. I should have walked away, probably. Gregg Wallace was made to apologise to her for that, which he did. But he shouldn’t have said it in the first place.
“When she told me that, I thought I need to do something about this because I’m a journalist, I know how this works. Someone is going to say down the years, why did you not complain at the time. It’s classic, I get loads of that online anyway.”
Good Morning Britain airs on ITV1 at 6am on weekdays.