Gregg Wallace was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack after suffering severe chest pains, according to reports emerging amid ongoing BBC misconduct allegations.
The 60-year-old former MasterChef presenter was treated at a hospital in Ashford, Kent, following two days of agonising chest pain.
The health scare occurred just days before Wallace’s contract termination was reportedly confirmed.
Sources indicate he was informed his MasterChef contract would be axed merely two days after his discharge from hospital.
The hospitalisation comes as the BBC faces 50 new complaints about Wallace’s conduct, including allegations ranging from sexual comments to groping.
Wallace has denied these latest claims whilst the findings of a six-month investigation by law firm Lewis Silkin are expected to be published this week.
A friend close to Wallace told The Sun: “The stress of this betrayal brought on my suspected heart attack. It’s been hell.”
The television presenter endured two days of severe chest discomfort before seeking emergency treatment at the Kent hospital.
Wallace reportedly confided in associates about the physical toll of the ongoing controversy surrounding his television career.
The health emergency occurred on Sunday, with the former greengrocer requiring hospital care for the cardiac concerns.
Medical staff treated Wallace for what was described as a suspected heart attack, though the exact nature of his condition has not been officially confirmed.
The timing of the hospitalisation coincided with mounting pressure from the misconduct allegations that have dominated headlines in recent weeks.
Wallace has vowed to fight back against the mounting allegations, insisting: “I will not go quietly. I will not be cancelled for convenience.”
The presenter accused BBC News of “peddling gossip” after the broadcaster claimed to have received dozens of new complaints about him.
In a five-page statement posted on social media, Wallace said: “I recognise my humour and language, at times, was inappropriate. For that, I apologise.”
However, he maintained that he has “now been cleared by the Silkin report of the most serious and sensational accusations.”
The latest allegations include claims from two women who said Wallace exposed himself to them, a student who alleges he put his hand up her skirt in 2013, and another woman who claims he groped her the previous year.
Wallace called the new claims “baseless and sensationalised” whilst arguing they contained “legally unsafe accusations” which had been “found not credible by Silkin.”
Wallace has revealed he was formally diagnosed with autism, arguing the BBC failed to protect him from what he described as “a dangerous environment for over 20 years.”
He said: “My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of MasterChef. Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me.”
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The presenter claimed: “I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges and all.
“For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand. Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.”
MasterChef production company Banijay is expected to release the findings of the Lewis Silkin investigation tomorrow or Friday.
A source who has read the 200-page report suggested Wallace’s December 2024 video about “middle-class women of a certain age” was alone a “dismissible offence.”
