MasterChef: what happened? One report took down both hosts within a day of each other
Gregg Wallace and John Torode co-presented MasterChef from the 2005 relaunch until July 2025. Neither is on it now, and both exits trace back to the same document.
Here's the sequence.
The investigation
Wallace stepped back from the show in November 2024 after BBC News reported allegations from 13 people. Banijay UK, which produces MasterChef, commissioned the law firm Lewis Silkin to investigate. The review ran seven months and, as Banijay put it, also looked at allegations against other people involved in the productions.
The report landed on Monday 14 July 2025. It upheld 45 allegations against Wallace, covering sexually suggestive comments, crude jokes, and one instance of unwanted physical contact, most of it dated between 2005 and 2018. Banijay UK boss Patrick Holland called his position untenable. Wallace apologised for inappropriate language, denied the more serious claims, and noted that he had been diagnosed with autism during the investigation.
Torode, 24 hours later
The same report upheld two further allegations against two other individuals. That evening, Torode identified himself on Instagram as the person accused of using racial language, dated to 2018 or 2019 in a social setting.
"I have absolutely no recollection of any of this, and I do not believe that it happened," Torode wrote on Instagram in July 2025.
The BBC confirmed the following day that his contract would not be renewed, describing the substantiated allegation as involving an extremely offensive racist term used in the workplace. The Times later reported which word. Torode said he learned of his exit from press coverage rather than from the BBC or Banijay, and posted a second statement saying the inquiry couldn't even specify the year.
The series that was already in the can
Series 21 had been filmed in 2024 with both men and was sitting unaired. The BBC broadcast it from 6 August 2025 anyway. Contestant Sarah Shafi was edited out at her own request after objecting to it going out. Anna Haugh replaced Wallace for the closing episodes.
Who presents it now
On 8 September 2025 the BBC named Grace Dent and Anna Haugh as the new judging team. Dent had been a guest critic on the show for a decade; Haugh judged MasterChef: The Professionals in 2022. Their first full series began on 22 April 2026 to the usual reception for anyone replacing a familiar face.
The show itself was never in danger. A 2022 deal keeps MasterChef on the BBC until 2028.