Gregg Wallace Biography: Early Life, Career, Wives & Net Worth

Gregg Wallace (born October 17, 1964) is an English broadcaster, entrepreneur, and writer. He has co-presented MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef, and MasterChef: The Professionals on BBC One and BBC Two. He’s written for Good Food, Now, and Olive.

Wallace departed MasterChef after sexual harassment accusations surfaced in 2024. Wallace’s lawyers stated that it is completely incorrect that he engaged in sexual harassment.

Gregg Wallace Biography

Gregg Allan Wallace was born on October 17, 1964, in Peckham, south London. He was sexually molested by a babysitter’s husband when he was eight years old, but he did not report it to anyone. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school and began working as a warehouseman at Covent Garden Fruit and Veg Market, where he also sold vegetables from a booth.

Career

In 1989, he founded George Allan’s Greengrocers, which developed to a £7.5 million turnover. Wallace founded Wallace & Co., a restaurant in Putney, London, where he served as a director. In 2012, he collaborated with the Bermondsey Square Hotel to open Gregg’s Bar & Grill.

In August 2013, it was announced that one of Wallace’s businesses, West Veg Limited, had failed, owing more than £500,000. Wallace & Co. owed £150,000 to suppliers when both of its restaurants closed in 2014.

Wallace was invited to co-present Veg Talk on BBC Radio 4 alongside Charlie Hicks. The show ran for seven years, from 1998 to 2005. Wallace was the original Saturday Kitchen presenter from 2002 until he was replaced by Antony Worrall Thompson in 2003.

Wallace also hosted Veg Out for the Discovery Channel and Follow That Tomato for The Food Channel, earning a Royal Television Society award for Best Lifestyle Programme in 2003.

Wallace hosted two versions of The Money Programme in 2008 and 2009, examining the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on public attitudes about food. Wallace hosted Supermarket Secrets, a BBC One program examining supermarket food procurement and delivery, in August 2013, and Harvest 2013, a three-part documentary covering Britain’s vegetable, grain, and fruit harvests, in September 2013.

Wallace began co-presenting BBC One’s Eat Well for Less? with Chris Bavin in 2013, and BBC Two’s Inside the Factory with Cherry Healey and Ruth Goodman from 2015 until 2023. Wallace hosted a revival of the BBC’s historical game show Time Commanders in 2016.

Wallace hosted a Channel 5 documentary titled Gregg Wallace’s Magical Christmas Market, which was shot in Vienna, Austria. Channel 5 had planned a follow-up series called Gregg Wallace’s Fun Weekends for April 2020, but it was cancelled since it highlighted cities heavily afflicted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The four-part travel series was eventually shown in February 2021 as Big Weekends with Gregg Wallace (also known as Gregg Wallace: Big Weekends Away), with the first episode featuring Barcelona.

In February 2021, Wallace hosted a six-part ITV series called South Africa with Gregg Wallace. During the series, he visited Isandlwana, the Augrabies Falls, Durban, and the Orange River.

Kimberley Walsh is expected to take over as presenter of Eat Well For Less from Wallace, who departed the show after eight years earlier this month.

In December 2021, Wallace hosted two Channel 5 Christmas specials: Gregg Wallace’s Grand Christmas Adventure and Gregg Wallace’s Magical Christmas Market. In July 2023, Wallace released Gregg Wallace: The British Miracle Meat, a mockumentary about a British firm that had invented food technology to manufacture genetically altered human meat.

Wallace co-presented and judged the BBC food show MasterChef alongside John Torode from 2005 until 2024. Grace Dent, a culinary critic, succeeded Wallace in December 2024.

Controversy

Wallace was expected to leave MasterChef in November 2024 while claims of past misbehaviour were probed. The BBC informed Wallace’s reps that 13 people had made claims of inappropriate sexual comments. Wallace’s lawyers stated that it is completely incorrect that he engages in sexual harassment. Wallace was later dropped by the nonprofit Ambitious about Autism, which had named him as an ambassador to honour his autistic child.

Wallace revealed in April 2025 that he had been diagnosed with autism and was “very slow to wake up” to a changing work environment. Melanie Sykes, a television and radio personality, competed on the show in August 2021, although she later stated that a comment made by Wallace forced her to terminate her career in the entertainment world.

The ghostwriter of Wallace’s book, Life On A Plate, alleged sexual harassment on December 4, 2024. Roger Mosey, the former chief of BBC News, said the claims against Wallace were a “blow to the BBC”, which has had a long history of misbehaviour by some of its presenters.

In January 2025, singer Sir Rod Stewart slammed Wallace on social media for embarrassing his wife, Penny Lancaster, on the MasterChef show. In April 2025, Wallace stated that he and Lancaster had a “falling out” over “whether an orchid should stay on a bowl of soup or not”. He called the criticism a “shame” because he liked Stewart.

Former Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark was one of 13 people who accused Wallace of making inappropriate sexual comments on the broadcast.

In July 2025, it was reported that Wallace had been warned by a BBC executive in 2019 that further inappropriate behaviour could result in the termination of his employment with the channel. Despite further complaints, he stayed employed.

On July 14, 2025, the BBC stated in reaction to the findings of an independent investigation of Wallace’s actions, which confirmed 45 out of 83 claims made during 19 years, 2005-2024.

Gregg Wallace spouse

Gregg Wallace has been married 4 times. He divorced his first marriage within six weeks. His second marriage produced two adolescent children, and after his divorce, he was granted full custody. He married his third wife in 2010, but they split after 15 months. In 2016, he married his current wife, Anna-Maria Sterpini.
Wallace competed in the 12th season of “Strictly Come Dancing” in 2014, partnering with Aliona Vilani. He left in the second week after doing the Charleston.

Gregg Wallace Net Worth

Gregg Wallace’s net worth is expected to be around £3.5 million by 2025, according to several media sources, including Celeb Worth, and data derived from his previous earnings, property holdings, and company activities.

Social Media

Instagram: @greggawallace