'Gregg Wallace is the reason I quit my television career,' says ...

The broadcaster previously announced a Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off and a Strictly Festive Extravaganza as part of its festive schedule, both billed as hour-long programmes for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

A BBC spokesperson said: “As we have said, MasterChef is an amazing competition which is life-changing for the chefs taking part and the current series of MasterChef: The Professionals is continuing as planned.

“The celebrity Christmas specials are obviously a different type of show and in the current circumstances we have decided not to broadcast them.”

Wallace (60) apologised on Monday for claiming complaints about his behaviour came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”, adding he will now “take some time out”.

He faces allegations from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period, as reported by BBC News on Thursday, with many others since sharing their experiences.

Wallace is now facing fresh allegations of inappropriately touching women.

Gregg Wallace apologises after backlash and says he will be taking ‘time out’

Melanie Sykes, the former television presenter, has said that an experience with Gregg Wallace led her to quit her screen career. Sykes, who appeared in the 2021 series of Celebrity MasterChef, said Wallace had greeted her on set by asking if models eat, which she said she found “unprofessional” and driven by “ignorance and disrespect with an extra helping of arrogance”.

She also claimed that he spent time “barking orders” in a way that made her want to leave. Sykes said she made an informal complaint about his behaviour on the show, and that she found some of the “unprofessional” conduct on the set “jaw-dropping”.

The former presenter, who is best known for the Boddingtons advert in the UK in the 1990s and as the co-host of Today with Des and Mel in the early 2000s, made the comments in her autobiography published last year, and elaborated on them in recent days in a video posted to YouTube.

In her book, Illuminated, Sykes wrote: ‘‘The MasterChef experience continued to be an eye-opener, and some unprofessional behaviour on set was jaw-dropping.”

While she did not give further details in her book, she said in her recent YouTube video that “every time Gregg came over to the desk, I didn’t really like him being around really because it’s all about vibrations and energy”.

Wallace “stepped away” from the cooking show last week in the wake of allegations as part of a four-month investigation into his alleged behaviour.

At the end of filming the show, Sykes said that she had a short conversation with Wallace,which was instrumental in her leaving television.

Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off, hosted by Wallace and John Torode, was to see celebrities competing for the glittery Golden Whisk Trophy.

The BBC previously announced the Strictly Come Dancing-themed special would involve appearances from professional dancers Amy Dowden, Gorka Marquez, Kai Widdrington and Nancy Xu. Strictly judge Motsi Mabuse was billed as a mystery guest on the show, with the dancers tasked with creating a two-course menu.

Three episodes of BBC Two’s Inside The Factory, which are repeats, are also coming out of the schedule, the BBC said. The show featured Wallace alongside Cherry Healey.

Wallace’s lawyers were previously quoted by BBC News as saying “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.

Now among fresh allegations, one woman said he touched her bottom after an event and another said he pressed his crotch against her while filming on a different show, according to BBC News.

Banijay UK, which produces MasterChef, previously said Wallace is “committed to fully co-operating” with the external review while his lawyers have previously strongly denied “he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”, according to BBC News.

BBC News reported that Wallace allegedly pressed his crotch against the bottom of a woman working on the BBC show Eat Well For Less during filming in a supermarket in 2015 and that he allegedly touched the bottom of another woman during a group hug in a lift in 2022.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.

“We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.

“Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.”

The BBC said it would be “inappropriate” to comment amid the external review by Banijay UK.

Wallace, 60, apologised on Monday for claiming complaints about his behaviour came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”, adding he will now “take some time out”.

The new allegations against Wallace published by BBC News on Tuesday come after the outlet reported claims from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period.