M Fury as Gregg Wallace hits out at 'handful of middle-class women' who complained about him

MASTERCHEF star Gregg Wallace prompted a backlash yesterday by saying complaints made against him came from a "handful of middle-class women of a certain age".

- Ashleigh Rainbird

The presenter, 60, who has stepped down while allegations about his conduct are probed, made the comment in a video he posted on Instagram in the morning in a bid to quell the furore.

But support online for "#Middle Class WomanOfaCertain Age" was led by author JK Rowling, 59, who wrote on X: "If only his colleagues had all been young working-class women, ideally with little job security, none of this would have happened."

Embarrassed

Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie Allsopp, 53, who reposted the hashtag, said Wallace's lewd comments had left her "so embarrassed".

In discussions with other social media users, she claimed that within an hour of meeting him to film a pilot episode "he told me of a sex act that he and his partner at the time enjoyed "every morning"".