Gregg Wallace is being lined up as a patron for an autism charity after it was claimed he used the disability ‘as an excuse’.
The MasterChef judge, 60, was first hit with misconduct allegations last autumn, which resulted in him stepping back from the cooking programme.
After Grace Dent stepped in to replace him to record the final episodes, Wallace was then officially sacked after the bombshell Silkins review was published.
Commissioned by MasterChef production company Banijay UK, 45 out of 83 allegations were upheld against him, including a case of ‘unwelcome physical contact’, but he has insisted the most serious allegations were unproven.
Before the report was published Wallace said he was considering legal action against the BBC and MasterChef production team, claiming he was discriminated against due to his autism following his dismissal from the long-running series.
Now, following his exit, he has caught the attention of charity boss Annie Sands, who approached him to see if Disability Advice and Welfare Network (DAWN) could help him to better understand the condition.
Last year, the charity Ambitious About Autism dropped Wallace as an ambassador in the wake of the original claims made against him.
A spokesman for the charity Neurodiversity in Business also told the BBC earlier this month that autism is ‘not a free pass for bad behaviour’.
But, speaking to the Mirror, Sands said: ‘People were attacking him and saying he was using his autism as an excuse.
‘I heard someone say “autistic people don’t make inappropriate remarks”. Well, that’s a ridiculous thing to say. Come and work with us for a week, you’ll hear a lot worse than that. Each autistic person presents differently.
‘This is about what’s appropriate in the workplace. It comes down to education, and the ability to make reasonable adjustments.’
The boss, who was diagnosed with the condition herself later in life, went on to explain that Wallace’s autism report ‘screams neurodiversity’.
‘We help all those who come to us, everybody deserves support. For me it’s about putting Gregg Wallace the celebrity to one side and working with Gregg Wallace the autistic person.
‘As an organisation we are not afraid to stick our head above the parapet – he deserves our help just as much as the next person. We hate injustice, whoever comes to us, we will never turn them away.’
Speaking to the publication, Gregg said that the charity has been a ‘pillar of strength at a very dark time’.
‘I’ve learned so much about autism and my issues in the two weeks that I’ve been talking to Annie,’ he said.
‘So much of what she’s told me has helped me make sense of my condition – she’s made me understand that the persona I learned in Covent Garden fruit and veg market is the same one that I took into the television studios. Everybody loved that version of me. What I’ve learned is that I still have a lot to learn.’
The former MasterChef star added that he wants to continue working with the charity and he wants to support them in the future.
This comes after Wallace recently responded to singer Sir Rod Stewart, who branded him a ‘tubby, bald-headed, ill mannered bully’.
In an interview with The Sun, Gregg responded to the hitmaker’s remarks, stating: ‘I’m actually a Rod Stewart fan.
‘I’ve been to see him twice. So that hurt me. Somebody like that carries a lot of weight. But there was no bullying and no harassing.’
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