A Labour MP has demanded that the BBC stop airing until its probe into Gregg Wallace has finished.
Rupa Huq called for the broadcaster to act while a misconduct investigation into the host continues because it could be “massively triggering” for women who have experienced similar incidents.
Ms Huq, who sits on Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee, told BBC’s Radio 4: “It could be massively triggering for the women involved.
“In fact, any woman involved in any type of similar incident.
“To the casual viewer, if it’s on TV tonight, it looks like he got away with it. I think the BBC should send a strong signal.”
Wallace has stepped back from production duties while Banijay UK, the external company behind MasterChef, investigates.
But Ms Huq slammed the BBC for relying on the production company instead of stepping up to ensure accountability.
She said: “I don’t think the BBC should hide behind the production company. They should expect high standards from their suppliers… To the average viewer, they don’t know where that programme came from. If you let this programme go out, it sends a signal that it is okay…
“If the BBC pulled the show for now and let the investigation run its course, it would send a strong message that this kind of behavior is not acceptable.”
It comes as Wallace’s comment that accusations of inappropriate behaviour against him came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age” has prompted an angry backlash.
The MasterChef presenter faces various allegations of making “inappropriate sexual jokes”, asking for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressing in front of and standing “too close” to women working on his shows.
n a post on Instagram on Sunday, 60-year-old Wallace said: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years, amateur, celebrity and professional MasterChef, and I think, in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life.
“Apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time.
“I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef.
“This isn’t right.
“In 20 years, over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks, or sexual innuendo? Can you imagine?”
In a third video, Wallace claimed “absolutely none” of the people he had worked with on his shows had made a complaint about him.
