Gregg Wallace speaks out against ‘unfair’ backlash to viral interview

‘MasterChef’ judge said article was ‘innocent’

Gregg Wallace has spoken out against the backlash he faced after sharing his Saturday regime.

The MasterChef judge, 59, raised eyebrows after appearing to suggest that he only spends an hour and a half with his young son each day, but spends two hours in his office playing video games.

In the column, where a famous person describes their weekend routine, Wallace said that in the afternoon – after spending the morning at the gym followed by breakfast at his local Harvester – he spends time with his son between the hours of 1.30pm and 3pm.

“I like to spend time with my four-year-old son, Sid, who’s non-verbal autistic. He used to be in his own world but he’s starting to seek company and show eye contact. We’ll potter in the garden and play with our two dogs, Wally and Bella,” he told The Telegraph.

On becoming a father for the third time in his fifties, Wallace said that having “another child isn’t something that I would have chosen at my age”.

“I was always very honest with [his wife] Anna, but it’s what she wanted and I love her,” he explained. “I just requested two things – that we had help in the house (so her mum moved in), and secondly that we had at least one week a year when we holidayed just the two of us.”

Some readers, and others who saw clips of the interview go viral on X/Twitter days later, were left puzzled by the remarks.

According to Mail Online, Wallace branded the criticism as “unfair” and “cruel” during an Instagram Live on Thursday morning (8 February).

Gregg Wallace has called the backlash ‘cruel and unfair’ (PA)

“There are just two things I want to address here with Sid [Wallace’s son]. People said, ‘So you spend an an hour and a half with your son, but then spend two hours on your computer.’ No – I’m with my son in the house all the time,” he said, according to the publication.

“I just didn’t write down, ‘Had a tickle with Sid, playing around the living room’ – you’re not logging every minute of the day. I just logged the blocks. So, it didn’t mean that’s all I saw him that day.”

He continued: “If you’re living in a house with someone, you’re interacting with them all the time. Not only that - that is a snapshot of one Saturday. I hope that makes sense to everybody.”

“And the other thing as well – and I’m almost going to cry over this – people saying that Sid was unwanted. It took us two years to conceive with Sid. Two years.”

Wallace said the comments were “nasty” and said that the interview in the Saturday column was “innocent”.

The Independent has contacted Wallace’s representatives for comment.

Wallace said his gym opens early for him (Getty Images)

Elsewhere in the column, Wallace revealed that he gets up at 5am and goes to the gym, which opens early for him.

“[The gym] let me in earlier, so I have a swim and sauna by myself. Then I’ll review my to-do list while walking on a treadmill, no sweating,” he said.

Then, Wallace said he meets his PA at 10am at the local Harvester for breakfast, before heading back home for midday, where his wife Anna Wallace, 37, will have lunch “ready on the table”.

Speaking about his new healthy living podcast, Wallace said:”’I love chatting to the experts, but I’m quite the expert too, having been journalling, manifesting, goal-setting and reading self-help books for years.”

By 3pm, he said he plays the videogame Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia for two hours in his home office.

In the evening, he said he cooks for his family once a week – “grilled fish from the fishmonger at the local farm shop”.

His day comes to an end at 8pm when he and Anna will either read or watch a film on his laptop because he “tried sitting on the sofa eating biscuits” but didn’t find it “fulfilling”.

Wallace welcomed his son Sid, four, with his wife Anna in 2019.

Gregg has two children, Tim, 29 and Libby, 27, from his second marriage to pastry chef Denise whom he married in 1999 and divorced in 2004. He has been married to his wife Anna since 2016.