Gregg Wallace reveals he will stop presenting BBC’s Inside The Factory after seven years and focus on his three-year-old son who has autism
- BBC said Gregg Wallace will continue to judge cooking programme MasterChef
- He has already filmed upcoming episodes on show about how goods are made
Gregg Wallace has revealed that he will stop presenting the BBC show Inside The Factory to focus on his three-year-old-son who has autism.
The TV presenter, who has presented the show for the last seven years, has already filmed upcoming episodes for the factual programme which sees him delve into how goods are made.
A new presenter will be announced in due course, the BBC said.
The Corporation has said that the 58-year-old will continue to judge the famous cooking show MasterChef.
Speaking on Gaby Roslin’s BBC Radio London show, Wallace explained that he needed to step away from Inside The Factory because his son Sid, who is non-verbal and autistic, needs additional support with his education.
Gregg Wallace has revealed that he will stop presenting the BBC show Inside The Factory after seven years
The 58-year-old MasterChef host wants to spend more time focusing on his three-year-old son Sid. Pictured: Wallace with his wife Anne-Marie and Sid
Wallace, a former greengrocer, described his three-year-old boy as a ‘lovely, lovely little boy’ with a ‘wonderful mother’ but admitted ‘it’s not easy’.
The MasterChef host conceded that filming the show involves a lot of travelling away from his family as he visits factories spanning the country.
‘So I’ve made a decision that I’m actually not going to do Inside The Factory any more,’ Wallace said.
‘It’s a good time to stop doing it because there’s actually 12 episodes in the can… so I wouldn’t have been filming for a while anyway so it just seemed like a good idea to stop it.’
The original presenter of long-running BBC cooking show Saturday Kitchen shares Sid with his wife Anne-Marie Sterpini, who he married in 2016.
Wallace, who has also featured on Eat Well For Less, Turn Back Time, Harvest and Supermarket Secrets, added that he is almost 60 and also has his health website ShowMe.Fit to run alongside spending time with his family.
The judge of Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals added: ‘Imagine a child that you can’t threaten or bribe and that’s basically what you’ve got.
‘You’ve got a little boy who’s cuddly and happy and naughty, like any little boy would be, but he can’t speak, he can’t talk to you, so he gets frustrated because he finds it difficult to tell you what exactly it is he needs.
‘Right now, we need to find education for him and I can’t just leave that to Anna – that’s a big, big decision.
Wallace, a former greengrocer, will continue to present MasterChef, the BBC has said
Wallace has filmed some upcoming episodes for Inside The Factory which sees him delve into how things are made
‘I mean, all parents worry about the schools that children will go to. Ours is even more highlighted because of poor little Sid’s issues.’
Jack Bootle, the corporation’s head of specialist factual, said Wallace has been ‘integral to the success’ of the series and has brought ‘humour, intelligence and genuine curiosity to one of the BBC’s biggest returning factual brands’.
‘I’d like to thank him for all his hard work and commitment to the programme,’ he added:
Before he began his broadcasting career, Wallace worked at Covent Garden fruit and vegetable market before starting George Allan’s Greengrocers in 1989.
The TV presenter, who also has two children, Tom and Libby, from a previous relationship, took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 and was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last year for services to food and charity.
His most notable role is that of judge and co-presenter of BBC’s MasterChef since 2005 with celebrity chef John Torode.
A new series of Inside The Factory presented by Wallace, Cherry Healey and Ruth Goodman will launch on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in April.
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