John Torode says BBC 'spat him out' when they sacked him from Masterchef in race row - and reveals why he agreed to be Gregg Wallace's best man

John Torode has said the BBC 'spat' him out when he was sacked from the corporation over an alleged race row.

The former Masterchef host, 61, also said his relationship with former co-presenter Gregg Wallace was purely professional and the two had never been to each other's houses – despite Torode being Wallace's best man.

Last summer the Melbourne-born chef, who moved to Britain in the 1990s, was sacked over the phone while on holiday after Wallace's dismissal in July.

An investigation by solicitors Lewis Silkin, ordered by Masterchef's production company Banijay UK, had upheld 45 of 83 allegations against Wallace, including being in a state of undress at work, making sexually explicit comments and an allegation of unwanted physical contact.

Despite being asked to continue presenting without his former co-host, Torode was soon fired himself, describing the months after as a time of grief.

He described the BBC as 'a machine' that 'spat me out', adding: 'It felt to me as though there was a lot more at play than to do with me.'

Reports have suggested Torode believed the BBC's then-Director General, Tim Davie, may have had a role in his sacking as the corporation was mired in scandals including the revelation that the son of a senior Hamas member had narrated a documentary on Gaza.

John Torode presented Masterchef alongside Gregg Wallace for 20 years before the pair were sacked in 2025

Since being 'spat out' by the BBC, Torode has begun a YouTube channel with his wife, the actress Lisa Faulkner

Asked by The Telegraph whether he had been a scapegoat for the BBC's problems at the time, Torode did not directly answer.

'If I try and consider what the whole thing was all about, it still doesn't quite make sense. I had a job to do, and I believed I did my job well and over those 20 years, nobody ever knocked on my door and said "You can't do this," or "This is a problem". Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, nothing, not a thing.'

He also said to pursue legal action against the BBC would only do further damage.

His sacking reportedly centred on an accusation of singing lyrics containing a racial slur from the Kanye West song Gold Digger at a post-work party in 2019.

The corporation did not release an official report and Torode said he did not remember the evening.

And Torode would not say whether he had been in touch with Wallace, his former co-host of 20 years, despite being his best man.

Torode protested it had been Wallace's fourth marriage – in 2016 to Anne-Marie Sterpini – and so he had not been the former grocer's first choice.

He said the two had never been to each other's houses and their relationship was entirely based around their jobs.

Torode was Wallace's best man at his fourth marriage in 2016 but insisted their relationship had always been based around work and the two had not visited each other's homes

Since leaving Masterchef Torode has begun a YouTube channel with his wife Lisa Faulkner, titled John and Lisa's Kitchen and Home, filmed at their house in Muswell Hill, north London.

The couple met on the cooking show's set when Faulkner, an actress who has appeared in Holby City and EastEnders, appeared in 2010 and they married nine years later.

Earlier this year Faulkner was diagnosed with breast cancer, with Torode previously saying: 'The most important thing to me is health and being with my wife, Lisa, and if I have that, everything else pales into insignificance.'

He said her cancer diagnosis had 'changed absolutely everything'.

Faulkner said: 'Cancer comes along and knocks you again and you suddenly realise that none of the other stuff matters. It changes everything. You suddenly realise what is important and the rest goes out of the window.'

In July she broke the news on social media, writing: 'I know I've been very quiet on here, reason being I have had to have surgery for the early stages of breast cancer.

'I had surgery two weeks ago, it was quite a big op but it's all good and I've my results back and they've got everything out.

'So it's all clear and I just need now to have some radiotherapy in a few weeks.

'I just wanted to say I've got a bit of healing to do but I'm good. I'm well and feeling so much better and I'm so grateful I went for my mammogram.'

Encouraging others to be screened, she added: 'I just wanted to say don't put them off, go, because they found this and without that mammogram it wouldn't have been picked up.

'Thank you to our wonderful NHS and the fact we can have these mammograms and we can get treatment early.'