Gregg Wallace quits BBC to take care of three-year-old autistic son
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MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace, 58, has explained he will be stepping down from his presenting role on Inside The Factory after seven years with the BBC series. The star has said he now plans to prioritise spending time with his son, describing how it has “not been easy” due to the three-year-old being both non-verbal and autistic.
Gregg has already filmed upcoming episodes for the popular programme, which sees the star explore how various goods are made.
The BBC has confirmed that a new presenter is set to be announced and has said Gregg will continue to judge their famous cooking competition, MasterChef, alongside co-presenter John Torode.
Meanwhile, Gregg opened up about his family life and his decision to step away from the show on Gaby Roslin’s BBC Radio London show.
The former greengrocer described how his “lovely, lovely little boy” needs additional support with his education.
Describing his wife Anne-Marie Sterpini as a “wonderful mother”, he described how parenting their non-verbal and autistic son was “not easy”.
He explained that his Inside The Factory job had seen him spend a lot of time travelling away from his family to visit factories around the country.
“So I’ve made a decision that I’m actually not going to do Inside The Factory any more,” he told Gaby.
“It’s a good time to stop doing it because there are 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 MasterChef judge 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,” he continued.
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“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.”
Gregg married Anne-Marie, who is 21 years his junior, back in 2016 before welcoming Sid in 2019.
Before the pair tied the knot, Gregg was married three other times, beginning in 1991 when his first wife Christine split from him after just six weeks.
He also has two children from his second marriage to former pastry chef Denise, whom he was with between 1999 and 2004.
The star’s final divorce came in 2010 after he wed his third wife Heidi just 15 months previously.
Now, Gregg seems before loved-up than ever and is also enjoying a successful professional career, appearing on other shows like Eat Well For Less, Turn Back Time, Harvest and Supermarket Secrets.
Jack Bootle, the BBC’s head of specialist factual, added that Gregg has been “integral to the success” of Inside The Factory 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 said, according to the Daily Mail.
Listen to Gaby Roslin this Sunday at 12pm on BBC Radio London.
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