05 December 2023 , 22:00
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Paddy McGuinness left Jermaine Jenas and Alex Jones struggling to keep it together after a brutal poke at Gregg Wallace.
The funnyman is Gregg’s replacement on Inside The Factory after he left weeks on from an allegation of ‘derogatory banter’ towards a female staff member. Insisting he 'never meant to cause offence' to anyone on the show, the MasterChef star quit the primetime programme after seven years, saying he wanted to spend more time with his son, Sid, four, who has autism.
However, reports surfaced suggesting that Gregg had offended female team members working in the Nestlé UK factory on the programme. The 59-year-old reportedly made comments about their weight during a 'friendly' conversation with a source saying the former greengrocer was "rude towards staff and continued to talk in a derogatory manner, especially to women".
Nobody expected Paddy McGuinness to go in on Gregg Wallace! (BBC)ITV star Paddy is stepping in and things turned very awkward on The One Show after he dropped in for a chat. Alex said it was a surprise to see him hosting Inside The Factory, saying: "Well this is just so unexpected." Paddy took a moment before responding.
He said: "Very unexpected, yeah.... mainly for Gregg, if I'm being honest. Ermmm..." As it dawned on him what he'd just said, he started to laugh and sharply went on: "We started it, but it's not on until the end of 2024 I don't think. But I have already been at the Quavers."
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Alex make an awkward face as she sat stunned on the sofa as Jermaine tried not to laugh at his comment. The trio quickly moved the conversation on and didn't return to the subject. But the BBC found the savage swipe funny and the clip was uploaded to their Twitter account.
Gregg later denied the claims and told how they weren't 'accurate', and also told how he wanted to leave to help care for his son. He clarified that his departure from the show was completely separate to the allegations and claims of him being 'stressed'.
In response to the suggestions, Gregg told The Times in June: “I’ve enjoyed doing Inside the Factory for a number of years and I’ve done hundreds of factories. I use humour to relax people. It’s a tool I’ve used for lots of years. I never, ever set out to upset or offend anybody and I never would. It makes me upset that I might have upset people.
"There was an argument inside the factory, the reporting isn't accurate. There was an issue and I thought this is the perfect time to come out," he said on Good Morning Britain. "Offending people? No no. If you look at the headlines you can't see a story that matches those headlines."