Late last year, presenter Gregg Wallace, 60, stepped back from the show following a number of complaints and accusations made against him, which he has denied.
Chef Anna Haugh stepped in to finish filming for a new series alongside John Torode, with the show edited and ready to be broadcast, but it’s yet to be scheduled in its usual timeslot between February and April.
According to the MailOnline, sources say the BBC ‘feel they have no option’ but to put the show on ice and wait for the outcome of the inquiry into the allegations.
It’s claimed the Beeb don’t want to scrap the show as a whole because it would be punishing those who took part, but it’s not been possible to edit out Wallace’s appearances.
When approached for comment by Metro, the BBC said that the release date of the new series hadn’t been confirmed yet.
It’s been alleged he made ‘inappropriate sexual jokes’ and lewd comments on set, asked for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressed in front of and standing ‘too close’ to women working on his shows.
He has also been accused of groping three people in different incidents, ‘mimicking sex acts’ and walking around the studio almost ‘completely naked’, with more than 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year-period making complaints.
Wallace and his lawyers have fiercely denied the allegations, saying ‘it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature’.
Following the initial reports, he sparked outrage when he responded in a video shared on Instagram, saying the accusations came from ‘middle-class women of a certain age’.
After immense backlash, including from the Prime Minister, who blasted the comments as ‘misogynistic’, Wallace apologised in another Instagram video.
He said: ‘I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday and any upset I may have caused to a lot of people. I wasn’t in a good head space when I posted it.
‘I’ve been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion, I felt very alone, under siege when I posted it.
‘It’s obvious to me I need to take some time out now while this investigation is underway. I hope you understand and I do hope that you will accept this apology.’
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