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MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace addresses backlash over his Saturday routine

14:55, 08 February 2024

Gregg Wallace has hit back at the “nasty” backlash he received over his Saturday routine, which has seen him likened to the buffoonish Alan Partridge.

The Masterchef judge, 59, who resides in the Kent countryside with his family, lifted the lid on his curious weekend activities in a column for a newspaper, prompting ridicule and some hurtful remarks on social media.

Gregg Wallace has received flack after detailing his typical Saturday routine
Gregg Wallace has received flack after detailing his typical Saturday routine

Gregg, who lives in Biddenden, near Tenterden, addressed the fallout during an Instagram Live, and clarified that he spends time with his son Sid, four, throughout the weekend, not just in an allotted slot, as could have been interpreted.

The TV star said: “There are just two things I want to address here with Sid.

“People said 'So you spend an an hour and a half with your son, but then spend two hours on your computer'. No, I am with my son in the house all the time.

“I just did not write down 'Had a tickle with Sid, playing around the living room' – you are not logging every minute of the day. I just logged the blocks. So, it didn't mean that's all I saw him that day.”

He adds if you are living in a house with someone, you are interacting with them all the time and his column was just a “snapshot of one Saturday”.

Gregg makes sure he fits in a gym session on Saturdays Picture: @greggawallace
Gregg makes sure he fits in a gym session on Saturdays Picture: @greggawallace

“And the other thing as well – and I'm almost going to cry over this – people saying that Sid was unwanted,” he added.

“It took us two years to conceive with Sid. Two years.”

The dad-of-three explained his wife Anna, 22 his junior, wanted a family but he would not have chosen to have more children at his age before he met her.

Gregg ended the video by calling the subsequent comments “nasty,” “cruel” and “unfair”, adding the interview was “innocent.”

In a guest column for The Telegraph, which was labelled “bizarre” and saw readers compare him to Steve Coogan's comedy character, Alan Partridge, Gregg says he kicks off each day of the week by waking at 5am and reading. At the moment, he adds, he’s perusing A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

Gregg Wallace is a judge on MasterChef alongside John Torode. Picture: BBC/Shine
Gregg Wallace is a judge on MasterChef alongside John Torode. Picture: BBC/Shine

He then follows this up by making a coffee and checking emails, before going to the gym, which opens half-an-hour just for him, so he can have a sauna and swim on his own.

Gregg says he will then "review my to-do list while walking on a treadmill - no sweating," as he aims to hit 50,000 steps a week, or 7,000 a day, to maintain his five-stone weight loss, six-pack and 18% body fat composition.

At 10.30am, the media personality makes a trip to a Harvester to meet his PA Helen for breakfast, with bacon, sausage and egg all filling his plate.

The chef, who says he has "never been disappointed in a Harvester then spends the time managing his well being podcast - A Piece of Cake - "having been journalling, manifesting, goal-setting and reading self-help books for years”.

Barely an hour after sitting down for breakfast, the presenter eats lunch back at home with his family at midday - with white bean soup and crusty bread a favourite.

Gregg says he then relaxes with Sid, who is non-verbal autistic, the two chilling in their garden and playing with their pooches, Wally and Bella.

The rest of the evening is followed by two hours playing video game, Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, dinner and watching a film or reading before bed.

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