Gregg Wallace stepped down from MasterChef this week amid the controversy surrounding allegations of his inappropriate behaviour on the show

Gregg Wallace’s wife defiantly flashed her wedding ring as she was papped following the news that MasterChef has been pulled off air.

The sighting, in which Anne-Marie, 38, drives her car away from the family home she shares with Gregg in Kent, wearing sunglasses, comes just hours after it was revealed that two MasterChef celebrity Christmas specials have been pulled from the BBC’s schedule after the former greengrocer stepped away from hosting the cooking show.

The broadcaster previously announced a Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off and a Strictly Festive Extravaganza as part of its festive schedule, both billed as hour-long programmes for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Gregg Wallace’s wife, Anne-Marie, was papped leaving the family home in Kent ( 
Image:
STEVE FINN PHOTOGRAPHY)
A BBC spokesperson said: “As we have said, MasterChef is an amazing competition which is life-changing for the chefs taking part and the current series of MasterChef: The Professionals is continuing as planned.

“The celebrity Christmas specials are obviously a different type of show and in the current circumstances we have decided not to broadcast them.”

Wallace, 60, apologised on Monday for claiming complaints about his behaviour came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”, adding he will now “take some time out”.

He faces allegations from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period, as reported by BBC News on Thursday, with many others since sharing their experiences.

Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off, hosted by Wallace and John Torode, was to see celebrities competing for the glittery Golden Whisk Trophy.

Emmerdale actor Amy Walsh, comedian Shazia Mirza, reality star Luca Bish, and The Wanted singer Max George, who all appeared on Celebrity MasterChef last year, were set to feature.

The BBC previously announced the Strictly Come Dancing-themed special would involve appearances from professional dancers Amy Dowden, Gorka Marquez, Kai Widdrington and Nancy Xu.

Strictly judge Motsi Mabuse was billed as a mystery guest on the show, with the dancers tasked with creating a two-course menu that would impress the judges. Three episodes of BBC Two’s Inside The Factory, which are repeats, are also coming out of the schedule, the BBC said.

The show featured Wallace alongside Cherry Healey and saw the pair explore factory floors across Britain to get a closer look at production lines. The episodes were due to air on December 11, 17 and 18 on BBC Two.

A BBC series of MasterChef: The Professionals has remained on air since it was announced Wallace would step down amid the external review by Banijay UK, with episodes airing on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Monday, when asked if the cookery show should be pulled off air, that the decision was for the BBC and the show’s production company and reiterated that Downing Street believes it is “right” that a thorough investigation is conducted.

Wallace’s lawyers were previously quoted by BBC News as saying “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.

Anne-Marie, who shares son, Sid, four, with Gregg, is yet to speak out about the scandal. However, she was spotted on Monday as she topped up on petrol at a service station. The mum-of-one looked sombre as she filled up her car and kept her head down.

The couple got married in 2016 after Anne-Marie, who Gregg calls ‘Anna’ slid into his Twitter DMs, asking whether duck and rhubarb went as well together as he claimed.

Gregg, Anne-Marie and their son, Sid, live in Kent. However it isn’t just their family-of-three living at home, as they’re joined by Anna’s parents after Gregg suggested she needed the extra help to remain his ‘fun, sexy girlfriend’ after becoming a mum.

As well as Sid, the 60-year-old has two children, Libby and Tom, with his second wife, former pastry chef Denise, whom he was married to between 1999 and 2004. Before that, he tied the knot with his first wife, Christine, in 1991 – but their marriage only lasted six weeks.