Jack Whitehall couldn’t resist making a low-key dig at Gregg Wallace during his latest appearance on The One Show.
On Monday night, the stand-up comic was interviewed by Alex Jones and Roman Kemp about his new festive special Jack In Time For Christmas, which features a seasonal cameo from Michael Bublé.
“You can’t have Christmas without Bublé,” Alex pointed out, to which the comedian agreed: “I know! And I love – finally – I get to work with Michael Bublé, which means, also, that finally I’m getting to do something that is going to appeal to a slightly different audience for me.”
“It’s a demographic that, I think, is much-maligned at the moment, but it’s a demographic that I love, and that is middle-class women of a certain age,” he continued, referring to the heavily-criticised term the MasterChef presenter had used to describe his accusers over the weekend.
While it’s not immediately clear whether the hosts picked up on the jibe, Jack repeated it later in the segment, prompting Alex to say: “We’ll move past that.”
Earlier that day, Gregg had issued a public apology for the way he’d spoken about those who had complained to the BBC about his past conduct.
“I wasn’t in a good head space when I posted it,” he said on Instagram, adding that he’s been “under a huge amount of stress” in recent days, and had been feeling “very alone under siege”.
Last week, it was confirmed Gregg would be taking time out from MasterChef while production company Banijay UK conducts its “immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate” complaints made about him.
Gregg later told his Instagram followers: “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.”
A BBC rep said last week: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.
“We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.
“Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.”