MasterChef’s John Torode has said he found the recent allegations of harassment against co-host Gregg Wallace “truly upsetting”.

In his first comments since a fresh wave of allegations were made against Wallace, Torode confirmed he would remain part of the programme and supported the investigation that was under way.

“The thought of anyone who has appeared on our show not having a brilliant experience is awful to hear,” said Torode in a post on Instagram.

“Since last Friday I have been away filming MasterChef overseas. I love my job, and I love MasterChef. I love being part of it and will continue to be part of it.

Torode, who has presented the show alongside Wallace since 2005, said: “During the last few days, I’ve been trying to make the best cookery programme, so being busy making the show and caring for our contestants has allowed me little time to think about anything else, but that has been hard.

“But as I hope everyone appreciates there is an investigation under way, which I fully support, so I cannot make any further comment at this stage and I hope that you all understand and respect my silence on the matter moving forward.”

BBC News last week aired allegations from 13 people spanning a range of ages, who worked across five different programmes, who made allegations of inappropriate sexual comments by Wallace.

People who have come forward with allegations against Wallace include the former BBC Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, who said he told stories and jokes of a “sexualised nature” in front of contestants and crew when she was on Celebrity MasterChef.

Melanie Sykes also revealed she made an informal complaint about Wallace, saying that having to work with him on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021 was the reason she quit TV. On Tuesday. the BBC pulled two MasterChef celebrity Christmas specials, a day after Wallace had apologised for dismissing his accusers as “middle-class women of a certain age”, adding he would “take some time out”.

Wallace is facing a series of allegations of past misconduct – including three of inappropriate touching – which being investigated by MasterChef’s production company, Banijay UK. Previously, Wallace’s lawyers have said he has denied any sexually harassing behaviour.

The BBC has said it takes the complaints seriously and has robust processes to deal with them, but that it would be inappropriate to comment on anything that might form part of the ongoing investigation by Banijay UK.