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Matt Tebbutt to replace Gregg Wallace on MasterChef: The Professionals

Chef and donkeys pokertelevision presenter Matt Tebbutt will replace Gregg Wallace as a judge on the next series of MasterChef: The Professionals, the BBC has confirmed.

The Saturday Kitchen host will join Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti on the programme.

Tebbutt said it was "an absolute honour" to be working alongside "two titans of the food world".

He replaces Wallace, who was sacked in July after a report upheld 45 allegations about his conduct on MasterChef, including one of unwelcome physical contact and three of being in a state of undress.

The inquiry, conducted by an independent law firm, was ordered by MasterChef's production company Banijay in the wake of a BBC News investigation which first revealed claims of inappropriate sexual comments.

Wallace said he was "deeply sorry for any distress" he caused, but that he had "never set out to harm or humiliate".

The report also upheld a separate claim of using a severely offensive racist term against fellow MasterChef host John Torode, who did not present on spin-off series MasterChef: The Professionals.

Both hosts were sacked and the BBC has not yet announced who will replace them on the main amateurs series of the show.

Tebbutt, who has years of experience in the restaurant industry and is a regular contributor to food and travel magazines, has been seen as a potential replacement.

Commenting on his new role on the spin-off, he said he was looking forward to his co-judges "taking me under their wing and seeing the chefs get off to a flying start in the competition".

Wareing said Tebbutt's experience "speaks for itself", while Galetti said it was "really exciting" to have him join the show.

The transmission date for MasterChef: The Professionals has not yet been confirmed.

The controversy over MasterChef started last year, when claims of misconduct against Wallace were first revealed.

The show's production company Banijay launched an immediate inquiry into the allegations. This summer, the report revealed that 83 claims had been made against Wallace, with more than 40 upheld.

Following that report, Wallace issued a statement to the PA news agency insisting that "none of the serious allegations against me were upheld".

"I challenged the remaining issue of unwanted touching but have had to accept a difference in perception, and I am deeply sorry for any distress caused. It was never intended."

The upheld complaint against Torode related to a severely offensive racist term allegedly used on the set of MasterChef in 2018.

Torode said he had "no recollection" of it and that any racist language is "wholly unacceptable".

The BBC decided to broadcast this year's amateurs series of MasterChef - with both Wallace and Torode in it - for the sake of the chefs who had taken part in it.

Wallace will be replaced by Irish chef Anna Haugh in the final episodes, as that is when the allegations against him first emerged during filming in November.

The BBC has also not yet announced what it plans to do with the completed celebrity series - which was filmed with Torode and restaurant critic Grace Dent - or the Christmas special.

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