Gregg Wallace marks milestone with wife as MasterChef fans left raging

Gregg Wallace is celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife Anne-Marie Sterpini today, which happens to be the same day MasterChef has returned to BBC One following months of controversy. Last month, Wallace was sacked from his position on MasterChef following an investigation into alleged behaviour. Just days after his axe, his MasterChef co-host John Torode was sacked in relation to a severely offensive racist term allegedly used on the set in 2018.

Following their axe, there was concern over the future of the already filmed series, with some calling for it to be pulled. However, the BBC has decided to air the cooking show as planned, dropping the first episode this evening. However, hours before MasterChef returned to screens, Wallace shared a throwback photograph from his wedding day on his Instagram stories, as she continues to stand by the BBC presenter.

In the picture, they are cutting a giant white wedding cake, with Wallace wearing a blue suit and his partner donning a mermaid-style white gown.

She captioned the photo, which she shared on her own Instagram grid: "9 years married today love you @greggawallace," as she continued to show her loyalty to her husband."

Wallace also shared a video of the pair enjoying their wedding anniversary surrounded by willow trees on his Instagram account.

While Wallace did not mention MasterChef on his social media, fans were not happy to see him on their screens and threatened to boycott the series.

One person wrote on X: "#BBC # Masterchef, you made a terrible mistake tonight and aired the wrong show."

A second said: "Watching the new #MasterChef series on BBC - it's utterly bizarre they're airing it with Gregg Wallace and John Torode front and centre-after sacking both for misconduct allegation. Pre-recorded or not, this decision feels completely tone-deaf. What were they thinking?"

However, another said: "Bring back #gregg and #john on #masterchef as won't be the same without them. So glad they aired this series."

Someone else argued: "The contestants worked hard and deserve to have their moment in the sun. They were given the option, and those who didn't want to be seen are edited out. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. So if you're not happy, just don't watch it."

MasterChef is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.