Gregg Wallace will be replaced by restaurant critic Grace Dent in the next series of the BBC’s Celebrity MasterChef.

Dent, a Guardian columnist and former I’m A Celebrity contestant, will join regular MasterChef presenter John Torode as a judge during next year’s 20th season of the TV cooking competition.

Wallace is facing allegations of inappropriate behaviour from more than a dozen people across a range of shows over a 17-year period.

It was announced last month that he would step away from his presenting role on MasterChef amid an external review into historical allegations of misconduct.

‘So excited I can’t eat’

Dent, 51, has appeared regularly as a guest on the show and last year took part in MasterChef: Battle Of The Critics.

She is The Guardian’s restaurant critic and also hosts the Comfort Eating podcast where she chats with celebrities about food.

In a statement after the announcement, she said: “I’ve been watching MasterChef since I was a girl sitting with my dad on the sofa. My whole family watches it. It’s all about uncovering and championing talent – and to have ended up in this position, is more than a dream to me.”

She added: “I’m so excited that I can’t eat, which is severely detrimental to a restaurant critic. I feel very lucky to be stepping in for the next Celebrity MasterChef. I can’t wait to meet the fresh celebrity faces for 2025.”

Torode said: “I have loved working with Grace on MasterChef over the years. She has been an excellent guest, an inspiring critic and also set some incredible challenges. Expertise is what MasterChef is all about, from the contestants to our wonderful production team, to us as judges.

“The love of food, the love of MasterChef, and that unquestionable expertise, makes Grace the perfect person to step in alongside me as judge for the forthcoming Celebrity MasterChef series.”

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MasterChef executive editor David Ambler also hailed Dent’s “expertise”, as well as her “wit and finely-honed palette”.

Kalpna Patel-Knight, head of entertainment at the BBC, added “energetic” Dent is the “perfect choice”.

The most recent series of MasterChef: The Professionals continued to air amid a storm of allegations against Wallace.

However, two MasterChef celebrity Christmas specials, a Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off and a MasterChef Strictly Festive Extravaganza, featuring Strictly Come Dancing professional dancers, have been pulled from the BBC’s festive schedule.

Wallace’s lawyers previously told the BBC: “It is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.”

Downing Street criticises Wallace’s remarks

Shortly after the allegations first emerged, Wallace recorded a video where he dismissed his accusers as “middle-class women of a certain age”.

His remarks were met with huge criticism – including from Downing Street, where a spokesperson for the prime minister described them as “completely inappropriate and misogynistic”.

Wallace responded by posting a follow-up clip where he apologised and said he “wasn’t in a good space” when he posted the comments.

A lawyer representing an alleged victim of Sean “Diddy” Combs has told Sky News she believes the criminal case against him is “just the tip of the iceberg” and there are “hundreds” more who may be “too afraid to come forward”.

Lisa Bloom is representing singer Dawn Richard, a former member of two groups formed by the rapper, who has filed a civil lawsuit against him.

Richard is one of dozens of people suing Combs following his arrest in September. The 55-year-old is currently in jail in New York awaiting trial over criminal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, which he has strenuously denied.

Warning – this story includes details some may find upsetting

“I think this is just the tip of the iceberg, what we’re seeing right now,” said Bloom. “I think we’re going to see a lot more accusers come forward.”

The lawyer said she had “no doubt there are hundreds more people” who have allegations of “sexual assault, physical violence, threats, sex trafficking” against Combs, as well as “people associated with him”.

However, she says many alleged victims may feel scared or unable to speak out, or “think they have no rights” after signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

The criminal case against Combs claims that, with the help of some employees, he coerced and abused individuals for years, and used blackmail and violence to silence alleged victims.

On top of the criminal charges, the hip-hop mogul also faces a mounting number of civil suits, with more than 20 filed so far.

‘She alleges she was groped and grabbed’

Richard appeared on the TV show Making The Band, for which Combs was an executive producer, in the early 2000s.

She was a member of Danity Kane, a girl group formed on the show who signed to his label, and later performed alongside the rapper in the trio, Diddy – Dirty Money.

She accuses him of subjecting her to years of inhumane working conditions, and threatening her life.

“She alleges that during the show, she and the others were subjected to horrendous conditions,” Bloom said. “They weren’t allowed to eat, they weren’t allowed to sleep, they were locked in places and not allowed to leave.

“They were subjected to all kinds of gender comments… calling them names, insulting them.

“She alleges that she was groped and grabbed by Sean Combs, that she witnessed him physically assaulting other women, that he restrained her, locked her into cars and other places, falsely imprisoned her, and it was just a really terrifying experience for her.”

When Richard tried to speak out on behalf of other women Combs was allegedly abusing in her presence, she was threatened and felt “very fearful”, Bloom said.

Combs’s lawyers say Richard’s allegations are “an attempt to rewrite history”. They say they are false claims manufactured by a singer who has an album out and who’s “trying to get a pay day”.

They also say that if she had such “a negative experience” working with the rapper and producer while in Danity Kane, she would not have returned to work with him a second time in Diddy – Dirty Money.

‘People turned a blind eye’

Richard has spoken with the officers from the US Department of Justice, Bloom said. She believes there will be “more criminal charges to come” against Combs, as well as more civil lawsuits.

“She’s sat and answered questions,” Bloom said. “I assume other people probably have as well. So [criminal charges] could very well be forthcoming… I think there will be more civil suits as well.

“Sean Combs is the top of the pyramid, he was the one orchestrating everything, but those who helped him also need to be brought to justice.

“We want to hold accountable anybody who’s complicit, because to victimise people on this scale where we’re probably talking about hundreds of people, you can’t do that alone, you have to have helpers… people who actually saw incidents of abuse turned a blind eye to it and continued funding these events where things happened. They should be held accountable, and we intend to do that in our case.”

Bloom said she also expects other famous names to be brought up.

“People used to brag about going to Diddy parties, a lot of people were there, maybe some of them didn’t know what was happening but surely many of them did,” she said. “Being a celebrity does not mean that you’re above the law, as I think some of them think.”

Read more from Sky News:
‘They share women. They share secrets’
The allegations against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

For now, the civil cases against Combs are running concurrently to the criminal case against him.

The rapper has not asked for a stay, “which would essentially freeze” the civil cases, Bloom said, so she is “aggressively moving ahead” with Richard’s claim.

From behind bars the rapper, through his lawyers, has said he is “confidently standing on truth and looks forward to proving that in court”.

“I look forward to taking Sean Combs’s deposition in prison,” Bloom said. “For one thing, he can’t say he’s unavailable and out of town.”

Radio DJ Jordan North was rescued from the River Thames after trying to save a struggling dog from the water.

The former I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here contestant, 34, entered the water near the Hammersmith Bridge, west London, after spotting the Labrador, but said he soon became “panicky”.

Fortunately, crew from the RNLI, who were out on an exercise at the time, were flagged down by members of the public and reached North and the rescued dog in three minutes.

“A big thank you and a massive shout out to RNLI Chiswick who came and rescued me because I was getting a bit panicky,” North said while presenting his Capital Breakfast show.

“I was getting a bit nervy as well because I thought my legs are going to go, I can’t hold on much longer so they got there just in time.

“The real heroes here are the RNLI who came out and got me, put a blanket round me. They’re the heroes.”

Thames Commander Gavin Simmons alongside Sid Blake, Tom Coe and Cameron Crawley found North sat on a float with the dog on his lap.

Video footage of the rescue, released by the RNLI, shows the boat approach the area which was being lit up by members of the public.

One of the crew members is heard saying: “That’s what’s-his-name off the radio, isn’t it?”

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North is then seen crossing a metal pole to the lifeboat, with the help of the crew.

“We are on call to help all those who find themselves in difficulty on the water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even our beloved pets,” Mr Simmons said.

“While we’d always encourage people to call 999 and ask for the Coastguard instead of entering the water themselves, we’re happy that in this instance we were able to help Jordan and the dog safely back to dry land.”