ITV bosses are said to have put a block on any attempt to get former MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace into the I’m A Celebrity jungle

Gregg Wallace was sacked from MasterChef earlier this year(Image: BBC)

ITV bosses have placed a block on Gregg Wallace appearing on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here – after he told fans on social media that he is keen to appear. Just one day after he announced his decision to sue the BBC for firing him, Gregg told how he would like to be considered for the next run of the jungle series, which kicks off in November – but has not been approached.

In a TikTok video he read out messages from fans and well-wishers, with one of them asking: “Can we see you in the jungle?” Gregg, who lost his job on MasterChef after multiple upheld complaints for inappropriate behaviour in July, said he’d be up for it.

“No one’s asked me,” he answered. “That’s in the air. I wouldn’t mind having a chat about it.”

John Torode and Gregg Wallace were both axed from MasterChef in recent months(Image: PA)

But ITV sources said there was “no way” that Wallace would be invited onto the hit programme, filmed live in Australia. “It’s a firm ‘no thanks’ from us I’m afraid,” one insider said. “Anyone expecting to see Gregg Wallace Down Under with Ant and Dec is going to be disappointed.”

It comes as Gregg, 60, launched a High Court action against the BBC over his dismissal for inappropriate behaviour. He filed the lawsuit under the Media and Communications list, citing data protection concerns.

The BBC said it had no knowledge of the legal action. A spokesman said: “We have not been formally notified of any legal proceedings so at this stage we are unable to comment.”

Wallace was sacked from MasterChef after a 21-year stint on the different versions of the franchise in July, alongside his co-host John Torode. Their dismissals came after an independent review upheld more than 40 allegations against him, mainly relating to inappropriate sexual language and humour.

Since then he has spoken regularly on social media about how he was not supported on the show, having revealed earlier this year that he has autism. “My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of MasterChef,” he said.

“Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over 20 years. That failure is now being quietly buried.”

Gregg had hinted he was open to joining Ant and Dec on I’m A Celebrity(Image: ITV)

The findings of the investigation, ordered by production house Banijay, acknowledged Wallace’s autism diagnosis, saying it was “relevant to certain behaviours identified in the report”. They accepted that more could have been done to “identify, manage and communicate patterns of inappropriate behaviour”.

Earlier this week it emerged that food critic Grace Dent and Irish chef Anna Haugh will replace Wallace and Torode as judges on the main MasterChef show, featuring amateur chefs.

Saturday Kitchen host Matt Tebbutt has replaced Wallace on MasterChef: The Professionals alongside Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing.