John Torode pulls out of headlining Seaham Food Festival following MasterChef sacking
John Torode was set to appear on stage at the Seaham Food Festival on the weekend of August 2 and August 3, but now he will not following his sacking from MasterChef.
John Torode has pulled out of headlining the Seaham Food Festival after he was fired from MasterChef.
On Tuesday (15.07.25), the 59-year-old celebrity chef was sacked as host of the hit BBC One cooking show, following an allegation of him using "an extremely offensive racist term" - which John profusely denies and has "no recollection" of making - was upheld in the report by law firm Lewis Silkin, on behalf of MasterChef's production company Banijay UK, into Gregg Wallace's alleged inapporpriate behaviour.
John was set to appear on stage at the Durham-based food festival, which takes place on the weekend of August 2 and August 3, to demonstrate the making of "delicious dishes", but he has now cancelled to "take some time out".
A spokesperson for Durham County Council - which runs the Seaham Food Festival - told Chronicle Live: "We appreciate this has been a difficult time for John and, as a result, he has decided to take some time out.
"He will, therefore, not be appearing at this year's Seaham Food Festival."
The BBC and MasterChef's production company Banijay UK "agreed" on Tuesday that John's contract should not be renewed after he allegedly used a "racist term".
John - who identified himself as the individual in the report alleged to have used racist language in 2018 or 2019 "for the sake of transparency" in an Instagram post after the Lewis Silkin report was published on Monday (14.07.25) - said in a statement: "Although I haven't heard from anyone at the BBC or Banijay - I am seeing and reading that I've been 'sacked' from MasterChef and I repeat that I have no recollection of what I'm accused of.
"The enquiry could not even state the date or year of when I am meant to have said something wrong.
"I'd hoped that I'd have some say in my exit from a show I've worked on since its relaunch in 2005, but events in last few days seem to have prevented that."
He added: "Over the past few months, I have been considering my life and the shape of it now and in the future.
"Celebrity MasterChef, which I recently filmed with Grace Dent, along with two fantastic Christmas specials, will be my last.
"Personally, I have loved every minute working on MasterChef, but it's time to pass the cutlery to someone else. For whoever takes over, love it as I have."
The TV star said he will continue to follow the TV show, despite his sacking.
John added: "I will watch fondly from afar as I now focus on the many other exciting projects that I have been working towards.
"My tummy will be grateful for a rest after 20 years of eating, but what a joy it has been.
"Life is everchanging and evermoving, and sometimes personal happiness and fulfilment lay elsewhere.
"Thank you for the many years of MasterChef."
A spokesperson for the BBC said: "John Torode has identified himself as having an upheld allegation of using racist language against him.
"This allegation - which involves an extremely offensive racist term being used in the workplace - was investigated and substantiated by the independent investigation led by the law firm, Lewis Silkin.
"John Torode denies the allegation. He has stated he has no recollection of the alleged incident and does not believe that it happened. He also says that any racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment.
"The BBC takes this upheld finding extremely seriously. We will not tolerate racist language of any kind and, as we have already said, we told Banijay UK, the makers of MasterChef, that action must be taken. John Torode's contract on MasterChef will not be renewed."
It has been reported by The Sun newspaper that Torode repeated the lyrics from Kanye West's hit single Gold Digger and used the N-word twice.
A source added: “One of the allegations is that he said the N-word while repeating Kanye’s Gold Digger song during a gathering with his colleagues when filming had ended. John is adamant he would never have used the N-word and only knows the radio version of the song which says, ‘Now I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger, but she ain’t messin’ with no broke, broke’. The clean version of the song is the only one he knows.
“The person who raised the complaint didn’t say anything at the time. So John only found out a few weeks ago that this issue had been raised.
“This has hit him like a ton of bricks as he does not recall it.
“He insists he would never have repeated the N-word in those lyrics because he only knows the radio edit of that song.”
John's departure came a day after the corporation said it had "no plans to work" with his MasterChef co-star Gregg Wallace.
The Lewis Silkin report substantiated 45 out of 83 allegations, including claims of inappropriate sexual language, humour, and one alleged incident of "unwelcome physical contact" by Gregg, 60.
Gregg insisted he has been "cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations" made against him.
