Jack Whitehall was on The One Show on Monday to promote his new Netflix Christmas special – but he couldn’t resist making a joke about Gregg Wallace.

During an appearance on The One Show, comedian Jack Whitehall took host Alex Jones by surprise with a cheeky jab referencing Gregg Wallace’s recent controversial comments.

The 36-year-old funnyman was there to discuss his upcoming Netflix festive show, Jack In Time For Christmas, yet he couldn’t help but riff on the MasterChef personality Gregg’s infamous ‘middle class women of a certain age’ gaffe and its ensuing furor.

Gregg Wallace, aged 60, has been mired in controversy as of late following allegations that he uttered sexually inappropriate remarks on the set of his BBC programme.

In an effort to address these claims, on Sunday, Gregg turned to Instagram Stories, broadcasting multiple videos where he defended himself against the accusers, who he described as “a handful of middle class women of a certain age”.

In one such Instagram Story video message, Gregg asserted: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years. Amateur, Celebrity and Professional MasterChef. And in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life. And apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time. In the newspaper I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.”

Gregg Wallace has been accused by 13 people of making inappropriate sexual remarks and jokes over a span of 17 years. (Image: BBC)

His remarks set off a wave of discontent, but that didn’t stop Jack from throwing in a cheeky live TV comment last night about his adoration for ‘middle class women of a certain age’. While discussing his holiday programme, he mentioned Michael Buble’s involvement, which he believes allowed him to ‘do something that is good to appeal to a different audience’.

Jack went on to say: “A demographic I think is much maligned but one that I love, but is middle class women of a certain age.” The father then playfully remarked: “I love that we’re giving this lovely gift to middle class women of a certain age.”

Presenters Roman Kemp and Alex were visibly taken aback by the comedian’s jest, with Alex swiftly intervening to remark: “We will move past that.”

But Jack hasn’t been the only celebrity caught up in the Wallace discussion lately, reports the Mirror. Garnering attention today during an appearance on Sky News too was Stephen Fry, sharing his two cents on Wallace’s recent comments.

Speaking on the matter, he described Gregg’s choice to post the video as “unbelievably foolish” openly criticizing the decision.

Jack Whitehall appeared on BBC’s The One Show on Monday and left Alex Jones looking awkward when he made a Gregg Wallace joke (Image: BBC)

Regarding Gregg’s infamous line about ‘middle-aged women’, Stephen elaborated: “It was obviously unbelievably foolish of [Gregg] to make that video over the weekend. It really showed that he simply wasn’t understanding. Even if he felt that he’d been misunderstood himself, he could surely see that there were some women there who were truly hurt and had felt not listened to, and that he should first of all address that.”

Stephen remarked: “I think, if by now, people who work in television, men who work in television, don’t understand that light banter is no longer something that can be aired in ways unless they’re thinking hard about is there a sort of victim or a stereotype at the root of this banter who might be hurt.

“And it’s just good manners, really. Good manners have changed. In Victorian times, certain things couldn’t be referred to or seen and it was only polite to obey this because people were sort of shocked and upset if things were not respected that they respect. And so I think we’ve all just got to realise it’s not about wokeness, it’s just about being sensitive to the atmosphere.”

Gregg has since issued an apology for his comments.