Jeremy Clarkson says he’s ‘worried’ about John Torode after his MasterChef sacking for ‘using the N-word on set’

Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he is ‘worried’ about John Torode after the MasterChef star was sacked for allegedly using the N-word on set. 

Australian-born Torode, 59, lost his job at MasterChef after two decades over allegations he used the racial slur, which he claims to have ‘absolutely no recollection’ of. 

The BBC said on Tuesday that Torode’s contract would not be renewed after a report found he had used an ‘extremely offensive racist term’ following a complaint from a member of staff.

Clarkson, who was dismissed from the BBC himself in 2015 following an altercation with a Top Gear producer, commented on Torode’s sacking in his latest column for The Sun this week. 

Admitting he is concerned for the cooking star, Clarkson wrote: ‘Funny isn’t it how Top Gear was always seen as the bad boy of the BBC. Every week, we’d be in the papers for doing something wrong or saying something inappropriate.  

‘And as a result, we were always being carpeted by bosses who told us to sit up straight and clean our teeth, and behave ourselves. Ha. It now turns out that, compared to every other show on the Beeb, we were saints.

‘That said, I am a bit worried about this John Torode chap from MasterChef. Because he seems to have been sacked for an offence, even though no one can quite say what the offence was.

‘He’s been told that at a private party seven or eight years ago, he sang a song which someone thought was racist and that as a result, he has to go. Who reported him? Dunno. Was there any context? No one’s saying.’  

Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he is ‘worried’ about John Torode after the MasterChef star was sacked for allegedly using the N-word on set

John Torode (left) and Gregg Wallace (right) presenting on MasterChef together 

It has been previously reported that Torode, who also hosts a cookery show with his wife Lisa Faulkner on ITV, used the N-word while singing along to a Kanye West song during a wrap party in 2019.

But BBC News has since reported this was not the incident which led to the complaint upheld by the report.

This instead related to another incident a year earlier, when he allegedly used the same word on set after filming an episode of Masterchef and it was directed at a member of staff.

The news site added that the upheld allegation of racist language was one of nine complaints made against Torode in the report, which also related to allegations of abusive language towards junior production staff and sexual language, and which were not upheld.

These allegations were not upheld as they were unsubstantiated due to a lack of evidence or witnesses.

The complaint against Torode was revealed in the report into co-presenter Gregg Wallace’s inappropriate behaviour. Wallace, 60, was sacked after more than 40 complaints against him were upheld.

Torode and Wallace (pictured together) were sacked following an invastigation into the show

The report also included one further complaint which was upheld relating to a third unnamed person, supposedly a MasterChef senior executive who was accused of swearing, according to BBC News. The news site said it had contacted that executive. 

Meanwhile, a Banijay spokesperson said the allegation is being handled ‘appropriately internally’. 

Last week, Torode said he had ‘absolutely no recollection’ of the incident and was ‘shocked and saddened’ by the allegation. ‘I would never wish to cause anyone offence,’ he added.

Responding to his sacking, Torode said: ‘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 the last few says seem to have prevented that.’

He said he ‘had loved every minute’ working on the show but it was ‘time to pass the cutlery to someone else’.

‘Life is everchanging and ever moving and sometimes personal happiness and fulfilment lay elsewhere,’ he added.