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John Torode and wife Lisa Faulkner’s ITV cookery show Weekend Kitchen is reportedly set to axed, despite the broadcaster’s vow to stand by the sacked MasterChef star.
The chef, 60, was fired by the BBC earlier this year after an allegation emerged he had used ‘extremely offensive racist language in 2018’, which he claims to have ‘no recollection of’.
His exit came just weeks after co-star Gregg Wallace, 61, also got the boot over a series of allegations about his sexualised on-set behaviour.
But despite ITV previously throwing their support behind John, who has been married to actress Lisa, 53, since 2019, the prospect of their show, which debuted the same year as his wedding, continuing is said to be unlikely.
The final episode of the Weekend Kitchen’s tenth series, a festive special, will air on ITV on Saturday.
A source said: ‘John is facing a nervous wait about Weekend Kitchen but it’s not looking good. The commissioning team have still not made a decision. Budgets are being slashed and the show is expensive to make’.
They told The Sun: ‘It will be a major blow to John. He had a really tough time after being sacked from the BBC. He is pushing forward with Lisa and is working hard on a new YouTube cooking show which has been well-received’.
‘Naturally, he’s hoping his ITV show will get a redeeming nod but he’s prepared for the worst.’
Daily Mail have contacted John and Lisa’s representatives for comment.
ITV declined to comment.
Following John’s BBC sacking The Sun reported that the ITV bosses held ‘crisis talks’ over wether to air the remainder of Weekend Kitchen, which they eventually did.
ITV’s director of media and entertainment, Kevin Lygo confirmed the report to the publication and said: ‘[It] felt it was a bit much for us to jump on the bandwagon and just deny these shows to go out’.
Earlier this month John revealed he had been having therapy to cope with the fallout of his sacking, which he said had taught him how to ‘sit in his grief’ and ‘be real’ instead of ‘brave’.
In a post on writers’ platform Substack, he wrote: ‘Life has changed for ever for me and for those close to me. There is no sympathy searching here just honesty.’
He went on: ‘Therapy over the past few months has entitled me to no longer “be brave” but instead be real.’
In his newsletter, John revealed that he was away working in Qatar – and described visiting the Grand Prix there as his first attempt at ‘facing my grief alone’, without his wife.
The racism complaint against John was revealed in a report into co-presenter Gregg’s inappropriate behaviour.
Gregg, 60, was sacked after dozens of complaints against him were upheld, with Grace joining the lineup towards the end of last year.
John identified himself as an unnamed person in the report who was accused of using ‘racist language’.
However, the presenter said ‘he had absolutely no recollection’ of the incident and did ‘not believe that it happened’.
But in a statement in July, the BBC said: ‘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.
‘The BBC takes this upheld finding extremely seriously.
‘We will not tolerate racist language of any kind and we told Banijay UK, the makers of MasterChef, that action must be taken. John Torode’s contract on MasterChef will not be renewed.’
