Paddy McGuinness breaks silence on replacing MasterChef star Gregg Wallace on BBC show
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Paddy McGuinness has spoken about replacing Gregg Wallace on Inside the Factory, after the former host resigned amid a BBC probe into misconduct. The Phoenix Nights star landed the job earlier this year, after leaving his BBC shows Top Gear and A Question of Sport. Since he was announced to take over from Gregg, the MasterChef star found himself embroiled in a saga in which various women claimed he had made them feel uncomfortable with his comments and jokes.
The 60-year-old announced he was quitting the show earlier in 2023 after controversy over "inappropriate" comments made to a female factory worker about her appearance. The incident, which happened while filming at a Nestlé factory in York, is said to have contributed to his decision to quit, although he also wants to spend more time with his three-year-old son Sid, who has autism.
Paddy's first episode as new host of the show airs on Sunday night on the BBC and sees him visit the festive-sounding Saint Niklas in Belgium. He goes behind the scenes in a chocolate factory, where four million chocolate seashells are produced each day.
Paddy shows viewers how hazelnuts are roasted with sugar to create the praline filling, before being pumped in to chocolate moulds. While he samples some of the sweet treats, his co-star Cherry Healy learns how the white chocolate in the Guylian seashells is created, and discovers there is a specific formula for perfect Christmas tree decoration. Elsewhere, historian Ruth Goodman explores the European origins of Santa Claus.
