A sign language translator was asked by Gregg Wallace to sign ‘big boobs’ and ‘sexy bum’ in front of a live audience, it was reported last night.

A MasterChef fan who attended the BBC Good Food show at Birmingham’s NEC Arena in 2012 recalled how the TV star told the female British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter to sign everything he said before proceeding with his remarks.

The fan said she was ‘appalled and aghast’ at the ‘sexist’ behaviour. ‘It was like he could control her,’ she told The Guardian. ‘I just found that deeply disrespectful to [her] and deeply disrespectful to her profession.’

The MasterChef fan vented her anger on social media after the event, to which Wallace reportedly replied asking if she was joking.

Her mother, also among the audience of roughly 400 people, said she complained to the BBC but no action was taken. The complainant’s daughter suggested the recent reports show he had been allowed to continue behaving in a manner distressing to others.

‘I do think the world has changed quite a lot since 2012 [and] perhaps things that he could get away with then he can’t really get away with now,’ she said.

‘But I didn’t think it was in any way acceptable at the time and I was judging it by my expectations of how people behave in 2012 not by my expectations now.’ The broadcaster said it takes complaints very seriously but would not comment on events which may form part of the ongoing investigation by Banijay UK, which owns MasterChef.

Banijay’s investigation follows a number of public allegations against the presenter accusing him of inappropriate comments and behaviour.

Wallace’s representatives were contacted for comment.