GREGG WALLACE’S alleged misconduct “should’ve never been acceptable,” watchdog chairwoman Baroness Helena Kennedy said today as the MasterChef presenter was sacked.

BBC reported fresh allegations from more than 50 individuals, including serious claims of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour.

Among them, one university student alleged the 60-year-old reached under her skirt and pinched her bottom in a nightclub, while a junior worker claimed he dropped his trousers in front of her while not wearing underwear.

Eleven women have now accused Mr Wallace of misconduct.

Mr Wallace stepped back from the BBC cooking show last year after several historical complaints surfaced.

On Tuesday, he posted online that some of his humour and language had been “inappropriate at times” and issued an apology.

Ms Kennedy, who heads the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, said: “The thing about this is that it should’ve never been acceptable behaviour, and people did complain about it.

“If you employ someone, and then you discover that they don’t know how to contain themselves and how to behave, then you [must] be taking them on one side and nipping it in the bud at an early stage.

“That was not done.”

Phillippa Childs, general secretary of creative industries union Bectu, said the sacking will be welcomed by all those who have been “on the receiving end of unacceptable behaviour.”

She said further allegations “highlight just how powerless workers in the industry, particularly freelancers, feel when confronted by behaviour of this kind by a big name, and how reluctant they are to come forward.”

“Misogyny, intimidation, ageism and sexual harassment should have no place in modern workplaces,” she said.

“Yet time and again we have seen issues running rampant — propped up by inadequate reporting mechanisms, a lack of accountability and an industry that enables extreme power dynamics and ‘untouchable’ talent.”