Listen to Noor read this article

"Everyone is reeling."

With his voice cracking, one MasterChef worker describes the drama of the past fortnight, which has seen both its presenters sacked in quick succession - first Gregg Wallace, and then John Torode.

"I'm in shock with it all. It's raw, and fresh," adds the member of production staff - who wants to remain anonymous.

After months of near silence, recent events have moved at speed.

BBC News has been speaking to people who have worked on the show, as well as insiders to the tense backroom discussions of recent weeks, and can reveal:

There was a long wait for the report into Wallace's conduct. The full version has not been made public, but an executive summary was published on Monday.

It revealed more than 40 claims against Wallace had been upheld, including one of unwelcome physical contact.

Later that night, Torode revealed an allegation that he had used "an extremely offensive racist term" had also been upheld.

He insisted he had "no recollection" of any of it, but by 17:00 on Tuesday, he was gone.

Those at the top will claim action was taken swiftly and decisively. But behind the scenes, we can reveal there have been lengthy, pained discussions and extended tussles between the BBC and the show's production company Banijay over what to do, specifically about Torode.

It was hoped the report's publication would put an end to the crisis - but the events of this week have left both the BBC and Banijay facing even more questions.

For me, this all started a year ago, when I got a tip-off about a BBC presenter said to have been behaving badly - Gregg Wallace.

When I mentioned his name to people in the industry, I was told it was "the biggest open secret in TV".

After some digging and winning the trust of the people coming forward - mainly young female freelancers - BBC News revealed the allegations in November.

I've been told by insiders that when the story broke, there was a sense that the MasterChef production team were defensive and wanted to ride out the storm.

Many who had worked with Wallace for years felt that responding would make it worse, hoping BBC News was just stirring up trouble and the story would go away.

There was a view that Wallace's career could be saved, and his worst behaviour was in the past. Others in the production team were in disbelief.

A significant section of the report focuses on how few formal complaints were made, I have been told. This tallies with what freelancers said - they were worried about the repercussions of speaking up.

But the BBC corporate team, which has weathered many crises recently, could see what was brewing. They started to "get heavy" and demand action, and Banijay's leadership also realised they needed to get a grip.

Wallace was suspended and a law firm, Lewis Silkin, was hired to investigate. Attention then turned to the shows already in production. Could they carry on being filmed?

There is a lesson here for the BBC, a source said: a long-running show with a close-knit team is both a strength and weakness.

"They know how to produce TV gold, year in and year out. But on the flip side, bad behaviour gets normalised and no one challenges it," they said.

In response, a Banijay spokesperson said that 94% of allegations upheld by the inquiry related........

© BBC