Paddy McGuinness breaks silence after replacing Gregg Wallace on BBC's Inside The Factory - suong

Paddy McGuinness broke his silence on replacing Gregg Wallace in the BBC show Inside The Factory.

The TV presenter, 51, was announced as Gregg's replacement amid the chef's sexual misconduct scandal. 

The MasterChef judge, 60, announced he was stepping back from the show after nearly 20 years last week while an investigation into his alleged misconduct is carried out. Grace Dent is replacing Gregg on the show in the meantime.

He also quit BBC Two's Inside The Factory after complaints were made over alleged 'inappropriate banter' with female staff members over their weight.

Speaking about his thoughts on wearing a hairnet, he joked: 'Actually for me, there’s not much hair to cover. You know, 20 years ago when I had a lovely thick head of hair, then that would have been a thing!

Paddy also shared his nervous about working with co-host Cherry Healey for the first time, in an interview with The Sun.

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Paddy McGuinness, 51, broke his silence on replacing Gregg Wallace in the BBC show Inside The Factory (pictured with co-star Cherry Healey)

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The TV presenter was announced as Gregg's replacement amid the chef's sexual misconduct scandal

He said: 'That's always the tricky bit, you hope you get on. But I'm telling you now, me and Cherry do so much laughing.

'As soon as I met her, we had the biggest talk and we just got on like that. 

'This is testament to her - when I did my Children in Need challenge, she turned up in Kendal to surprise me - she even brought me up a lasagne she’d made!'

'I drove in in this big heavy goods vehicle for the first shot. I thought "I got my heavy goods licence doing Top Gear, now I'm driving into the place I used to work at 30-odd years ago, hosting another show for the BBC".

'When I was that 16-year-old kid who used to walk to work with butties my mum had made me, who'd have thought all these years later, I'd have had all these amazing things go on in my life.

'It was one of those moments where I thought "B****y h***, life eh? It does have its twists and turns".'

Gregg stepped down from the show last year after the allegations in regard to female factory workers at Nestle, where he was filming at the time.

Sources said he had been 'rude towards staff' and spoke to them in a 'derogatory manner, especially to women'. But he later denied accusations, saying the claims were 'inaccurate'.

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The MasterChef judge, 60, announced he was stepping back from the show after nearly 20 years last week while an investigation into his alleged misconduct is carried out

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He also quit BBC Two's Inside The Factory after complaints were made over alleged 'inappropriate banter' with female staff members over their weight 

The show visits factories up and down the country to see how our favourite products are made.

In the upcoming ninth season, Paddy and Cherry visit a host of new factories that produce some of our favourite foods on a massive scale, from sliced bread to flapjacks and sausage rolls. 

In a Christmas special, set to broadcast on Sunday December 22, the duo visit a chocolate factory in Belgium to learn how they produce an incredible four million individual chocolate shells every single day. 

Gregg is facing accusations of inappropriate behaviour across five shows over a 17-year period. 

Staff members and former contestants, including celebrities such as Emma Kennedy and Kirsty Wark, have claimed the former greengrocer made them feel uncomfortable on set.

Gregg has been accused of a raft of inappropriate behaviour including walking around on set naked except for a sock on his penis, getting changed in front of female staff, and even groping crew members.

Other allegations include sharing intimate details of his sex life, becoming fixated on a female staff member who was dating women and asking her about the 'logistics' and flirting with younger women on set.

Gregg stepped down from MasterChef while an external investigation is conducted by production company Banijay UK. 

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In the upcoming ninth season, Paddy and Cherry visit a host of new factories that produce some of our favourite foods on a massive scale

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Gregg stepped down from the show last year after the allegations in regard to female factory workers at Nestle, where he was filming at the time

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Gregg is best known for presenting MasterChef with co-host John Torode (left) and is now facing a deluge of allegations about 'inappropriate behaviour' on set

It was reported by The Times that he had allegedly offended certain female staff members at the Nestlé UK factory in York with comments about their weight during a 'friendly' conversation.

The comments were non-sexual but were deemed 'inappropriate' and a complaint was lodged with Voltage TV, the production company responsible for developing the show.

'He was rude towards staff and continued to talk in a derogatory manner, especially to women.

'He was given a talking-to and was appalled that he had caused such offence,' a source said.

Voltage TV asked Wallace to moderate his language and filming continued - but his behaviour seemingly didn't change.

Staff reportedly informed management that they did not want the show to return while Wallace remained at the helm.

A source said: 'He felt that he was just trying to be friendly but no longer knew what the right thing to say was any more and decided to leave.'

A Nestlé insider told The Times: 'He comes in cracking jokes but is from a very different world to our workers.'

The Christmas special for Inside The Factory will air on BBC One on 22 December from 6.30pm to 7.30pm.