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In the entertainment industry, the phenomenon of cancel culture is taking a hefty financial toll on celebrities, with some losing millions annually. David Walliams, the well-known comedian and author, is among those affected, as exclusive analysis indicates that cancel culture is costing stars up to £3.5 million per year. Another unnamed celebrity reportedly faces a staggering £16 million loss due to their fall from grace.
At 54, Walliams finds himself in the company of several other high-profile figures whose finances have been severely impacted by scandals and alleged indiscretions. Over the past year, Walliams has witnessed his professional opportunities dwindle, though he remains fortunate enough to have substantial reserves of cash and assets to cushion the blow.
Earlier this year, Walliams initiated a lawsuit against Fremantle, the producers of “Britain’s Got Talent,” claiming £10 million in lost earnings and damages. This legal action followed the leak of offensive remarks he allegedly made about contestants, which cost him his position as a judge on the popular show.
Adding to his woes, Walliams recently parted ways with HarperCollins, his publisher of 17 years. Despite having sold 60 million book copies, the allegations of inappropriate behavior towards young women, which Walliams has strongly denied, have halted the production of any new children’s books under his name for the time being.
And with HarperCollins dropping him after 17 years this month – after 60 million book copy sales – there are no hit children’s books in the publishing pipeline for now after he was accused of inappropriate behaviour towards young women – an allegation he has vehemently denied.
Cancel culture is now so virulent and dangerous that stars are even buying insurance to protect themselves from financial and reputational ruin, the Daily Mail understands.
And no wonder, given the eye-watering amounts they are losing from cancelled TV deals, books, as well as the cost of expensive lawyers to fight their cases.
Exclusive analysis of publicly available company accounts reveal how many stars’ earnings have fallen off a cliff since leaving the public eye due to various scandals.
David Walliams, pictured last Saturday in Hampstead, has seen his TV work dry up and now his publishing deal has ended
Phillip Schofield’s profits from his network of UK companies are down to as little as £20,000 after his gigantic earnings from This Morning, Dancing on Ice and advertising deals vanished.
Gino D’Acampo has a nest egg of around £5million from his ITV work and cookbooks – but his earnings have plummeted and his hotel business is bust owing £4million to the taxman.
Gregg Wallace’s finances have stagnated since losing his £400,000-a-year MasterChef gig with the BBC, relying on his new health business and £40 Cameo video messages.
His co-host John Torode is also out in the cold and while the true financial impact is not yet known for him, his company accounts show that he has around £50,000 in the reserves of his TV business.
Noel Clarke is by far the worst off, facing near financial ruin after losing his recent libel case, leaving him with a £6million legal bill on top of £10million of lost earnings.
David Walliams
David Walliams, pictured in December, has been troubled by a series of scandals
David Walliams’s career hit the buffers in 2022 when his outspoken off-screen remarks about contestants on Britain’s Got Talent were made public.
Walliams had won awards for his role as judge on the show.
But it all went wrong when his ‘private remarks’, picked up on a hot mic, showed he had a dismissive attitude towards some of the contestants.
A transcript showed Walliams describing a pensioner who had auditioned as a ‘c***’ three times. He also said of a departing female contestant: ‘She’s like the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to f*** them, but you don’t.’
When the remarks became public Piers Morgan, a great friend of Simon Cowell’s, wrote on Twitter: ‘Tip of the iceberg. Walliams is one of the nastiest frauds on TV.’
Mr Morgan has declined to elaborate.
In court papers David Walliams said the BGT revelations had caused his annual earnings to drop from £3.7million in 2022 to £101,800 from January to May 2023.
But while this was a severe blow, worse was to come just before Christmas 2025 when he was accused of inappropriate behaviour to young women – an allegation he has firmly denied.
It has now led to his book publisher HarperCollins dropping him after 17 years during which he has sold 60 million copies worldwide in 55 languages.
It had an immediate impact with sales of his books dropping 30 per cent in the last two weeks of last year, losing an estimated 15,000 sales over the lucrative Christmas period, a loss of around £40,000 in just a fortnight.
Walliams was ditched from this year’s Waterstones book festival and the BBC said it had no future projects directly involving him.
However, he remains incredibly wealthy having amassed an estimated £17million fortune from his career in TV comedy and as a children’s author, penning books including Gangsta Granny, Mr Stink and The Boy in the Dress.
TV and film adaptations have followed.
Despite the fallout from the loss of his publisher, he will still earn considerable royalties from his book sales and TV shows.
He co-owns King Bert Productions Limited which saw its value rise to £1.8million in 2024 from £1.13million in 2023.
Potential loss: Down £3.7million annually to an estimated £250,000 a year.
Phillip Schofield
The former TV presenter lost his £730,000-a-year job presenting This Morning with Holly Willoughby in June 2023 and his deal to co-host Dancing on Ice was also axed costing him an estimated £450,000 a year.
Since then Schofield has barely been seen on TV and his low profile is reflected in his TV company’s value sliding by £61,618, and is now worth just over £2million according to figures for 2024, filed in August 2025.
But significantly Fistral Productions Limited, which he still runs with wife Stephanie, paid just £3,947 in corporation tax, which suggests the company profit was little over £20,000 in 2024 – the first year after leaving ITV.
Phillip Schofield, pictured last year walking his dog, has been out of work for more than two years
Schofield admitted to a relationship with a much younger male colleague (pictured centre) and having lied about it to bosses – as well as his loved ones. He has left TV
To give this context in 2020 – at the height of his TV fame – he paid £150,000 in corporation tax, suggesting profits of £750,000.
The accounts show that Phillip and wife Stephanie had loaned the company just under £39,000, which the couple are owed.
Fistral Properties owns a £861,080 investment property and has £44,500 in cash, but owes creditors £1.002million.
The bulk of this £986,974 is owed to Fistral Productions. But the loan means business is £96,472 in the red.
Away from the screen, Schofield has built up a cache of valuable assets, including several properties.
He owns a £2million house in west London and his wife lives in the former family home in Henley.
He is said to own the latter outright and it is estimated to be worth £5million.
Potential loss: £1.4million a year
Noel Clarke
Noel faces a bleak financial future after being ordered to pay an initial £3million in costs after losing a libel case against The Guardian newspaper.
And six days ago it was revealed that Clarke, of Kensington, has been declared bankrupt.
It is an interim payment and the total owed could be close to £6million.
The huge bill is against the bleak backdrop of Clarke’s TV and film earnings evaporating after he was accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour in April 2021.
In court papers he detailed £10million in lost earnings since the allegations were first made.
Coupled with the loss of the court case that means his fall from grace has cost up to £16million.
Noel Clarke arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice for his libel case against The Guardian. He lost the case and faces huge costs
Just last month Clarke stood down as a director of Astonishing Entertainment Limited.
The company was £7,236 in the red in March 2025, according to accounts also filed in December.
The figures contrast with assets of £516,000 in March 2021 – a month before he was accused by The Guardian.
In court papers Clarke catalogued the earnings he was losing as a consequence of being cancelled.
They were a Sky TV show Bulletproof, series 4, where he lost his fee for acting in 10 episodes – £585,000, his fee for writing two episodes – £90,000 – his fee for directing two episodes – £90,000 – and anticipated royalties of £250,000.
He has now either closed or resigned from his other businesses.
Potential loss: Lost earnings of £10million plus £6million legal bill
Gregg Wallace
The former MasterChef presenter waved goodbye to a £400,000-a-year deal to present the BBC show after a torrent of criticism of his behaviour towards women.
He also hampered his chances of a return to mainstream TV when he hit back and said ‘a handful of middle-class women of a certain age’ were the ones who pushed the allegations into the spotlight.
It means his finances have stagnated with reserves in his main business Lobster Enterprises Limited dropping from £33,000 to £24,700 in the 12 months up to the end of February last year.
His fitness business which relied on his high-profile TV presence saw reserves slide by £10,000 down to £98,000.
None of a £70,000 loan owed by the company had been paid back.
Gregg Wallace’s main source of income was from his MasterChef salary, which is now gone
George Allan’s Greengrocers, the company Wallace founded in 1989, was built into a business with a £7.5million turnover.
But in 2024 a former manager claimed Gregg left behind £1.5million in debt – and a host of disgruntled ex-colleagues – when the firm went under in 2000.
In his 2012 autobiography, Life on a Plate, Wallace acknowledged: ‘We were owed millions – and we owed millions to wholesalers in the market’.
He also described how he ‘didn’t have to pick up all the bills personally’ after George Allan’s failed, since it was a limited company, and hit back at the idea that fame had resulted in a loss of focus on his part.
‘Many of the traders had joined forces and said they refused to employ me,’ wrote Wallace.
‘It wasn’t fair but they blamed me for George Allan’s closure. They thought I’d got too fancy and big for my boots, being on telly now, and I let it all go to pot.
‘Nothing could’ve been further from the truth, though. It’s always the way: the last one out to turn off the lights, gets the blame.’
In 2014 Gregg was forced to close his Wallace and Co restaurant in Putney, south west London and sell its parent company Wallace Cafes.
Since then he has relied on his £400,000-a-year MasterChef salary, which is now gone after he left the BBC.
He is now trying to build a career as a diet and lifestyle guru as well as selling personal messages on Cameo for £40.
Potential loss: £400,000 a year
Gino D’Acampo
TV chef Gino remains wealthy but his work has dried up.
One firm bust owing HMRC £4million and other companies have lost net £100,000, with personal earnings also plummeting.
Italian chef Gino D’Acampo has had a rollercoaster ride since his shows were pulled from ITV last year.
His firm Upmarket Leisure, which used to be called Gino D’Acampo Hotels and Leisure, went into administration owing almost £7million.
Two investors have been repaid in full, but HMRC is out of pocket to the tune of £4.186million
Gino D’Acampo, pictured with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, honours his promise to cook naked on This Morning if they won at the 2011 NTA Awards. Gino has been off our screens for more than a year after allegations about his language on set
Trade creditors are owed £2million and will not be paid.
A recent report by administrators said: ‘We have also been contacted by HM Revenue & Customs (‘HMRC’) in respect of our investigations and are continuing to assist them with their enquiries.’
His management consultancy company MeMs Agency – saw its value slashed by 25 per cent from £408,000 to £300,000 between April 24 and April 25.
Reserves in Gino D’Acampo Limited went down from £353,000 to £196,000 – a drop of £157,000.
Tellingly, the company tax bill had shrunk from almost £300,000 to just £6,900, indicating a potentially big reduction in commercial activity.
But there is no need to shed any tears for the Italian chef just yet as his Gino D’Acampo Holdings saw reserves actually go up to £5.06million in the year to April 2025 from £4.9million in April 2024.
Mr D’Acampo faced accusations including using sexualised and aggressive language on TV sets including ‘Gino’s Italian Express’, ‘Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Road Trip’ ‘Gino’s Italy: Secrets of South’, ‘Like Mamma Used to Make’ and ‘Emission Impossible’.
ITV then changed its schedules to ensure he would not appear on our screens. But many of his shows remain available on its ITVX streaming service.
The new series of Family Fortunes, the iconic family gameshow hosted by Gino, was due for broadcast in early 2025 but was also canned by ITV.
Potential loss: Around £1million a year
Wynne Evans
Wynne Evans had a devastating 2025 after revelations about a lewd joke forced him to quit the Strictly Come Dancing tour this time last year.
He has reportedly lost his lucrative Go Compare job which was worth at least £200,000 a year.
As well as the actual earnings it gave him a profile to help with other deals.
The opera star was also booted from his BBC Radio Wales show following the fallout after his contract was not renewed.
Wynne believes his reputation has been unfairly left ‘in tatters’ after he apologised for a vile remark aimed at tour host Janette Manrara, when footage emerged of the comment at the tour’s press launch last January
Evans, 53, was accused of making a sick sexual comment about dancer and broadcaster Janette Manrara, who was appearing with him on the Strictly tour.
He issued an apology in January 2025 and admitted that his ‘language was inappropriate and unacceptable’ after it was revealed in a video obtained by The Mail on Sunday.
It was also claimed that Evans insisted he used the term ‘sp*t roast’ as a nickname for fellow contestant Jamie Borthwick.
He said in May last year: ‘It absolutely wasn’t meant sexually – and the fact I used “boy”, all right it’s nuanced, but it shows I was talking to Jamie, NOT Janette.’
His company Wynne Evans Ltd handles the majority of his media earnings, including his Go Compare commercial work, but has not filed accounts for 12 months.
Accounts for year to end of May 2024, filed in February last year show he has cash and assets of £734,830 – down from £761,798 the year before.
He owns a flat in Croydon bought for £198,000 in 2014 and now worth an estimated £288,000.
His ex-wife Tanwen Evans owns a home in Cardiff bought for £465,000 in 2013, now worth £875,000.
He has a management company which manages the flat in Croydon but it is dormant.
He disbanded another company seven years ago and he is one of many director-board members of a Opera theatre called Grange Park Opera in West Horsley.
Potential loss: At least £200,000 a year
John Torode
John Torode has always played his cards close to his chest with regards to his finances.
Away from MasterChef, he is a celebrated cook, unlike his co-star Gregg Wallace. He also ran successful eateries, sold cookbooks and kitchen equipment.
His current company accounts betray few secrets, but his long-standing career on MasterChef and before that as a successful restaurateur helped him build up an estimated £8million fortune.
In the noughties his London eatery Smiths of Smithfield was making £4million a year in profit.
But his career was rocked last summer when his stint on MasterChef was ended when an allegation against him using ‘an extremely offensive racist term’ was upheld as part of the inquiry in the fallout from the Gregg Wallace allegations.
John Torode on the set of MasterChef. He has left the show over claims he used a racist term
In an Instagram statement, the TV chef said he had ‘no recollection’ of what he is accused of.
It has signalled his disappearance from the TV and means a significant loss in earnings from the BBC and Banijay deal.
John, 60, and wife Lisa Faulkner, 53, have launched a kitchenware range – John & Lisa’s Kitchen and Home – in a collaboration with Eurosonic.
The products are to be launched in the coming months so there are no sales as yet.
His TV company, Caspar 10, had reserves of £47,351 last year up from £7,219 in 2024 and another company, Mr Johns Limited, has reserves of £89, but has been largely dormant.
Another firm, Peddler Productions, is also dormant. The couple live together in north London.
Potential loss: MasterChef salary of at least £400,000 a year
