With both judges – first Gregg Wallace and then John Torode – recently leaving MasterChef under unsavoury clouds after 20 successful years, producers must have felt the pressure when it came to replacing them. Turns out, they needn’t have worried – recruiting first food critic Grace Dent and Irish chef Anna Haugh to front the amateur series, and now Michelin-starred Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli to present its celebrity version alongside Dent, the show isn’t limping on without Torode and Wallace. On the contrary, it’s enormously improved.
Having joined in 2025, Dent now has a couple of MasterChef series under her belt – but because of the timing of his exit, she hosted last year’s celebrity iteration with Torode. Perhaps inevitably, given how long he’d been doing it, that put her somewhat in his shadow – this time, though, it is Dent’s turn to play the old hand welcoming a new co-host. Sure enough, as soon as Locatelli joins her in the kitchen, a classic duo is born: the breadth of their combined competence only highlights the deficiencies of their predecessors.
Locatelli is an excellent choice for Celebrity MasterChef – besides his numerous celebrated restaurants, he’s fronted several series of the Italian version, making for the perfect combination of a fresh face and safe pair of hands. As a judge, his confidence and passion are immediately apparent – but most refreshing of all is his authority. Not that he harps on about his credentials – he doesn’t need to.
Watching Locatelli instruct the celebrities, weighing in on their decisions and even gently teasing them, feels totally intuitive – he is, after all, an actual working chef, just as Dent is an actual working critic. Together, they have made me realise how redundant Wallace and Torode had become. Sure, Torode had a stint in restaurants, but he largely swapped kitchens for TV studios back in 1996 when he started on ITV’s This Morning, hosting countless cooking shows ever since.
No question, that’s its own skill – but it does come at a cost, namely that of hands-on experience, and with it genuine critical relevance. Like any specialism packaged for entertainment, being a TV chef is most worthwhile when it reflects current techniques and themes. Otherwise, we’re watching a hermetically sealed universe, where the criteria for excellence are based on the last series, diluted each time until they’re hopelessly outdated and truly meaningless.
Locatelli brings functional, detailed knowledge to his commentary (Photo: BBC/Shine TV)While ex-grocer Wallace’s credentials for judging cooking had never been totally clear to me, Torode’s might once have been legitimate. But they lapsed long ago, like a license that needed renewing. Hosting MasterChef since 2005, the pair had unquestionably had their day – high time to pass the baton, even without their respective controversies.
In fact, given some of their on-screen howlers over the years, it’s amazing Wallace and Torode lasted as long as they did (who could forget the infamous chicken rendang palaver in 2018, when they criticised a Malaysian contestant for cooking a traditional dish, er, correctly?).
Much like Haugh in the amateur series, Locatelli brings functional, detailed knowledge to his commentary. “The potato will take 40 minutes, but the chicken in the same sauce will cook in about 15 minutes,” he says of Love Island alum Shakira Khan’s signature dish. “I’m worried that the chicken will be dry.”
What’s more, Locatelli’s competence means that he can lead the episode’s “cook-along” segment, preparing a gnocchi dish for the contestants to copy and adding another dimension to his role on screen. “What a privilege it’s been to learn at the foot of the master,” says sports presenter Jason Mohammad. “I look at the shape of those carrots and wonder what you learnt from me, that’s the only thing,” laughs Locatelli.
Expertise has always been valuable, but in 2026, where AI slop is rife, TV personalities are ruining – sorry – running countries, and anyone’s opinion can reach millions if they hit the algorithm just right, it is especially precious. No wonder, then, that it is such a pleasure to watch Locatelli join Dent, doling out genuinely insightful feedback based on vibrant, contemporary careers in the field.
Finally, the grown-ups are in charge, and it feels tutto bene.
‘Celebrity MasterChef’ continues tomorrow at 9pm on BBC One
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