{"id":1002776,"date":"2026-06-03T13:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1002776\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T13:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:58:14","slug":"bbc-unveils-new-superstar-celebrity-masterchef-judge-following-john-torode-sacking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1002776\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC unveils new “superstar” Celebrity MasterChef judge following John Torode sacking"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC has confirmed its new Celebrity MasterChef judge following John Torode’s sacking last year<\/a>. Torode appeared alongside Grace Dent in the last season of the celebrity edition, which was filmed before his axing.<\/p>\n

It has now been revealed that Dent will be joined going forward by “superstar” chef and restauranteur Giorgio Locatelli on the show ahead of its next season this summer.<\/p>\n

“Hosting Celebrity MasterChef alongside Grace is a real honour,” Locatelli said. “I can\u2019t wait for you to see what our celebrity contestants bring to the kitchen, as we are really putting their culinary skills to the test in this series.”<\/p>\n

\"giorgio<\/p>\n

Rosdiana Ciaravolo\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Related: <\/strong>Best streaming services<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Locatelli has been a judge on MasterChef Italia since 2018, and has hosted the likes of Italy Unpacked and Sicily Unpacked for the BBC.<\/p>\n

He has already filmed Celebrity MasterChef, and teased that he was “a bad cop” in his dynamic with Dent, adding to the Table Manners<\/a> podcast: “I’m strict. Strict about cleanliness and organisation. Those little skills that you teach them slowly.”<\/p>\n

Speaking about the her new colleague, Dent called him “a fabulous addition to our UK Celebrity MasterChef team”.<\/p>\n

“I’m a long-time admirer of his work and was a huge fan of Locanda Locatelli; for many years, it was one of my happy places to eat,” she added.<\/p>\n

“I couldn’t be happier to combine our shared joy, passion, and expertise for food. I also love an opportunity to serve up a heavy dose of glamour in the MasterChef kitchen, and I have a feeling Giorgio is going to give me a real run for my money.”
<\/p>\n

Leon Wilson, CEO at producers Shine TV and Zeppotron, called Locatelli “a genuinely world-class superstar chef” and “perfect for Celebrity MasterChef”.<\/p>\n

\"grace<\/p>\n

Kate Hollingsworth\/Shine TV\/BBC<\/p>\n

Torode was sacked last summer after an allegation he used racist language, which came after an inquiry was launched by production company Banijay Entertainment<\/a> into former co-star Gregg Wallace’s behaviour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I repeat that I have no recollection of what I’m accused of,” Torode said at the time. “The enquiry could not even state the date or year of when I am meant to have said something wrong.”<\/p>\n

He added in an Instagram statement<\/a>: “I want to be clear that I’ve always had the view that any racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment. I’m shocked and saddened by the allegation as I would never wish to cause anyone any offence”.<\/p>\n

Wallace was sacked after 45 allegations of misconduct were upheld by the inquiry, with the former show presenter saying in a statement that he was “deeply sorry for any distress” he had caused, and had “never set out to harm or humiliate”.<\/p>\n

Wallace and Torode were replaced by Dent and Anna Haugh on the main MasterChef series.<\/p>\n

Celebrity MasterChef airs on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Visit our <\/strong>Streaming Guide<\/strong><\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new edition of <\/strong>Living Legends<\/strong>, a collector’s edition exploring the royal family, is here! <\/strong>Buy <\/strong>The Royals<\/strong> in newsagents or online<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies<\/a>, TV<\/a> and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy<\/strong> as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME<\/a> and Screen International<\/a>. \u00a0Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings<\/a> to Love Is Blind<\/a>, and is equally in his element crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ as a sub-editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC has confirmed its new Celebrity MasterChef judge following John Torode’s sacking last year. Torode appeared alongside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1002777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3937],"tags":[215877,278160,1380,278159,1331,77,3989,258961,1330,278158,216560,382,16,15],"class_list":["post-1002776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-collection-masterchef","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-e852947a-d128-4695-9b0a-459e1bf66c64","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-hasproduct-true","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-bbc-unveils-new-superstar-celebrity-masterchef-judge","tag-subsection-reality-tv","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1002776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1002777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1002776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1002776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1002776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}