(Credits: BBC/PA Wire)
- Giorgio Locatelli will reportedly replace John Torode as Celebrity MasterChef co-host.
- John Torode left the show earlier this year following a misconduct investigation.
- Grace Dent remains as co-host and will also host the non-celebrity version.
John Torode’s Celebrity MasterChef replacement has been ‘revealed’ as a top Michelin-starred chef.
Giorgio Locatelli is reportedly set to join MasterChef to star alongside Grace Dent as the newest host, replacing John Torode who was axed from the show.
The top TV chef, 62, has previously appeared as a guest and judge on BBC’s Big Family Cooking Showdown as well as Channel 4’s Celebrity Cooking School.
He was also the owner of Italian restaurant Locanada Locatelli in London, which was a favourite of A-list celebrities including Madonna before it closed earlier this year.
The chef opened the establishment with his wife Plaxy in 2002 and received a Michelin star one year later.
Locatelli will reportedly join host and food critic Dent, 52, who will also host the non-celebrity version of the show with Irish chef Anna Haugh, 45.
A source told The Sun: ‘It’s time for a new era for and bosses think Giorgio is the perfect fit.
‘He has a wealth of experience in the restaurant industry and has plenty of personality.’
Torode, 60, was fired from the cooking competition earlier this year after an investigation into ‘inappropriate conduct’ behind the scenes involving his TV co-host Gregg Wallace.
The off-camera behaviour of Wallace, 61, was the centre of a BBC probe that eventually upheld 45 claims against him, which he later apologised for.
It was then found that Torode had used ‘racist language’ on two separate occasions while working for the BBC, amid a total of nine alleged complaints.
Torode later revealed that, in the months since his removal as MasterChef co-host, he’s been seeing a therapist to help him get over the ‘grief’ he’s felt.
Speaking in his online newsletter, A View From the Fridge, he said: ‘Therapy over the past few months has entitled me to no longer “be brave” but instead be real.
‘Fear is the instinct that keeps us alive, but should grief and fear meet each other I wonder how much damage it can do when we decide to shut it away.’
He continued: ‘What is becoming easier is being able to talk and to vocalise how I feel as I come to terms with the past 5 months and the impact it has had.
MasterChef controversy timeline
October 2024 – Misconduct claims against Gregg Wallace first emerge
November 2024 – Gregg Wallace steps away from MasterChef amid allegations
December 2024 – Gregg Wallace makes statement against ‘middle-class women of a certain age’
December 2024 – BBC pulls MasterChef Christmas special
December 2024 – Grace Dent announced as Gregg Wallace’s replacement
April 2025 – Gregg Wallace reveals suicidal thoughts after investigation
July 2025 – Gregg Wallace plans to sue BBC and apologises after 45 allegations are upheld
July 2025 – John Torode sacked from MasterChef ‘for using racist language’
‘My tumultuous physical, illogical and physiological state of mind has not been easy… Life has changed forever for me and for those close to me. There is no sympathy searching here, just honesty.’
However, Torode stayed at the BBC slightly longer than Wallace, which meant he was able to film a handful of Celebrity MasterChef episodes alongside Dent.
Speaking to the Sunday Times about Torode, Dent said: ‘I absolutely adore John Torode. He is one of the kindest, most concerned, clever, thoughtful men that I know.
‘After reading the entire [inquiry] report, my recollections of having a nice time with him, drinking coffee and having a biscuit now and again is pretty much irrelevant.’
She continued: ‘For me to sit here now and go, “Well, that’s not the Gregg that I knew,” is beside the point because it’s not about what I think.’
She added: ‘He said an awful lot, and that was during the point when I was starting my new [MasterChef] job and I utterly cut myself off from all of that.’
Metro has contacted MasterChef for comment.
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